Special MSE Colloquium: Michael Ashby, Materials and Sustainable Development

Abstract

A “sustainable development” is one that contributes in an equitable way to human welfare, does so in a way that minimizes the drain on natural resources, complies with the rule of law, is financially viable and is socially acceptable. Many civil, commercial, government and academic projects claim to do this, and many of them have implications for materials consumption and use. Prof. Ashby’s talk develops an approach to analysis of articulations of sustainable development that recognizes the complexity but is sufficiently straightforward that it can be used for project work in undergraduate teaching.

Bio

Currently an Emeritus Professor of Engineering at The University of Cambridge, Prof. Ashby previously held a Royal Society Research Professor
at the University of Cambridge, and a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art in London. He is the author of some
250 papers and a number of books on materials. Among the more recent are “Materials and Design - the Art and Science of Materials Selection in
Product Design” 3nd edition (2014), “Materials and the Environment”, 2nd edition (2013), “Materials: Engineering, Science, Processing and Design” 3rd edition (2014) and “Materials and Sustainable Development” (2015). He is a founder and Director of Granta Design, Cambridge, a company specializing
in materials informatics and resources for materials education.