1264015 (Beckman). Engineering Sustainability 2013 will bring together engineers and scientists from academia, government, industry, and non-profits to share results of cutting edge research and practice directed at development of environmentally sustainable buildings and infrastructure, especially urban water infrastructure. The conference is unique in its focus on environmentally sustainable engineering for the urban environment, and its ability to bring together engineers, architects, economists, and urban planners and managers. Plenary presentations and concurrent oral and poster sessions will be organized around the following themes: green building design and construction; greening the indoor environment; sustainable distributed power for the built environment; sustainable urban drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater infrastructure; design of more sustainable transportation grids; using principles of sustainability to foster innovation and new product development. There will also be numerous planned opportunities for informal exchanges and networking. The interdisciplinary presentations on cutting edge research in sustainable engineering for the built environment and infrastructure, the mixture of disciplines and backgrounds represented among the participants, and the networking opportunities provided by the conference will enable participants to leave the conference with new information and ideas about research needs and opportunities. This will strengthen the ability of the participants to develop novel and impactful proposals to organizations funding research in sustainability science and engineering. The conference will further the public interest in sustainable community infrastructure by advancing the state of scientific knowledge of issues affecting human health and the environment. This conference will also enhance interdisciplinary dialogue on environmental sustainability research with cross-cutting applications in basic and applied sciences and engineering.
The Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh and the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research at Carnegie Mellon University co-hosted Engineering Sustainability 2013: Innovation and the Triple Bottom Line (ES13) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 7-9, 2013. ES13 brought together engineers and scientists from academia, government, industry, and non-profits to share results of cutting edge research and practice directed at development of environmentally sustainable buildings and infrastructure, especially urban water infrastructure. The conference, held biannually since 2005, is unique in its focus on environmentally sustainable engineering for the urban environment, and its ability to bring together engineers, architects, economists, and urban planners and managers. The ES13 conference has demonstrated success in attracting participants from many professional realms to focus on issues related to engineering sustainable built environments and water infrastructure. These topical areas are inherently interdisciplinary, but also have engineering as the foundation for progress. While many academic and professional associations have begun to include isolated sessions at conferences related to sustainability, few have had a core focus on this topic. Plenary talks and concurrent oral and poster sessions are organized around the following themes: green building design and construction; greening the indoor environment; sustainable distributed power for the built environment; sustainable urban drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater infrastructure; design of more sustainable transportation grids; using principles of sustainability to foster innovation and new product development. The interdisciplinary presentations, the mixture of disciplines and backgrounds represented among the participants, and the networking opportunities provided by the conference enables participants to leave the conference with new information and ideas about research needs and opportunities. This strengthens the ability of the participants to develop novel and impactful proposals to NSF and other organizations funding research in sustainability science and engineering. The goal of the grant was to bring junior researchers (namely students and young faculty) to Pittsburgh so that they could actively participate in the conference through poster and oral presentations, hence enlivening both and providing professional development for these younger folk. In 2013, ES13 attracted 275 attendees (2/3 academia, 1/3 industry & government) and as a direct result of NSF funds we were able to make 49 travel awards, which included 12 undergraduates, 3 MS students, 28 PhD students, 1 postdoc and 5 junior faculty from 26 different universities.
