NSF Convergence Accelerator: Re-Think Nature for Innovative Solutions to Grand Challenges

这笔赠款为题为“NSF融合加速器：为应对重大挑战的创新解决方案重新思考自然”的研讨会提供资金支持，该研讨会将于2020年秋季举行。研讨会将汇聚并扩大来自学术界、工业界和政府的关键利益攸关方之间的合作，负责通过利用受自然启发的解决方案来探索人类和地球的未来的重大挑战。研讨会将集中于三个领域：(1)以自然为灵感的石油塑料解决方案，(2)基于天然材料的清洁水解决方案，以及(3)可持续基础设施的先进材料。拟议的研讨会将通过综合来自不同知识领域的新想法、方法和技术来探索可持续和自然丰富的材料，以实现科学突破和非凡的创新，最终目标是寻求应对重大挑战的创新解决方案。通过成功地整合化学、材料科学、工程、数据科学、植物科学和公共政策方面的不同学科，拟议的融合方法有望实现自然界的尖端发现-丰富的资源和在自然材料可持续利用方面的前所未有的创新，走向广泛的潜在应用。例如，新发现的木质材料的特性可以被利用来制造更可持续的、在许多情况下更好的材料，用于直接影响社会的产品和工艺，这是重新思考受自然启发的人类和地球解决方案的一个很好的例子。虽然存在巨大的研究可能性，但这些机会的核心是受使用启发的融合和建立合作伙伴关系，将发现转化为实践。这次研讨会的目的是审查最近的进展，并确定趋同研究的新方向和成熟机会。这笔赠款的资金将用于讲习班的网络托管服务，以及组织讲习班和编写报告的人员支助。在这个虚拟研讨会中，来自学术界、政府和行业的受邀领导人、研究人员、创新者和利益相关者将讨论当前和未来的挑战以及与重大挑战的自然启发解决方案相关的融合机会。研讨会将由三个轨道组成，包括邀请演讲、闪电演讲、分组讨论和主持讨论的混合形式。这种形式旨在促进围绕每个主题中最重要的技术挑战和未来融合研究的机会进行集思广益的讨论。研讨会还将举行小组讨论，将三次会议的主题和讨论整合在一起。这些陈述和讨论的结果将被记录在最终报告中，并将在学术界、政府和行业中广泛传播。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。

This grant provides financial support for the workshop entitled, "NSF Convergence Accelerator: Re-think Nature for Innovative Solutions to Grand Challenges", to be held virtually in the Fall 2020. The workshop will bring together and expand collaboration among key stakeholders from academia, industry, and government with the charge of exploring grand challenges for the future of humanity and planet by leveraging nature-inspired solutions. The workshop will focus on three areas: (1) nature-inspired solutions to petroleum-based plastics, (2) natural material-based solutions to clean water, and (3) advanced materials for sustainable infrastructure. The proposed workshop will explore sustainable and nature-abundant materials by synthesizing new ideas, approaches, and technologies from diverse fields of knowledge to achieve scientific breakthroughs and exceptional innovation, with the ultimate goal to seek innovative solutions to grand challenges. By successfully integrating diverse disciplines in chemistry, materials science, engineering, data sciences, plant science, and public policy, the proposed convergence approach is poised to achieve cutting-edge discoveries in nature-abundant resources and unprecedented innovation in sustainable utilization of natural materials toward a wide range of potential applications. For example, newly discovered properties of wood-sourced materials could be exploited for more sustainable and in many cases superior materials for products and processes that directly impact society, which is an excellent example of re-thinking nature-inspired solutions for humans and the planet. While tremendous research possibilities exist, center to these opportunities is use-inspired convergence and building partnerships to transition discoveries into practice. The objective of this workshop is to review the recent progress and identify new directions and opportunities ripe for convergence research. Funding from this grant will go towards web hosting services for the workshop, and personnel support for organizing the workshop as well as the production of a report. In this virtual workshop, invited leaders, researchers, innovators, and stake-holders with a diverse range of disciplinary expertise from across academia, government, and industry will discuss present and future challenges and opportunities for convergence related to nature-inspired solutions to grand challenges. The workshop will be comprised of three tracks, with a mixed format of invited talks, lightning talks, break out groups, and moderated discussions. The format is intended to foster brain-storming discussions around the most important technical challenges in each topic and opportunities for future convergence research. This workshop will also feature panel discussions that will integrate the topics and discussions from the three sessions. The outcome of these presentations and discussions will be documented in a final report and will be widely disseminated across academia, government, and industry.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.