IGERT: Bioresource-based Energy for Sustainable Societies

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award supports the development of a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate education and research program in Bioresource-based Energy for Sustainable Societies. This program will provide doctoral students in engineering and forest resources with the tools and insights required to balance the technological, environmental, and social dimensions of a sustainable energy economy. The underlying research theme is the development and field testing of new life cycle assessment (LCA) tools to forecast the impact of research innovations on the sustainability of a commercialized bio-energy product. Forest resource-based energy products will be emphasized because forests are important economic and cultural drivers for our program partners at the Yakama Nation and the Quinault Indian Nation. IGERT trainees will use the new LCA methods to forecast the sustainability implications of innovations from their dissertation research. A year-long tailored curriculum will expose Ph.D. student participants to forest management, energy and environmental issues, and Native American philosophies. In their second year, each doctoral student cohort will design a sustainable energy and resource management process or product that addresses development needs in the Native American partner communities. Students will visit the reservations to discuss energy development issues with community stakeholders, after which they will evaluate technical and resource management options, and perform LCA to identify a sustainable design that address community needs. Students will then use these experiences to teach an undergraduate design course that incorporates realistic economic, environmental, and cultural constraints. IGERT trainees will continue to participate in technology review panels to provide feedback on the designs generated by subsequent doctoral cohorts. This research and educational program will be coupled with a recruitment and retention effort to enhance the doctoral participation of underrepresented groups, especially Native Americans/Native Alaskans, in engineering and forest resource studies. 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.