Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering Launches Leadership Speaker Series by Hosting Westinghouse Electric Company CEO Aris Candris

February 8, 2010

Contact: Chriss Swaney
Carnegie Mellon University
412.268.5776

Due to the recent extreme weather, the Leadership Speaker Series event featuring Westinghouse CEO Aris Candris has been postponed. Check back soon for updates, including the new date for the event.


PITTSBURGH-Carnegie Mellon University's highly ranked College of Engineering launches a new Leadership Speaker Series Feb. 12 by hosting Westinghouse Electric Company CEO Aris Candris, who will discuss the role of nuclear power in today's energy-constrained world at 4:45 p.m. in Porter Hall 100. The talk is open to the public.

           
Pradeep K. Khosla, the Philip and Marsha Dowd University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and dean of Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering, said the new speaker series will serve as a catalyst for bringing together international leaders to campus to discuss critical issues from energy and the environment to public policy and cybersecurity.

           
"We are both honored and pleased to kick off this dynamic speaker series with a world-renowned energy expert and a Carnegie Mellon engineering alum," Khosla said.

           
Candris, who received a master's degree in 1974 and a Ph.D. in 1978, both in nuclear engineering from Carnegie Mellon, became president and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company on July 1, 2008. Prior to this appointment, Candris served as a senior vice president of Nuclear Fuel, providing fuel fabrication, components and services to nuclear power plants worldwide.

           
"With the need to meet the growing demand for energy, the world is looking to sources that don't emit greenhouse gases," said Candris, who began his Westinghouse career in the former Advanced Reactor Division. "Nuclear energy is experiencing a resurgence because it provides clean, safe and reliable energy, and it's quite attractive economically when compared to other sources of clean energy."

           
At present, the 104 nuclear reactors in operation in 31 states provide only 20 percent of the nation's electricity. But they are responsible for 70 percent of the power from pollution-free sources, including wind, solar and hydroelectric dams.

           
In addition to discussing the nuclear renaissance worldwide, Candris also will talk about the factors that are causing the growing need for energy and a comparison of yesterday's and today's nuclear industry. He will be joined in the discussion by a panel of Carnegie Mellon energy experts, moderated by Khosla, a distinguished member of the National Academy of Engineering. 

           
Carnegie Mellon panel members will include: Nadine Aubry, head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences; Andrew J. Gellman, head of the Chemical Engineering Department and research director of a new consortium created to support the research program of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratory system; and M. Granger Morgan, the Thomas Lord University Professor of Engineering, a member of the National Academy of  Science, and head of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy.