Conference: Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals, Rolla, MO, August 7-8, 2024

在目前被列为“关键矿产”的50种材料中，美国大部分依赖进口。从关键矿物清单中删除材料需要多学科的方法，包括矿产勘探、物质流分析、可持续性、采矿方法、公共政策、矿物经济学、提取冶金和生产过程。为了给代表这些学科的学术界、私营部门和政府机构的利益相关者提供一个讨论平台，密苏里标准普尔大学将于2024年8月7日至8日在密苏里标准普尔大学罗拉校区举办一场面对面/虚拟的混合研讨会。主题专题会议将从跨学科、融合的角度讨论关键矿产的弹性供应，包括矿产勘探、矿产加工和回收、政策制定和供应链经济学，以及关键矿产劳动力的发展。各自领域的领导者将发表主题演讲，讨论当前的知识状况，并强调解决关键矿物研究需求的潜在战略。在主题演讲之后，参与者将进行口头陈述，以介绍其他概念和/或观点。每个专题会议都将有一个分组会议，以促进讨论，制定多学科和跨部门研究和实际合作的课程。预期讲习班将有助于发展和培养来自学术界、政府机构和私营部门的与会者之间的专业关系，从而促进关键矿物研究方面的多学科合作。提高关键矿产供应链的弹性对美国的经济和国家安全至关重要。现有的研究尚未全面理论化、检验和评估可用于增强供应链弹性的方法的跨学科性质。此外，与关键矿物有关的经济、环境和社会组成部分通常单独讨论，技术和政策领域之间几乎没有交集。同样，建立一支多样化和强大的关键矿物工作队伍的需要，特别是在农村地区，往往被忽视，但将通过讲习班的专题会议加以处理。预计研讨会将为工程师、地球科学家、经济学家、政治学家以及代表学术界、私营部门和政府机构的政治家/工作人员提供一个独特的讨论平台。讲习班将有助于培育一个新兴的国家社区，在关键矿物供应弹性方面拥有广泛的专业知识，包括学术界、工业界和政府行动者。旅行资助，特别是对学生和早期职业研究人员的资助，将有助于建立一个跨越几代人的社区，并确保会议的持久影响。分组会议的一个特别重点将是成立工作组，工作组将在研讨会结束后定期开会，起草文件，例如，可以用来帮助教育委员会实现K12课程的现代化，并为立法者制定政策提供信息。讲习班的调查结果将在一份讲习班报告中加以总结和散发。该奖项由CBET/ENG的环境可持续性项目和EAR/GEO的地球生物学和低温地球化学项目以及岩石学和地球化学项目共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行了评估，认为值得支持。

The United States is import- reliant for most of the 50 materials that are currently classified as "critical minerals." Removing materials from the critical minerals list requires a multi-disciplinary approach that encompasses mineral exploration, material flow analysis, sustainability, mining methods, public policy, mineral economics, extractive metallurgy, and production processes. To provide a discussion platform for stakeholders from academia, the private sector, and government agencies that represent these disciplines, Missouri S&T will hold a hybrid in- person/virtual workshop on August 7-8, 2024, on the Missouri S&T campus in Rolla. Themed topical sessions will discuss the resilient supply of critical minerals from cross-disciplinary, convergent perspectives, including mineral exploration, mineral processing and recycling, policy making and supply chain economics, and critical minerals workforce development. Leaders in their respective fields will give keynote presentations that will discuss the current state of knowledge and highlight potential strategies to address the critical minerals research needs. The keynotes will be followed by oral presentations of participants to introduce additional concepts and/or perspectives. Every topical session will have a breakout session to facilitate discussions towards charting a course for multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral research and practical collaborations. It is anticipated that the workshop will help develop and nurture professional relationships among participants from academia, government agencies, and the private sector – thus facilitating multi-disciplinary collaborations in critical minerals research.Increasing the resiliency of critical mineral supply chains is important to the economy and national safety of the United States. Existing research has yet to comprehensively theorize, examine, and evaluate the cross-disciplinary nature of approaches available to enhance supply chain resilience. Furthermore, economic, environmental, and social components associated with critical minerals are usually discussed separately with little convergence between technology and policy fields. Similarly, the need to build a diverse and strong critical minerals workforce, particularly in rural areas, is often neglected, but will be addressed through a topical session at the workshop. It is expected that the workshop will provide a unique platform for discussions among engineers, geoscientists, economists, political scientists, and politicians/staffers representing academia, the private sector, and government agencies. The workshop will help nurture a budding national community with a wide range of expertise in critical mineral supply resilience, spanning academic, industry, and government actors. Travel grants, particularly for students and early-career researchers, will help build a community that spans generations and ensure the meeting’s lasting impact. A specific focus of the breakout sessions will be formation of task forces that will meet regularly after the workshop to draft documents that, for example, can be used to help educational boards modernize K12 curricula and inform lawmakers for policy making. The workshop findings will be summarized and disseminated in a workshop report.This award is co-funded by CBET/ENG's Environmental Sustainability program and EAR/GEO's Geobiology and Low Temperature Geochemistry program and Petrology and Geochemistry programThis 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.