Conference: Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals, Rolla, MO, August 7-8, 2024

美国目前被列为“关键矿物”的50种材料中的大多数依赖进口。“从关键矿物清单中删除材料需要采用多学科方法，包括矿物勘探、物质流分析、可持续性、采矿方法、公共政策、矿物经济学、采掘冶金和生产工艺。为了为来自学术界、私营部门和代表这些学科的政府机构的利益相关者提供一个讨论平台，密苏里州S T将于2024年8月7日至8日在位于罗拉的密苏里州S T校园举办一场混合型面对面/虚拟研讨会。主题会议将从跨学科、融合的角度讨论关键矿物的弹性供应，包括矿物勘探、矿物加工和回收、政策制定和供应链经济学以及关键矿物劳动力发展。他们各自领域的领导人将发表主题演讲，讨论当前的知识状况，并强调解决关键矿物研究需求的潜在战略。主旨发言后，与会者将口头介绍其他概念和/或观点。每个专题会议将有一个分组会议，以促进讨论，为多学科和跨部门的研究和实际合作制定路线。预计研讨会将有助于发展和培养学术界、政府机构和私营部门参与者之间的专业关系，从而促进关键矿物研究的多学科合作。提高关键矿物供应链的弹性对美国的经济和国家安全至关重要。现有的研究还没有全面的理论，检查和评估的跨学科性质的方法，以提高供应链的弹性。此外，与关键矿物有关的经济、环境和社会组成部分通常是单独讨论的，技术和政策领域之间很少有共同之处。同样，需要建立一支多样化和强大的关键矿业劳动力队伍，特别是在农村地区，这一点往往被忽视，但将通过讲习班的专题会议加以讨论。预计研讨会将为工程师、地球科学家、经济学家、政治学家和代表学术界、私营部门和政府机构的政治家/工作人员提供一个独特的讨论平台。该研讨会将有助于培育一个新兴的国家社区，在关键矿产供应弹性方面拥有广泛的专业知识，涵盖学术界，工业界和政府行为体。旅行赠款，特别是对学生和早期职业研究人员，将有助于建立一个跨越几代人的社区，并确保会议的持久影响。分组会议的一个具体重点是成立工作队，工作队将在研讨会后定期开会，起草文件，例如，可用于帮助教育委员会实现K12课程的现代化，并为立法者提供决策信息。该奖项由CBET/ENG的环境可持续性计划和ESTA/GEO的地球生物学和低温地球化学计划以及岩石学和地球化学计划共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF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，被认为是值得支持的。

The United States is import- reliant for most of the 50 materials that are currently classified as "critical minerals." Removing materials from the critical minerals list requires a multi-disciplinary approach that encompasses mineral exploration, material flow analysis, sustainability, mining methods, public policy, mineral economics, extractive metallurgy, and production processes. To provide a discussion platform for stakeholders from academia, the private sector, and government agencies that represent these disciplines, Missouri S&T will hold a hybrid in- person/virtual workshop on August 7-8, 2024, on the Missouri S&T campus in Rolla. Themed topical sessions will discuss the resilient supply of critical minerals from cross-disciplinary, convergent perspectives, including mineral exploration, mineral processing and recycling, policy making and supply chain economics, and critical minerals workforce development. Leaders in their respective fields will give keynote presentations that will discuss the current state of knowledge and highlight potential strategies to address the critical minerals research needs. The keynotes will be followed by oral presentations of participants to introduce additional concepts and/or perspectives. Every topical session will have a breakout session to facilitate discussions towards charting a course for multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral research and practical collaborations. It is anticipated that the workshop will help develop and nurture professional relationships among participants from academia, government agencies, and the private sector – thus facilitating multi-disciplinary collaborations in critical minerals research.Increasing the resiliency of critical mineral supply chains is important to the economy and national safety of the United States. Existing research has yet to comprehensively theorize, examine, and evaluate the cross-disciplinary nature of approaches available to enhance supply chain resilience. Furthermore, economic, environmental, and social components associated with critical minerals are usually discussed separately with little convergence between technology and policy fields. Similarly, the need to build a diverse and strong critical minerals workforce, particularly in rural areas, is often neglected, but will be addressed through a topical session at the workshop. It is expected that the workshop will provide a unique platform for discussions among engineers, geoscientists, economists, political scientists, and politicians/staffers representing academia, the private sector, and government agencies. The workshop will help nurture a budding national community with a wide range of expertise in critical mineral supply resilience, spanning academic, industry, and government actors. Travel grants, particularly for students and early-career researchers, will help build a community that spans generations and ensure the meeting’s lasting impact. A specific focus of the breakout sessions will be formation of task forces that will meet regularly after the workshop to draft documents that, for example, can be used to help educational boards modernize K12 curricula and inform lawmakers for policy making. The workshop findings will be summarized and disseminated in a workshop report.This award is co-funded by CBET/ENG's Environmental Sustainability program and EAR/GEO's Geobiology and Low Temperature Geochemistry program and Petrology and Geochemistry programThis 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.