NSF funds additional cutting-edge projects led by Bhavik Bakshi
Shortly after the unprecedented occurrence of earning two highly-competitive National Science Foundation Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) grants, scientists in the William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering are enjoying yet more success.
The NSF announced that it is advancing 25 projects in its 2026 Idea Machine program to explore bold ideas for transformative research on the cutting edge of science--including two projects led by ProfessorBhavik Bakshi. NSF awarded 21 research and four conference projects totaling over $6 million. The competition had received over 800 entries from nearly every state in the nation.
Nature and Technology: A Synergistic Design for a Waste-Free World
CBE's Professor Bhavik Bakshi will join with Assistant Professor Joel Paulson and Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering Professor Gil Bohrer, with support from the NSF-CBET/ENG Environmental Sustainability program, to research the ecological capacity to provide goods and services in the face of demands imposed by a technological society.
To meet sustainability goals, most engineers design and operate manufacturing processes to minimize resource use and emissions, but they may not account, for example, for the capacity of a watershed to provide fresh water to all users (including non-human users) or of the atmosphere to absorb emitted CO2.
Similarly, economists may exclude consideration of the impact on ecosystems.
The vision of this research is that through appropriate design, human activities can explicitly account for the provisions supplied by ecosystems, and can be designed to respect ecosystem limits while contributing to human well-being.
The research seeks to provide a framework for designing industries and ecosystems simultaneously to operate in a mutually beneficial or synergistic manner. The resulting Techno-Ecological Synergies (TES) will rely on designing ecosystems of the future that in fundamental concept include the built environment.
The project will receive $300,000 in funding for two years beginning January 1, 2021.
Forming a Convergent Vision for a Sustainable World Without Waste
Bakshi's second project envisions a zero-waste world that is economically feasible, socially desirable, and environmentally viable.
To identify the issues involved with transcending boundaries and moving towards deeply convergent research approaches, a series of workshops will be held that bring together a diverse group of stakeholders across many disciplines (engineering, economics, social sciences, environmental science), and sectors (academia, industry, government and non-governmental organizations).
The multidisciplinary teams will explore integration of knowledge, methods, models, and data necessary for creating and evaluating potential solutions. It will identify the fundamental challenges facing such integration by focusing on co-creation of knowledge with stakeholder input will inform novel business models, engagement approaches, policy options, and innovative technical and science-based advances.
Education curricula will be developed for a Masters program that will train students to work toward achieving a world without waste, and a new section will be established as part of the International Society for Industrial Ecology to foster growth and meeting challenges in attaining the goal. The project received a one-year grant of $100,000 to begin work in September, 2020.
Co-PIs include Agricultural, Development and Environmental Economics Professor Elena Irwin, University of Illinois Assistant Professor Thomas Theis, MIT Professor Timothy Gutowski, Georgia Technical Institute Anderson-Interface Professor of Natural Systems Valerie Thomas, University of Kentucky Secat J.G. Morris Professor Aluminum Professor Dusan Sekulic, University of Pittsburgh Roberta A. Luxbacher Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor Professor Melissa Bilec, and University of Maine Associate Professor of Anthropology and Climate Change Assistant Professor Cynthia Isenhour.
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The NSF 2026 Idea Machine was launched in 2018 to help set the long-term U.S. agenda for fundamental research in science and engineering that is in touch with the interests and priorities of the American people. The program ventures beyond traditional paradigms to ensure that future research meets pressing “grand challenges” in fundamental research or STEM education and has the potential for great impact.
