My research at MIT

(alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit)

Well, I've successfully completed my first semester back at MIT and my first semester as a PhD student. It felt very different, especially since I was limited to 2 classes as compared to my previous average of 4 or 5. Even balancing two semester projects with my research (which was the reason I was limited to 2 classes), it was much less stressful than my undergrad years. Still, I realize I've disappeared off of the blogging map for several months, so I thought I'd share a bit about what I've been up to.


This semester, I took a stats class and a very interesting class called Energy, Materials, and Manufacturing, which covered a range of sustainability-related topics. My project for that class was about grid-scale energy storage and whether or not combining storage (huge batteries, or other technologies) with renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar energy) is a viable way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the US. Though renewable energy generation itself is essentially carbon-free, manufacturing and implementing the storage and power generation technologies involves significant emissions when done on a massive scale and we were interested to see whether there was still a net reduction or not when taking these emissions into account.

We found that both pumped hydro energy storage and vanadium redox batteries have the potential to enable wider use of renewable energy sources while offering up to a 60% reduction in emissions as compared to current annual emission levels. However, this upper limit requires that 100% of our energy be generated from renewables (wind turbines, solar panels, etc.) instead of coal or natural gas, which is not likely to happen in the near future.We also made some significant simplifying assumptions, like ignoring the costs and logistical constraints associated with transmission. These considerations help explain why we aren't switching to renewable energy faster.

Another reason that we aren't switching to renewable energy sources faster is that non-renewable energy recently got cheaper in the United States, thanks to the natural gas boom facilitated by technology improvements in shale gas extraction, which is my main topic of research as a research assistant and PhD student at MIT. You've probably heard at least a bit about hydraulic fracturing in recent years, and it is improvements to hydraulic fracturing that has enabled better and better extraction of shale gas.

Shale gas, as the name suggests, is natural gas that is found in rock formations thousands of feet below the Earth's surface. When gas is found in conventional reservoirs, it is enough to drill a well and let the gas flow out. With shale gas, however, the flow rates are too slow for it to be worth the gas company's investment - too slow, that is, unless the well is "stimulated" by pressurizing the well with a special fluid until the rock fractures. The fracturing fluid also carries a material such as sand into the fractures to keep it propped open, and this allows gas to flow more freely.

(http://www.nt.gov.au)

Hydraulic fracturing has actually been around since the late 1940s - a fact that I was surprised to learn in my research this semester. One of the most significant improvements to this well stimulation method is the ability to drill directional wells. Where before, wells could only access whatever was at the bottom of a vertical well, now the wellbores can be turned horizontally and follow the relatively narrow shale zone for thousands of feet. This has significantly increased the amount of gas that can be produced by a single well and is one of the factors responsible for the increase in the projection of how much natural gas can be recovered in the US over the coming decades. 

So what, specifically, am I attempting to do in my research? I am working on developing a tool that will help predict environmental risks (for now, focusing on greenhouse gas emissions) associated with shale gas extraction based on where the well is and what specific technologies are being used (there are many options, as each drilling and fracturing operation is designed specifically for a given site). It is widely agreed that natural gas will play an increasingly important role in meeting the growing energy demand in coming years, and since shale gas is what is enabling that, I am interested in contributing to solutions that help shale gas development proceed in as environmentally benign a manner as possible.

Am I a supporter of natural gas? I would say yes, especially since it is a cleaner energy source than coal, with the caveat: as long as we truly use natural gas as a bridge to more renewable energy sources. It is true that we need to buy some time as renewable energy generation and storage technologies are developed, and natural gas can help us in this regard.

I am concerned, however, that this new-found natural gas abundance will make us lazy and give us a false sense of security. Regardless of where you stand on the climate change debate, there is no denying that oil, gas, and coal are limited resources, and sooner or later we are going to have to face this fact. Sure, we can get more and more creative with how we get at these resources, but since we have already gotten to the point of literally flattening our mountains for coal and extracting gas from rock, I think there should be some red flags here. We are messing with systems that we don't completely understand and making irreversible changes that we may not see the effects of for years to come.

So I am a supporter of clean energy, and therefore I am a supporter of natural gas since it is relatively clean (especially compared to coal), but I earnestly hope for the day that natural gas has to step aside and make room for even cleaner technologies.

Thoughts on Truth and the existence of God

Image source: http://joshfults.com/tag/seeking-truth/

"That may be true for you, but that's not true for me."

Is that True?

I capitalize Truth because I believe that such Truth exists; not the product of our own minds and imaginations and desires, but undeniable, immutable Truth. In the United States, where we cherish and defend our rights to many freedoms, we have gotten very good at allowing many different belief systems to coexist, and what people probably often mean by the above statement is "I respect that that's what you believe, and I see things differently." Such freedom to have different beliefs and engage in dialog about them is a tremendous gift. However, while it is true that we have dramatically different perceptions of truth, this doesn't change the fact that many of our perceptions represent ideas that fundamentally do or do not accurately reflect reality.

The pen sitting on my desk writes with black ink, so I call it a black pen. It may have been a while since I've used it, so I may believe that it is a blue pen. I might even be led astray by the color of the plastic surrounding the pen to think that it is a green pen, but this doesn't change the fact that it is actually a pen with black ink. The interesting thing is that I may call it a black pen because it uses black ink, and you may call it a green pen because of the color of the outside, and what we both are saying reflects a different part of the reality. In this case, when we further analyze what we're saying, it is possible for the pen to be both black and green at the same time because I'm referring to the ink and you're referring to its external characteristics. However, if it's an average pen that writes with only one color, and one of us says that it writes with black ink while the other says that it writes with green ink, at most one of these views reflects the Truth.

I believe in God. This belief represents an idea that fundamentally does or does not accurately reflect reality. God either exists or doesn't. In my experience, many people find it difficult to believe in God (regardless of religion) because there is no cold hard proof one way or another of God's existence. Can I prove to you that God exists? Of course not! My faith is largely based on personal experience, on a persistent awareness that there is a depth to reality that we can’t perceive with our senses as we do with the physical world. I have long perceived a spiritual aspect to our lives and universe, and this is what led me to a belief in God. I sense His presence here, in all things that are beautiful and also in the midst of situations that are challenging, providing me with strength and grace to do what I cannot on my own. (A note: When I refer to God as "He", I am not claiming that God is male. In my views, God is pure spirit and is thus neither male nor female. "It" would in some ways be a more appropriate pronoun except it is too impersonal for my perception of God as someone who knows and loves each of us in a very personal way.)

Is it foolish to have a belief system based on personal experience instead of logical or scientific proof? Not if this is the best way to encounter this particular part of the Truth. Perhaps God intended for there to not be cold hard proof for His existence. Perhaps He wants us to discover Him personally. Perhaps He wants us to know Him and love him and enter into a relationship with Him, rather than to put the pieces together and be forced admit that He’s there. Admittedly, my conversion began with analysis of the facts, considering the evidence that I see in the world and in history, and I ended up finding Jesus to be very credible. An important step of my journey into the Catholic Church was being encouraged by evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Catholic Church is the church that He established on earth. My walk with God, however, began with simple prayer, opening my heart to a mystery far beyond my capability to understand, but very much desiring to grow closer to that mystery, to know as much as I can about it.

If you are looking for a series of logical arguments that show beyond a shadow of a doubt that God exists, you may be out of luck. The good news is that God is there, waiting to be discovered. He may not have left proof in the way that many of us would like, but He certainly gives us abundant evidence, even setting Jesus aside. How do you feel when you see a beautiful sunset? A newborn baby? Hear a beautiful piece of music? Look up at the stars? Stand at the top of a mountain? Think about the intricacies of life? Marvel at the wonders of physics? Connect with someone you love in a new way? There’s beauty there, but something else. There’s something or someone more...

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
    -Psalm 19:1-4

Could there possibly be a Higher Being? A Divine Person? A God? You will find plenty of people who will tell you that there is, and plenty of people who will tell you that there isn’t. You can find friends and a community to support you regardless of what you believe. But what is the Truth? Is there a God?

I would like to propose an experiment. If you are even the tiniest bit curious about whether God exists or not - even if you are 99.99% convinced that no such Higher Being exists, try out this experiment: Pray. Sometime when you’re going to bed or getting up in the morning, try talking to God. It doesn’t need to be long, and it doesn’t even need to be out loud. No one needs to see you, hear you, or know that you tried out this exercise that may very well feel completely silly to you the first few times you try it. But give it a shot anyway. You can even say something like, “God, I really don’t believe you exist. But if you do exist, then please reveal yourself to me. Help me know in my heart that you really and truly do exist.” The worst case scenario is that you will have just talked to an empty room. I can’t promise anything on the first try, or second try, or even the third try, but if you authentically want to find out if God exists and make an honest effort to know Him, then I imagine that you will get your answer.

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

-Matthew 7:7-8

Listening to God

Image source: marypages.com

One of yesterday's readings at Mass was the story of Mary going to visit Elizabeth when they were both pregnant, Mary with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist:

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled." (Luke 1:41-45)

I like this story because it is the scriptural basis of a good portion of the Hail Mary:

Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The event that this passage talks about, The Visitation, is also one of the mysteries that is meditated on when praying the Rosary. What spoke to me yesterday in particular, though, was the part at the end where Elizabeth says,

Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.

I was asked recently if God still speaks to people like He does in the Bible, especially the voice-from-the-heavens kind of talking. I, personally, have not experienced God talking in an audible voice. I believe He still talks to us, though. It's just a matter of listening. Even when praying, it's all too easy to just talk talk talk and neglect to leave some time to simply listen. God is a very good listener, and He also has lots to say to each one of us, but He needs us to give Him airtime in order to get His message across.

Mostly, I've experienced God talking to me in the way He guides my thoughts and emotions. Often, it's with a deep sense of peace or consolation as I'm contemplating a particular decision or course of action. In recent weeks, for example, as I've been discerning whether to go back to school for a PhD or pursue a job at a sustainability firm that I've been interested in for about a year now, I've been regularly (almost daily) offering that decision up to God. In praying about it, I have been filled with an undeniable sense of calm and confidence about going back to school. Throughout the fluctuating excitement and worries about related unknowns, the underlying feeling has consistently been an intuitive sort of certainty that this is what I'm called to do next.

There have been a few times in my life when I have perceived God speaking to me more as a concretely formed idea somewhere in my consciousness; this is the closest I've come to a voice-from-the-heavens kind of experience. The instances I'm remembering right now have involved the same message "Trust in Me." At times when I am most anxious about where I am or where I'm going or what might or might not happen, I take great comfort in Mary's example, who said yes to God even though she did not fully understand all of the details and implications of what she was saying yes to (receiving Jesus in her womb). Fully surrendering herself and trusting God, she said

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

Following her example, we can rest assured knowing that God keeps His promises. Not only will He follow through with whatever He tells us, He will also give us the graces we need wherever He leads us.