WORKSHOP: Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals; Rolla, MO; May 2020

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In 2018, the Department of the Interior, in response to a Presidential Executive Order, listed 35 critical minerals whose unreliable supply poses risks to our nation's economy and defense. Subsequently, on June 4, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the report "A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals" that outlines several Calls to Action that, if executed, will reduce the vulnerability of the United States to critical mineral supply disruptions. This grant is in support of an interdisciplinary national two-day workshop that will bring together stakeholders from academia, industry, and government to comprehensively address these calls. Themed topical sessions will discuss the resilient supply of critical minerals from cross-disciplinary, convergent perspectives, including mining engineering, extractive metallurgy, separations, policy, and others. National leaders in their respective fields will give keynote presentations, followed by TED-type talks, panel discussions, and breakout sessions. The breakout sessions will be structured for interdisciplinary engagement, to provide a convergent perspective that includes economic, technical, social, and policy aspects. Research road maps will be created that reflect the cross-disciplinary nature of approaches required to enhance supply resilience. The workshop findings will be summarized and disseminated via a publically-available workshop report. The workshop will be held at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri, on May 27-28, 2020, and will be followed by an optional field trip on May 29, 2019 that will highlight the critical mineral potential of the Midwestern USA. The workshop will help nurture a budding national community with expertise in critical mineral supply resilience, spanning academia, industry, and government. Travel grants, for students and early-career researchers in particular, will help build a community that spans generations and will enhance the workshop's lasting impact. The development of a healthy and active critical mineral community is vital to the national economy and security because the United States is currently import-reliant for 31 of the 35 commodities on the critical minerals list. This workshop will generate insights into how U.S. universities can meet the projected future demands for the nation's critical minerals workforce, particularly in rural areas which are most likely to contain undiscovered resources. Therefore, the workshop will provide a basis for helping rural workforce development.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.