A USF-led team, headed by Maya Trotz, environmental engineering professor and principal investigator (PI), has been awarded an NSF Convergence Accelerator Grant for their project titled: "Linking the Green Economoy to the Blue Economy at the Coast." The phase I grant awards funding up to $750,000 to further develop the initial concept, identify new team members, participate in the innovation curriculum, and develop an initial prototype.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is building upon research and discovery to accelerate use-inspired research into practice. The Convergence Accelerator program, a new NSF capability designed to address national-scale societal challenges. NSF selected 28 teams for phase 1. They will proceed to phase 2, with potential funding up to $5 million for 24 months.
Maya Quote Goes Here
Ocean-related industries and resources continue to play a central role in addressing
challenges related to climate, sustainability, food, energy, pollution, and the economy.
The overarching track goal is to interconnect the Blue Economy and accelerate
convergence across ocean sectors; creating a smart, integrated, connected, and open
ecosystem for ocean innovation, exploration, and sustainable utilization.
PROJECT Description: The project addresses National Academy of Engineering’s grand challenges of managing the nitrogen cycle, sequestering carbon, and restoring and improving urban infrastructure, as well as the five grand challenges for environmental engineering, especially that of fostering informed decisions and actions.
Theresearch team will work with a diverse cross-section of coastal communities to co-develop solutions to these challenges and to improve their health and economy. Particular focus will be on the linkages between Blue-Green ‘frontline’ communities, which often are disadvantaged for a number of historical reasons, and face substantial challenges from climate change and human activities within each watershed. The “NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Linking the Green Economy to the Blue Economy at the Coast” project will examine links and opportunities to strengthen both the Blue economy of coastal frontline communities and Green economy activities of upstream communities, and develop a framework and platform for exchanging information to ultimately improve lives. This project will improve success in understanding and protecting coastal ecosystems, part of the US decadal vision to promote American security and prosperity. It will also create an ocean-literate workforce through public engagement.
The US Exclusive Economic Zone is a formal jurisdiction that extends the US territory 200 nautical miles from the coast into the ocean. It includes coastal and offshore areas covering nearly 4.4 million square miles in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This is about 15% larger than the US land mass and is the second largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world. This zone supports major industries, like shipping, tourism, seafood, pharmaceuticals, oil, wind and other renewable energy, and national priority areas such as academic research and defense. Coastal areas are at the core of local recreation and many cultural activities. These activities translate into local jobs, with nearly 50% of the US population living in coastal watershed counties, but also farther away from any specific coastal region. Many coastal communities, both in the US and internationally, are at the forefront of impacts of climate change and upstream activities associated with land-based agriculture practices, other industries, and urbanization. Those upstream Green Economy activities have impacted water quantity and quality downstream, diminishing the ability of many coastal communities to develop the full and sustainable potential of their ocean-based Blue Economy.
NSF Quote: “The Convergence Accelerator’s curriculum, consisting of human-centered
design; user discovery; team science; early-stage prototyping; and pitch preparation
is designed to provide our funded teams the tools to transition their solutions into
practice,”
said Douglas Maughan, Office Head of the NSF Convergence Accelerator program. “Phase
one teams are expected to apply the curriculum; as well as focus on cross-cutting
partnerships as most national-scale challenges cannot be solved with a single
discipline and expertise. At the end of phase one, the 2021 cohort teams will participate
The 13 member research team (6 women and 3 underrepresented minorities) represents two large academic institutions from the south and midwest with interdisciplinary food-energy-water systems National Research Traineeship programs (University of South Florida and the University of Iowa), one National Estuary Program (Tampa Bay Estuary Program), one local government entity (US Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources), and one non-governmental organization committed to broadening participation in Marine Sciences (Black in Marine Science). The disciplinary expertise of the project includes researchers and practitioners from Anthropology, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Marine Science, with personnel who cover policy, community engaged research, ethnographic research, fisheries, systems dynamics, interdisciplinary education, big data, remote sensing, in situ monitoring, and public education and outreach. The principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion will guide all project activities. Three main workshops with diverse stakeholders and site visits for the targeted watersheds will result in valuable outputs (reports, multimedia, systems dynamics models, papers) that will be disseminated via conference and community presentations, and through dissemination pathways of the various partners. Recruitment of workshop participants will be done to ensure diverse perspectives from across the US, including those of early career scientists, and frontline community members.