Conference Proposal: Student and Junior Faculty Support for the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST) 2021

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The 2021 International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST) will be held virtually June 21-25, 2021. Proceedings at ISSST will follow the philosophy that the solutions to complex sustainability issues will be achieved via trans-disciplinary approaches. Cross-pollination of ideas among natural scientists, engineers, social scientists, industry representatives, and policy makers are programmed to facilitate the development of sustainable solutions to the grand challenges facing society. ISSST 2021 will highlight four themes: (1) Computational tools for sustainability, bringing emerging methods in data science and machine learning to novel data sets and decision-making; (2) Emerging ideas for sustainability, fostering innovations in environmental and social assessment tools and community engagement; (3) Large-scale systems, buildings and infrastructure, transportation, and energy, highlighting cutting-edge research on high-impact technological systems; and (4) Waste management, life cycle assessment, and sustainability, examining the scale and environmental implications of current management systems and how innovations could promote a more circular, low-carbon economy. The conference will also host special sessions to bring participants together in educational sessions, workshops, communications, and professional skills development. The conference will highlight the social dimensions of technological systems and proposed engineering solutions. Social equity, differential access and impacts, and environmental justice will be prominent across all of the four themes of the 2021 conference. Several sessions are also expected to address the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on production and consumption, pollution, and critical infrastructure systems. A diverse group of members will share their work in sustainability science and engineering through virtual paper and poster presentations, as well as formal and informal discussions. All sessions will be live broadcasted and authors will have open access to the publications on the digital journal, Figshare. The conference will also feature a variety of plenary/keynote speakers. All of this will provide participants a venue for discussing visions, educational approaches, challenges, as well as provide educators and students opportunities to gain exposure to research experience on sustainability in a holistic manner.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.