Dear All, I hope you are enjoying end of the year holidays. I would like to thank sincerely everybody who helped to organize the Birck holiday party last week. It was great to see many students, staff and faculty in person. I appreciate very much kind words of Zhihong, Vlad, Sasha and everybody else who participated. My holiday messages typically include a photo of Birck with beautiful snow surrounding the center (this year’s snow is yet to come!). Venky Narayanamurti’s seminar couple of weeks ago made reference to an outstanding speech by Ralph Bown who said in 1952: “vitality of a research organization is only a composite of the spirit of the people in it. It has little to do with buildings or equipment, although indeed these things are important mechanical factors in its existence.” Instead of a photo, I have included below a link to Bown’s article to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of everybody who has helped create Birck's vibrant research atmosphere. As we are dealing with challenges due to COVID and some of the unfortunate polarizations in the country, it is good to be reminded about the importance of human relations and imagination to overcome differences and in shaping our future. As Whitehead said almost century ago, the “justification for a university is to preserve the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning.” Below, I have included a link to Purdue 2050, Conference of the Future, where several guests and colleagues shared their imagination about the future we want to create for our children. If you have couple of minutes, here is a short video summary: https://youtu.be/_Jogf4PVfgw Thanks to everybody for providing an amazing environment to work, to grow and for all of the friendship and advice. This has been a real privilege to work with all of you. Best regards, Ali PS. Here are the links: ********************************** Vitality of a Research Institution and how to maintain it Ralph Bown, Vice President at Bell Labs Speech at Sixth annual conference on the administration of research in 1952 https://maceip.github.io/bell-labs-innovation/ ********************************** Purdue 2050: Conference of the Future https://nanohub.org/resources/33240 * Future of Healthcare. Peter Embi, president of Regenstrief Institute, healthcare professionals; Joanne Burns -CSO Cerner ; Gopal Chopra -CEO RadiantHeart; a leading cancer researcher (Daniella Matei) and her patient (Susan Gubar), a well-known IU author and cancer survivor * Supriyo Datta, Quantum Technologies * Deborah Wince-Smith, President and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness; Age of Illumination. * Future of Manufacturing and Factories by Michael King, President of LHP Data Analytics; Jan-Anders Mansson co-director of Indiana Manufacturing Institute * Discovery Park District 2050 by David Broecker * Digital Privacy by Alessandro Acquisti, Carnegie Mellon University * Anna Ridler, Art and Artificial Intelligence; Anne Fliotsos, International Telepresence Theatre * Smart Affordable Housing, Gary Hobbs (BWI) * Nanotechnology, Internet of Things and Data Analytics 2050; Muhammad Ashraful Alam and Ali Shakouri Exhibitions: (now available at Birck thanks to Neil Dilley’s great efforts) Digital Borneo, immersive sounds from 100 million years old rainforest prepared in collaboration between Bryan Pijanowski’s Center for Soundscape Engineering and the transparent and flexible speakers fabricated by Miko Cakmak’s group at the Birck Center; Plasmonic Kaleidoscope -a collaboration between Sasha Boltasseva’s nanophotonics group and a local artist at polytechnic, Esteban Garcia. https://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/2050/index.php **********************************