Enhancing Resiliency and Increasing Equity in the Transition to a Sustainable Energy Future

NRT：在向可持续能源未来的过渡中增强韧性和增加公平性如果我们要避免有害的气候变化影响，就必须从根本上改变我们的能源系统，从依赖化石燃料转向由风能和太阳能等可再生能源供应的可持续和有弹性的系统。要成功实现这一过渡，需要电力部门的创新技术和政策解决方案。这些解决办法必须重新设想电力部门，使其在对社会的惠益和影响方面同时是公平的，并对未来气候趋势和能源需求的不确定性具有弹性。这项授予马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的国家科学基金会研究培训(NRT)奖将培养研究生硕士和博士生，以解决向低碳未来过渡过程中的综合技术、经济和社会挑战。该项目预计将培训125名硕士和博士生，其中包括29名资助的实习生，来自土木工程、工业、电气和机械工程、计算机科学、经济学、环境保护、地球科学和政治学。这些学生将在电力技术、能源经济和政策、气候科学和社会公平的交叉点进行研究。他们将产生弹性和股权驱动的创新，同时发展有效的领导和沟通技能，非常适合吸引利益相关者。通过与能源转型第一线的利益相关者建立战略伙伴关系，该计划将发展一个协作社区，共同努力寻找具有本地到全球规模效益的最佳能源解决方案。该计划的关键目标是将公平和弹性的概念整合到能源转型的研究和培训中。该计划将促进对技术和政策如何影响社区以及气候不确定性如何需要有弹性的能源系统解决方案的综合理解。这反过来又会影响研究目标。我们将使用电力市场模拟器将来自不同教育和社会经济背景的学生聚集在一起。受训者将确定技术和政策如何结合起来影响公平；通过角色扮演，他们将培养对广泛视角的理解和同理心。这些学生将接受关于公共参与的培训，并将制作活动和交流平台，以加强研究人员、政策制定者、实践者和社区领导人之间的沟通。研究将侧重于以公平和对气候变化具有弹性的方式平衡电力供需的强有力的解决方案。该项目将开发多个时间尺度上的能源需求和供应的概率估计集合，制定评估公平影响的指标，并使用气候和潮流模型为强有力的决策提供信息。该项目将在目前缺乏足够知识的领域产生有影响力的能源研究成果，同时为学员提供适用于美国及其他地区的扩展跨学科工具包，以及实现变革的长期竞争优势。NSF研究培训(NRT)计划旨在鼓励为STEM研究生教育培训开发和实施大胆的、潜在的变革性新模式。该计划致力于通过创新的、基于证据的、与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致的综合实习生模式，在高度优先的跨学科或趋同研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。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。

NRT: Enhancing Resiliency and Increasing Equity in the Transition to a Sustainable Energy FutureA fundamental transformation of our energy system from dependence on fossil fuels to a sustainable and resilient system supplied by renewable sources such as wind and solar is necessary if we are to avoid harmful climate change impacts. To successfully achieve this transition requires innovative technology and policy solutions in the electricity sector. These solutions must reimagine the electricity sector in a way that is simultaneously equitable in the benefits and impacts to society as well as resilient to uncertainty in future climate trends and energy demands. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of Massachusetts Amherst will train graduate master’s and doctoral students to solve the integrated technological, economic, and societal challenges in the transition to a low carbon future. The project anticipates training 125 MS and PhD students, including 29 funded trainees, from Civil, Industrial, Electrical & Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Economics, Environmental Conservation, Geosciences, and Political Science. The students will conduct research at the intersection of electricity technology, energy economics and policy, climate science, and social equity. They will produce resilient and equity-driven innovations, while developing effective leadership and communication skills ideally suited to engaging stakeholders. Through strategic partnerships with stakeholders at the front lines of the energy transition, the program will develop a collaborative community, working together to find optimal energy solutions with local to global-scale benefits.The key goal of the program is to integrate concepts of equity and resiliency into research and training on the energy transition. The program will foster an integrated understanding of how technology and policies impact communities and how climate uncertainty necessitates resilient energy system solutions. This in turn will impact research goals. We will use an electricity market simulator to bring students from diverse educational and socio-economic backgrounds together. Trainees will identify how technology and policy combine to impact equity; and through role-play they will develop understanding and empathy for a wide range of perspectives. The students will receive training on public engagement and will produce events and communication platforms that will enhance communication between researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and community leaders. Research will focus on robust solutions to balancing the supply and demand of electricity in a way that is equitable and resilient to climate change. The project will develop ensembles of probabilistic estimates of energy demand and supply across multiple time scales, develop metrics to evaluate equity impacts, and use climate and power flow models to inform robust decision-making. The project will produce impactful energy research outcomes where adequate knowledge is currently lacking, while providing the trainees with an expanded interdisciplinary tool kit applicable to regions across the US and beyond, and a long- term competitive advantage to effect change.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.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.