Award Abstract # 1920042
Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Materials for Agriculture Resource Imaging Analytics at High Resolution (MARIAH)

NSF Org: EEC
Division of Engineering Education and Centers
Recipient: UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: February 6, 2019
Latest Amendment Date: February 6, 2019
Award Number: 1920042
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Dana L. Denick
ddenick@nsf.gov
 (703)292-8866
EEC
 Division of Engineering Education and Centers
ENG
 Directorate for Engineering
Start Date: January 3, 2019
End Date: August 31, 2021 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $97,049.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $96,659.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2018 = $96,659.00
History of Investigator:
  • Donald Roper (Principal Investigator)
    keith.roper@usu.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Utah State University
1000 OLD MAIN HL
LOGAN
UT  US  84322-1000
(435)797-1226
Sponsor Congressional District: 01
Primary Place of Performance: Utah State University
UT  US  84322-1415
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
01
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): SPE2YDWHDYU4
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): ERC-Eng Research Centers
Primary Program Source: 01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1480, 9150, 128E
Program Element Code(s): 148000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.041

ABSTRACT

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.

A rising global demand for food amidst increasing drought, extreme temperatures, and pest damage is straining precious land, water, and energy resources. The Planning Grant for the proposed Engineering Research Center for Materials for Agricultural Resource Imaging Analytics at High Resolution (MARIAH) will engage experts in agriculture and other sciences, engineering, and management in developing innovative approaches to increase crop yields while reducing insecticide, herbicide, and fertilizer use. Talented people from diverse disciplines, perspectives, and backgrounds will come together using novel approaches to networking and entrepreneurship to catalyze bold new innovations that will sustainably increase agricultural productivity while preserving natural resources. Innovative materials, devices, and methods that enhance our understanding of plant resilience to stress will be pursued to identify better crop varieties and crop management strategies. Award-winning approaches to mentoring, entrepreneurship, and team building will train tomorrow's leaders in data-driven, sustainable agriculture. Our goal is 'partnering to nourish a healthier world.'

A rising global demand for food amidst increasing drought, extreme temperatures and pest damage is straining precious land, water, and energy resources. The Planning Grant for the proposed Engineering Research Center for Materials for Agricultural Resource Imaging Analytics at High Resolution (MARIAH) will engage experts in agriculture and other sciences, engineering, and management in developing innovative approaches to increase crop yields while reducing insecticide, herbicide, and fertilizer use. A series of conferences, workshops and contests will be held in conjunction with meetings of professional societies to identify (i) new materials to examine stress tolerance in individual plants (e.g., nanoscale antennas); (ii) novel devices to image crop phenotypes and environment (e.g., detectors based on II-VI and IV-alloy semiconductors and quantum dots); and (iii) advanced high throughput plant phenotyping systems and data analytics to mitigate effects of drought, extreme temperature and pest damage (e.g., drone-acquired ultra-high spatial resolution multispectral imagery). Novel, high-resolution sensing/imaging platforms will be integrated with autonomous collection and advanced data analytics to rationally select crop varieties and crop management strategies that increase crop resilience to stress, improve food and water quality, and decrease energy usage and nutrient pollution. Acclaimed methods for innovation, mentoring, and communications will attract participants from diverse backgrounds and disciplines and train next-generation leaders in data-driven sustainable agriculture. By identifying bold new approaches to increase crop yield and sustainably use land, water, and energy resources while preparing tomorrow's workforce, we will advance the U.S. agriculture economy. Our goal is 'partnering to nourish a healthier world.'

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.

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.

The major goals of this project were to engage stakeholders to distinguish challenges, gaps and opportunities for new materials to better monitor stress resilience.  Stakeholders from academia, industry, and government were engaged in three major efforts.  Six open forums and crowd sourcing workshops were held to identify gaps, barriers, capabilities and opportunities in sustainable intensification of precision agriculture. Three mentored-student contests in ethics and design were launched to identify bold new innovations in sustainable intensification of precision agriculture. Professional facilitation was organized to train participants in leadership and task analytic methods to achieve tangible benefits to society building on our disciplinary expertise.  Specific outcomes of these engagement efforts and corresponding activities resulted in three tangible areas. New devices to sustainably raise yield were conceptualized and development was begun. Integration of superior phenotyping to mitigate climate impacts was initiated.  Engagement and outreach activities were conducted to cultivate inclusivity in sustainable agriculture workforce.  In each of these thrusts, task analytic methods were used to understand human factors in order to support the most effective teamwork.  The overall result was that stakeholders in relevant communities were engaged in collaborative team building activities to mitigate impacts of interventions to improve crop productivity using a risk-based analytic approach.


Last Modified: 01/26/2022
Modified by: Donald K Roper

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