Global Centers Track 2: SuReMin: Sustainable, resilient, responsible global minerals supply chain

为了以应对气候变化所需的规模和速度进行脱碳，越来越需要有用和可用的研究，以便为可持续的国际矿物供应链提供信息和加强。因此，SuReMin将开展研究并开发教育机会，以指导该供应链的发展。第二轨道设计阶段将需要为采矿废物的管理、再利用和处置、社区参与的矿物开采的社会和环境生命周期评估以及低成本、可扩展的环境和社会数据收集方法制定研究议程。SuReMin的创始合作者包括西北大学、蒙大拿技术大学、智利Pontificia大学Católica （UC）、可持续矿产研究所（SMI）——位于智利圣地亚哥的昆士兰大学（澳大利亚）的一个实体、洛斯安第斯大学和伊比利亚美洲大学（墨西哥）。这些合作伙伴汇集了专业知识和观点，可以促进前沿，有影响力的研究，同时也培养未来的工程师成为全球，协作和跨学科的创新者。SuReMin的国际合作伙伴的加入是值得注意的，因为来自全球南方（包括智利和墨西哥）的声音在可持续采矿研究中的代表性明显不足，尽管该地区每年仅锂离子电池的关键矿物就超过3500万吨。SuReMin的第二轨道设计阶段的目标是建立一个综合的研究团队，并通过探索和完善研究、教育和扩大参与活动，确定通往未来全球中心的明确途径。为了制定该中心的研究议程，SuReMin将举办三场研讨会，以收集来自大学、政府机构、工业、非营利组织和社区的反馈，以帮助其制定。讲习班的主题是：1)低成本、可扩展的环境和社会数据获取技术；2)可持续采矿废物管理、再利用和处置；3)社区参与的矿物开采生命周期评估。此外，试点项目将为智利的铜或锂采矿社区提供一个新的社区参与的LCA，一个低计算成本的平台，以筛选潜在的问题尾矿坝基础设施，以及以最小的化学和能源需求从采矿渗滤液中回收金属的新方法。为了探索和完善教育项目，SuReMin将支持本科生前往智利，提供研究生研究研讨会，并探索将西北大学的体验式国际教育项目扩展到智利的其他合作伙伴。该奖项由全球中心项目资助，该项目是一个创新项目，支持以使用为灵感的研究，解决与气候变化和/或清洁能源相关的全球挑战。Track 2设计奖支持美国的研究人员将国际团队聚集在一起，开发研究问题和合作伙伴关系，进行景观分析，综合数据，和/或建立多方利益相关者网络，以推进他们未来更大规模的使用灵感研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

To decarbonize at the scale and pace required to address climate change, there is an increasing demand for useful and usable research that can inform and strengthen a sustainable international minerals supply chain. Accordingly, SuReMin will conduct research and develop educational opportunities to guide the development of this supply chain. The Track 2 Design Phase will entail developing a research agenda for the management, reuse and disposal of mining waste, community-engaged social and environmental life cycle assessment of minerals mining, and low-cost, scalable methods for environmental and social data collection. SuReMin’s founding collaborators include Northwestern University, Montana Technical University, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) – an entity of the University of Queensland (Australia) located in Santiago, Chile, the Universidad de los Andes, and the Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico). These partners convene expertise and perspective that can catalyze cutting edge, impactful research while also training future engineers to be global, collaborative, and transdisciplinary innovators. Inclusion of SuReMin’s international partners is notable because voices from the Global South – including Chile and Mexico - are notably underrepresented in sustainable mining research, despite this region contributing over 35 million metric tons of critical minerals for lithium-ion batteries alone annually. SuReMin’s Track 2 Design Phase goal is to establish an integrated research team and identify a clear pathway towards a future Global Center by exploring and refining research, education, and broadening participation activities. To develop the Center’s research agenda, SuReMin will host three workshops to gather feedback from universities, government agencies, industry, non-profit organizations, and communities to aid in its crafting. The workshop topics are 1) low-cost, scalable acquisition techniques for environmental and social data, 2) sustainable mining waste management, reuse, and disposal, and 3) community-engaged life cycle assessment of minerals mining. SuReMin will also develop a compendium of data sources to quantify social and environmental effects of mining in Chile and the U.S. Furthermore, pilot projects will contribute a new, community-engaged LCA for a copper or lithium mining community in Chile, a low computational-cost platform to screen potentially problematic tailing dam infrastructure, and new methods to recover metals from mining leachates with minimal chemical and energy requirements. To explore and refine education programming, SuReMin will support an undergraduate trek to Chile, offer a graduate research seminar, and explore the expansion of Northwestern’s experiential international education program to additional partners in Chile. This award is funded by the Global Centers program, an innovative program that supports use-inspired research addressing global challenges related to climate change and/or clean energy. Track 2 design awards support U.S.-based researchers to bring together international teams to develop research questions and partnerships, conduct landscape analyses, synthesize data, and/or build multi-stakeholder networks to advance their use-inspired research at larger scale in the future.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.