US-UK Planning Visit: Techno-Ecological Synergy for Sustainable Engineering

1404956(巴克西)。这一努力的目标是开发一种新的方法来分析和设计可持续系统，说明技术系统和生态系统之间的相互作用和依赖关系。现有的方法往往忽视生态系统在维持所有人类活动方面的关键作用，并可能导致错误的决定。提出了技术-生态协同框架，作为一种在多个空间尺度上考虑生态系统服务需求和供给的方法。这种方法还将有助于设计新的创新的技术和生态系统网络，这些网络可能在经济和环境上优于用传统方法设计的系统。该项目涉及高度多学科的研究，涉及工程学、生态学、空间和地理建模以及优化。由于Ziv博士的研究和背景与俄亥俄州立大学的Bakshi博士和他的团队的研究和背景的互补性，与Ziv博士和他在英国的团队的合作将大大加强这项研究。Ziv博士和他的团队将贡献他们的专业知识，在不同的空间尺度上模拟选定区域的特定生态系统服务的供应。这些信息将与有关技术系统的知识结合起来。通过访问Ziv博士的小组，PI和研究生将对生态系统服务和空间分析的建模和软件有更深入的了解。这将使研究进展更快，并探索新的方向，如果没有合作，这些方向将很难研究。两个小组将共同开发拟议的Techo-生态协同框架，并将其应用于各种案例研究，包括俄亥俄州立大学(OSU)和利兹大学的校园。跨学科的合作将有助于将生态系统服务建模的范围扩展到工业供应链和生命周期，以及将技术系统建模为生态系统的工具。这些贡献将有助于弥合生态系统服务研究和可持续工程之间的差距。这将通过创造独特的机会，使社会了解生态系统在支持人类活动方面的直接和间接作用和能力，从而对拟议的研究和跨学科产生广泛的影响。在评估和加强俄亥俄州立大学和利兹分校校园可持续性方面的拟议应用将允许对跨学科和年龄组的少数群体进行教育和外联。结果的传播将通过课程、网站和通过两个校区的外展来实现。此次合作还将增强研究团队从全球创新计划等其他美英项目中获得资金的能力。这笔赠款由NSF国际科学与工程部的西欧计划和NSF工程局CBET部门的环境可持续发展计划共同资助。

1404956 (Bakshi). The goal of this effort is to develop a new approach for analyzing and designing sustainable systems that accounts for the interaction and dependence between technological and ecological systems. Existing methods tend to ignore the critical role of ecosystems in sustaining all human activities, and could lead to perverse decisions. The framework of techno-ecological synergy is proposed as a way of accounting for the demand and supply of ecosystem services at multiple spatial scales. This approach will also be useful for designing new and innovative networks of technological and ecological systems that may be economically and environmentally superior to systems designed by conventional methods. The project involves highly multidisciplinary research that connects across engineering, ecology, spatial and geographical modeling, and optimization. Collaboration with Dr. Ziv and his group in the UK will greatly enhance the research due to the complementary nature of Dr. Ziv's research and background with that of Dr. Bakshi and his group at Ohio State University. Dr. Ziv and his group will contribute their expertise in modeling the supply of specific ecosystem services in selected regions at various spatial scales. This information will be integrated with knowledge about relevant technological systems. Through visits to Dr. Ziv's group, the PI and graduate students will gain greater insight into modeling and software for ecosystem services and spatial analysis. This will allow research to progress more quickly and explore new directions that would be difficult to study without the collaboration. Both groups will develop the proposed Techo-Ecological Synergy framework together and apply it to various case studies, including the campuses of Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Leeds.The collaboration across disciplines will help in extending the reach of ecosystem service modeling into industrial supply chains and life cycles, and of tools for modeling technological systems into ecological systems. These contributions will help bridge gaps between research in ecosystem services and sustainable engineering. This will have broad implications beyond the proposed research, and across disciplines by creating unique opportunities for society to learn about the direct and indirect role and capacity of ecosystems in supporting human activities. The proposed application to assessing and enhancing campus sustainability at OSU and Leeds will permit education and outreach to minorities across disciplines and age-groups. Dissemination of the results will be enabled by courses, websites, and outreach through both campuses. The collaboration will also enhance the ability of the research team to secure funds from other US-UK programs such as the global innovation initiative. This grant is co-funded by the Western Europe Program of NSF's International Science and Engineering Section, and the Environmental Sustainability Program in the CBET Division of NSF's Engineering Directorate.