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Young researchers and senior scientists will discuss challenges at the intersection of nanoscience, technology and energy.

Young researchers in the fields of nanoscience and clean energy will have the opportunity to connect with peers from France when UC Berkeley hosts a three-day symposium beginning March 20.

Sponsored by the Consulate General of France to foster long-term ties between researchers in Europe and the United States to tackle global energy challenges, the 2012 Young Engineers and Scientists Symposium aims to develop concrete transatlantic research and industrial collaborations, particularly in the Bay Area, which is renowned as the cradle of clean technology.

“The key to very large-scale deployment of sustainable energy solutions is going to involve breakthroughs in nanoscience technologies,” says Berkeley’s Vice Chancellor for Research Graham Fleming, who will accompany Consul General of France Romain Serman and Paul Alivisatos, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in delivering the symposium’s opening address.

“Energizing the next generation of scientists and engineers to create these breakthroughs is the primary goal of this event,” Fleming adds.

The symposium, which takes place at the David Brower Center in downtown Berkeley, brings together doctoral and post-doctoral researchers with senior scientists and engineers to discuss potential applications for nanotechnology across the areas of energy use, storage and production.

A series of panel discussions and technical sessions will focus on topics such as next-generation biofuels, new materials, heat recovery and carbon capture. The event will also showcase recent advances and commercial successes at the intersection of nanoscience, technology and energy.

All of the problems we face today and will face in the future — starvation, poverty, water availability, global warming — are, in the end, strongly linked to the energy problem.

– Alberto Pimpinelli, science and technology attaché.

“The quest for clean, abundant, cheap energy to satisfy the ever-growing needs of an ever-increasing world population is the challenge of the 21st century,” says Thomas Deschamps, science and technology attaché at the French Consulate in San Francisco.

Eli Yablonovitch, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at Berkeley and director of the Berkeley-based Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science, will deliver presentations on photovoltaics and energy-efficient electronics.

Claire-Marie Pradier, a senior researcher in surface science and surface reactivity at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, will deliver a presentation on the use of nanoparticles and challenges for environment, health and energy.

“All of the problems we face today and will face in the future — starvation, poverty, water availability, global warming — are, in the end, strongly linked to the energy problem,” says Alberto Pimpinelli, science and technology attaché at the French Consulate in Houston, Texas.

The YESS 2012 event is organized in conjunction with the National Center for Scientific Research in France, Berkeley’s European Union Center of Excellence, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research at Berkeley.

For event registration and information, including a full list of speakers, presentation topics and a program schedule, visit the YESS 2012 website.