Research

A newly launched initiative, Quantum Fundamentals, ARchitecture and Machines, will leverage Stanford and SLAC's strengths in quantum science and engineering to educate students and to connect a community of industry and other academic institutions. Q-FARM's initial priorities are postdoctoral and graduate fellowships and organizing research seminars. An education program for undergraduate and graduate students will also be developed to add to the current curriculum.

Jennifer Widom, Dean, School of Engineering, discusses how the methods and techniques in computer science have become more broadly applicable across disciplines beyond the study of hardware and software in this Women in Data Science podcast. 

Stanford researchers have developed a machine learning system to create algorithms that can help engineers analyze the properties of thousands of materials to help narrow the list of ideal materials for their application. One test application of a computer generated short-list proved twice as accurate and over a thousand times faster than the human team.

The prototype chip, currently about the diameter of a pencil eraser is built using RRAM (resistive random access memory). The Stanford team made changes to the storage capacity and endurance of RRAM. The French team at CEA-LETI was responsible for grafting the RRAM onto a silicon processor.

In this Future of Everything podcast, economist Paul Oyer, who became an Uber driver to understand the gig economy, talks about how lessons from the gig economy applies for the traditional job market and how Uber is constantly reworking its payment structure to align company and drivers' interest to reduce turnover.

Georgetown Law Journal, 2019 , challenges the view that negligence relating to how the law should account for crashes involving complex automated systems can be proven indirectly through circumstantial evidence. As the ancient negligence rule of res ipsa loquitur makes plain, sometimes an accident can “speak for itself.”

Researchers from Stanford, SLAC and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have identified the process of oxygen oxidation in lithium-rich cathodes where the atomic structure of the cathode changes affecting the cathodes performance. A better understanding and ability to control this could be important for electric cars that can drive farther between charges.

Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences and the Stanford PULSE Institute have shown they can manipulate topological materials using pulses of light. The method could be used in future quantum computers and devices that carry electric current with no loss.

Stanford researchers have documented the extreme weather-related effects of climate change such as the devastating wildfires in California and hurricanes on the east coast as well as the increasing risk rising seas pose as global temperatures rise. Researchers are also developing new technologies to help reduce carbon emissions to reach the ultimate goal of becoming less reliant on fossil fuels.

Researchers from Stanford medical school are designing digital interventions to enable the mindful commute. One of the tools to de-stress is a suite of chatting robots which work together like robot therapists. Each with a different personality- one humorous, one a positive thinker and another helps you root out the cause of your stress-drivers would interact with the chatbots during the commute to improve their mental well-being.