KINGSTON R.I. – September 28, 2009 – Nathan Lewis, professor of chemistry at California Institute of Technology, will present the University of Rhode Island’s Cruickshank Symposium lecture on the “Global Energy Perspective” on Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

The event will be held in Cherry auditorium in the Kirk engineering building, 94 Upper College Rd., Kingston. It is free and open to the public.

Lewis’ presentation evaluates the technical, political, and economic challenges limiting the widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies. His presentation is an in-depth evaluation of everything from fossil fuels to greenhouse gas buildup limitations and the expected global energy demand for carbon-free power. Lewis will also highlight the long-term potential of various renewable energy resources.

Lewis has been on the faculty at CalTech since 1988, where he serves as the principal investigator of the Beckman Institute Molecular Materials Resource Center. Previously he taught at Stanford University. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lewis received the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry in 1991, the Orton Memorial Lecture award in 2003, the Princeton Environmental Award in 2003, and the Michael Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Electrochemistry in 2008. He is the editor-in-chief of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Energy & Environmental Science, and he has published over 300 research papers.

The lecture is sponsored by the URI Cruickshank Symposium endowment, the URI Department of Chemistry, the URI Energy Center, the URI Center of Excellence for Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response, and the Gordon Research Conferences.

For additional information about the lecture, contact Chemistry Professor William Euler at chair@chm.uri.edu or 874-5090.