Research Infrastructure: RII Track 1: Integrating Montana's Environmental Research with Smart Sensors (IMERSS)

处方火在美国西部越来越多地被使用，因为它是缓解和管理野火风险所必需的。这一“将蒙大拿州的环境研究与智能传感器相结合”(IMERSS)项目将通过生产新的传感器技术来表征燃料类型和烟雾排放，从而提高对规定的火灾动力学以及规定的火灾对蒙大拿州社区和公共土地的影响的了解。这种新颖的智能光学传感器系统将通过与蒙大拿州不断扩大的基于光学的行业建立合作伙伴关系，为该地区的经济基础设施做出贡献。IMERSS的研究成果将使处方火灾的管理者能够制定和完善有效部署处方火灾的策略，以降低野火风险，这一好处将延伸到负责整个美国西部土地管理和野火缓解的地方和联邦机构。IMERSS的更广泛影响包括广泛的实习和劳动力发展计划，社区和部落学院参与者的整合，以及对K-12教育和社区外联的关注。该项目将创建明确的STEM专业发展途径，并扩大整个蒙大拿州在环境、社会和工程研究方面的参与。IMERSS将由蒙大拿州立大学与其他六所机构合作管理：蒙大拿大学、蒙大拿理工大学、Salish Kotenai学院、小大角学院、Flathead Valley社区学院。IMERSS的研究将集中在：1)规定火灾的能量和排放如何取决于燃料特性、地形和环境条件；2)规定火灾的烟雾排放如何影响个人和社区。为了回答这些问题，IMERSS将开发新一代智能光学传感器，将新兴工程技术与人工智能(AI)和机器学习(ML)的进步结合起来。然后，IMERSS将部署新的仪器来实时测量规定的火灾行为，获得关于燃料、烟雾气溶胶类型、烟羽高度、烟雾轨迹以及社会对规定火灾和烟雾的接受程度的空间准确的实时数据。这些数据的获取将使规定火灾的管理人员能够更明智地决定何时、何地燃烧以及燃烧多长时间。这些决定可以与个人和蒙大拿州的社区领导人分享，以最大限度地减少规定火灾的不利影响。因此，IMERSS将制定有科学依据的战略，以选择地点和规定的火灾事件的时间，以最大限度地提高其效益，并降低野火和烟雾风险。通过这样做，IMERSS将通过在环境科学、遥感、光学工程、人工智能和ML以及社会科学的研究人员之间建立联系，在蒙大拿州建设能力。该项目的头两年计划招聘四名新教师，全部是人工智能和ML。核心研究计划与教育、劳动力发展和多元化计划很好地结合在一起，这些计划涵盖了学术、部落、公共和私营部门。这一奖项反映了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。

Prescribed fire is increasingly being employed across the western U.S., as it is needed to mitigate and manage wildfire risk. This "Integrating Montana's Environmental Research with Smart Sensors" (IMERSS) project will improve the understanding of prescribed fire dynamics and the impact of prescribed fire on Montana’s communities and public lands by producing new sensor technologies to characterize fuel types and smoke emissions. The novel, smart optical sensor systems will contribute to the region’s economic infrastructure through partnerships with Montana’s expanding optics-based industry. Outcomes of IMERSS research will enable managers of prescribed fires to develop and refine strategies for deploying prescribed fires effectively to mitigate wildfire risk, a benefit that will extend to local and federal agencies tasked with land management and wildfire mitigation across the Western U.S. The broader impacts activities of IMERSS include an extensive internship and workforce development plan, integration of community and Tribal college participants, and a focus on K-12 education and outreach to the community. The project will create well-defined STEM professional development pathways and broaden participation across Montana in environmental, social, and engineering research. IMERSS will be administered by Montana State University in collaboration with six other institutions: University of Montana, Montana Technological University, Salish Kootenai College, Little Big Horn College, Flathead Valley Community College.IMERSS research will focus on: 1) how prescribed fire’s energy and emissions depend on fuel properties, topography, and environmental conditions, and 2) how smoke emissions from prescribed fires affect individuals and communities. To answer these questions, IMERSS will develop a new generation of smart optical sensors that couple emerging engineering technologies with advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). IMERSS will then deploy the new instruments to measure prescribed fire behavior in real time, acquiring spatially accurate, real-time data about fuels, smoke aerosol type, smoke plume height, smoke trajectory, and social acceptance of prescribed fire and smoke. The acquisition of this data will allow managers of prescribed fires to make better-informed decisions about when and where to burn, and for how long. These decisions can be shared with individuals and Montana’s community leaders to minimize the adverse effects of prescribed fire. Thus, IMERSS will produce scientifically grounded strategies for selecting the locations and the timing of prescribed fire events to maximize their benefits and mitigate wildfire and smoke risk. In doing so, IMERSS will build capacity in Montana by forging ties between researchers in environmental science, remote sensing, optical engineering, AI and ML, and social science. Four new faculty hires are planned in the first two years of the project, all in AI and ML. The core research program is well integrated with education, workforce development, and diversity plans that span academic, Tribal, public, and private sectors.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.