engineering

Richard S. Potember

Richard S. Potember is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard S. Potember rather than just read about it. In short: Richard S. Potember is an American scientist and inventor.

Key takeaways

Richard S. Potember belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard S. Potember to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard S. Potember from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard S. Potember is an American scientist and inventor. He is currently a principal systems engineer at MITRE. Prior to this he was a program manager in the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He has been an instructor at the Whiting School of Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University since 1987. He was a member of the principal professional staff at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, from 1981 to 2015. He was an adjunct professor at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies from 1995 to 1998.

Education Potember was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed his B.S. in chemistry from Merrimack College in 1975 and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in chemistry in 1979, where his adviser was Dwaine O. Cowan. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in 1980. He received an M.S. in technical management from the Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University in 1986.

Research Potember was first known for his groundbreaking work in molecular electronics. He invented the first two-terminal molecular non-volatile memory or memristor as well as an optical disc technology that can store multiple bits of information at one location. He also co-invented a sol-gel processed switchable vanadium(IV) oxide thin film coating for energy conservation applications. Potember's recent achievements have focused on biotechnology and biomedical engineering. He performed pioneering work that demonstrated individual living nerve cells can be grown into controlled geometric patterns on substrates and these neurons can form true synaptic connections. that can be used to destroy viruses, bacteria and spores real-time in ventilated air, and in heating or air conditioning systems. Potember has also conducted research and development in the areas of time-of-flight mass spectrometry and solid propellants.

Personal life Potember has two sons and lives with his wife in Maryland.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard S. Potember

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard S. Potember claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard S. Potember before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard S. Potember ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard S. Potember

In research: Richard S. Potember appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard S. Potember in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard S. Potember is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century American inventors, 21st-century American businesspeople, American biomedical engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard S. Potember outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard S. Potember in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard S. Potember means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Richard S. Potember out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard S. Potember in simple terms?

Richard S. Potember is an American scientist and inventor.

Why does Richard S. Potember matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard S. Potember?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard S. Potember.