The Office of the Vice President for Research is hosting a one-hour town hall to provide information on the newly added tracks of the NSF Convergence Accelerator grant opportunity. Information about this opportunity is provided below. Led by AVPR Jensen, the goal of the town hall is to provide an overview of the mechanism, answer questions from the UofU Research community, and provide space for interested parties to network and discussion potential submission(s) from the UofU. The Town Hall will be held on Friday, March 31st from 2:00pm – 3:00pm on Zoom. Registration is not required. Zoom details are provided below.
NSF Convergence Accelerator - 2023 Tracks Town Hall
Friday, March 31st, 2023
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting: https://utah.zoom.us/j/92289117127
Meeting ID: 922 8911 7127
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator program addresses national-scale societal challenges through use-inspired convergence research. Using a convergence approach and innovation processes like human-centered design, user discovery, and team science and integration of multidisciplinary research, the Convergence Accelerator program seeks to transition basic research and discovery into practice — to solve high-impact societal challenges aligned with specific research tracks.
NSF just announced the tracks for 2023: Convergence Accelerator | NSF - National Science Foundation
For 2023, the tracks are:
Track K: Equitable Water Solutions
The objective of the NSF’s Convergence Accelerator Track K: Equitable Water Solutions is to build upon foundational knowledge and advancements in environmental sciences, geosciences, engineering, computing, social and behavioral sciences, as well as others to develop viable solutions for water quality and quantity and equity issues. The track will serve as a platform for convergent teams to develop real-world solutions to address sustainable water supply systems and watersheds, as well as environmental justice challenges with water distribution, safety of the water supply, and inequalities in allocation of resources.
Track L: Real-World Chemical Sensing Applications
The overarching goal of NSF’s Convergence Accelerator Track L: Real-World Chemical Sensing Applications is to develop novel energy-efficient and miniaturized or portable biological and chemical sensors for tangible applications. The track builds on a wide range of foundational knowledge and advances in olfaction, biosensing, and chemical sensing to undertake the challenging steps of transforming these scientific discoveries into practice. It serves as a platform for convergent teams to develop tools, technologies, and applications to address challenges aligned to chemical sensing.
Track M: Bio-Inspired Design Innovations
Globally, societies face complex challenges, including climate change, environmental degradation, lack of sustainability, and threats to health and safety in natural and built environments, that require creative solutions beyond current capabilities. The overarching goal of NSF’s Convergence Accelerator Track M: Bio-Inspired Design Innovations is to bring together scientists and practitioners to develop concepts, approaches and technologies that build and control in the same way nature does – capitalizing on millions of years of evolution to find novel solutions to major societal challenges.
Here are the projects that have won this grant before: