| NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 14, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 14, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1737587 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Wendy Nilsen
wnilsen@nsf.gov (703)292-2568 CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | December 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $99,993.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $99,993.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
85 S PROSPECT STREET BURLINGTON VT US 05405-1704 (802)656-3660 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
Burlington VT US 05405-0160 |
| 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): | S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun |
| 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): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
Many U.S. towns, cities, and communities have historic and cultural resources that play significant roles in community life; Vermont is, a leading example. The existing heritage support systems for preserving and protecting these resources (e.g. local and regional nonprofits, public programs housed in local and state governments, and extensive regulatory underpinnings that address housing, land use planning, and smart growth through preservation) pose significant technical and social challenges. For example, engineering technology applied to historic infrastructure (e.g., cultural sites, aging buildings, materials and structures) presents a number of unique challenges seldom addressed by U.S. engineering programs. Exposure to the constraints imposed by preserving cultural resources will better prepare engineers for the 21st century challenges of the aging infrastructure. In turn, the cultural resources network (CRN) in Vermont would benefit from advanced technologies and engineering expertise, which are largely untapped. Our goal is to catalyze the community networks currently caring for Vermont's cultural resources, and connect them with a network of engineering expertise (ETN) and smart technologies using Vermont as a living laboratory. Two planning workshops will be convened to enhance the understanding, appreciation, and challenges facing both sectors. The project will yield scientific insights into the collaborations and connections that support historic infrastructure in Vermont, as well as policies that support these relationships. The project also will yield tools for non-invasive testing and data collection for historic and cultural resources that can be replicated in other communities. Finally, an assessment of changes in the community networks (ETN and CRN) will be explored so that knowledge gained in the project can support other communities.
The longer-term intellectual merit of this project includes (1) performing smart analytics (e.g., network analysis) to identify the evolution of community connections and cooperation, the key features, and potential governance policies to help enhance network functioning; (2) building a smart mobile facility that provides high-tech, non-destructive testing technologies and new methods for digitizing, documenting, and visualizing site-specific cultural resources to communities in need; and (3) assessment of the existing and post-grant community networks (ETN and CRN) so that benefits can then be transferred and scaled to other regions. Both the proposed planning grant workshops and longer-term educational training programs will enhance the understanding, appreciation, and challenges facing both sectors. The broader impacts will bring engineers and (1) the CRN representatives together to catalyze the existing network of cultural resources in Vermont; (2) provides a new educational perspective (e.g., training modules) for undergraduate and graduate level engineering curricula, and (3) associated educational efforts (e.g. certificate in preservation engineering), and (4) outreach and technology transfer (e.g. mobile facilities with high-tech equipment for low-cost applications). The proposed network analysis and associated assessments are viewed as key components for integrating the two community networks. This research builds naturally on the successful transdisciplinary initiative in Complex Systems at the University of Vermont; envisions the development of new approaches in modeling this complex sociotechnical system for the purpose of preserving cultural resources in Vermont and beyond.
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.
Vermont has a well-developed network of people and organizations involved in the preservation of cultural resources (community volunteers, governmental and regulatory agencies, and local and regional nonprofits). Given the close coordination/effort between this cultural resource network (CRN), we leveraged and studied this network to better understand the effectiveness and efficiency in which this community helps preserve local community meeting places, developing affordable housing, promoting smart growth and land conservation.
Our hypothesis is that the community network that preserves cultural resources (CRN) in Vermont will benefit from advanced technologies and engineering expertise, which are largely untapped in the U.S. primarily because the CRN, either lacks access to these resources or fears that engineered solutions too often carry with them unacceptable impacts on resource integrity. In turn, the application of engineering technology to historic infrastructure (e.g., aging buildings, materials, structural systems and cultural sites) presents a number of unique challenges seldom addressed in the U.S. engineering programs. These challenges are often driven by the differences across these two communities (e.g., CRN?s desire to ensure authenticity and historic integrity of heritage structures, and the engineering technological network (ETN) to ensure public safety, energy efficiency, etc.). We contend that exposing the engineering community to the constraints imposed by preserving cultural resources will lead to unique research opportunities and from an education perspective, better prepare engineers for the 21st century challenges of the aging infrastructure. The benefits of linking these two communities will extend beyond the specific expertise of either network to the broader local communities and their quality of life.
Our proposal is based on the premise that: The existing Cultural Resource Network (CRN) in Vermont and the engineering community stand to benefit from closer collaboration. At present, engineering expertise and advanced technologies play minor roles in cultural resource preservation in Vermont. Our major project goals include:
1) Bringing engineering research to bear on specific problems and recurring obstacles to the preservation of Vermont?s cultural resources (e.g., energy efficiency, characterization of aging materials, aging building foundations, heat and moisture transfer in historic buildings, nondestructive evaluation, waste water disposal). All of which are closely related.
2) Leveraging the Cultural Resources Network (CRN) to delivery systems and make the technologies available to VT communities.
3) Using network analysis to ID existing community network connections, key features, and ways to enhance network functioning. Network analyses are likely to identify the structural features of successful preservation networks, and provide measures of community connectedness leveraged by local preservation activities. The insights derived from these analyses are likely to be useful in promoting closer connections between preservation and engineering networks that are mutually beneficial to both. We started to garner baseline data and perform initial network analysis during this planning grant. More detail found under key outcomes.
The planning grant supported:
1) Two workshops designed toidentify a set of specific research questions and work tasks that are most interesting and useful to the two existing (currently separate) sets/networks of stakeholders in Vermont. However, the longer-term research goals include bridging the Cultural Resources Network (CRN) in Vermont and the engineering community beyond the scope of the two planning workshops, with the purpose of documenting the mutual benefits, connections and cooperation that evolve over time.
2) Identifying an organized list of research needs, barriers, opportunities and potential enhancements of the existing Cultural Resources Network (CRN) in Vermont.
3) We performed a preliminary network analysis using a survey administered to the participants from workshop 1 (i.e., key members of Vermont?s CRN) to gather a small amount of baseline data and help identify other potential participants and collaborators. Participants were asked to identify existing collaborators and to rank the strength of those relationships in three areas (technical; regulatory; and financial). A second survey administered to participants at both workshops asked the following:
i. What opportunities might cultural resources offer engineering?
ii. What are the potential roles of engineering in cultural resources?
iii. What are the impediments/barriers to making these two networks more connected/efficient?
iv. Group prioritization activity
Last Modified: 12/29/2018
Modified by: Donna Rizzo
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