| NSF Org: |
DMS Division Of Mathematical Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 31, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 1, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1246305 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
James Matthew Douglass
mdouglas@nsf.gov (703)292-2467 DMS Division Of Mathematical Sciences MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $467,549.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $467,549.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3 RUTGERS PLZ NEW BRUNSWICK NJ US 08901-8559 (848)932-0150 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
NJ US 08901-8559 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
This award supports a series of seven workshops and their follow-on activities to be held in 2014 and 2015 to continue the research and education thrusts emanating from the Mathematics of Planet Earth year 2013. The proposed locations and dates are as follows: MPE 2013+ Preparatory Workshop (Arizona State University, 2014); Management of Natural Resources (Howard University, 2014), Sustainable Human Environments (Rutgers University, 2014), Natural Disasters (Arizona State Univeristy, 2014), Data-aware Energy Use (University of California San Diego, 2014), Global Change (Univeristy of California Berkeley, 2015), and Education for the planet Earth of Tomorrow (University of Tennessee, 2015.)
The Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE) was conceived as a year-long project slated to begin in January 2013, involving mainly North American institutions. It has since evolved to become a truly worldwide initiative with partners from all continents. As MPE has gained members, it has become clear that there is momentum to propel it beyond 2013. The problems facing our planet will persist, and the project supported here (MPE 2013+) aims to involve mathematical scientists in laying the groundwork for a long-term effort to surmount them. MPE 2013+ aims to sustain MPE activities beyond 2013 by: 1) conducting five research workshops that each defines a set of future research challenges; 2) establishing a research and education forum associated with each workshop that involves follow-up smaller group meetings to flesh out the challenges, identify potential follow-up activities, and begin collaborations; 3) holding an education workshop that helps to identify how to integrate themes identified in the research workshops into undergraduate and graduate curricula; 4) finding ways to involve the next generation of mathematical scientists in the effort, with special emphasis on involving under-represented minorities in the MPE workforce of the future, especially through an introductory conference that will prepare participants for involvement in the following research workshops; and 5) disseminating information about the mathematics of planet earth by creating a website and other publicity materials for the project. The research workshops cover the following themes: Management of Natural Resources (including water, forests, and food supplies); Sustainable Human Environments (including smarter cities, anthropogenic biomes, and security); Natural Disasters (monitoring, responding to, and mitigating their effects); Data-aware Energy Use (including alternative energy investment portfolios, smart grid, smart buildings, electric vehicles); Global Change (including observation, metrics, and mitigating and adapting to the effects of change).
The project has significant potential benefit to society through improved capabilities to monitor the earth's systems and to extract meaning from collected data; new multi-scale methods for modeling complex interacting systems; mathematically driven pricing for resource and energy usage and incentives for energy-efficient construction; and mathematically precise criteria for measuring biodiversity and other ecological desiderata. MPE 2013+ aims to bring mathematical scientists not currently engaged in sustainability to these topics and to connect those who are with a broader multidisciplinary community. The project brings together a large number of people from different disciplines, with different backgrounds, at different stages of their careers, and with different points of view and actively recruits participants from groups historically under-represented in the sciences.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 was a year-long project, organized originally by 13 North American Mathematical Sciences research centers, and aimed at exploring applications of the mathematical sciences to problems of the planet. MPE2013 became a world-wide activity. This project MPE2013+ aimed to build on the successes of MPE2013, and involve mathematical scientists in addressing problems of the planet; enhance collaborations between mathematical scientists and other scientists; involve students and junior researchers in the effort; and encourage life-long commitment to working between disciplines to solve problems of society. The project was organized around five research Clusters, each initiated with a broad workshop and followed by focused workshops: Sustainable Human Environments, Global Change, Data-aware Energy Use, Natural Disasters, Management of Natural Resources. Education was a crucial piece of MPE2013+: Educational issues were discussed at each workshop and a special sixth cluster of workshops explored Education for the Planet Earth of Tomorrow. Workshop participants included undergraduate and graduate students, junior and senior faculty, and workers at government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Participants initiated research papers, and over 90% of them reported they had learned a great deal, advanced their research, and acquired materials for use in their classrooms.
The project ran 23 workshops at a wide variety of locations. A kickoff event at Arizona State University on Challenges and Opportunities: Introducing Participants to MPE2013+ Topics started the activity, with an emphasis on introducing early career researchers to the activity.
The Sustainable Human Environments Cluster, after its kickoff workshop at Rutgers University, involved workshops on Urban Planning for Climate Events, Citizen Science, Connecting Community Colleges to MPE Sustainability Activities, Not in My Backyard (NIMBY): Mathematical and Computational Tools for Decision Making, Urban Sustainability in a Smart and Connected World. Among new ideas were new techniques for estimating future emissions developed at the Urban Sustainability workshop, and new ideas for using information technology to inform commuters about better transportation alternatives in real-time.
The Natural Disasters Cluster kicked off at Georgia Tech and was followed by workshops on Modeling of Infectious Disease with a Focus on Ebola, Material Transport in Geophysical Flows (including oil spills), Zika, Modeling Food Systems, and Global Change and Vector-borne Diseases: Mapping Emerging Infectious Diseases. The Zika workshop led to new ideas for how an emerging infectious disease succeeds in moving to a new location. The food workshop led to new ideas about food security, and energy and environmental considerations in growing food. This cluster included participation from CDC, FEMA, and state and local health departments.
A kickoff workshop at UC Berkeley initiated the cluster on Global Change. The workshops on Ebola and on Zika and on Global Change and Vector-borne Diseases (see above) were also part of this cluster, as was a workshop on Appropriate Complexity Modeling of the Impact of Global Change on Ecosystems. The latter led to a paper in the journal Ecology Letters with authors from many disciplines, reflecting the multi-disciplinarity of MPE. A major theme from this cluster was the need to develop ways to communicate notions of global change to the public.
Howard University hosted the cluster kickoff for Management of Natural Resources. The workshops on Appropriate Complexity and NIMBY (see above) were also part of this cluster, as were workshops on Chesapeake Fisheries: From Oysters to Economics, Modeling Food Systems, and Automated Biometric Identification of Individual Cheetahs and Leopards. The latter workshop brought together experts in machine learning and artificial intelligence, computer visualization, and operations research to collaborate with ecologists and wildlife biologists. The Chesapeake Fisheries workshop combined economists, ecologists, and mathematical modelers to address new ideas for protecting the fish population in a sustainable way.
The cluster on Data-aware Energy Use was initiated at UC San Diego and included the above workshops on NIMBY and Urban Sustainability. New ideas on smart homes and buildings, smart grid, and load balancing arose from this cluster.
The kickoff for the cluster on Education for the Planet Earth of Tomorrow was at U. of Tennessee and included workshops on Citizen Science, Community College Sustainability Activities, Reptile and Amphibian Distributions, and NIMBY (see above). It also included PK-12 Education for the Planet Earth of Tomorrow, and a follow-up PK-12 Education for the Planet Earth of Tomorrow: Stem Educator Symposium as well as Developing Sustainability Modules for the Community College Classroom. In the NIMBY workshop, faculty teaching undergraduates were exposed to applications of concepts of social and environmental justice decisions about locating a toxic waste dump or other noxious facility. Key themes arising from these workshops included workforce development, how citizens including students can contribute to targeted conservation actions, and how to introduce community college students to sustainability topics.
A workshop on the Future of MPE was a culmination, including key leaders of all the clusters and laying out a plan for continuing the activity in the future.
Last Modified: 11/12/2018
Modified by: Fred S Roberts
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