Workshop Series on Thermal Issues in Climate Change

气候变化是我们时代最重要的问题之一。气候变化的后果对地方和全球经济以及人类健康都有影响，并可能加剧现有的不平等。热学界的研究人员在为气候变化提供工程解决方案方面做出了重大贡献，包括改进传热机制以提高效率，食物-能源-水关系，以及可再生能源的先进材料和流动行为。该奖项旨在支持一系列关于气候变化中的热问题的虚拟小型研讨会，这些研讨会将热学界的研究人员聚集在一起，形成并促进跨学科合作，共同应对这一重大挑战。小型研讨会的成果包括热能社区如何应对气候变化及其社会影响的路线图，包括短期和长期实施项目。该系列将加强跨机构和领域合作的研究人员社区，并将提供专业发展机会，特别是对初级同事，重点是包括历史上代表性不足的群体的成员。这个关于气候变化中的热问题的虚拟系列的目标是通过每两周一次的讨论会议来促进合作，将多学科研究人员聚集在一起，寻找促进发展的交叉领域。每次会议将围绕一个与气候变化的影响或预防有关的核心话题，并以四到六场不超过三分钟的快速演讲为特色，随后是简短的一般性讨论和分组讨论，以更深入地探讨潜在的合作和可能演变为未来融资机会的具体感兴趣的主题。对于每一次会议，都有一些基本问题支撑着研究界解决这些重点领域的能力。例如，热电储能是当前电网脱碳以及解决空间调节需求的关键技术，但可以加速其采用的先进材料的潜在热物理相变机制仍未得到很好的理解，包括活性床中的热传递共轭模式和精确操作所需的动态控制。除了在科学和工程领域中离散主题的进步之外，讨论系列还将有助于不同机构和领域的研究人员之间的交流，这将有助于彻底确定应对气候变化的关键研究和发展需求。讨论系列的出版成果也将在本系列的范围之外进一步推进这一目标。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。

Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time. The consequences of a changing climate have implications on local and global economies and human health and can exacerbate existing inequalities. Researchers in the thermal community have contributed significantly to providing engineering solutions to climate change, including improved heat transfer mechanisms for higher efficiencies, the food-energy-water nexus, and advanced material and flow behavior for renewable energy. This award is to support a series of virtual mini-workshops on thermal issues in climate change that bring together researchers from the thermal community to nucleate and promote interdisciplinary collaborations and to collectively tackle this grand challenge. The outcome of the mini-workshops includes a roadmap for how the thermal community can work to address climate change and its societal impacts, with both short- and long-term items for implementation. The series will strengthen a community of researchers that collaborate across institutions and fields, and will provide professional development opportunities, particularly for junior colleagues, with a focus on including members of historically under-represented groups.The goal of this virtual series on thermal issues in climate change is to facilitate collaboration through biweekly discussion sessions that bring together multidisciplinary researchers to find intersectional areas for advancement. Each session will revolve a topic central to the impact or prevention of climate change, and feature four to six speed talks of no more than three minutes apiece, followed by a brief general discussion and breakout rooms to delve more deeply into both potential collaborations and specific topics of interest that might evolve into future funding opportunities. For each session, there are fundamental questions underpinning the ability of the research community to address these focus areas. For example, thermal-electrical energy storage is a crucial technology in decarbonizing the current grid, as well as addressing space conditioning needs, but the underlying thermophysical phase change mechanisms of the advanced materials that can accelerate its adoption are still not well understood, including the conjugate modes of heat transfer in an active bed and the dynamic controls needed for precise operation. Beyond the advancements in discrete topics in science and engineering, the discussion series will also aid in communication between researchers at different institutions and fields, which will contribute to the thorough identification of key research and development needs for addressing climate change. The published outcomes of the discussion series will further this goal beyond the bounds of the series itself as well.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.