In 30 years, can we sustainably meet the needs of 9.5 billion people?
The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) welcomed MIT’s President Emerita Susan Hockfield to the Iconic Voices from MIT public lecture series on March 21, at the SUTD auditorium. The lecture series serves as a platform for interaction with experts in the areas of science, architecture, technology, and design from MIT. Other distinguished speakers have included Institute Professor Peter Diamond, a Nobel Laureate in economics, and Institute Professor Emeritus Jerome Friedman, a Nobel Laureate in physics. The public lecture was attended by a diverse audience including representatives from Singapore government bodies, corporate partners, and nonprofit organizations; as well as educators and students, and other members of the SUTD community. With the world's population expected to exceed 9.5 billion by 2050, Hockfield noted that we face an unprecedented challenge to sustainably provide sufficient food, water, energy, and health care. “Convergence,” or the blending of insights and discoveries from the life sciences engineering,...