Science

Brian Kim, a current M.S. in Sustainability Management (SUMA) student, was already working as a health physicist in Columbia University’s Environmental Health and Safety department, concentrating on enhancing safety measures and fostering sustainability within the university’s research facilities, when he applied to the SUMA program to further integrate his interests with climate solutions. Courtesy of Brian Kim No stranger to multitasking, Kim worked for the College of Engineering Leadership Academy and Center for Civic Engagement while studying nuclear engineering during his undergraduate education at Oregon State. It was this variety of experiences that helped him navigate his path to New York City and the SUMA program. As a current student, Kim is an active member of various cam...

Artist’s impression of the Brightline West high-speed rail lineBrightline West Construction began today on the first true high-speed rail line in the US, which will connect Los Angeles suburbanites to the bright lights of Las Vegas, Nevada. Not only should the project enable people in the US to finally experience European and Asian standards of speedy passenger trains, it could also offer a commercial model for building high-speed rail lines elsewhere in the US. A groundbreaking ceremony today in Las Vegas, attended by US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg alongside Nevada and California state officials, marked the official start of construction for the Brightline West project. With a targeted completion in four years – just in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics...

This is the first direct look at a bizarre crystal made of only electronsYazdani Lab, Princeton University It is hard to coax electrons to form a crystal, and even harder to measure this structure. But physicists have now managed to directly image a “Wigner crystal” – and their images are the clearest ones yet. “There have been many, literally hundreds, of papers written on finding evidence for the Wigner crystal sort of indirectly,” says Ali Yazdani at Princeton University. “And we never thought that we would succeed in [directly] imaging it. It was a bit of an accident.” At room temperature, electrons can flow together in electric currents because their kinetic energy overcomes the force that makes particles with the same electric charge repel each other. At very low...

Growing up in Santiago, Chile, Clarisa Marambio watched her two older sisters actively engage in conservation and biodiversity efforts when she was still a kid. Even then, she found herself inspired by what she saw. Credit: Caterina Favino Now, Marambio has followed in the family footsteps as a student in Columbia University’s M.P.A. in Environmental Science and Policy (ESP) program at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), graduating this May. In the Q&A below, Marambio discusses her environmental policy interests, how she tailored her coursework to focus on Latin America and her most memorable experiences in the program. What do you think is the greatest sustainability challenge? There are numerous sustainability challenges, and one that I follow close...

This water purification system is powered by static electricitySang-Woo Kim/Yonsei University in South Korea A bottle can disinfect drinking water by channelling static electricity built up from just 10 minutes of walking – no limited supply of water purification tablets or external power sources required. “Our water disinfection approach holds particular significance for populations in underdeveloped regions, isolated areas, disaster zones and conflict areas lacking adequate sanitation infrastructure,” says Sang-Woo Kim at Yonsei University in South Korea. Kim and his colleagues took a reusable 500-millilitre water bottle and installed a polymer electrode inside that incorporates an array of nanorods made from the conducting polymer Polypyrrole. Those nanorods c...