NSF Org:	EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers
Recipient:	IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Initial Amendment Date:	January 26, 2023
Latest Amendment Date:	April 9, 2025
Award Number:	2231632
Award Instrument:	Continuing Grant
Program Manager:	Barbara Ransom bransom@nsf.gov  (703)292-7792 EEC  Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG  Directorate for Engineering
Start Date:	March 1, 2023
End Date:	February 28, 2026 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$650,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$268,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2023 = $260,000.00 FY 2024 = $8,000.00
History of Investigator:	Carmen Gomes (Principal Investigator) carmen@iastate.edu Jonathan Claussen (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	Iowa State University 1350 BEARDSHEAR HALL AMES IA  US  50011-2103 (515)294-5225
Sponsor Congressional District:	04
Primary Place of Performance:	Iowa State University of Science and Technology 1138 Pearson 505 Morrill Road Ames IA  US  50011-2103
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	04
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	DQDBM7FGJPC5
Parent UEI:	DQDBM7FGJPC5
NSF Program(s):	IUCRC-Indust-Univ Coop Res Ctr
Primary Program Source:	01002829DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002728DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s):	132E, 9150, 8028, 8036, 8040, 5761, 123E, 9251
Program Element Code(s):	576100
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.041, 47.050

ABSTRACT

Healthy soils are needed to sustain life, to grow food, to provide shelter, to provide resilient infrastructure, and to enable mobility, but there is presently a lack of knowledge about many key aspects of soil and its dynamics such as variations in the moisture and organic matter content, and how these variations affect soil health and stability. The Center for Soil Technologies (SoilTech) is a partnership among the University of Southern California, Iowa State University, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Washington to address this knowledge gap with a mission to support industries related to agriculture, defense, energy, and environment. By convening researchers across the nation with complementary areas of expertise, and by recruiting Industry Advisory Board members from a broad range of industry, foundation, and government organizations, SoilTech will make crucial progress in understanding soil dynamics. SoilTech will serve as a first-of-its-kind hub for technical exchange and research among these organizations, providing inter-disciplinary knowledge synthesis and broad applications of its research. SoilTech?s participating sites have strong education and outreach programs. These programs will train the next generation of workforce in soil measurement and monitoring practices that will broadly benefit society.

The research teams at the SoilTech Center are poised to make significant advances in the understanding of dynamic processes in soils through four research themes - Soil Sensors and Sensor Networks; Soil Modeling and Data Analytics; Soil Carbon Capture and Accounting; and Soil Health and Sustainability ? SoilTech-enabled research will meet a number of as yet unaddressed needs in several industry sectors. SoilTech will provide the underlying research necessary to develop new, more efficient, and more sustainable ways of understanding soil properties and managing soils and natural resources. Iowa State University contributions will focus on resilient in-ground sensors, space-based remote sensing, carbon accounting methodology standardization, and developing deployable soil health initiatives such as contaminant mitigation and support for precision agriculture, leveraging multiple world-class facilities for support. These include BioCentury Research Farm, Bioeconomy Institute, Plant Sciences Institute, Iowa Nutrient Research Center, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and Artificial Intelligence Institute for Resilient Agriculture. Our workforce development plan includes the creation of internship, training modules and experiential learning modules.

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.

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