On Oct.19th， Professor Federico Rosei, an alumnus of UWC Adriatic （1988-1990）  was invited as the honored guest speaker to give a speech about “Nanotechnology and Alternative Energy” at our Global Issues Forum. 

Professor Federico Rosei is an expert in the field of nanotechnology. Currently he is the professor and director of Institute National de la Recherche Scientifique, Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, Université du Québec, Varennes Canada. He is also a member of the Royal College of Canada, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Australian Institute of Physics, the British Institute of Engineering and Technology, the British Institute of Physics, the British Nano Society, and the Chinese Chemical Society.  Since 2014, he serves as the UNESCO (Energy) Education Ambassador. 

 Professor Federico Rosei sharing his insight on global energy issues

During his speech, Professor Federico highlighted the urgency to solve our current energy crisis and the uneven resource distribution in the world, and pointed out the future direction of new energy research. He also referred to the efforts made by UNESCO in this field. Professor Federico showed a series of pictures depicting countries in the world suffering from natural disasters, pointing out to the students that we have an urgent climatic issue that needs to be tackled.

On the search for more environmental friendly energy, Professor Federico focused on the development of solar energy. "Today, only 1% of the solar energy is effectively used to provide energy to the world, yet only collecting one day of solar energy could power the whole world for a year," he said, "solar energy itself is pollution-free, which provides a considerable advantage."  However, the use of solar energy also has some problems, such as birds flying into the solar power plant and getting hurt. But in general, solar energy in the future is of great significance to the development of the world. At the same time, he also introduced to the students a number of interesting research projects on renewable energy, such as the climate reality project, and warmly invited UWC students to join these projects, hoping that they could contribute to the field of science and technology.

Professor Federico, in the course of the speech, from time to time interacted with faculties and our students; the atmosphere was relaxing and cheerful. What the community felt deeply touched was that whenever the professor recalled his experience in UWC, he couldn’t help but spoke with tears in his eyes. He said that UWC education changed his life. He hoped that all the students here would cherish and take full advantage of the time they spend in UWC, because "you will miss this so much after leaving UWC." Professor Federico also introduced  the book he wrote entitled "The Road Not Taken" which is an autobiographical novel based on his own experience at UWC.

Professor Federico introducing his book based on his UWC experience 

Finally, he said, in order to solve energy and climate change and other global issues, the world needs more scientists and UWC-minded policy makers. He believed that scientists can use their knowledge and ability to put forward better plans and ideas for the future of the world, and policymakers can put these plans into reality.  He hoped that UWC students would live up to UWC values and take actions to create a better world.

Before leaving school, Professor was happily surprised  to be served with Italian espresso prepared by several students from Italy.

 Professor Federico enjoying the Italian expresso made by Italian students. 

After listening to his speech, students felt very inspired and had a stronger sense of responsibility.  They are all the more committed to working for a sustainable future.  

UWC teachers and students delightedly took a picture with Professor Federico