November 2015 Technical Society News
The speaker for the Technical Society of Knoxville meeting on November 9, 2015 was Walter Wunderlich PE. His topic was “Civil Disengagement in America.”
The rise and fall of civic orgnizations was shown in some detail. Many volunteer organizations- if not all of them – have declined in membershio and participation in recent years.
On November 16, 2015 Wolf Naegeli, PhD, Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, The University of Tennessee gave a Multi-media presentation entitled ” Electric Vehicle Technology: Past and Present”
One hundred years ago, electric cars had a far greater market penetration than today. Dr. Naegeli discussed the checkered past and the present state of electric propulsion technologies in transportation. The history of electric cars and the pictures of early products were interesting.
Wolf drives a made-in-Tennessee Nissan Leaf electric car.
On November 30, 2015 Dr. Joshua Sangoro spoke on “New electrolytes for safer batteries – Ionic liquids in electrochemical energy applications”
He is seeking the next big step forward in the quest for sustainable, more efficient energy. The electrochemical cell has 3 parts: the electrodes, the separator and the electrolyte. The electrolyte is a crucial part in the search for better energy storage and Dr. Sangoro is a leading researcher.
Technical Society officer nominees for 2016 are
president Ev Engstrom
vice president Wolf Naegeli
treasurer Jean Pierre Granju
directors
Walter Wunderlich
Luther Alcorn
Peter Scheffler
Wayne Loveday
Steve Levy