IGERT: Sustainability Initiative in Engineering

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional graduate training program of education and research in sustainable engineering. The intellectual merit and purpose of the program is to provide doctoral students in engineering with the training needed to conduct sustainable design, with specific focus on greening the built environment and the sustainable use of water. The world contains finite resources and an increasing population, and hence tomorrow's engineers must learn to incorporate sustainability, as well as performance and price, as constraints in the design rubric. Research focus areas have been chosen because solutions to problems in these areas require a broad range of disciplines, because projects inherent to these areas are fundamental and long-term, and because technology advances in these areas will benefit quality of life. A curriculum for engineering students interested in sustainability has been created that emphasizes team-based design and truly crosses departmental lines. The program culminates in a two-semester capstone sustainable design course. Research covers the creation of materials that employ less waste and require less maintenance, the design of control systems that reduce energy input to buildings, and the assessment of the sustainability of new technology. Strategies to eliminate recalcitrant pollution and to purify water in more benign ways are also being investigated. Broader impacts of the proposal include not only the application of the results of the research but also international activities and broadening participation. Sustainability is a global issue, and hence the project is partnering with the University at Campinas in Sao Paulo, Brazil to provide international research rotations for all IGERT graduate students. Partnerships with the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and the University of Texas-El Paso will broaden participation in the program. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.