Sustainability: Building Teams to Tackle Complex Problems

该项目支持一个名为“可持续发展：构建团队解决复杂问题”的研讨会，该研讨会将于2012年11月25日至26日在波士顿举行的材料研究学会（MRS）秋季会议上举行。该研讨会由材料研究、化学、化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统司以及MPS多学科活动办公室支持。本次研讨会的主要目标是向《可持续发展报告》的听众介绍更广泛的可持续发展观点。具体地说，将强调可持续发展领域的高度跨学科性质，特别注意实际问题，例如在各种可持续发展领域产生科学家、工程师、工业生态学家、经济学家和其他实践者之间的认真互动。论坛的目标与科学、工程和可持续发展教育（SEES）倡议以及NSF的许多其他可持续发展和学科计划保持一致，包括新的可持续化学、工程和材料（SusChEM）投资。本次研讨会将通过培养可持续发展科学和工程的整体方法，并通过解决与成功的跨学科研究和培训这些技术的下一代劳动力相关的实际挑战，产生更广泛的影响。讲习班将邀请各种各样的发言者和小组成员，包括妇女、代表性不足的少数民族和职业生涯早期的科学家，并将使一个国家和国际研究人员小组接触可持续发展领域。这个群体包括所有科学和工程领域的学术教师、本科生和研究生、博士后、工业和政府研究人员。特别值得一提的是，研讨会将以斯坦福大学和沙特阿拉伯KAUST大学（MRS在美国以外的第一个大学分会）的学生团体的虚拟贡献为特色。该研讨会将在这一重要的研究领域促进新的跨学科和潜在的变革性合作，并将帮助研究人员使他们的跨学科研究更有效。因此，对教育、研究和教师培训以及研究生和本科生的广泛影响将是实质性的。通过MRS公告、Materials360和LinkedIn （MRS小组和能源与可持续发展材料小组）传播信息，以及通过视频捕获和双向流媒体，作为MRS虚拟会议活动实验的一部分，将产生更广泛的影响。该讲习班还将与题为“材料作为可持续发展的工具”的四天专题讨论会同时举行，该讨论会将吸引大批听众参加，不仅向他们介绍可持续发展的材料方面，而且还向他们介绍该领域更广泛的跨学科性质。讲习班结束后，将向讲习班参与者发送一份评估报告，以评估活动的影响，并撰写一份简短的文件，总结成功的跨学科可持续性研究的最佳实践和挑战。

TECHNICALThis project supports a workshop, entitled Sustainability: Building Teams to Tackle Complex Problems, to be held November 25-26, 2012 at the Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting in Boston. The workshop is supported by the Divisions of Materials Research, Chemistry, Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in MPS. The primary objective of this workshop is to present a broader view of sustainable development to the MRS audience. Specifically, the highly interdisciplinary nature of the sustainable development field will be emphasized, with particular attention to practical issues, such as generating serious interactions between scientists, engineers, industrial ecologists, economists and other practitioners in the diverse sustainable development arena. The forum goals are well aligned with the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative and many other sustainability and disciplinary programs across NSF, including the new Sustainable Chemistry, Engineering, and Materials (SusChEM) investment.NON TECHNICALThis workshop will have broader impacts by fostering a holistic approach toward the science and engineering of sustainable development, and by addressing the practical challenges associated with successful interdisciplinary research and training for the next generation workforce in these techniques. The workshop will feature a diverse set of speakers and panelists, including women, underrepresented minorities, and early-career scientists, and it will expose a national and international group of researchers to the field of sustainable development. This group includes academic faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, post docs, and industrial and government researchers in all fields of science and engineering. In particular, the workshop will feature virtual contributions from student groups based at Stanford University and KAUST in Saudi Arabia (MRS's first university chapter outside of the U.S.). The workshop will foster new interdisciplinary, and potentially transformative, collaborations in this important research area, and will help researchers make their interdisciplinary research more effective. Thus, the broader impact on education, research and training of faculty members as well as graduate and undergraduate students will be substantial. Additional broader impacts will be created through disseminating information via the MRS Bulletin, Materials360, and using LinkedIn (MRS group and group on Materials for Energy and Sustainable Development), and through video capture and two-way streaming, as part of an MRS experiment toward virtual meeting activities. The workshop will also be held in conjunction with a four-day symposium entitled "Materials as Tools for Sustainability," which should bring a large audience to the workshop and educate them not only in the materials aspects of sustainability, but also in the broader, interdisciplinary nature of the field. Upon completion of the workshop, an evaluation will be sent to workshop participants to gauge the impact of the event, and a short document will be written to summarize best practices and challenges remaining for successful interdisciplinary sustainability research.