Sigma Xi Lecture Featuring Diandra Leslie-Pelecky

Abstract

Physicist Diandra Leslie-Pelecky will deliver the Sigma Xi lecture: “The Science of Speed: Faster, Stronger, and Safer” from 3:30-5 pm on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, in Life Sciences, Room 111. All are welcome. Leslie-Pelecky is the director of the West Virginia Nano Initiative and professor of physics at West Virginia University.

After watching a NASCAR crash on TV, she became interested in the science of speed. To learn more, she worked in the lab and on the racetrack, speeding around the Texas Motor Speedway and talking to mechanical engineers, aerodynamicists, chemical engineers, and physicists to learn more.

The result was a book, The Physics of NASCAR, and a blog, buildingspeed.org, in which she explains the math and science behind what happens in motorsports.

Sigma Xi, a scientific research society, is a non-profit group of nearly 75,000 scientists and engineers who have been elected to the Society because of their research achievements or potential.

Biography

Diandra Leslie-Pelecky earned undergraduate degrees in physics and philosophy from the University of North Texas and a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Michigan State University. After fourteen years at the University of Nebraska, she recently became Director of the West Virginia Nano Initiative and Professor of Physics at West Virginia University. There, her research seeks new ways to apply magnetic nanoparticles to make chemotherapy more efficient and decrease the side effects. Her passion for making science understandable and relevant to the average person brought her to a second laboratory: the racetrack. The fact is that you can't win races without getting the math and science right. Her book, The Physics of NASCAR, was excerpted by TIME magazine and her work has been featured in everything from the New York Times to Sporting News magazine. She blogs at www.buildingspeed.org, explaining the math and science behind current events in motorsports.