Planning: Track 1 EFRI DCL: Living Biomineralization to Engineering Architected Ceramics

Suny At Buffalo, Amherst NY

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed planning grant activities aim to further develop a diverse group of researchers and trainees around new concepts in engineered living reeflike structures that reimagine ways in which shoreline building blocks are designed, manufactured, and occupied in light of new living materials and sustainable technologies. The proposed planning grant will support team-building across the geographic and disciplinary boundaries through the use of facilitated workshops, a public symposium, and structured sub-group meetings in order to build and foster a diverse and inclusive research team that actively engages diverse stakeholders in the proposed research, training, and outcomes. A key goal of the proposed activities is to train students in the technical, analytical, and communication skills needed to be effective “catalysts” of living material technological innovation and sustainability planning; preparing the next-generation of engineering leaders for the interdisciplinary teamwork that is expected by building industries. The planning grant team plans to use genetically engineer diatoms to express proteins that selectively extract inorganic precursors such as silicon from the water. The diatoms will in turn use the extracted precursors to assemble hybrid frustules that can be used as architectural material for a sustainable built environment. To prepare to address the proposed research goals, the team will employ professionally facilitated workshops to strengthen communication across disciplinary boundaries, a key component of building an inter-disciplinary team. The PIs describe creating a network of stakeholders interested in shoreline remediation and sustainable building materials, making sure to incorporate the diverse array of end-user input into their research. The proposed activities also include engaging the University of Buffalo's RENEW Institute during planning grant activities, which will provide expertise in the areas of policy, urban planning, sustainability, and environmental/ecological economics. These activities can serve as a model for graduate training in the area of sustainable living building material technology, since the social, economic, political, and management challenges associated with shorelines’ and communities’ adoption of sustainable material technologies transcend the specific technology being considered. 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.