Distinguished Guest Speaker Series
Distinguished guest speakers with the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis will focus on diverse areas of research including the energy, defense, and AgTech industries, as well as other emerging innovation topics.
Upcoming Speakers
"Carbon Capture and Removal: Current Status and Key Challenges"
Major companies are making serious climate pledges with carbon neutrality being the
most common. The major question is how to fulfill these pledges.
Barclay Rogers, Founder and CEO of Graphyte, a carbon removal startup, offers insights into the current state of emissions abatement
and carbon removal. He covers trends in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 and categorical
methods for considering abatement options, will provide a ‘deep dive’ into emerging
technologies with respect to carbon removal (including nature-based solutions, engineered
solutions, and hybrid approaches) and assess the dominant forms of carbon removal
-- including agriculture and forestry, carbon capture and storage and direct air capture,
and biomass-based approaches – based on the key inputs of cost, energy, and land and
includes an assessment of the scale of deployment of the various technologies to date.
Rogers will briefly explain the story of Graphyte, a carbon removal startup that he
founded in Memphis, Tennessee with initial investment from Breakthrough Energy Ventures,
the venture capital fund created by Bill Gates to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon
economy. He includes Carbon Casting, the carbon removal technique pioneered by Graphyte,
in the assessment of the dominant forms of carbon removal.
Apr. 24 | 3 PM (CST)
Fishbowl (203/205) or Zoom
Past Speakers
See who has visited the FedEx Institute of Technology, a collection of scholars and innovators from across the United States and abroad. These guest speakers offer profound insights and expertise in their respective fields. Explore their impactful contributions and delve into the wealth of knowledge they've shared with our campus community.
Professor of Business IT, Head of European Blockchain Center
IT University of Copenhagen
President
University of Memphis
Associate Professor in College of Engineering and AutoID Lab Director
University of Memphis
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Professor and UNESCO Chair on Social Policy Design in Asia Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
National University of Singapore
Research Director, Thriving Cities Lab
University of Virginia
Associate Professor for Machine Learning
Technical University of Munich
Associate Professor
University of Sydney
PostDoc for the Sensor & Actuator Center
University of California Berkeley
Executive Director of the Deshpande Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Professor of MIS, Milton F. Stauffer Senior Research Fellow; Executive Director, Institute for Business and Information Technology
Temple University
Assistant Professor | Advanced Manufacturing, Wearable Technologies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Associate Professor, The Polytechnic School, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University
Senior VP of IT
FedEx Express
Computer Scientist and Program Manager for the Advanced Scientific Computing Research
Department of Energy (DOE)
Professor of Entomology
Penn State University
Co-founder of Blockchain
Microsoft Corporation
Deputy Chief Operating Officer
City of Memphis
Senior VP of Workforce Development
Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce
Faculty - Information Systems
University of Washington
Senior VP of IT and CIO
FedEx Freight