April 16 Oakton STEM event examines machine learning and quantum

Nanoscientist Maria Chan, Ph.D., will present her research on machine learning and quantum physics at a free lecture 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in Room 210 of the Margaret Burke Lee Science and Health Careers Center, 1600 E. Golf Road, Des Plaines.

Chan, a scientist with the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory, will present “Improving Solar Cells and Battery Materials with Quantum Physics and Machine Learning” as part of Oakton’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Speaker Series sponsored by Oakton’s Center for Promoting STEM.

“Scientists like Maria are making tremendous strides in improving materials to store energy for cell phones and electric cars,” says Coordinator of Oakton’s Center for Promoting STEM Gloria Liu. “Learn how, through quantum physics, enhancements are being made at the atomic level to also turn sunlight into electricity and track movements while you exercise.”

Chan’s research focuses on machine learning for efficient computational approaches. She has a bachelor’s degree in physics and applied mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles and a doctorate in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The college’s next STEM lecture, “Of Mice, Men and Monkeys: Using a Comparative Approach to Understand the Human Gut Microbiome,” is scheduled 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, at Oakton’s Des Plaines campus. Harriett Washington, author of “Medical Apartheid,” will present a STEM lecture 2 p.m. Friday, April 26, at the Des Plaines campus. The STEM Speaker Series concludes 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, at the Des Plaines campus, with a presentation by Eugenia Cheng, a scientist in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

For more information, contact Liu at 847-635-1738 or glorial@oakton.edu, or visit www.oakton.edu/academics/special_programs/stem.