IGERT: Sustainability Initiative in Engineering

这个综合研究生教育和研究培训（IGERT）奖支持建立一个多学科、多机构的可持续工程教育和研究研究生培训计划。该计划的智力价值和目的是为工程博士生提供进行可持续设计所需的培训，特别关注绿化建筑环境和水的可持续利用。世界资源有限，人口不断增长，因此未来的工程师必须学会将可持续性、性能和价格作为设计准则的约束因素。之所以选择研究重点领域，是因为这些领域问题的解决方案需要广泛的学科，因为这些领域固有的项目是基础性和长期性的，因为这些领域的技术进步将有利于提高生活质量。为对可持续发展感兴趣的工程专业学生开设的课程强调以团队为基础的设计，并真正跨越部门界限。该项目在两个学期的可持续设计课程中达到高潮。研究包括创造使用更少废物和需要更少维护的材料，设计减少建筑物能源投入的控制系统，以及评估新技术的可持续性。消除顽固性污染和以更良性的方式净化水的战略也正在研究之中。该建议的更广泛影响不仅包括研究成果的应用，还包括国际活动和扩大参与。可持续发展是一个全球性问题，因此该项目与巴西圣保罗坎皮纳斯大学合作，为所有IGERT研究生提供国际研究轮转。与波多黎各大学-马亚圭斯分校和德克萨斯大学-埃尔帕索分校的合作将扩大对该计划的参与。IGERT是一项nsf范围内的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战，他们具有跨学科背景，所选学科的深厚知识，以及未来职业需求所需的技术，专业和个人技能。该计划旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训模式，在一个超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，促进研究生教育的文化变革。

This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional graduate training program of education and research in sustainable engineering. The intellectual merit and purpose of the program is to provide doctoral students in engineering with the training needed to conduct sustainable design, with specific focus on greening the built environment and the sustainable use of water. The world contains finite resources and an increasing population, and hence tomorrow's engineers must learn to incorporate sustainability, as well as performance and price, as constraints in the design rubric. Research focus areas have been chosen because solutions to problems in these areas require a broad range of disciplines, because projects inherent to these areas are fundamental and long-term, and because technology advances in these areas will benefit quality of life. A curriculum for engineering students interested in sustainability has been created that emphasizes team-based design and truly crosses departmental lines. The program culminates in a two-semester capstone sustainable design course. Research covers the creation of materials that employ less waste and require less maintenance, the design of control systems that reduce energy input to buildings, and the assessment of the sustainability of new technology. Strategies to eliminate recalcitrant pollution and to purify water in more benign ways are also being investigated. Broader impacts of the proposal include not only the application of the results of the research but also international activities and broadening participation. Sustainability is a global issue, and hence the project is partnering with the University at Campinas in Sao Paulo, Brazil to provide international research rotations for all IGERT graduate students. Partnerships with the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and the University of Texas-El Paso will broaden participation in the program. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.