ESF-NSF Workshop on the Applications of Adaptive Structures and Materials to Sustainable Energy and the Built Environment; held Paris, FR, October 15-17, 2008

目前的事态突出表明，世界各国需要发展可持续能源，并更有效地利用所有能源。所需的进展是如此之大，以至于不能以一切照旧的方式实现--它们将需要在全球、国家和地方各级做出重大承诺。这是我们这个时代的必然要求。有必要量化问题和潜在的解决方案，并广泛传播调查结果。为了解决这些问题，需要部署可能做出贡献的所有技术社区的成员。适应性结构和材料社区就是其中之一。在过去的30年里，这个社区的成员解决了传感器、多功能结构、形状控制和变形、振动隔离和控制、结构健康监测、能量收集和其他领域的挑战。宾夕法尼亚州立大学协调美国参加由欧洲科学基金会和美国国家科学基金会联合主办的国际科学研讨会。讲习班的主要目的是通过让研究人员面对广泛能源领域的当前挑战，推动适应性结构科学和技术的新进展。欧洲代表团由ESF S3T(智能结构系统技术)方案成员以及特定主题的特邀演讲者组成。美国代表团与美国国家科学基金会结构材料和力学项目办公室进行了协调。必要时给予特别考虑，以确保邀请通常在科学和工程领域任职人数较少的团体的成员。

Current events highlight the need for the nations of the world to develop sustainable energy resources, and to use all energy resources more efficiently. The required advances are of such a scale that they cannot be realized in a business-as-usual approach -- they will require major commitments at the global, national, and local levels alike. This is an imperative of our times. There is a need to quantify the issues and potential solutions, and to communicate the findings broadly. To address the issues, there is a need to deploy members of all technical communities that could potentially contribute. The adaptive structures and materials community is one of these. Over the last 30 years, members of this community have addressed challenges in transducers, multifunctional structures, shape control and morphing, vibration isolation and control, structural health monitoring, energy harvesting, and other areas. It is time for them to turn to the problems of energy.The Pennsylvania State University coordinated U.S. participation in an international scientific workshop sponsored jointly by the European Science Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation. The primary objective of the workshop was to spur new advances in the science and technology of adaptive structures by exposing researchers to current challenges in the broad field of energy. The European delegation consisted of members of the ESF S3T (Smart Structural Systems Technology) Programme plus invited speakers for specific topics. The U.S. delegation was coordinated with the NSF program office for Structural Materials and Mechanics. Special consideration was given as needed to ensure that members of groups typically underrepresented in science and engineering were invited.