NSF-NSFC Joint Environmental Sustainability Competition:

Current Round and Related Matters

October 2015

Bruce Hamilton U.S. National Science

Foundation

Current Joint NSF-NSFC Competition

• Two Topics (posted by both NSF and NSFC):– Combustion Related to Sustainable Energy– Urban Water Sustainability

• Deadlines for Proposal Submission:

Oct. 20 (NSF), Oct. 22 (NSFC)• Duration of Grant(s): 4 years• Grant(s) Size: $500K from NSF,

3 million yuan from NSFC

Current Joint NSF-NSFC Competition (continued)

Combustion Related to Sustainable Energy Topic: Examples --

– Increased knowledge of fundamental mechanisms related to carbon (CO2) capture technologies

– Increased knowledge of fundamental mechanisms for gasification (coal, biomass, coal/biomass mixtures

– Increase understanding of fundamental combustion reaction mechanisms for pollutant emissions (e.g., particulates, NOx), with efforts focused on reduction of such emissions from combustion systems (e.g., coal, ICEs)

Current Joint NSF-NSFC Competition (continued)

• Urban Water Sustainability Topic: Examples--– Means to enable urban wastewater re-use,

including as potable water– Routes for efficient and cost-effective

capture, storage, and use of storm water– Pathways to minimizing water

consumption for all purposes– Creation of advantageous synergies in the

Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus– Drinking water safety and security

NSF Related Matters

• SRNs• ERCs• CRISP Program• Smart Cities Program• INFEWS

New NSF SRNs onUrban Sustainability

• NSF has just announced 3 new Sustainability Research Networks (SRNs) on urban sustainability

• Each SRN is funded at $12 million for 4-5 years, and involves a number of universities and other organizations

Example New NSFUrban Sustainability SRN

NSF Award #14444754

“SRN: Integrated Urban Infrastructure Solutions for Environmentally Sustainable, Healthy, and Livable Cities”

PI = Anu Ramaswami (U. Minnesota)

Example Partner Cities--

U.S.: NYC, Detroit, Minneapolis, Austin, Ft. Collins,…

Asia: Rajkot (India),…

NSF ReNUWIt ERC• ReNUWIt is an Engineering Research

Center (ERC) funded by NSF• ReNUWIt = Renewing the Nation’s

Urban Water Infrastructure • The NSF funding level is scheduled to

be $35+ million over 10 years• The focus is cities in the U.S.’s

southwest (e.g., San Francisco, Denver)

NSF CRISP Program• CRISP = Critical Resilient

Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes

• Infrastructure Examples: urban water, the electric power grid, transportation, food, communications…

• Example Project: Engineer John Crittenden’s work in cities in the U.S. (e.g., Atlanta) and China (e.g. Beijing)

Smart Cities Research and NSF

• “Smart Cities” research is an emerging area for NSF funding

• NSF is emphasizing “Cyber-Human-Physical Systems”

• “Cyber-Physical Systems” (CPS) emphasizes sensor networks feeding computerized models and actuators

• For cities, of course, people are central

INFEWS at NSF• INFEWS = Innovations at the Nexus of

Food, Energy, and Water Systems• INFEWS is another research area that is

emerging at NSF• NSF is encouraging research that:

– spans within a single project all three domains: food, energy, and water

– within a single project is interdisciplinary across at least three disciplines

Questions?