On October 15, Dean of McCormick School of Engineering, Julio M. Ottino, gave a distinguished lecture at KAIST, during a two-day discussion on fostering creativity and theory in fluid mixing. The invited speaker spoke at the fourth annual KAIST Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Global Distinguished Lectureship.
Professor Ottino is a renowned scholar in the field of chemical chaotic systems and holds a leadership role as the Dean of Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering. His experimental and theoretical work in chaotic mixing of fluids, critical in chemical engineering, has greatly contributed to the academic community. His work has been featured in articles and the covers of influential journals, such as Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
His work is not limited to science and technology, but extends to art as well. An abstract artist himself, he attempts to merge engineering and art and is praised for adopting a balanced engineering education that fosters “whole-brain engineers”. In his first lecture session, “Creativity in Science, Art, and Technology: How art separated from science (and how they may join again)”, he emphasized that creativity is an essential component in all fields of art, science and technology. He stated artistic creativity can enhance development in scientific and technological creativity. The historic trend between art, science, and technology was pointed out in his presentation. He generalized that science branches out and improves continuously over time. However, art is a sporadic process where it becomes trendy at the beginning but dies off over time. Engineering is a mix of these two in the sense that technology develops over time, yet products are spontaneously invented and become obsolete over time.
A technical session, “Mixing of Fluids and Solids: Parallels, Divergences, and Lessons”, was given on the second day of the lecture series. Professor Ottino’s presented his scientific research on fluid mixing and granular matter, demonstrating his scientific insight. During his visit to KAIST, he was able to meet with members of the undergraduate KAIST-AIChE (American Institute for Chemical Engineers) Student Chapter and graduate students from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for one-on-one discussion sessions for additional mentoring. For more information on Professor Ottino’s abstract art portfolio, visit www.juliomarioottino.com.