IUCRC Planning Grant Louisiana State University: Center for Coastal Deltaic Innovation, Research, & Technology (CDIRT)

美国沿海经济为美国国内生产总值（GDP）贡献了近8万亿美元。如果考虑到单个国家，美国沿海地区的GDP将在世界上排名第三，仅次于美国和中国的经济。在一个不断变暖的世界里，海平面上升;下沉;以及旨在保护社区和沿着海岸线安装的基础设施的人类工程干预，海岸侵蚀正在造成严重的损失，特别是在以泥为主的密西西比河三角洲系统。密西西比河的自然过程，由气候变化和洪水/河流控制的做法驱动，正在阻碍我们国家的南部沿海社区和海岸线环境保持弹性，可持续性，生产力和健康的能力。这笔资金为路易斯安那州立大学提供了资源，以探索形成一个行业-大学合作研究中心（三角洲创新，研究和技术中心（CDIRT）），该中心专注于结合大学，行业和公共部门的优势，智力能力和资源，以解决泥浆为主的工程三角洲系统中的一些最大问题。通过中心规划会议，路易斯安那州立大学的教师和管理人员将与广泛的公共和私人实体合作，以确定和讨论集体需求，目标是创建一个可行的研究路线图和相关的研究重点，合作伙伴愿意参与和资助。将提议进行沉积物运输，以改善沿岸沉积物分布，并建立屏障岛屿和沿海湿地。此外，还将讨论湿地侵蚀和再生的可能解决方案，以及使用自动机器人车辆帮助恢复湿地植被和稳定海岸线。这项工作的更广泛影响包括：劳动力培训，学生参加大学教师提出的与行业相关的基本竞争前研究项目;通过与杰克逊州立大学（一所历史悠久的黑人大学）合作，参与代表性不足的群体;以及沿海社区和基础设施的可持续性和复原力。产学合作研究中心，与路易斯安那州立大学提出的重点关注海岸侵蚀及其缓解的倡议一样，这些倡议是大学、私营部门、政府、非营利组织和当地社区之间的强有力的伙伴关系。这些中心作为联盟运作，重点是大学教师和学生开展基础研究，解决集体工业和社区的需求，项目由会员费和中心成员的其他财政捐款资助。在这种结构中，大学的知识力量、基础设施和学生才能集中在真实的世界问题上，这些问题是经济中需要创新以克服个体实体无法独立完成的概念和技术障碍的一个部分的关键利益。拟议的规划会议将使有关各方聚集一堂，听取原型中心领导层描述中心的价值主张和希望成为中心成员的实体的潜在投资回报。参加计划会议的人员还将帮助中心制定研究路线图和研究重点，以最好地满足中心集体成员最迫切的需求。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The US coastal economy contributes almost $8 trillion to the US gross domestic product (GDP). If considered an individual country, the US coastal GDP would rank number three in the world behind only the economies of the U.S. and China. In a warming world, fraught with sea level rise; subsidence; and human engineering interventions designed to protect communities and installed infrastructure along the shoreline, coastal erosion is taking a serious toll, especially on the mud-dominated Mississippi River deltaic system. Mississippi River natural processes, driven by both climate change and flood/river control practices, are hampering the ability of our nation’s southern coastal communities and shoreline environments to remain resilient, sustainable, productive, and healthy. This funding provides resources for Louisiana State University to explore the formation of an industry-university cooperative research center (the Center for Deltaic Innovation, Research, and Technology (CDIRT)), a Center focused on combining the strengths, intellectual capacity, and resources of universities, industry, and the public sector in tackling some of the largest problems in mud-dominated, engineered, deltaic systems. Through a Center planning meeting, Louisiana State University faculty and administrators will engage a broad spectrum of public and private entities to identify and discuss collective needs with the goal of creating a viable research roadmap and associated research thrusts in which partners are willing to participate and fund. Topics related to low cost, fine-grained, sediment transport to improve longshore sediment distribution and the building up of barrier islands and coastal wetlands will be proposed. In addition, topics involving possible solutions to wetland erosion and regeneration will be discussed as will the use of autonomous robotic vehicles that can help in restoration of wetland vegetation and shoreline stabilization. Broader impacts of the work include: workforce training where students participate in industry-relevant, basic, pre-competitive research projects proposed by university faculty; the engagement of underrepresented groups via partnership with Jackson State University a historically black university; and coastal community and infrastructure sustainability and resilience.Industry-university cooperative research Centers, like the one proposed to be focused on coastal erosion and its mitigation by Louisiana State University, are powerful partnerships between universities; the private sector; government; non-profits; and local communities. These Centers operate as consortium focused on university faculty and students carrying out fundamental research that addresses collective industry and community needs and where projects are funded by membership fees and other financial contributions from Center members. In this construct, the intellectual power; infrastructure; and student talent of universities is focused on real world problems of critical interest of a segment of the economy in need of innovation to overcome conceptual and technological hurdles individual entities are unable to do for themselves. The planning meeting proposed will bring together interested parties to hear proto-Center leadership describe the Center’s value proposition and potential return-on-investment of those entities wishing to become members of the Center. Those at the planning meeting will also help the Center create a research road map and research thrusts that best address the most pressing needs of the collective membership in the Center.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.