Answering the Big Questions
Food, Water & Energy Resources Policy
Symposium
University of Nebraska
April 13, 2011
Kathie L. Olsen, Ph.D.
You are here!
Founder, Managing Director
ScienceWorks
Affiliate Professor of Neuroscience
Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study
George Mason University
Humanity’s Top Ten Problems
for next 50 years*
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
ENERGY
WATER
FOOD
ENVIRONMENT
POVERTY
TERRORISM & WAR
DISEASE
EDUCATION
DEMOCRACY
POPULATION
Richard Smalley, Noble Laureate,
Rice University*
Need both the “stovepipes”
But even more importantly the
CONNECTIONS/INTEGRATION
Major role of university in solving
these major societal challenges
2003
2050
6.3
9-10
Billion People
Billion People
Agriculture
Irrigation
Climate Change
Energy
Demographics
Allocation
Economics
Sustainability
Security
Fishing
Swimming
Drinking
Habitat
Recreation
Biological integrity
National Science & Technology (NSTC) SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER
AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY
Co-Chairs: USGS & EPA
Purpose: Science issues and policy related to needed improvements
in technology and research that will advance the goal of ensuring a safe
and sustainable supply of water in the United States
for human and ecological needs.
WATER AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY
“Are the supplies of water
for human and ecological
uses sustainable for decades
into the future? If not,
how might we develop new
supplies or better manage
for sustainability? “
Questions addressed by NSTC Subcommittee
On Water Availability & Quality, OSTP, Presentation
2003
Integrated
Earth
Observing
System
Satellite Remote Sensing Data
Aircraft Remote Sensing Data
In Situ Data
Sensors
Aircraft
Balloons
Moored & drifting buoys
Ships & Submarines
IOOS: Artist ‘s depiction of various space
MAJOR WORKING GROUP ON WATER
air, and water platforms as Part off the IOOS
The Program Decision Process
Top down
(Agency management, OMB, Congress)
- Ideas
- Concepts
- Planning
- Capability
development
Bottom’s up
(academia, industry,
agency S&E personnel)
- Priorities
- Budget
- Strategic
Planning
- DECISIONS
Establishing Program
Priorities
Science Priority Criteria
Science Return
Benefit to Society
Mandated Program
Appropriate for support
govt, state, private
Partnership Opportunity
Technology Readiness
Program Balance
Cost/Budget Context
Implementation Priority Criteria
NSF: Water Initiative
Water Sustainability & Climate
•Interdisciplinary Approach
•BIO
•GEO: Earth Science
•SBE
•ENG
2008 Water Science Forum
Practical Cutting-Edge Technology for
Water Services:
Applications in Africa
UNESCO
USGov
NSF STC & ERC
“Water is a Precious Resource*
Jeff Raikes, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
 Food/Agriculture
 Crop per Drop
 Feed the Future
 Global Climate Change
 Adaptation
 Mitigation
 Human Impacts
 Green-Energy Technologies
 Biofuel industry
*Proceedings of the 2010 Water for Food Conference
Feed the Future (FTF)
• USAID/USDA released “Feed the Future: Global Food
Security Research Strategy (Dec 2011)
•
•
•
•
Advancing the Productivity Frontier
Transforming Key Production Systems
Enhancing Food Safety & Nutrition
Cross-Cutting Issues: Gender, Climate Change & Environment
• APLU/PURDUE/BIFAD/USAID/USDA Workshop at Purdue
(Jan. 2011)
• Ken Cashman* & Shenggen Fan Speakers
• “A Research Strategy for Feed the Future” Summary of Discussions
and Conclustions
• E-Consultation to Produce a White Paper
– FTF Research Forum
• Washington, DC June 21-23, 2011 (co-with World Food Prize)
Water &
Agriculture
Major Drivers
Major components needed to understand the climate system and climate change.
Source: Strategic Plan for the Climate Change Science Program
Final Report, July 2003 Fig.2-5 Adapted from IPCC (2001a)
U.S. ENERGY CONSUMPTION TRENDS THROUGH 2020
(Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook, 2002)
University of Nebraska
 Longtime Leader in Research in Water, Agricultural &
Natural Resources Management
 Integrates Water Research with Education
 Integrates Research with Policy Analysis
 Researchers have Flexibility
 Capitalize on breakthroughs and emerging area
 Collaborate across disciplines, institutions & countries
 Collaborate with industry and non-profits
 Cultivate Interdisciplinary Expertise in Research and
Education to Tackle World Challenge
 Public Service and Education to the Community
Ken Cassman’s Proceedings of the
Water for Food Conference
Nebraska can be a leader in “Future Water for
Food Challenge”

Location
Location
Location
 Western Edge-Great American Desert
 Eastern Edge-Corn Belt
 Irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation
Derives $10,000 per capital from agriculture (more than any other state)
 Nebraska’s Green Revolution based on new Science & Technology
 Increase rate of gain in ethanol production compared with other states
Biofuel Industry new within last 15 yrs: 1.8B gals fuel =$3B yr,
1000 jobs and $1.5B in capital investment
Natural Resources Districts model for water management
Nebraska’s Role
in Water & Water for Food Centers
• Regional intellectual centers
– Education
– Basic research
• Centers for innovation and technology transfer
• Role in regional economic development
• Role in workforce preparation
– Partnerships with schools, other educational
institutions
• Bridging the university community and the
region’s industrial community through Innovation
Campus
NSF Engineering Research Centers
• Promote partnerships among researchers
– in different disciplines
– between industry and universities
• Focus on integrated engineered systems & technological innovations
that strengthen the competitive position of industry
• Graduates become well-rounded, professionally oriented engineers
– global outlook,
– experience in technological innovation
– ability to assume leadership roles in industry, academe, and government
• Generation Three (Gen-3) Engineering Research Centers (ERC)
– link discovery to technological innovation through transformational
fundamental and engineered systems research
– advance technology and produce engineering graduates who will be
creative U.S. innovators in a globally competitive economy.
– Gen-3 ERCs must have an international partner!
• Active ERCs: http://www.erc-assoc.org/
• I
NSF Science &Technology Centers
• Integrative Partnerships program enables innovative
research and education projects of national importance
that require a Center mode of support
– research, education, and knowledge-transfer goals
– conduct world-class research in partnerships among academic
institutions, national laboratories, industrial organizations, and/or
other public/private entities
• create new and meaningful knowledge of significant benefit to
society
• Deadline for Preproposals: May 30, 2011
• All Active Centers Web Page:
– http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/programs/stc/2000-2006.jsp
“The interaction of human activity with
natural systems is a web of complex
interactive and interdependent
processes. If people or nature tugs on
one part of the web, other parts of the
web change, sometimes in unintended
and unpredictable ways.”
OSTP presentation, 2003
Or as Nebraskan Larry Dedic says: “For every
action there will be a reaction”
There are no passengers on spaceship earth.
We are all crew.
Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980)