Workshop on Grand Challenges in Earth Resource Engineering; Minneapolis, Minnesota; August 2010

该奖项将于2010年8月下半月在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市举办为期三天的“地球资源工程大挑战”研讨会。该研讨会的目的是促成美国国家工程院地球资源工程部发表一份报告。地下用于越来越多样化的应用：饮用水的供应、核废物和危险废物的隔离、石油和天然气的地下储存、二氧化碳封存、城市交通、国土安全问题等，而这些不同的用途需要更好地了解原位岩石对人为扰动的反应。此外，预测和控制不稳定的动态能量释放，如矿井中的破坏性岩爆（以及与之相类似的大规模地震），提高石油资源的采收率，通过向岩层深层注入不需要的流体来处理它们的后果，以及其他工业活动，都取决于对岩石和岩体力学的更好理解。地球资源工程涉及许多具有挑战性的工程问题，特别是在提取和储存领域。例如，用于识别岩层特征的定向钻井和钻孔技术非常先进，自主采矿系统正在出现。此外，在可预见的未来，地下能源供应与国家安全和经济稳定密不可分。然而，最近在墨西哥湾和西弗吉尼亚州发生的悲惨事故强调了改进技术以提高安全性的迫切需要。为了推广地球资源工程专业，我们将制作一份小册子，并把它放在网上，吸引优秀的理工科学生从事地球资源工程。

This award supports a three day workshop on Grand Challenges in Earth Resource Engineering in Minneapolis, MN, during the second half of August 2010. The Workshop is intended to lead to a published report from the Earth Resources Engineering section of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. The subsurface is used for an increasingly diverse variety of applications: supply of drinking water, isolation of nuclear and hazardous wastes, underground storage of petroleum and natural gas, CO2 sequestration, urban transportation, homeland security issues, etc., and these various uses demand a better understanding of how rock in situ responds to man-made perturbations. Furthermore, prediction and control of unstable dynamic releases of energy as in damaging rock bursts in mines (and their large-scale counterpart, earthquakes), improved recovery of petroleum resources, the consequences of disposal of unwanted fluids by injecting them into rock formations at depth, and other industrial activities, depend on an improved understanding of the mechanics of rock and rock masses.There are many challenging engineering problems that involve earth resources engineering, especially in the area of extraction and storage. For instance, directional drilling and borehole techniques for identifying characteristics of the rock formations are well advanced, and autonomous mining systems are taking place. Moreover, subsurface energy supplies are inextricably linked to national security and economic stability for the foreseeable future. However, the recent tragic accidents in the Gulf of Mexico and in West Virginia underscore the critical need for improved technologies to increase safety. To help promote the profession, a brochure will be developed and placed on the web to attract outstanding science and engineering students to earth resources engineering.