Environment and Sustainability

This cluster represents interdisciplinary research areas in urban ecology, space weather, solar terrestrial, environmental sensors, sustainable infrastructure, intelligent transportation systems, global climate change, biodiversity and conservation, clean water, waste management, renewable energy, and smart grid systems. The urban ecology and sustainability area emphasizes sustainable infrastructure, smart transportation, ecological communities, and urban modeling and simulation. Space weather sciences and impact of evolutionary changes in the solar system impacts directly our environmental ecosystem and global climate changes. This area also focuses on the water-energy nexus and the impact of ocean levels on the environment, as well as the development of technologies to clean water and to provide green energy, such as biofuel cells and powerful, long-lasting batteries. The Environment and Sustainability cluster intersects with other research clusters including Material Science and Engineering, Robotics and Machine Intelligence and Data Science and Management in developing smart and green buildings and sustainable communities, understanding space weather and climate changes. 

NAE and NAS Grand Challenges and NSF Big Ideas within the scope of this cluster include “Solar Energy”, “Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure”, “Access to Clean Water”, “Provide Energy from Fusion”, “Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods”, and “The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier”, “Navigating the New Arctic” and “Windows on the Universe”.