NSF Sustainability Linkages and EPSCoR
Dr. Tim KilleenNSF EPSCoRProject Directors’ and Project Administrators’ MeetingMay 2012
Expanding EPSCoR Connections to NSF Priorities
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Many EPSCOR Programs focus on Sustainability EPSCOR programs can harness this energy to:
◦ Address problems of societal relevance◦ Respond to interesting questions at interfaces of
disciplines ◦ Address multi-jurisdictional issues (e.g., water)◦ Educate the next generation of scientists, engineers,
educators
EPSCOR – Avenues to Explore Building networks across
institutions Bringing researchers togetherTranscending state linesNSF sustainability programs may provide
ideas, models, inspiration. Examples covered – SEES, IGERT, PIRE
Meeting Sustainability Challenges…
Environment
Energy
Economics
Education
Requires multi-faceted approaches and research at the nexus of societal needs and behavior, environmental impact, and economic demands
SCIENCE ENGINEERING AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY (SEES)
NSF’s Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) Portfolio Mission: to advance science, engineering, and education to inform the societal actions needed for environmental and economic sustainability and sustainable human well-being
SEES Overview Established in Fiscal Year 2010Portfolio of existing and new
programsAll NSF Directorates and Offices
involvedPartnerships are key
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SEES Goals
1. Interdisciplinary research and education…towards global sustainability
2. Link projects and partners and add new participants to sustainability endeavors
3. Develop the workforce…to address…sustainability. 8
SEES CharacteristicsSystems Thinking holistic approaches that link human, built
and natural systems, and reach across disciplines
Partnerships & Networks
connect intellectually and spatially disparate communities, institutions and organizations.
Workforce & Education development and education of new researchers and students on critical aspects and issues of sustainability.
SEES Themes Natural SystemsHuman SystemsBuilt SystemsEnergy and Materials
Adaptation and Resilience
SEES Programs: FY10 –11 Dimensions of Biodiversity
NSF China co-funder Water Sustainability and Climate
USDA co-funder Ocean Acidification Regional and Decadal Earth
System ModelingDept. of Energy and USDA co-
funders Climate Change Education Research Coordination Networks Dynamics of Coupled Natural-
Human systems~ $158M 2-year
investment11
FY 2012 SEES ActivitiesSustainability Research NetworksSustainable Energy PathwaysSEES FellowsExclusive SEES focus in Partnerships for
International Research and Education (PIRE) Arctic regions (“ArcSEES” program)
Estimated $157M NSF investment
Future SEES Focus AreasHazards, Vulnerability, and Resilience
Coastal Zone Systems Information Science and Engineering
Chemistry, Materials, Engineering
FY13 Budget Request: $202.5M
NSF NETWORKS, WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION, AND WATER SUSTAINABILITY EXAMPLES
• Sustainability science, engineering, and education as an integrative systems approach• Investigators coordinate across disciplinary, organizational, geographical boundaries• Nurtures a open communications and a sense
of community among early career scientists• Encourages diverse stakeholder participation• FY 11 -- 11 awards, ~$8M total. • Water Diplomacy• Urban Sustainability• Women – Developing Countries
Research Coordination Networks
Marcellus Shale Research Network • Assembling data from watershed associations, governments, and scientists to further knowledge on effect of hydrofracking on groundwater • Database will be used to establish background concentrations of chemicals, and to assess changes.• Results can help community groups evaluate potential public health risks.
• Natural scientists, social scientists and legal scholars coordinating interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, and international research on the Colorado River Delta.
• Research activities focus on how natural and human-caused variation in water supply affects the biotas and landscapes of the Colorado River Delta in the United States and Mexico.
Colorado River Delta Research Coordination Network
Sustainability Research NetworksBeyond RCN-SEES
◦ larger, nationally important sustainability themes◦ Can fund gaps or new essential research for
comprehensive thematic coverage.◦ Can enhance existing research networks
Encouraged to develop links to other networks, government, and private sector, nationally and internationally
Multidisciplinary education and training are crucial components
Research on how Earth's water system is linked to climate change, land use, ecosystems, the built environment
Enable a new interdisciplinary paradigm in water research
Planning workshops, observatory/modeling and data synthesis
Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC)
Synthesis of behavioral and ecohydrologic models for dryland rivers
Climate change, land use, and urbanization in a Midwestern agricultural landscape
Scott
Sim
pson
Bryc
e Ri
chet
er
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT)Educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers by
building on disciplinary knowledge with interdisciplinary training.
260 awards to over 110 lead universities in 43 states, DC, and PR (Since 1998)
Funding for approximately 5,800 graduate students.
Credit: Ron Paik, Hawaii IGERT
Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE)
Goals-- To facilitate development of a diverse, globally engaged US science and engineering workforce.-- To promote opportunities where international collaboration can enable advances that could not occur otherwise.-- To engage and share resources and infrastructure within and across institutions to build international partnerships.FY2012 solicitations focuses solely on SEES topicsEncourages research on global sustainability
including climate change, clean energy, food security, biodiversity, and communication networks.
Proposals should address linkages across natural social and/or built environments
EPSCOR Programs Can Play a Vital Role in Sustainability endeavors
A sustainable world is one in which human needs are met without harm to the environment, and without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
www.nsf.gov/sees
Credit: Phillip Dickens, University of MaineCredit: Qiquan Qiao, South Dakota State UniversityCredit: Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Opportunity Space
Renewable Energy
Sustainability literacy
Ice sheet dynamics
Regional climate change
Socio-economic factors
Human , natural system interactions
Big Data Behavioral changes
Workforce needs
Possible Examples of Enhanced Leadership Roles in Sustainability
Graduate StudentsInternational ScienceCyberinfrastructure and Big DataEarly-career faculty networksCommunication vehicles
… others…
Graduate StudentsEvery year, NSF supports 2,000
Graduate Student Research FellowsCreate an EPSCoR cohort?Establish peer mentoring networks and
reporting approaches (AAAS)Communicate and model ethical
behavior and inculcate scientific integrity
Bill of Rights for graduate studentsTrack and report longitudinal outcomes?
International Science
International PartnershipsWho is Collaborating with Who?
What about the developing world?
• Most of Africa’s collaboration is with G20 countries, but South-South collaboration is a growing trend.
• Egypt and Sudan - important bridges
• Kenya and South Africa - important hubs
Vital Statistics – Unstoppable Trends
Spent on Research and Development Numbers of researchers
Number of publications
US $ % GDP2007 1145 B 1.7 7.1 M 1.6 M2002 790 B 1.7 4.7 M 1.1 M
Since the beginning of the 21st Century, global spend has almost doubled
US, Japan, Europe, Australasia all increased spending by roughly one-third
China, India and Brazil more than doubled expenditure Architecture of world science undergoing transformation, with
global networks, mostly self-organized (exceptions, human genome, CERN, etc.)
US still leads the world, with 20% of world authorship US, Japan, UK Germany, and France together command 59% China now second highest producer India has displaced Russia in top ten US has lost roughly one-fifth of its share in the past ten years
Some Major Global Societal Issues(A. Leshner: Building a Global Science Community, Nov 2011)SustainabilityRenewable energy Information and communications technologyUniversal access to educationPoverty and economic opportunityTechnology-based manufacturing and jobs Intellectual property rightsTerrorism and securityDisastersScience and Technology Capacity-BuildingVaccines and medical therapiesQuality and accessibility of Health Care
Internationally Collaborative Papers (2008)
United States (2008)
ChinaJapan
FranceGermanyUK
Switzerland
Source: Royal Society
United States (1996)
China1996
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
Num
ber o
f Col
labo
rativ
e Pa
pers
Collaborative Papers as a proportion of national output 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
International Opportunities Fund
Single call for proposals – April 2012First round Thematic Foci:
Coastal Vulnerability & Freshwater Security (>$30M)
Joint with G8 Heads of Research Councils Commitment from 11 countries
Science and Society Transformed by Data
Sustainability Science and Engineering ◦ Data- and compute-intensive◦ Integrative, multi-scale
Multi-disciplinary Collaborations To Address Complexity◦ Individuals, groups,
communities Sea of Data
◦ Age of Observation◦ Distributed, central
repositories, sensor- driven, diverse
◦ Open access and data citation
SEES Fellows -- Workforce Development Interdisciplinary,
research partnerships, professional development
>180 competitive proposals, 20 awards, ~$9M, 10 new grads, 6 PhDs since 2010. (pending final approvals)
Topics of recommended support
Atmospheric water transport Soil sustainability Food security Shale-gas resources Biodiversity Wastewater treatment Energy infrastructure Resilience of coastal ecosystems Biogeochemical cycling Agricultural greenhouse gas
emissions Biological control agents Impacts of urbanization Natural resource management
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Energy from
the Earth
Communications
Extreme Events
Thrivabilityand Sustain
LifeRAPID Response to
Hazards
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Thanks