The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance hosted a webinar on August 15, 2023 at 12 p.m. EDT, to discuss the findings of ERVA's report, Engineered Systems for Water Security. The event featured Stacy Hutchinson, associate dean for research and graduate programs, Kansas State University; Seth Darling, chief science & technology officer for advanced energy technologies, Argonne National Laboratory; and Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center and the Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering at Columbia University.
The webinar discussed the key research directions identified as a result of this visioning event and subsequent report.
More than 50 experts convened in Knoxville over two days to prioritize bold, new engineering research directions to advance the future of distributed manufacturing
A competitive U.S. manufacturing sector must merge the digital and physical worlds and leverage new materials and processes to improve productivity and agility. It will take investment now in research and development to set the stage to revitalize manufacturing in the coming decades. The engineering research priorities to enable a thriving future for distributed manufacturing were the focus of a two-day visioning event convened this week by the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded initiative.
More than 50 researchers and technical experts from academia, industry, nonprofits, and national laboratories met in Knoxville, TN, to ideate and articulate the technical challenges to create products and tools for distributed manufacturing anywhere, anytime, any place, and in any quantity. This is the democratization of distributed manufacturing, which promises to harness technical advances in data, real-time measurement, automation, and machine learning for manufacturing expansion, resulting in increased productivity and economic growth.
“The lingering supply chain and workforce effects of the pandemic, along with the current geopolitical landscape, pull back the curtain on the national security risks the United States faces because of reliance on other nations to supply our production and manufacturing needs,” said Charles Johnson-Bey, ERVA co-principal investigator and senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton. “This event brought together a diverse group of the brightest minds in the nation to address the democratization of manufacturing that will enable small and medium manufacturers, which represent 98% of U.S. companies, to capture up to $500 billion of new manufacturing business and reduce the U.S. reliance on external capabilities.”
New engineering R&D will be integral to the design, application, and expanded use of technical solutions for efficient, effective distributed manufacturing. The goal is a manufacturing ecosystem dispersed across geography but connected digitally to the expertise and resources needed to keep machines running effectively by a new generation of manufacturing knowledge workers. The ERVA visioning session catalyzed creative, bold thinking and gathered future-focused research ideas from innovators and researchers in a range of specialty disciplines. Johnson-Bey worked with a Thematic Task Force representing high tech and manufacturing from across sectors—university, industry, and national labs. The task force structured the proceedings over two days to identify research priorities in three topical areas: materials; tools, systems, and processes; and data analytics and quality assurance. Participants recommended bold new research directions at the exploratory research edge and with the potential for significant societal impact.
ERVA visioning events are an unparalleled opportunity for selected participants to scope engineering approaches to address societal challenges, conceptualize future solutions, and prioritize use-inspired research for long-term global impact. The event was a unique opportunity for an open exchange of futuristic ideas shared from diverse perspectives.
ERVA provides the engineering community with a process for identifying bold and societally impactful engineering research directions that will place the U.S. in a leading position to realize a better future for all. It is an engaged, inclusive, multilayered partnership, providing a diverse array of voices with the opportunity to impact national research priorities. Event participants were identified and invited based on their research and expertise and represent scientists across academic disciplines, geographic location, organization sector and type, gender, race/ethnicity, and career stage.
The results of the proceedings will be distilled and disseminated via a report identifying priorities for engineering researchers to pursue with the goal of enabling new processes and technology to advance distributed manufacturing.
Learn more about this visioning event and the work of the thematic task force, and sign up to receive updates and the results report.
About ERVA
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) is a neutral convener that helps define future engineering research directions. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering, ERVA is a diverse, inclusive and engaged partnership that enables an array of voices to impact national research priorities. The five-year initiative convenes, catalyzes and enables the engineering community to identify nascent opportunities and priorities for engineering-led innovative, high-impact, cross-domain research that addresses national, global and societal needs. Learn more at www.ERVAcommunity.org.
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More than 100 experts convened virtually over two days to prioritize bold, new engineering research directions in water security
Feb. 2, 2023 — Disastrous California flooding and contaminated municipal water system failures underscore the urgent need to transform aging, fragmented systems and create a new paradigm for water stewardship and affordable access for all. The engineering R&D required for water management and security was the backdrop for a two-day virtual visioning event convened this week by the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded initiative.
More than 100 researchers and technical experts from academia, industry, nonprofits, and national laboratories convened to explore knowledge gaps and identify research priorities to enable technical solutions for future water management systems. Affordable access to water for people, industry, and the natural world requires a new system-of-systems approach and collaboration across different sectors, including government, industry, academia, and civil society.
New engineering R&D will be integral to the design and implementation of the technical solutions to support the integration and interoperability of different water management systems. The ERVA visioning session catalyzed creative, bold thinking and gathered future-focused research ideas from innovators and researchers in a range of specialty disciplines. Stacy Lewis Hutchinson, associate dean for research and graduate programs and professor of biological and agricultural engineering at Kansas State University, chaired the event’s thematic task force and serves on ERVA’s Standing Council and Executive Committee. The task force structured the proceedings over two days to identify specific areas of unexplored research or those at the research edge and with the potential for significant societal impact.
“The ERVA platform provided a tremendous opportunity for this outstanding group of experts to come together and discuss the security of our most valuable resource,” Hutchinson said. “Bold thinking lays the foundation for transformational engineering research that will ensure our secure water future.”
ERVA visioning events are an unparalleled opportunity for selected participants to scope engineering approaches to address societal challenges, conceptualize future solutions, and prioritize use-inspired research for long-term global impact. The participants considered issues across water use and management—from how people use and access water to industry and environmental factors.
Sustaining well-being and livelihoods, enabling economic development, and safeguarding against contamination and water-related disasters are among the goals for future water security. Planning and managing water systems for the future must include strategies that account for as yet unknown technical development that will affect people, safety, affordability, and equitable access.
“I was most impressed by the free and open exchange of ideas across a range of perspectives on water security,” said Pramod Khargonekar, ERVA co-principal investigator, distinguished professor of electrical engineering and computer science and vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Irvine. “ERVA brought together creative minds to develop exciting, compelling visions for engineering research to bring about a transformation about how we approach water security goals.”
ERVA provides the engineering community with a process for identifying bold and societally impactful engineering research directions that will place the United States in a leading position to realize a better future for all. It is an engaged, inclusive, multilayered partnership, providing a diverse array of voices with the opportunity to impact national research priorities. Event participants were identified and invited based on their research and expertise, and represent scientists across academic disciplines, geographic location, organization sector and type, gender, race/ethnicity, and career stage.
The results of the proceedings will be distilled and disseminated via a report identifying priorities for the future of engineering. The report will include high-value findings that delineate less-explored, basic, and use-inspired lines of research ripe for the engineering community to pursue.
Learn more about this visioning event and the work of the thematic task force, and sign up to receive updates and the results report.
About ERVA
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) is a neutral convener that helps define future engineering research directions. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering, ERVA is a diverse, inclusive and engaged partnership that enables an array of voices to impact national research priorities. The five-year initiative convenes, catalyzes and enables the engineering community to identify nascent opportunities and priorities for engineering-led innovative, high-impact, cross-domain research that addresses national, global and societal needs. Learn more at www.ERVAcommunity.org.
Follow ERVA:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ervacommunity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ervacommunity
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ERVAcommunity
Engineered Systems for Water Security
Visioning Event of the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA)
to be held virtually on February 1-2, 2023
The National Science Foundation-supported Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) seeks to identify co-hosts for the upcoming virtual visioning event, Engineered Systems for Water Security. As a co-host, you will work with ERVA staff and volunteers to create and execute a visioning event that convenes top researchers from various sectors and other interested parties to discuss and develop a bold strategy for addressing contemporary engineering research themes of national interest.
These invitation-only events bring together an interdisciplinary group of top researchers and other relevant parties from the public and private sectors to accomplish our mission to identify and develop bold and transformative new engineering research directions and to catalyze the engineering community's pursuit of innovative, high-impact research that benefits society.
Engineered Systems for Water Security
Managing water in urban and rural communities across the United States can be understood as a system of systems, analogous to how the various organs in the body use and cycle water. Each organ has its own needs and its own way of recovering resources from the water. At the same time, each has a symbiotic relationship with other organs in the body; the healthy function of one system affects the healthy function of others. Despite these complex interdependencies, the human body is more efficient at processing water than our engineered water systems.
ERVA invites you to participate in an event to re-envision the relationships between the components comprising today’s water systems and to prioritize new research directions for future sustainable systems. Event participants will identify bold engineering visions for interconnected, secure water systems architecture that optimizes the bio-circular economy through energy neutrality and resource recovery. These systems could include distributed digital sensing control and treatment, marginal water sources, and the development of low-water system technologies for the socially equitable provision of water. The event will include a range of engineering disciplines--from bioengineers to civil engineers—to catalyze innovative thinking on sustainable systems for drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater, as well as waterless and new water systems.
This visioning event will be held virtually over two days on February 1-2, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET. The selected organization/organizations will act as a co-host on ERVA’s virtual platform.
Co-Host Benefits:
Co-hosting an ERVA virtual visioning event bolsters an institution’s reputation as a thought leader in engineering research and promotes the organization as a driver of new ideas and collaboration. Co-hosts have the opportunity to recommend sessions, speakers, and topics of interest, as well as the potential to deepen existing partner relationships and develop new ones.
By creating an environment for the engineering community to speak with one voice while addressing the nation’s greatest challenges, ERVA seeks solutions through collaboration across different sectors. Therefore, we encourage submissions that partner academia and industry to create a joint bid to demonstrate ERVA’s commitment to convergence, diversity of ideas, and inclusion.
As a visioning event co-host, your organization will work with ERVA staff, our Executive Committee, and a Thematic Task Force on:
- Technical Expertise. Identify a representative to serve on the Thematic Task Force (TTF). The TTF meets weekly to guide the overall direction of the visioning event.
- Participant recruitment. Identify subject matter experts from relevant sectors (academia, companies, government, and nonprofits).
- Welcoming remarks/panel. Deliver the greeting and set the tone to bring visibility to your organization.
- Breakout Facilitation. Provide an expert to lead discussions, guide event flow, and optimize the experience and results.
- Report review and dissemination. Review report that reflects conversations and findings of the visioning event and shares actionable recommendations that can be evaluated by government funding agencies for adoption.
Submission Process:
Please submit your interest to us at info@ervacommunity.org by December 9, 2022.
In your response, please provide:
- A signed cover letter indicating your desire to host;
- Responses to the critical review elements and any additional information that will help the ERVA team in making a determination on visioning event co-hosts; and
- Availability to co-host the virtual two-day event on February 1-2, 2023 , from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
Please join us for a virtual information session on December 6, 2022 from 1 p.m - 2 p.m. Eastern to learn more about this opportunity and to ask any questions. We welcome you to reach out to us at info@ervacommunity.org for additional support or to request the recording if you are unable to join the information session. Submitters will be notified of ERVA's decision by December 14, 2022.
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About ERVA
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) is a neutral convener that helps to identify and develop bold and transformative new engineering research directions, directly supporting the nation’s ability to compete in a rapidly changing global economy. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering, ERVA is a diverse, inclusive and engaged partnership that enables an array of voices to impact national research priorities. The five-year initiative convenes, catalyzes and empowers the engineering community to identify nascent opportunities and priorities for engineering-led innovative, high-impact, cross-domain, fundamental research that addresses national, global and societal needs.
Learn more at https://www.ervacommunity.org.
ERVA Role
The engineering research community is the target audience for this event. We will work with the host and members of the thematic task force (comprised of senior research officers, company representatives, and others) to develop a high-impact program and ensure that the event delivers value to the host and participants.
Good Faith Statement
All information provided by ERVA is offered in good faith. Specific items are subject to change based on business circumstances. ERVA does not guarantee that any item is without error. ERVA will not be held responsible or liable for use of this information or for any claims asserted therefrom.