Predictions of global energy usage indicate a continued increase in carbon emissions and rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere unless major changes are made to the way energy is produced and used. Consequently, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is one of the most urgent technological and societal challenges faced by humanity. Until now, these technologies have been developed independently of one another, which has resulted in complex and economically challenged designs without much discussion on the societal issues for their implementation. This multidisciplinary RCN-SEES team is formulated to provide transformative research directions in CCUS and facilitate research collaborations that effectively cross the boundaries of the natural sciences, engineering, and the social and economic sciences to develop new understanding, theories, models and technologies as well as assessment tools for the developed technologies and their implementation plans.
Steering Committee: The steering committee consists of faculty members from Natural Science, Engineering, and Social Science disciplines from multiple institutions as well as industrial members. (1) Members from Columbia University: A.-H. Alissa Park (PI) and K. Lackner (Earth and Environmental Eng.), P. Kelemen (Earth and Environmental Science), J. Matter (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), P. Marcotullio (Architecture), M. Gerrard (Policy/Law), G. Wagner (Business), P. Schlosser (Associate Director, Earth Institute), M.-E. Carr (Energy modeling & communication, Earth Institute), C. Meinrenken (Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy); (2) Members from Minority institutions: J. Lee (City College of New York), M. Stute (Barnard College); (3) The representative of the Carbon Management Technology Project, a collaboration of five U.S. engineering professional societies: D. Schuster (Institute for Sustainability, American Institute of Chemical Engineers).
Intellectual Merit: This RCN-SEES team is well-positioned to facilitate communications and collaborations among academia, industry, the public and policy makers. Its activities include annual symposiums and bi-annual workshops which will be open to the public as well as broader international communities. There will be webinars for K-12 teachers and young professionals to disseminate most recent research findings into the educational environment and help to educate and engage young professionals in the energy and environment related industries. Bi-monthly seminars via WebEx will also be employed to facilitate research collaboration among participating members. The research findings will also be incorporated into the new Masters program on Carbon Management which is currently being developed at Columbia University. Moreover, a student exchange program will be used to allow broader research experiences for participating undergraduate and graduate students. A website and expert database will be created and it will be connected to the websites of all the five engineering professional socieites that are members of the Carbon Management Technology Project to provide valuable resources on CCUS technologies.
Broader Impacts: The Earth Institute and the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University are experienced in international outreach and the development of educational programs. Jointly, they are currently developing a new Masters program on Carbon Management for workforce training on understanding the multifaceted nature of CCUS based on core classes in science, engineering, business, policy and law. This program will be one of the platforms for the implementation of the efforts of this RCN-SEES team. The active participation by the Engineering Founder Society's Carbon Management Technology Project will allow this RCN-SEES team to impact large groups of scientists and engineers as well as decision makers in business and policy. Faculty and students from a female only institution (Barnard College) and a traditionally minority institution (CCNY) will be actively engaged to enhance efforts on diversity issues. The involvement of K-12 teachers will also play an important role in broader impacts, while international partners from various countries (e.g., China, Korea, France and Italy) will facilitate rapid communications with global communities.
