Teamwork

Northwestern University examines the increasing need for sustainable development.

One of the fundamental human needs is the energy required to power society. The issue of energy in the 21st century has germinated a great deal of attention, economic thought and planning, government policy and international strife. Energy security feeds the nightmares throughout society and government. The rapid increase in energy needs forecasted for the next 50 years is problematic, and the rise in energy’s cost is bringing about inflation in the developed world and hardship in developing nations.

Northwestern is tackling the twin issues of energy and sustainability – encompassing global issues such as energy, water, materials, food, and waste – by consolidating the university’s existing strengths and fostering new efforts in these areas. The Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN) was announced in October.

Strategy
“Underlying the challenge of sustainability and energy is one issue that universities uniquely can solve: to develop the fundamental scientific understanding to provide sustainably (and at reasonable cost) the energy required by all people on earth. Gaining and disseminating this understanding is the core of the ISEN mission,” said President, Henry S. Bienen, about the initiative.

“ISEN is an umbrella organization designed to create, advance, and communicate new science, technology and policy for sustainability and energy. Its particular focus is on sustainable energy supply, demand, and use,” says Mark Ratner, ISEN’s co-director with David Dunand.

Ratner cites Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Science, who in his remarks to that group’s 2008 Annual Meeting listed five points addressing how scientists and engineers could help solve the problem of sustainability and energy. They are to perform research relevant to energy supplies and usage; to formulate and analyze opinions for decision makers; to inform the public about research and policy options; to advise and help government officials and business leaders; and to develop scientific and engineering human resources.

“While ISEN’s program takes on this Cicerone challenge, ISEN’s most important goal is to integrate the University’s efforts in energy, sustainability, and outreach,” Ratner says.

“We do not limit ISEN to scientists and engineers alone,” adds Dunand. “We draw on the intellectual and programmatic capabilities of all of Northwestern’s schools and centers to provide a new integrated direction for the University, focusing on the many aspects of the challenge of sustainability and energy.” ISEN directs that focus on the supply, demand, conservation, storage, transmission and optimization of energy; the policy, programs, economics, management, metrics, education and outreach of sustainability; and disseminates this information by reaching out through public information, web site, teaching, lectures and consulting.

“ISEN will catalyze and conduct research and education, the two fundamental products of the University through supporting and drawing together the capabilities that Northwestern already has,” says Ratner. “We sponsor and develop new capabilities for addressing the issues of sustainability and energy.” ISEN provides funds for stipends of postdoctoral fellows and undergraduate students, as well as graduate fellowships through a cluster funded by the graduate school. The initiative also organizes conferences at Northwestern on the issues of energy and sustainability.

History
Northwestern has a substantial history in the area of sustainability and energy. Charles David Keeling, the scientist who first alerted the world to the dangers of carbon dioxide and temperature change, was a Northwestern graduate (PhD, chemistry, 1954). The Keeling Curve is still used to measure the progressive buildup of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving climate change, in the atmosphere. Northwestern’s efforts in areas such as catalysis and new materials have long provided abilities to produce and use energy more efficiently, and even address some parts of the sustainability problem.

“ISEN focuses on the two major strengths that universities can contribute: ideas and teaching,” says Jay Walsh, Vice President for Research. “Northwestern’s strong culture of interdisciplinarity across our schools gives ISEN a breadth of vision that few research universities can match.”

Argonne National Laboratory is ISEN’s primary research partner. Northwestern and Argonne in collaboration are developing an integrated research platform in this area. The partnership with Argonne will encourage the partnership and promotion of other energy activities, including the Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center (ANSER), the Center for Energy Efficient Transportation (CEET) and the Institute for Sustainable Practices (ISP), as well as various NU centers on catalysis, nanoscience and technology, and transportation.

Working through ISEN, Northwestern faculty partners with people and capabilities within the university with industry and government, international organizations, other educational institutions and information and education resources, including television stations, elementary schools, churches and libraries. ISEN is working to establish corporate partnerships, as well as reaching out to the larger community, partly for identifying funding opportunities, but mostly for increasing awareness and building Northwestern’s programs in energy and sustainability.

Educational goals
ISEN’s first step educationally is to develop four campus-wide undergraduate and graduate courses on global issues related to energy and sustainability. The first of these will be offered in Spring 2009. Among ISEN’s longer-term educational goals is the establishment of an energy minor across several schools and to create a five-year master’s degree program in energy studies. The initiative plans to offer a summer program, including internships, for students from K-12 through post-graduate education.

“It’s our students as much as our researchers who are driving us to seek solutions in the areas of energy and sustainability,” says McCormick Dean Julio Ottino, who, with Tobin Marks, chemistry, initiated the planning nearly three years ago that resulted in ISEN. “They realize they will need this education and experience to become the workforce of the future.”

In order to seed and support these activities, ISEN is working with Northwestern’s administration to raise funds locally and globally. “We are helping people both within and outside the University to teach and to learn, and to address and solve the problems of energy and sustainability,” says Ratner. “Through ISEN, we hope to transform the area of energy and sustainability from a challenge to an accomplishment for all the people of the planet.”

For more information about ISEN, view the ISEN web site at www.ISEN.northwestern.edu, a one-stop source for information and sustainability at Northwestern.

© Northwestern University Office for Research. Reprinted with permission from CenterPiece Fall 2008.