March 19-20, 2025
Iowa City, Iowa
This is an in-person visioning event for one and a half days.
This visioning event will convene top researchers from various sectors to discuss and articulate the engineering research strategic roadmap needed to reverse the urban-rural divide and revolutionize the quality of life in rural America.
This event is intended for transdisciplinary experts with respect to engineering disciplines, sectors, and stakeholders interested in the future of rural communities, including researchers, industry professionals, nonprofits, and venture capital firms. This is an opportunity for you to impact the nation’s engineering research priorities on this important topic.
Overview
In an era of rapid technological advancements, environmental challenges, and shifting populations, rural communities stand at a critical crossroads. These regions and their communities face unique and emergent problems, grappling with physical, mental, and environmental issues. Reliance on agriculture, mining, and other resource-intensive industries add to the socioeconomic stressors, complicating access to education, connectivity, and other population and civic supports. As we look to the future, these intertwined challenges are poised to intensify, driven by the forces of climate change, aging populations, and continued shifts in the job market.
This visioning event invites participants to reimagine a vibrant future for rural America. At its core, the event seeks to create a set of actionable engineering research recommendations to address pressing issues faced by rural communities by envisioning a future where rural America leads in sustainability and innovation—in a word “resilient.”
We will explore transformative engineering and technology research ideas with the potential to lead to long-term solutions for electricity production and distribution, transportation infrastructure, and local food production. We will envision potential models of rural communities, such as cooperative ownership, eco-villages, and circular economies.
Through this collaborative process and using an engineering lens, we aim to create actionable strategies that respect the values of rural communities while embracing forward-thinking research directions that could lead to alternative solutions 25 to 50 years in the future. Join us as we chart paths forward, ensuring that rural America remains vital, resilient, and innovative for generations to come.
ERVA is now accepting nominations for visioning event participants. Nominees are strongly encouraged to provide a short statement on where engineering resources are most needed to catalyze resilient rural communities. Please follow the link below to nominate yourself or a colleague.
Decisions regarding nominee invitations to participate will be guided by the overall objective of ensuring a successful visioning event. Following a review of nominations, ERVA will notify candidates who are selected to participate. This could also include further contributions during or beyond the scope of the visioning event. Those nominees not selected for this event will be considered, as appropriate, for future ERVA visioning events and other activities.
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), an initiative funded by the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate, will host a visioning event to roadmap critical areas of engineering that can have a significant impact. The goal of the event is to collectively develop a strategic plan spanning the next 20-50 years of high-impact, high-reward, pre-competitive engineering research-led opportunities that will advance United States competitiveness. The event outcomes will inform future research directions/resourcing across the nation in industry, academia, federal agencies, national labs, and other stakeholders.