IUCRC Phase I University of Connecticut: Center for Soil Technologies (SoilTech)

健康的土壤是维持生命、种植粮食、提供避难所、提供有弹性的基础设施和实现流动性所必需的，但目前对土壤及其动态的许多关键方面缺乏了解，例如水分和有机质含量的变化，以及这些变化如何影响土壤的健康和稳定。土壤技术中心(SoilTech)是南加州大学、爱荷华州立大学、康涅狄格大学和华盛顿大学的合作伙伴关系，旨在解决这一知识差距，其使命是支持与农业、国防、能源和环境相关的行业。通过召集全国各地具有互补专业知识的研究人员，并从广泛的行业、基金会和政府组织中招募行业咨询委员会成员，SoilTech将在了解土壤动力学方面取得关键进展。SoilTech将作为这些组织之间技术交流和研究的第一个此类中心，提供跨学科的知识综合和对其研究的广泛应用。SoilTech的参与站点有强大的教育和外展计划，针对STEM领域中代表性不足的人群。这些计划将培训下一代劳动力的土壤测量和监测实践，这将使社会广泛受益。SoilTech的研究团队准备通过四个研究主题-土壤传感器和传感器网络；土壤建模和数据分析；土壤碳捕获和核算；以及土壤健康和可持续发展-在理解土壤动态过程方面取得重大进展。SoilTech支持的研究将满足工业部门许多未解决的需求。研究主题包括开发有弹性的地面传感器和传感器网络、用于决策支持的土壤建模和分析、碳核算方法的标准化，以及制定全面的土壤健康倡议，如减少污染物和支持精准农业。SoilTech将提供必要的基础研究，以开发了解土壤属性和管理自然资源的有效和可持续的方法。康涅狄格大学(UConn)将根据其研究专长，将重点放在土壤传感器和土壤健康方面。康涅狄格州大学拥有多个世界级的设施来支持SoilTech并与企业家建立合作伙伴关系。这些资源包括环境研究所、材料科学研究所、农业推广站、科学I研究中心和新落成的创新伙伴关系大楼。康涅狄格州大学还将利用现有的几种机制，将未被充分代表的学生纳入SoilTech的研究，包括第一年经验计划和路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Healthy soils are needed to sustain life, to grow food, to provide shelter, to provide resilient infrastructure, and to enable mobility, but there is presently a lack of knowledge about many key aspects of soil and its dynamics such as variations in the moisture and organic matter content, and how these variations affect soil health and stability. The Center for Soil Technologies (SoilTech) is a partnership among the University of Southern California, Iowa State University, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Washington to address this knowledge gap with a mission to support industries related to agriculture, defense, energy, and environment. By convening researchers across the nation with complementary areas of expertise, and by recruiting Industry Advisory Board members from a broad range of industry, foundation, and government organizations, SoilTech will make crucial progress in understanding soil dynamics. SoilTech will serve as a first-of-its-kind hub for technical exchange and research among these organizations, providing inter-disciplinary knowledge synthesis and broad applications of its research. SoilTech’s participating sites have strong education and outreach programs addressing underrepresented populations in STEM fields. These programs will train the next generation of workforce in soil measurement and monitoring practices that will broadly benefit society. The research teams at SoilTech are poised to make significant advances in the understanding of dynamic processes in soils through four research themes - Soil Sensors and Sensor Networks; Soil Modeling and Data Analytics; Soil Carbon Capture and Accounting; and Soil Health and Sustainability. SoilTech-enabled research will meet a number of unaddressed needs in industry sectors. Research topics include the development of resilient in-ground sensors and sensor networks, soil modeling and analytics for decision support, standardization of carbon accounting methodology, and developing holistic soil health initiatives such as contaminant mitigation and support for precision agriculture. SoilTech will provide the underlying research necessary to develop efficient and sustainable ways of understanding soil properties and managing natural resources. University Connecticut (UConn) contributions will focus on soil sensors and soil heath based on its research expertise. UConn has multiple world-class facilities to support SoilTech and foster partnerships with entrepreneurs. These resources include the Institute of Environment, Institute of Material Science, Agricultural Extension Station, Science I Research Center, and the newly inaugurated Innovation Partnership Building. UConn will also leverage several existing mechanisms for incorporating underrepresented students into SoilTech’s research, including the First Year Experience program, and Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.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.