Seventy-five years ago, Argonne National Laboratory was founded to harness the power of nuclear reactions for peaceful energy purposes. Over the next 75 years, Argonne will continue to drive discoveries and innovations but how will our scientists’ work impact and define our future world?  What does that future look like through their eyes?

Join some of Argonne’s leading scientists as they give us an exciting glimpse into the future of climate change prediction, astrophysics, brain mapping, and diagnosing and treating disease using radioisotopes.

SPECIAL GUESTS

• Stephen Streiffer, Moderator
  Deputy Laboratory Director for Science & Technology
  Interim Associate Laboratory Director for Photon Science

• Narayanan ​“Bobby” Kasthuri
  Neuroscience researcher

  The Kasthuri lab at Argonne and the University of Chicago is applying groundbreaking techniques for large-scale, comprehensive mapping of the brain. Using high-energy X-rays, Bobby and his team are creating images that help them gain insight on how brains mature and age and how brains differ across individuals, species, and disease. Since arguably, the brain is the most important organ in the human body, the impact of this research for the future is immeasurable.

• Katrin Heitmann
  Deputy Division Director, High Energy Physics

  Objects in the universe are moving away from one another at an accelerated rate. This fact goes against conventional wisdom, which suggests the gravitational attraction of matter in the universe should cause a deceleration of the universe’s expansion. Katrin’s team of scientists are trying to understand the causes for the unexpected acceleration and what this means for our planet in the future.

• Scott Collis
  Department Head, Geospatial Computing, Innovations, and Sensing

  Scott leads scientists who share his desire to better understand clouds, storms, and the basic physics of our atmosphere. His team is using artificial intelligence, open-source software, and machine learning to greatly accelerate our knowledge of the atmosphere and improve atmospheric simulations (including climate models) to the point that they can be used to identify vulnerabilities and make faster and more accurate predictions about the future of our planet. Using these predictions, we can reduce the risk of climate change impacts to people, places, and resources.

• Dave Rotsch
  Deputy Program Manager, Radioisotope Research and Production Program

  Unstable chemical elements that release radiation as they break down, called radioactive isotopes, are at the center of Argonne’s Radioisotope Research and Production Program (RRPP). Dave and his scientists have a research focus on improving disease diagnosis and developing treatments for tackling cancer and other infectious diseases. With RRPP, their goal is to advance technologies surrounding the production and purification of radioactive isotopes for use in advanced radiopharmaceuticals. By increasing the availability of radioactive isotopes to researchers and hospitals, they are playing an integral role in helping to develop new therapies that can save lives in the future.