News

SRN Faculty and Students to Present at Food-Energy-Water Nexus Conference in D.C.

The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) is hosting its 16^th annual conference in Washington, D.C. on January 19-21.  This year’s topic is the Food-Energy-Water Nexus.  Participants will fully understand how the three sectors are a system of interdependent components and how to develop solutions based on multi-sector engagement.

Faculty and students from the Sustainable Healthy Cities Network will be presenting the following symposia:

• January 19^th, 1:45 PM – Opportunities for Science at the Nexus – Joshua Newell (University of Michigan) will be a part of a panel that will identify advances in systems science, modelling, decision-support tools, sensors, and data management.
• January 19^th, 1:45 PM – Cities at the Nexus – Anu Ramaswami (University of Minnesota and SRN Director) will be a part of a panel to introduce how the core needs of food, water, and energy can be, and are being, integrated into sustainable planning of cities and surrounding areas.
• January 20^th, 10:50 AM – The Nexus in Cities: Measuring Impact and Exploring Solutions – Panelists will discuss how urban residents, city planners, and policymakers can shape the sustainability of food, energy, and water demand and supply to cities. The discussion will be moderated by Anu Ramaswami and Patricia Culligan (Columbia University and SRN Co-Director). Panelists will include Joshua Newell and Dana Boyer (University of Minnesota Ph.D. candidate and SRN research assistant).

The Sustainable Healthy Cities Network consists of universities, cities, governments, NGOs, and industry partners, who together will co-develop the science and practical knowledge that enables urban infrastructure transformation toward environmentally sustainable, healthy, and livable cities.  Their focus is on evaluating key knowledge gaps around distributed infrastructure.  A unique feature of the Network is their systematic studying, comparing, and contrasting of social, behavioral, and institutional phenomena across three testbeds/sectors: Energy and Water/Wastewater, Transportation, and Green Infrastructure and Urban Farming.

The National Council for Science and the Environment is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the scientific basis for environmental decision-making.  Their national conference will bring together over 1,200 scientific, educational, business, civil society, and government professionals from diverse fields to explore the connections between science and decision-making associated with a particular high-profile environmental issue. Learn more about the event.