IUCRC Planning Grant University at Albany: Center for Weather Innovation and Smart Energy and Resilience (WISER)

每年，随着世界变暖和伴随而来的极端天气事件的发生频率越来越高，电网中断和电线引发的森林野火造成了数十亿美元的损失。为了解决这一严重的经济破坏性问题，这笔资金为奥尔巴尼的纽约州立大学和康涅狄格大学提供了资源，以探索成立一个两个地点的行业-大学合作研究中心，用于天气创新和智能能源与抗灾能力(WISER)。该中心专注于结合大学、行业和公共部门的优势、智力和资源，通过预测模型解决电网可靠性和减少极端天气事件导致的电网停电方面的一些最大问题。该中心还将解决与气候/天气相关的可再生能源(如风能和太阳能)以及树木生物力学的电网整合问题。后一个问题必须包括在内，因为倒下的树木是导致电力线路和变压器损失的最大原因之一，导致当地停电。通过中心规划会议，奥尔巴尼大学和康涅狄格大学及其管理者将动员广泛的公用事业和其他公共和私人实体来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推动力，合作伙伴愿意参与和资助。将讨论主题和潜在的中心研究推动力，并确定对行业最重要的主题和潜在的研究推动力，在这些主题和潜在的中心研究推动力的基础上，可以创建一个可行的中心。这项工作的更广泛影响包括劳动力培训，学生参与由大学教员提出的与行业相关的基本竞争前研究项目；通过与侧重于从服务不足的人口中招收和再培训学生的机构实体建立各种伙伴关系，让代表性不足的群体参与进来；以及提高国家电网在经历极端天气事件的地区的可靠性。产学合作研究中心是大学、私营部门、政府、非营利组织和当地社区之间强有力的合作伙伴关系。奥尔巴尼大学和康涅狄格大学提议成立一个产学合作研究中心，重点研究极端天气和美国电网的可靠性。这些中心以联合体的形式运作，专注于大学教职员工和学生开展基础研究，以满足集体行业和社区的需求，其中项目的资金来自中心成员的会员费和其他财政贡献。在这一结构中，大学的智力、基础设施和学生人才专注于现实世界中与经济部分的关键利益相关的问题，需要创新来克服个别实体无法克服的概念和技术障碍。拟议的规划会议将把感兴趣的各方聚集在一起，听取Proto-Center领导层描述该中心的价值主张和希望成为该中心成员的实体的潜在投资回报。那些参加规划会议的人还将帮助中心创建研究路线图和研究推动力，最好地解决中心集体成员最紧迫的需求。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。

Every year, with increasing frequency due to a warming world and the concomitant generation of extreme weather events, billions of dollars are lost due to electrical grid outages and powerlines triggering forest wildfires. To address this serious and economically devastating issue, this funding provides resources for the State University of New York in Albany and the University of Connecticut to explore the formation of a two-Site industry-university cooperative research center for Weather Innovation and Smart Energy and Resilience (WISER). The Center is focused on combining the strengths, intellectual capacity, and resources of universities, industry, and the public sector to tackle some of the largest problems in electrical grid reliability and reduction of grid outages caused by extreme weather events, via predictive models. The Center will also address issues of grid integration for climate/weather-related renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, as well as tree biomechanics. The latter issue is critical to include because falling trees are one of the biggest causes of powerline and transformer loss, causing local power outages. Through a Center planning meeting, the University at Albany and the University of Connecticut and their administrators will engage a broad spectrum of utilities and other 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 and potential Center research thrusts will be discussed, and those of highest importance to industry will be identified upon which a viable Center can be created. 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 various partnerships with institutional entities focused in recruiting and retraining students from underserved populations; and improvements in the reliability of the nation’ electrical grid in areas of the country experiencing extreme weather events. Industry-university cooperative research centers, like the one proposed to be focused on extreme weather and the reliability of the nation’s electrical grid by The University of Albany and University of Connecticut, 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 overcome 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.