Buffett First Friday Lunch: The Global Urban Underground

The Global Urban Underground: A Mine of Heat

Join the Roberta Buffett Institute for a faculty research lunchtime talk series on the first Friday of every month. Faculty members give a half-hour talk intended for a broad, multidisciplinary audience of Northwestern students, faculty, and staff, followed by a conversational Q&A. Lunch is provided beginning at 12:15 p.m.

March's Buffett First Friday Lunch will feature Alessandro F. Rotta Loria, Director of the Subsurface Opportunities and Innovations Laboratory (SOIL) and Louis Berger Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering.

In this talk, Professor Rotta Loria will reveal a stark reality that has unfolded over centuries beneath our cities—temperatures surpassing even the highest ever recorded in Death Valley. He will explore the challenges that these extreme conditions pose to civil infrastructure, public health, and the environment around the world, while also demonstrating how the urban underground represents a vast, untapped source of heat that can be harnessed to power our cities.

Please note that 720 University Place is not an ADA-accessible space. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, but not all buildings and venues have been updated.

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