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K-State Today

December 17, 2019

NSF ECO-CBET program information session

Submitted by Carole Lovin

An information session on the National Science Foundation Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, or ECO-CBET, program will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18, in 1139 Engineering Hall, the Carl and Mary Ice Conference Room. The session is open to all university faculty and staff.

Discussion will follow the presentation and for those interested, assistance with forming collaborative teams. This program requires teams to be constructed in such a manner that expertise is complementary and distinct. Nontraditional collaborations between research communities is highly encouraged.

The ECO-CBET solicitation seeks to engage the research communities represented among the programmatic clusters of CBET — Chemical Process Systems, Engineering Biology and Health, Transport Phenomena, and Environmental Engineering and Sustainability — in the development of innovative, fundamentally driven approaches to tackle pressing environmental challenges. Projects are expected to advance and apply fundamental processes, mechanisms and theories to yield systems-level understanding and tools. Highly collaborative projects that pair environmental engineering and sustainability experts with complementary researchers from other process science disciplines, e.g., heat and mass transfer, catalysis, biotechnology, process design and control, etc., are sought. Experts in manufacturing and/or social sciences may also provide unique perspectives that serve to expand the technological and societal impact of the research.

The goals of the ECO-CBET program include:

  • Encouraging new ways of thinking about environmental problems through atypical scientific collaborations and leveraging this diversity of perspectives to create innovative, holistic solutions.
  • Integrating fundamental chemical process, transport and bioengineering science with environmental engineering and sustainability research toward reducing and mitigating pollution and waste.
  • Training a future workforce prepared to develop and apply fundamental knowledge and approaches to solve environmental and sustainability problems.

Preliminary proposals are due to NSF Feb. 20, 2020, with a full proposal deadline on April 30.

If you are interested but cannot attend or need additional information, contact Carole Lovin at clovin@k-state.edu or Mary Lou Marino, mlmarino@k-state.edu.