Page 10 - CEGE Magazine Fall 2022

Training the Next Generation in Resource Circularity
Can you imagine a world College of Science and Engineering in
in which resources are conserved and reused, wastes are upcycled, and the cycling of resources is
continuous and sustainable?
An interdisciplinary team from the University of Minnesota wants you to do just that—and they have a plan to help graduate students envision and propa- gate such a world.
Paige Novak and William Arnold from the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering, along with their partner, the Weisman Art Museum, and co-PIs Timothy Smith (Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering), Bonnie Keeler (Humphrey School of Public Affairs), and Natasha Wright (Mechanical Engineer- ing), have devised a program that brings together multiple fields of engineering, public policy, and art to better educate and prepare graduate students to advance sustainability, resource conser- vation, and waste upcycling.
10 CEGE | CSE.UMN.EDU/CEGE
Some past efforts to increase circu-
lar use of resources have fallen short because they focused only on new technologies while failing to consider the cultural context and the economic and policy frameworks that are critical to their success. Engineers, scientists, and policy makers need new approaches
to train future engineers, scientists,
and policy makers to deal with com- plex problems that increasingly require crossing traditional disciplinary boundar- ies. The expected results of this training effort are new technologies, policies, economic instruments, methods, and implementation strategies for the circu- lar use of resources.
The group received $3,000,000 from the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program. NRT projects help connect cross-disci- plinary groups at universities and launch new ideas in graduate education and training. This project will be run by the
partnership with the University’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the Weisman Art Museum, and the Institute on the Environment.
This new NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program will focus on the idea
of creating a “circular economy” where waste and pollution are reduced, resources like water and energy are upcycled, and natural processes thrive. Students will learn about these topics through classes, internships, research experiences, and mentorship. They will also consider how different cultural per- spectives, social equity, and community may impact their work.
Prof. Bill Arnold explained what makes the program unique, “It's designed
to develop a cohort of students from multiple disciplines within Science and Engineering and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Some of the grand challenges we face are not going to be solved by a purely technological solution