KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. — A new grant sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) will
support an environmental research network designed to identify
transdisciplinary research opportunities and collaborations for scientists in
the United States and China working to achieve sustainable use of natural resources
for food, energy and water systems.
U.S. collaborators establishing the network include scientists with the
University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA), the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Frank Löffler,
a UT/ORNL Governor’s Chair in Microbiology and Civil and Environmental
Engineering with an adjunct appointment in the UTIA Department of Biosystems
Engineering and Soil Science, will direct the effort.
In addition to $300,000 being provided by the NSF, the Natural Science
Foundation of China (NSFC) is contributing approximately $150,000 to the
project. The initial goals of the effort are to (1) identify transdisciplinary
environmental research opportunities that address challenging global issues
involving food, energy or water systems; (2) to develop a framework to overcome
hurdles to interdisciplinary research both between and among collaborating U.S.
and Chinese researchers; and (3) to establish models for education, training,
communication and efficacy evaluations of the outputs of the international
cooperation. The ultimate goal of the project is to enhance the use of natural
resources to meet the needs of the growing human population while maintaining
resource levels that are environmentally acceptable and sustainable.
Nicknamed
“EAGER: FEWSTERN: US-China Food-Energy-Water Systems Transdisciplinary
Environmental Research Network,” or FEWS Research Network for short, the
project will build upon and extend the efforts of the Joint Research Center for
Ecosystem and Environmental Change (JRCEEC), which was established in 2006 and is
the foundation for a U.S. State Department-designated Ecopartnership with
China. The FEWS Research Network is expected to add new conduits for
information exchange, student training opportunities and collaborative efforts
between U.S and Chinese researchers in the broad sustainability and
environmental change arena.
The FEWS Research Network, along with other UTIA-based U.S.-China
programs, will accelerate the
formation of academia-industry partnerships by helping to identify cutting-edge
research opportunities, team formation and proposal submission in the food,
energy and water nexus arena. Over a two-year period of strategic research
planning, identification of grand challenges, teaming workshops and proposal
development conferences, the FEWS Research Network will generate technical
whitepapers and guidance documents supporting international collaboration and
research that might be jointly funded by NSF and NSFC.
In addition to Löffler, other members of the FEWS Research Network leadership team
include Jie (Joe) Zhuang, Managing Director of JRCEEC and Professor in UTIA’s
Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science; William Brown, Dean and
Director of UTIA AgResearch; Gary S. Sayler, UT Professor Emeritus of Microbiology;
and Virginia Dale, ORNL Corporate Fellow, Director of the Center for BioEnergy
Sustainability and Landscape Ecology Group Leader. Dale is also on the faculty
of the UT Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
The first FEWS Research Network workshop is tentatively planned for December
7-9, 2017, in Nashville, Tennessee. Interested scientists should contact Löffler at frank.loeffler@utk.edu or Zhuang at jzhuang@utk.edu.
Through its mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. ag.tennessee.edu.
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Contact:
Dr. Frank E. Löffler, UT/ORNL Governor’s Chair Professor, frank.loeffler@utk.edu