Annual progress report presented at SRN Awardees Conference

The Sustainable Healthy Cities SRN traveled to Arlington, Virginia in early June for the SRN Awardees Conference. Our cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation includes an annual presentation of progress and information. PI’s Trish Culligan and Ted Russell along with staff and faculty, Robert Johns, Nisha Botchwey, Rick Feiock, Yingling Fan, Ashly Spevacek, Olivia Schares, Sarah French, Dana Boyer, and Sudy Majd represented our SRN and connected with NSF staff and the other Sustainability Research Networks (SRNs).

Each SRN gave an introduction to their project and presented their progress and experiences in the following topics:

Education and Workforce Development
Forming and Managing Interdisciplinary Research Teams
Trajectories of SRN Science and Engineering
Challenges in Urban Sustainability Research: Views from Social, Economic and Behavioral Scientists
Data Collection and Model Integration
Engaging Key Stakeholders around SRN Research

There was a poster session featuring early career researchers and their work. Sudy Majd from Columbia University and Dana Boyer from the University of Minnesota represented projects from our SRN.

Fellow SRNs:

SCRiM (Sustainable Climate Risk Management)
AirWaterGas
UWIN (Urban Water Innovation Network)
UREx (Urban Resilience to Extremes)

Co-Director Culligan Contributes to Report on Smart Cities

A report from a National Science Foundation Workshop on Smart Cities held on December 3-4, 2015 in Arlington, VA was recently approved for release.

Patricia Culligan, Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University and co-Director of the Sustainable Healthy Cities Network, was an invited attendee at the Workshop, and contributed to the Breakout Session Report on “Infrastructure and Technology for Smart Cities”. The Workshop was structured to include presentations and discussions focused on what is possible for Smart Cities and, more broadly, Smart and Connected Communities.

The workshop report provides recommendations on foundational research needs over the next decade to enable Smart Cities opportunities while, at the same time, mitigating unexpected consequences that might adversely affect urban dwellers.

The workshop report can be downloaded from: http://www.bu.edu/systems/nsf-conference-december-3-4-2015/nsf-workshop-report-on-smart-cities-2/

SRN Successfully Presents First Year Progress to NSF

June 30 and July 1, 2016

Our cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation allows us to present them with our progress annually. PI’s Anu Ramaswami, Trish Culligan, and Ted Russell, and Operations Manager, Tracy Fallon, were in Washington DC last week to share information with NSF staff and other Sustainability Research Networks (SRNs).

Each SRN gave an introduction to their project and presented their progress in the following areas:

• Education and Outreach
• Special Topics to Working in a Network
• The Role of Social Sciences in SRN Research Programs
• The Role of Natural Sciences in SRN Research Programs
• The Role of Engineering in SRN Research Programs

The annual meeting concluded with each Network meeting face-to-face with their NSF program officer to receive feedback.  We are happy to report that the Sustainable Healthy Cities Network is on track and received praise for a productive first year!

Fellow SRNs

• SCRiM (Sustainable Climate Risk Management)
• AirWaterGas
• UWIN (Urban Water Innovation Network)
• UREx (Urban Resilience to Extremes)