US-UK Planning Visit: Techno-Ecological Synergy for Sustainable Engineering

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1404956 (Bakshi). The goal of this effort is to develop a new approach for analyzing and designing sustainable systems that accounts for the interaction and dependence between technological and ecological systems. Existing methods tend to ignore the critical role of ecosystems in sustaining all human activities, and could lead to perverse decisions. The framework of techno-ecological synergy is proposed as a way of accounting for the demand and supply of ecosystem services at multiple spatial scales. This approach will also be useful for designing new and innovative networks of technological and ecological systems that may be economically and environmentally superior to systems designed by conventional methods. The project involves highly multidisciplinary research that connects across engineering, ecology, spatial and geographical modeling, and optimization. Collaboration with Dr. Ziv and his group in the UK will greatly enhance the research due to the complementary nature of Dr. Ziv's research and background with that of Dr. Bakshi and his group at Ohio State University. Dr. Ziv and his group will contribute their expertise in modeling the supply of specific ecosystem services in selected regions at various spatial scales. This information will be integrated with knowledge about relevant technological systems. Through visits to Dr. Ziv's group, the PI and graduate students will gain greater insight into modeling and software for ecosystem services and spatial analysis. This will allow research to progress more quickly and explore new directions that would be difficult to study without the collaboration. Both groups will develop the proposed Techo-Ecological Synergy framework together and apply it to various case studies, including the campuses of Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Leeds.The collaboration across disciplines will help in extending the reach of ecosystem service modeling into industrial supply chains and life cycles, and of tools for modeling technological systems into ecological systems. These contributions will help bridge gaps between research in ecosystem services and sustainable engineering. This will have broad implications beyond the proposed research, and across disciplines by creating unique opportunities for society to learn about the direct and indirect role and capacity of ecosystems in supporting human activities. The proposed application to assessing and enhancing campus sustainability at OSU and Leeds will permit education and outreach to minorities across disciplines and age-groups. Dissemination of the results will be enabled by courses, websites, and outreach through both campuses. The collaboration will also enhance the ability of the research team to secure funds from other US-UK programs such as the global innovation initiative. This grant is co-funded by the Western Europe Program of NSF's International Science and Engineering Section, and the Environmental Sustainability Program in the CBET Division of NSF's Engineering Directorate.