AEESP Symposium: On Frontiers in Assessment Methods for the Environment

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

0333427 Brezonik This proposal requests funds to organize and conduct a national symposium called Frontiers in Assessment Methods for the Environment (FAME), which is being sponsored by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP). FAME will focus on the groundbreaking advances being made in environmental measurement systems and assessment methods, which promise to revolutionize the ways scientists and engineers study and solve complicated environmental problems over a range of scales. The symposium is being organized for the AEESP primarily by faculty in the environmental engineering program from the University of Minnesota and will be held in Minneapolis, August 10-13, 2003. The symposium is an outgrowth of a series of workshops held to develop CLEANER, an initiative in the environmental engineering area of the NSF. CLEANER stands for Collaborative Large-scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environmental Research. It is envisioned as a networked infrastructure of environmental field facilities to enable formulation and development of engineering and policy options for the restoration and protection of environmental resources. Thus far, three workshops have been held on CLEANER: at Stanford University in December, 2001; the University of Minnesota in October, 2002; and Duke University in February, 2003. In a result of these workshops, leaders of AEESP became aware of the need for a broad symposium to bring together engineers and scientists who are making groundbreaking advances in measurement and assessment technologies, modeling, data processing and networking tools and the engineers and scientists from academic institutions who can use these techniques to revolutionize field research and develop more effective research in environmental engineering science. The symposium thus will include individuals from the disciplines responsible for technological advances in measurement/assessment methods and potential users of this technology in the environmental engineering/science community. These advances include sensors for chemical and biological contaminants, in situ instruments, new modeling techniques to analyze physical, chemical, and biological processes in complex systems, and advances in computer systems to take advantage of the large databases generated by new technologies. Symposium participants will have an opportunity to learn about proposed NSF initiatives for instrumented and networked environmental research facilities, such as CLEANER, that are a natural outgrowth of these advances. The symposium will be attended by engineers and scientists from academic institutions across the United States, as well as representatives of federal and state agencies that conduct environmental research involving field investigations, and engineers from the private sector. A report summarizing results of the symposium will be prepared by the steering committee and submitted to the Environmental Engineering Program in NSF by December, 2003. Intellectual Merit: The symposium will bring together leaders from a variety of disciplines at the forefront of developing measurement and analysis systems and researchers from the environmental engineering and sciences communities who will be applying these advances in exciting new ways to improve research into large-scale environmental problems and their solutions. Broader Impacts: The symposium will be highly interdisciplinary and will promote an exchange of ideas and information on cutting-edge technology across these disciplines that will promote the development of research programs aimed at solving some of society most pressing and complicated environmental problems. Our previous CLEANER workshop was highly effective in involving women and members of under-represented minorities, and we will emphasize this involvement in the symposium FAME.