Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Cyber-Enabled Public Services to Achieve Healthy Communities in America's Changing City Regions

工程研究中心规划拨款竞赛是ERC项目的试点征集。规划补助金不需要作为ERC竞赛的一部分，但它旨在在团队之间建立能力，以规划聚合的、中心规模的工程研究。该提案的重点是开发一个工程研究中心，以推进“智能”公共服务基础设施，包括水、交通、电力和食品，这些设施在当地分布（位于使用点或附近的单位）。这些本地化公共服务基础设施（分布式系统）的发展将使自动化成为可能，从而提高效率。这些新的分布式系统将与现有的集中式系统（服务于大型都市地区的单个单元）相互作用，以创建混合系统。聪明的?功能包括添加传感器和控制来连接这些系统，使它们以更有效的方式运行。计划中的中心将考虑到美国大部分公共服务基础设施目前需要更换的事实。我们渴望创造和展示更灵活、更有效、更安全、更能满足依赖它们的人的需要的新方法和最先进的技术。此外，我们提议的中心的一个核心是围绕公共服务基础设施的选择、管理和使用，在治理、管理、融资、决策和公共部门参与方面实施新的方法。如果我们的规划活动取得成功，该中心将改变公共部门基础设施的面貌，使其更有效地利用资源；增加公众对公共服务基础设施的了解和参与；创造教育方法，培养新一代工程师、管理人员、科学家、公共服务代表和积极参与的公民。这笔拨款的目的是促进围绕再生、恢复和弹性社区基础设施系统（R3CIS）的工程研究中心概念的深入规划。该中心的目标是加速网络分布式技术的创新、发展和采用。此外，拟议中的中心旨在支持机构（如政府、管理和金融机构）改造再生和恢复性基础设施系统，以提高公众和地球健康的福祉。提出的中心概念特别侧重于支持公共部门（水、电、交通、食品）的新型基础设施系统。这一重点将使公共部门基础设施规划从面向服务转向面向资源管理。这种转变将提高效率，增强复原力，恢复城市区域，并改善促进公平分配资源以实现健康社区的体制结构。此外，它将决策科学方法放在首位，以确保工作以利益相关者为中心，以科学为基础，以满足社区的需求。在准备围绕这一概念撰写ERC提案的过程中，该规划拨款侧重于几个平行活动：为两个试验台（底特律大都会地区和落基山脉）创建并参与利益相关者委员会和科学顾问委员会；确定综合公共服务基础设施技术清单，并在规划年度对清单进行细化和确定优先次序；为我们的中心概念制定战略计划，并作为这项工作的一部分，创建一个路线图流程，在该流程中，我们列出了拟议中心头两年的细节。规划道路的过程将每年重新审查一次，以确定今后两年的优先事项，重点是将设想付诸实践；确定来自试验台社区的社区伙伴，并与他们密切合作，他们在国家一级为社区进行宣传。我们希望从一开始就吸引来自试验台位置的社区成员，并确保他们参与到中心的设想中；确定强调学术与实践相结合的教育和外展要素，并为其发展制定计划，这将成为未来中心提案的一部分；培育和进一步发展与国外合作伙伴的核心计划。总之，这些活动在这个计划年中将允许我们的团队开发一个集成的系统研究远景，详细的计划和试验台的合作伙伴关系，劳动力发展计划，创新生态系统的方法，并确定额外的合作者和最多一个额外的机构，可以填补专业知识的空白。拟议中的中心的更广泛影响是，它最终将提高公众的科学素养和公众对科学技术的参与。我们的方法将加强包括学术界、工业界和其他团体在内的多方利益攸关方伙伴关系。采用以利益相关者为中心的模式，我们相信我们的工作将改善社会中个人的福祉。重要的是，这种新方法将增强不同人群之间的公平性，并有助于减少公共部门基础设施服务的安置、部署、使用和管理方面的环境不公正。对关键公共部门基础设施的改进将改善国家安全，提高美国的经济竞争力。因此，规划拨款将为实现所有这些更广泛的影响因素创造框架。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.This proposal is focused around developing an Engineering Research Center to advance "smart" public service infrastructure, including water, mobility, power and food, that is locally distributed (units located at or near point of use). The development of these localized public service infrastructure (distributed systems) will enable automation for improved efficiency. These new distributed systems will interact with existing centralized (a single unit serving a large metropolitan area) systems to create hybrid systems. The ?smart? feature involves adding sensors and controls to connect these systems, making them operate in a more efficient manner. The planned Center will consider the fact that much of the U.S. public service infrastructure is currently in need of replacement. We aspire to both create and demonstrate new methods and state-of-the-art technologies that are more flexible, efficient, secure and responsive to the needs of those who rely upon them. Furthermore, a centerpiece of our proposed Center is to implement new approaches to governance, management, financing, decision-making and public sector engagement around the selection, management and use of public service infrastructure. If our planning activities are successful, this Center will transform the landscape of public sector infrastructure toward more efficient resource utilization; increased public understanding of and engagement with public service infrastructure; and create educational approaches that will produce a new generation of engineers, managers, scientists, public service representatives and engaged citizens. The purpose of this grant is to facilitate deeper planning for an Engineering Research Center concept around Regenerative, Restorative and Resilient Community Infrastructure Systems (R3CIS). The proposed Center's goal is to accelerate innovation, development and adoption of cyber-enabled distributed technologies. Additionally, the proposed Center aims to support institutions (such as government, management, and financial) that transform regenerative and restorative infrastructure systems so that it enhances the well-being of public and planetary health. The proposed Center concept specifically focuses on novel infrastructure systems that support the public-sector (water, power, mobility, food). This focus will shift public sector infrastructure planning from being service-oriented to resource management-oriented. This shift will enhance efficiency, increase resilience, restore city regions, and improve the institutional structures that facilitate the equitable distribution of resources to achieve healthy communities. Further, it puts decision science methodologies up front to ensure the work is stakeholder-focused and science-based to meet the needs of communities. In preparing to write an ERC proposal around this concept, this planning grant focuses on several parallel activities: create and engage a stakeholder commission for two test-beds (Detroit Metropolitan Area and Rocky Mountain Front Range) and a science advisory board; define a list of integrated public service infrastructure technologies and refine and prioritize that list during the planning year; develop a strategic plan for our Center concept and, as part of that effort, create a road-mapping process in which we lay out details of the first two years of the proposed Center. The road-mapping process is designed to be revisited annually to identify priorities for the coming two years, with an emphasis of putting ideas into practice; identify and work closely with those community partners from testbed communities and who work at the national level advocating for communities. We want to engage community members from the testbed locations from the start and ensure their participation in Center visioning; identify the education and outreach elements that emphasize the integration between academia and practice and create the plan for their development that will be part of a future Center proposal; nurture and further develop core plans with foreign partners. Together, these activities during this planning year will allow our team to develop an integrated system of systems research vision, detailed plans and partnerships for testbeds, a workforce development plan, methodologies for the innovation ecosystem, and identify additional collaborators and up to one additional institution that can fill expertise gaps. The broader impact of the proposed Center is that it will ultimately increase public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology. Our methods will enhance multi-stakeholder partnerships that include academia, industry and other groups. Using a stakeholder-centered model, we believe our work will improve the well-being of individuals in society. Importantly, this novel approach will allow for enhanced equity across diverse populations and help to reduce environmental injustices in the placement, deployment, use and management of public-sector infrastructure services. The improvements made to critical public-sector infrastructure will improve national security and increase the economic competitiveness of the U.S. Therefore, the planning grant will create the framework for being able to achieve all these broader impact elements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.