Last November, I was honored to deliver the inaugural Sir Hugh Ford Lecture at Imperial College in London. Sir Hugh, as he liked to be called, had a long and distinguished career as a practicing engineer and researcher, and in service to Imperial College, his profession and the nation.
The honor was accompanied by a deep sense of personal connection. We were both raised in working class families, and our mutual professional interests included the energy sciences, applications to material processing and holistic approaches to engineering education. During the waning years of his life, Sir Hugh’s interests and passion turned to issues of energy and environmental sustainability and what must be done to meet the needs of future generations. Since these issues have also become of primary concern to me, it was fitting that they serve as the focal point of the inaugural lecture.
The lecture, entitled Climate Change: Dealing with Complexity, can be accessed on YouTube.