HOUGHTON-Dr. David Shonnard, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Michigan Technological University, is one of 11 researchers nationwide to win a 1998 Industrial Ecology Research Fellowship granted jointly by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Lucent Technologies Foundation.
The fellowships, which total $1.1 million, award researchers up to $50,000 per year for two years to help industry design processes that prevent pollution or create environmentally friendly products. Shonnard will develop environmental and human health assessment software for the chemical manufacturing industry by introducing multiple criteria into the chemical design process that will lead to more informed decisions than are currently possible under the single environmental criterion methods now in use.
"Industrial ecology incorporates both competitive and environmental concerns into industrial process and product design," explained Janie Fouke, director of NSF's Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Systems. "Like a biological system, it rejects the concept of waste and seeks ways to efficiently reuse all materials. As the term becomes more familiar, researchers from many disciplines will collaborate to find solutions to common environmental problems."
Fouke said it is incumbent on the NSF to encourage basic research that may help and encourage businesses to integrate conservation and pollution prevention practices into their strategies and their day-to-day operations.
"Our intent with the Industrial Ecology Research Fellowships," she said, "is to spur innovations that provide industry with both human and financial incentives to adopt more ecologically sound business approaches."
"The field of industrial ecology is central to achieving an environmentally sustainable economy," said Deborah M. Stahl, executive director of the Lucent Technologies Foundation.
"Since 1993, these fellowships have stimulated a wide variety of research projects that address the problems of pollution reduction and elimination in a highly industrialized society," she said. "In addition, they have helped foster an academic community focused on industrial ecology that has developed curricula at institutions around the country and enabled industry interactions with university faculty."