Structural Engineer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

The presentation by Nerma Caluk traces a path from early beginnings in Bosnia & Herzegovina to structural engineering work across the United States, including research at the interaction of terrestrial and space-oriented design. Through select academic and professional projects, it highlights how strong foundations, adaptability, and curiosity can shape the next generation of builders and innovators, both at home and abroad.

Associate Professor, Head of Electromagnetic Systems, DTU Space Technical University of Denmark

Fundamentally speaking, electromagnetics is the science on phenomena caused by electric charges. Since all matter is composed of electric charges, we basically live in an electromagnetic world where everything we experience, with exception of gravity, is electromagnetic in origin. Electromagnetics is also the scientific foundation of all electro-technology, thereby making our modern society truly rest on its shoulders in a multitude of ways. In this talk, the very basics of fields and waves will be addressed, and will be put in the context of modern applications that continue to shape of our lives and society as a whole. Own research examples will be included to this end, and will elaborate on a) artificial materials and metasurfaces, b) super-directive antennas and particle-based scatterers, and c) the very important field of high-accuracy antenna measurements, while in all cases stressing on the combination of theoretical, numerical, and experimental efforts. The importance of these examples for next-G systems within communication, sensing (weather and climate monitoring), defense, but also biomedicine will be touched upon. To address the diverse audience at the FLS 2025, a brief introduction will be given to my host university, department, and research division, including our state-of-the-art test facilities such as the world-renowned DTU – ESA (European Space Agency) Antenna Test Facility. Moreover, to help the prospective students navigate towards this fascinating research field of utmost societal importance, courses, and content of relevance will be emphasized during the talk.

Associate Professor & RAEng Senior Research Fellow at UCL; Founder/CTO at Intrinsic Semiconductor Technologies

Artificial intelligence is now capable of extraordinary things. It can predict the structures of nearly every known protein, assist in medical discovery, and reshape entire industries. But this progress hides a deeper problem. Intelligence, at scale, consumes energy, and as AI systems grow, their demand for electricity is rising faster than our current computing paradigm can sustainably support. Much of today’s discussion focuses on better algorithms or more powerful machines. But energy efficiency is ultimately not an algorithmic problem; it is a physical one. The limits we are now encountering are set by how information is stored, moved, and processed at the level of devices and materials. If rapid progress of AI is to remain viable in the long term, it must be built from the bottom up, starting with the physics of computation itself. By rethinking hardware through advances in materials and nanoelectronics, and by bringing memory and computation together in brain-inspired architectures, we open a path toward intelligent systems that are not only more powerful, but fundamentally more sustainable.