Arun Majumdar, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is a Senior Fellow of Stanford University’s  Precourt Institute for Energy, will present The Woodruff School's Annual Distinguished Lecture Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. in the GTMI Auditorium. Prior to joining Stanford, Dr. Majumdar was the Vice President for Energy at Google, where he created several energy technology initiatives and advised the company on its broader energy strategy. In October 2009, he was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to become the Founding Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), where he served until June 2012. This talk will discuss a variety research opportunities and challenges in stationary power and transportation systems that could create such technological options and enable the transition of our energy economy to a sustainable one.  Technology is necessary, but not sufficient. The talk will also briefly discuss options for public policy to create conditions for such technological options to be utilized.