MUSES: Biocomplex Dimensions of Industrial Ecology: Decision Analysis and Sectoral Trade-Offs in the Management of Toxic Metals Used in the Electronics Industry

环境中的生物复杂性（BE）：材料使用：科学，工程和社会（MUSES）项目将建立一个跨学科框架，通过重点研究电子工业中使用的铅（Pb）等有毒金属的材料循环，发现生物复杂性和工业生态学界面中的实际可推广概念。计划的活动包括对用于制造焊料的替代金属合金的初步研究，以及工业生态学和生物复杂性的教育讲习班，以探索这些概念之间协同融合的理论基础。该教育计划将促进师生在材料科学、工程、经济学、环境科学和公共卫生方面的方法和专业知识的整合。铅被广泛认为是在公共领域广泛传播的制造产品中使用的最普遍的有毒金属之一。在微电子工业中使用铅焊料正受到严格审查。目前，无论是国家、国家还是国际层面，都没有统一的政策来规范铅的使用，也没有具体的项目来跟踪产品销售后铅的去向。随着欧盟和日本出现限制公众接触含铅产品的国际倡议，情况正在迅速发生变化。这些举措威胁到美国目前的制造业实践，并可能改变国际电子产品市场的平衡。拟议的研究将开发一个决策框架，在不同学科的多个数据集相交的条件下，预测电子工业中的有毒金属流动及其随之而来的社会影响。

This Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE) for: Materials Use: Science, Engineering, and Society (MUSES) project will establish an interdisciplinary framework for discovering practical generalizable concepts in the interface of biocomplexity and industrial ecology by focusing on a case study of the materials cycle of toxic metals such as lead (Pb) used in the electronics industry. The planned activities include preliminary research on alternative metal alloys used in the manufacture of solders, and educational workshops in industrial ecology and biocomplexity to explore the theoretical foundations of synergistic convergence between these concepts. The educational program will facilitate the integration of methods and expertise from faculty and students in materials science, engineering, economics, environmental science, and public health. Lead is widely recognized as one of the most pervasive toxic metals used in manufacturing products that are widely disseminated in the public domain. The use of Pb-solders in the microelectronics industry is undergoing intense scrutiny. There is currently no uniform policy at the state, national or international levels for regulating Pb for this purpose, and there are no specific programs for tracking the fate of Pb after the sale of products. The situation is changing rapidly as international initiatives in the European Union and Japan have emerged to limit public exposure to Pb-containing products. These initiatives threaten current manufacturing practices in the United States, and they may change the balance of international markets for electronics products. The proposed research will develop a framework for decision-making under conditions where multiple datasets in different disciplines intersect to predict toxic metal flows in the electronics industry and the consequent societal impacts.