PIRE: Context Sensitive Implementation of Synergistic Water-Energy Systems

这一国际研究和教育伙伴关系项目致力于解决对社会、经济和环境福祉和繁荣至关重要的综合水和能源系统。该项目寻求将对水和能源的关注与当地知识、机构和资源限制的适当文化模式结合起来。它还寻求通过发展国际研究能力和通过全球伙伴关系建设能力，启动个人和大学研究和教育项目的文化转变。工程系统将通过关注地理背景、文化分析以及解决方案的实施规模如何影响结果来适应与人口增长、城市化和资源消耗相关的环境和文化变化。最主要的研究问题是：能否建立有效的、地理上合适的、与文化相关的工程系统，将废水作为回收能量、水和养分的资源。该项目将由来自工程学、人类学、海洋科学和科学教育的研究人员组成的团队实施，以实现一种新的综合、跨学科的模式，以实现对环境敏感的协同水-能源系统的实施。他们的专业知识和观点将被用于探索两种废水管理技术的可行性：厌氧消化和藻类资源回收。两项具体的研究任务涉及推进技术本身所涉及的方法和材料，以及需要采取的保护人类健康的步骤；另外两项任务从地理位置和环境影响的角度探索这些技术；其余两项任务侧重于通过生命周期评估和系统动力学建模进行跨社会、经济和环境领域的综合系统研究。该项目将涉及来自欧洲(英国、荷兰、捷克共和国)和加勒比海盆地(美属维尔京群岛、伯利兹、墨西哥)的学术合作伙伴，提供技术创新、文化历史和地理位置方面的一系列专业知识，以应对因规模、政治意愿、环境世界观、兴趣水平和资金限制而产生的综合资源管理挑战。加勒比盆地伙伴将提供机会，调查发生在经济发展和人口密度不同阶段的技术和管理战略的部署和可持续性。这三个欧洲合作伙伴位于具有综合资源回收范例的地区，使该团队能够开发水和能源基础设施高度发达并服务于更高人口密度的解决方案。这些教育和研究伙伴关系将创建一支由至少40名本科生和60名研究生、4名博士后研究助理和31名教职员工组成的国际团队，他们将沉浸在国家和全球重要性的问题中。将研究应用到国际地点将为学生和早期职业研究人员提供社会、经济和环境对比。这些教育活动将有助于培养全球对可持续系统的能力和知识，并为参与者提供参与国际伙伴关系的机会。还为维尔京群岛大学(UVI)的学生提供了教育和研究机会，这是一所历史上的黑人大学，开设了数学、基础和环境科学方面的理学士课程，但研究机会有限。与弗吉尼亚大学合作的本科课程将扩大未被充分代表的少数族裔学生获得工程学职业机会的机会，并为学生提供双学位选择和研究机会。此外，现有的和计划中的和平队研究生院伙伴关系将利用和平队？在语言、文化、社区评估的参与性方法和建立全球能力的可持续发展方面进行独特的培训。该项目由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室和工程局化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统司共同资助。该项目由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室(OISE)通过PERE提供资金。

This PIRE (Partnerships in International Research and Education) project addresses integrated water and energy systems fundamental to social, economic, and environmental well-being and prosperity. The project seeks to merge water and energy concerns with appropriate cultural models of local knowledge, institutions, and resource limits. It also seeks to initiate a cultural shift in individual and university research and education programs by developing international research competence and building capacity through global partnerships. Engineering systems will be adapted to environmental and cultural changes associated with growth in human populations, urbanization, and resource consumption by focusing on the interstices of geographical context, cultural analysis, and how the scale of implementation of a solution impacts results. The overarching research question is: can effective, geographically-appropriate, and culturally relevant engineered systems be established that utilize wastewater as a resource for recovery of energy, water, and nutrients. The project will be carried out by a team of researchers from engineering, anthropology, marine science, and science education to enable a new integrated, interdisciplinary model in context sensitive implementation of synergistic water-energy systems. Their combined expertise and perspective will be applied to explore the viability of two technologies to manage wastewater: anaerobic digestion and algal-based resource recovery. Two specific research tasks address advancing the methods and materials involved in the technologies themselves, and steps needed to be taken to protect human health; two other tasks explore these technologies in the context of geographical location and environmental impacts; and the remaining two tasks focus on comprehensive systems research across social, economic, and environmental domains through life cycle assessment and systems dynamics modeling. The project will involve academic partners from Europe (U.K., The Netherlands, Czech Republic) and the Caribbean Basin (U.S. Virgin Islands, Belize, Mexico), providing a range of expertise in technological innovation, cultural histories, and geographic locations, in order to address integrated resource management challenges due to differences of scale, political will, environmental worldview, level of interest, and financial constraint. Caribbean Basin partners will provide opportunities to investigate deployment and sustainability of technology and management strategies that take place at different stages of economic development and population density. The three European partners are located in areas with examples of integrated resource recovery, allowing the team to develop solutions where water and energy infrastructure are highly developed and serve higher population densities. These education and research partnerships will create an international team of at least 40 undergraduate and 60 graduate students, 4 postdoctoral research associates, and 31 faculty members, who will immerse themselves in issues of national and global importance. The application of research to international locations will provide social, economic, and environmental contrast for students and early career researchers. The educational activities will help develop global competency and knowledge of sustainable systems, and provide participants with opportunities to participate in international partnerships. Education and research opportunities are also provided to students from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), a historically black university with BS programs in math and basic and environmental science, but limited research opportunities. A collaborative undergraduate program with UVI will broaden access of under-represented minority students to career opportunities in engineering, and provide a dual degree option and opportunities for student research. In addition, existing and planned Peace Corps graduate school partnerships will utilize the Peace Corps? unique training in language, culture, participatory approaches to community assessment, and sustainable development to build global competency. This project is jointly funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering, and the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Division in the Engineering Directorate. The project is funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) through the PIRE.