TFC Talks Presents

In the spirit of TED Talks “ideas worth sharing,” TFC hosted its first ever TFC Talks on June 27, 2017, to share ideas about important, current topics of interest.

Below are the speakers and links to their videotaped talks.

Professor Donald R. Sadoway
John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Topic: Innovating Towards an All-Electric Future
Prof. Sadoway and his team at MIT invented the Liquid Metal Battery, an innovative technology and promising new storage solution for electricity generated from both renewable and conventional energy sources. Prof. Sadoway’s class is one of the most popular in the history of the school and his online TED talk has logged more than 380,000 views. In his always-entertaining style, Prof. Sadoway provides a glimpse into the future of energy with his talk on liquid-metal batteries.






Michael Goldberg, PhD
Asst. Professor, Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School
Asst. Professor, Cancer Immunology & Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Topic: Cancer Immunology
The Goldberg Lab strives to develop and deliver novel therapeutics in order to improve the lives of patients. Dr. Goldberg’s research focus lies at the interaction of drug delivery and cancer immunotherapy. His lab seeks to create innovative platforms for drug development and delivery by combining the tools of chemistry, engineering, immunology, materials science, molecular biology, and nanotechnology to address important problems that are intractable from a uni-disciplinary approach. The group’s single-minded goal is to contribute to the betterment of human health.






Professor Randall Davis, PhD
Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Topic: AI, Big Data, and Machine Learning: The Hype and the Reality
Dr. Davis has been a seminal contributor to the fields of knowledge-based systems and human-computer interaction, publishing more than 100 articles and playing a central role in the development of several systems. He and his research group are developing advanced tools that permit natural multi-modal interaction with computers by creating software that understands users as they sketch, gesture, and talk. He is the co-author of Knowledge-Based Systems in AI. In 1990 he was named a Founding Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of AI and served as President from 1995-1997. From 1995-1998 he also served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the U.S. Air Force, earning the USAF Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service. In his talk, Dr. Davis will address the current excitement about AI, Big Data and Machine Learning – what they are, what they currently can (and can’t) do, and what consequences are worth considering.