Environmental Sustainability

The Environmental Sustainability program aims to promote sustainable engineered systems that support human well-being and are compatible with sustaining natural systems. The program supports engineering research in five principal areas: Circular Bioeconomy Engineering, Industrial Ecology, Green Engineering, Ecological Engineering, and Earth Systems Engineering. Proposals should address the novelty and potentially transformative nature of the proposed work, and include involvement of at least one graduate student and undergraduates in the research. The program encourages incorporation of social, behavioral, and economic sciences in the proposals. • Circular Bioeconomy Engineering: enabling sustainable societal use of food, energy, water, and materials with reduced waste and emphasis on closed-loop processing. • Industrial Ecology: advancements in modeling and novel metrics for measuring sustainable systems. • Green Engineering: advancing sustainability of manufacturing processes, green buildings, and infrastructure. • Ecological Engineering: restoring ecological function to natural systems through engineering research. • Earth Systems Engineering: large-scale engineering research involving mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change.