Samuel Cruz

The Reformed Church in America has been challenged in many different ways in the last several decades, resulting in concern and dialogue among church leaders and various constituencies. The role of office in our denomination has been a topic of much discussion in recent years. Many questions have been raised, such as, "Why do we have only four offices? Can they be expanded? What should the qualifications be?" It is my intention to analyze briefly the role of charism and office within the context of the discussions taking place in our denomination. My perspective is that of a Latino man who is committed, involved, and concerned about urban ministry. At the inception of this presentation, I would like to state clearly the theological and sociological biases that inform my understanding of charism and office. My intention is to be reflexive in my approach, in an effort to recognize that the participant's agenda, perhaps unconscious, will inevitably influence her/his under...

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have enabled promising applications in modern miniaturized devices. However, device operation may lead to substantial temperature rise and thermal stress, resulting in device failure. To address such thermal challenges, the thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) needs to be well understood. Here, we characterize the in-plane TECs of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers and demonstrate superior accuracy using a three-substrate approach. Our measurements confirm the physical range of 2D monolayer TECs and, hence, address the more than two orders of magnitude discrepancy in literature. Moreover, we identify the thermochemical electronegativity difference of compositional elements as a descriptor, enabling the fast estimation of TECs for various TMD monolayers. Our work presents a unified approach and descriptor for the thermal expansion of TMD monolayers, which can serve as a guideline toward the rational design of reliable 2D devices.