National Science Foundation (USA) Workshop on Frontier Research Directions and International Collaborations in Sustainability Engineering and Science

Resources available:
Workshop invitation and agenda (255 KB PDF)
> Workshop report (114 KB PDF)

DATE: Saturday, February 24, 2007
LOCATION: Hotel Du Vin, Auckland, New Zealand

OBJECTIVES:

  • To aid in setting priorities for frontier research directions into sustainability engineering and science; and
  • To initiate collaborative research into sustainability engineering and science.

BACKGROUND:

Sustainability engineering is a profound challenge to many in the coming century. Vital resources are of limited supply, energy costs have been rising, and global environmental effects are being observed. Major engineering planning, decision making, and implementation will need to address sustainability in the future. Engineering approaches that integrate sustainability are urgently needed for many specific areas, such as water use and re-use, energy efficient and non-toxic product design, new construction materials and methods and underground processes. Considerable work has been done in the area, both in the US and abroad, but numerous intellectual challenges for new processes and technologies exist. Sustainability is a global challenge and international collaboration will be critical to making research relevant and novel.

This workshop should aid the maturity and research priority setting of the sustainability engineering research community. More broadly, the successful development of sustainability engineering should result in better management of limited resources and development of alternatives to existing, non-sustainable processes.