Akshat Jiwan Sharma

Congratulations to Deb Haaland on her well deserved victory in New Mexico State elections. Previously she held the distinction of being the first native American woman to  be appointed as The Secretary of Interior under President Joe Biden and now she has created history again as the first female native American governor of NM. NM could not have asked for a better successor!  For the last 8 years Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham steered NM through immense geopolitical shocks and global catastrophe like the covid — adding nearly 100K new jobs while promoting education,child care and clean energy. The people of NM would benefit immensely if she continues to serve the state, attract investments and help build strong international relations. She could be an incredible brand ambassador for NM.  Yet during her tenure as a governor she faced hostility from the federal agencies including the FBI and the DEA who refused to co-operate with the state government leading to a massive f...

July 4 2026 marked 250 years of USA’s independence. In 250 years the USA has become the most prosperous nation in the world. It has created new scientific disciplines—electrical,aeronautical,semiconductor and taken existing classical sciences —thermodynamics ,mechanics as well as material engineering to new heights. It has done this while fighting colonialism, famines,civil unrest, the great depression, 2 world wars and numerous other global shocks any one of which would have been enough to end the strongest of empires.  Regardless of what its critics may say, what the USA has achieved is no small feat. It has accomplished what many considered to be impossible several times in the 250 years since it gained freedom. These achievements are most certainly a cause for celebration.  The world has changed dramatically in the last few decades and geopolitically new challengers have arrived on the global stage to shape the world according to their ideologies. This changing...

Aluminium is one of the most important industrial materials renowned for being as light as ceramics despite having a metallic character. It possesses high thermal conductivity,excellent reflectivity and electrical conductivity that is higher than steel making it a direct competitor to iron and its alloy systems.  Globally the Al market is valued at ~$180B with 72 Million Tonnes of Al produced annually. India is the world's second largest producer at 4.2 M tonnes of annual production and $12 B of market value. Aluminium being important both technologically and economically I was glad to attend the conference organised by Aluminium casters association of India and learn about what new technical and business innovations are being planned for this metal.  I was excited to learn that the industry leaders have recognised applications beyond the automotive and packaging sector. Because of its high electrical conductivity one of the most lucrative non automotive applicatio...

It was a great learning experience for me to hear from researchers Franko Greiner and Franz Xaver Bronold of Kiel University and University of Greifswald respectively about the new model they have developed to measure the sticking coefficient of low energy electrons.  When an insulating material is placed in a stream of electrons it acquires surface charge. For low energy electrons this charge is negative as they lack energy to cause electron emission from the dielectric surface. In this presentation researchers  Franko and Franz demonstrated a highly creative method of measuring the number of electrons that remain trapped on the dielectric surface.  Their method was to suspend dust particles inside the plasma sheath causing them to levitate as they acquire charge. On these charged particles when an oscillating electric field was applied it resulted in the oscillation of the particle itself. The resulting oscillation of the particle was captured by high speed cameras. Thr...

Yesterday at the biennial meeting of the Combustion Institute President Hai Wang outlined some of the achievements and challenges facing the organisation.  As a non profit initiative the CI has been highly successful in organising the scientists working in the field of combustion giving them a platform to publish their findings as well as exchange ideas during in person meets and symposiums.  Even as the focus shifts towards electrification, combustion science remains important and this was reflected in the membership of CI which grew to 10 thousand and the number of papers published which crossed the 1.2 thousand figure mark indicating healthy activity.  CI has managed to remain cash flow positive which enabled it to function as an independent organisation. This is a significant achievement for a non profit as it generally has to depend upon donations for its financial health. Being cash flow positive has allowed the CI to maintain its research integrity.  As Presid...

After nearly 100 years British Columbia will form a conservative government. To say that this is a historic moment would be an understatement. As premier Eby exits the administration , BC finds itself at crossroads. Its relations with its neighbour and biggest trading partner are at an all time low. Its strategy for economic growth seems to be too heavily reliant on raw material export (natural gas and minerals including rare earths) putting it in direct competition with nations who can offer the same exports at a lower price.  Despite being a province that generates 98% of clean electrical energy, BC has remained a service based economy which not only limits its potential but also creates severe problems with differentiation especially in an era where service sectors are going to be impacted by AI.  A massive 29% of BC population is made up of immigrants that has caused the cost of living to go up. This was reflected in the elections as nearly 52% of the people didn't even bo...