Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Cyber-Enabled Public Services to Achieve Healthy Communities in America's Changing City Regions

工程研究中心规划奖助金竞赛是作为ERC计划的试点征集活动进行的。计划拨款并不是整个ERC竞赛的一部分，而是旨在建立团队之间的能力，以规划汇聚的、中心规模的工程研究。这项提议的重点是发展一个工程研究中心，以促进当地分布的“智能”公共服务基础设施，包括水、交通、电力和食品(位于使用点或附近的单位)。这些本地化公共服务基础设施(分布式系统)的发展将使自动化成为可能，从而提高效率。这些新的分布式系统将与现有的集中式(服务于大城市地区的单个单元)系统交互，以创建混合系统。聪明？功能包括添加传感器和控制器来连接这些系统，使它们以更高效的方式运行。计划中的中心将考虑这样一个事实，即美国的大部分公共服务基础设施目前需要更换。我们渴望创造和展示更灵活、更高效、更安全、更响应依赖它们的人的需求的新方法和最先进的技术。此外，我们拟建的中心的核心是围绕公共服务基础设施的选择、管理和使用，对治理、管理、融资、决策和公共部门参与实施新的方法。如果我们的规划活动成功，该中心将改变公共部门基础设施的面貌，提高资源利用效率；增加公众对公共服务基础设施的理解和参与；并创建教育方法，培养新一代工程师、经理、科学家、公共服务代表和积极参与的公民。这笔赠款的目的是促进围绕再生、恢复和弹性社区基础设施系统(R3CIS)的工程研究中心概念的更深层次规划。拟建中心的目标是加快网络分布式技术的创新、开发和采用。此外，拟议的中心旨在支持那些改造再生和恢复性基础设施系统的机构(如政府、管理和金融机构)，以提高公众和地球健康的福祉。拟议的中心概念特别关注支持公共部门(水、电、机动性、食品)的新型基础设施系统。这一重点将使公共部门基础设施规划从以服务为导向转向以资源管理为导向。这一转变将提高效率，增强复原力，恢复城市地区，并改善体制结构，促进资源的公平分配，以实现健康的社区。此外，它将决策科学方法放在首位，以确保工作以利益攸关方为重点，并以科学为基础，以满足社区的需求。在准备围绕这一概念编写ERC建议书时，这项规划赠款侧重于几项平行活动：为两个试验床(底特律大都市区和落基山前缘山脉)创建并吸引利益相关者委员会和科学顾问委员会；定义综合公共服务基础设施技术清单，并在规划年完善该清单并确定该清单的优先顺序；为我们的中心概念制定战略计划，并作为这一努力的一部分，创建路线图进程，在其中我们列出拟建中心头两年的细节。计划每年重新审查路线图进程，以确定未来两年的优先事项，重点是将想法付诸实践；确定来自试验床社区的社区伙伴，并与他们密切合作，这些伙伴在国家一级工作，倡导社区。我们希望从一开始就吸引来自试验台地点的社区成员，并确保他们参与中心愿景；确定强调学术与实践相结合的教育和外联元素，并为他们的发展制定计划，这将是未来中心提案的一部分；与外国合作伙伴共同培育和进一步制定核心计划。在本规划年，这些活动将使我们的团队能够开发一个集成的系统研究愿景、试验床的详细计划和合作伙伴关系、劳动力发展计划、创新生态系统的方法，并确定更多的合作者和最多一个可以填补专业知识缺口的机构。拟建中心的更广泛影响是，它最终将提高公众的科学素养和公众对科学技术的参与。我们的方法将加强包括学术界、工业界和其他团体在内的多方利益相关者伙伴关系。使用以利益相关者为中心的模式，我们相信我们的工作将改善社会中个人的福祉。重要的是，这一新方法将增强不同人群之间的公平，并有助于减少在公共部门基础设施服务的放置、部署、使用和管理方面的环境不公平。对关键公共部门基础设施的改善将改善国家安全，提高美国的经济竞争力。因此，规划拨款将为能够实现所有这些更广泛的影响要素创建框架。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.This proposal is focused around developing an Engineering Research Center to advance "smart" public service infrastructure, including water, mobility, power and food, that is locally distributed (units located at or near point of use). The development of these localized public service infrastructure (distributed systems) will enable automation for improved efficiency. These new distributed systems will interact with existing centralized (a single unit serving a large metropolitan area) systems to create hybrid systems. The ?smart? feature involves adding sensors and controls to connect these systems, making them operate in a more efficient manner. The planned Center will consider the fact that much of the U.S. public service infrastructure is currently in need of replacement. We aspire to both create and demonstrate new methods and state-of-the-art technologies that are more flexible, efficient, secure and responsive to the needs of those who rely upon them. Furthermore, a centerpiece of our proposed Center is to implement new approaches to governance, management, financing, decision-making and public sector engagement around the selection, management and use of public service infrastructure. If our planning activities are successful, this Center will transform the landscape of public sector infrastructure toward more efficient resource utilization; increased public understanding of and engagement with public service infrastructure; and create educational approaches that will produce a new generation of engineers, managers, scientists, public service representatives and engaged citizens. The purpose of this grant is to facilitate deeper planning for an Engineering Research Center concept around Regenerative, Restorative and Resilient Community Infrastructure Systems (R3CIS). The proposed Center's goal is to accelerate innovation, development and adoption of cyber-enabled distributed technologies. Additionally, the proposed Center aims to support institutions (such as government, management, and financial) that transform regenerative and restorative infrastructure systems so that it enhances the well-being of public and planetary health. The proposed Center concept specifically focuses on novel infrastructure systems that support the public-sector (water, power, mobility, food). This focus will shift public sector infrastructure planning from being service-oriented to resource management-oriented. This shift will enhance efficiency, increase resilience, restore city regions, and improve the institutional structures that facilitate the equitable distribution of resources to achieve healthy communities. Further, it puts decision science methodologies up front to ensure the work is stakeholder-focused and science-based to meet the needs of communities. In preparing to write an ERC proposal around this concept, this planning grant focuses on several parallel activities: create and engage a stakeholder commission for two test-beds (Detroit Metropolitan Area and Rocky Mountain Front Range) and a science advisory board; define a list of integrated public service infrastructure technologies and refine and prioritize that list during the planning year; develop a strategic plan for our Center concept and, as part of that effort, create a road-mapping process in which we lay out details of the first two years of the proposed Center. The road-mapping process is designed to be revisited annually to identify priorities for the coming two years, with an emphasis of putting ideas into practice; identify and work closely with those community partners from testbed communities and who work at the national level advocating for communities. We want to engage community members from the testbed locations from the start and ensure their participation in Center visioning; identify the education and outreach elements that emphasize the integration between academia and practice and create the plan for their development that will be part of a future Center proposal; nurture and further develop core plans with foreign partners. Together, these activities during this planning year will allow our team to develop an integrated system of systems research vision, detailed plans and partnerships for testbeds, a workforce development plan, methodologies for the innovation ecosystem, and identify additional collaborators and up to one additional institution that can fill expertise gaps. The broader impact of the proposed Center is that it will ultimately increase public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology. Our methods will enhance multi-stakeholder partnerships that include academia, industry and other groups. Using a stakeholder-centered model, we believe our work will improve the well-being of individuals in society. Importantly, this novel approach will allow for enhanced equity across diverse populations and help to reduce environmental injustices in the placement, deployment, use and management of public-sector infrastructure services. The improvements made to critical public-sector infrastructure will improve national security and increase the economic competitiveness of the U.S. Therefore, the planning grant will create the framework for being able to achieve all these broader impact elements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.