As the energy problems of the future increasingly become the energy problems of today, Northwestern researchers have a new resource to coordinate their efforts to find solutions.
Last month, University President Henry Bienen announced the Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern University to serve as an umbrella organization for the university’s energy-based research. The initiative will not only fund research but will also expand into education and outreach, including the introduction of new courses and building relationships with the public and private sector.
NU’s ISEN is unique from comparable university energy centers because of its broad mission and emphasis on including national policy debate, said the initiative’s co-director Mark Ratner. For example, the United States has not entered the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement between nations to adhere to certain standards to curb global warming.
“We have issues with sustainability that are almost all policy issues,” said Ratner, a McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science professor. “We’re not in Kyoto. Why aren’t we in Kyoto? What’s the policy behind our not being in Kyoto?”
To approach policy questions like these, ISEN is securing support from a variety of academic fields in the school, including sociology, journalism and law. Along with the cooperation of several key research partners and other affiliated private labs and community organizations, ISEN is poised to be a center of energy and sustainability matters, Ratner said.
Though ISEN will eventually incorporate undergraduate involvement, the initiative’s sole focus now is building a strong framework to function as a facilitator of thought and action, Ratner said.
“A center works to kind of catalyze discovery between disciplines, and to promote dialogue,” said McCormick Prof. Kimberly Gray. “People make connections they wouldn’t have otherwise made.”
Gray, the director of NU’s Institute for Sustainable Practices, researches the long-term effect nanomaterials may have on the environment. The scientific boom during World War II provided industries with a wealth of new usable chemicals, but their environmental impact was not properly considered for decades, she said. ISEN’s policy work can help prevent nanomaterials from causing the same problems by bringing important research to the forefront, she said.
“Because we have a collection of people that have familiarity and are able to talk with one another, we can then extend that knowledge into these other realms of action,” Gray said.
As early as Spring Quarter, ISEN will begin offering several courses for undergraduates, with one each focusing on energy, sustainability and policy. At least one of these courses will have no prerequisites to encourage a diverse group of students to participate, Ratner said. Down the line, ISEN intends to create an energy and sustainability minor for undergraduates as well as a graduate program.
Because ISEN is still in the planning stages, many ideas are very early in development. Ratner said he is interested in having small undergraduate “swat teams” of 8-15 people work on very specific issues and research, an idea he has not even put to paper.
Engineers for a Sustainable World co-president Virginia Palmer said she was excited when she found out about ISEN in a McCormick bulletin. The initiative’s broad focus on energy and sustainability will make it a valuable source of common ground, she said.
“There are classes in those areas, but they are under a variety of disciplines and they are not connected at all, and there is research going on in those areas, but again they’re not connected at all,” the McCormick senior said. “This is a good place for them to have communication and find out what everyone else is doing.”
Students for Ecological and Environmental Development Publicity Chairwoman Rachel Heydemann said though the relationship between the group and ISEN is unclear, they share a commitment to advancing environmental education at NU.
“Outreach and education are hopefully two areas we’ll be able to work with them on,” the SESP sophomore said.
While cooperate projects and specific programs still have a while before they materialize, strong undergraduate enthusiasm for energy and sustainability will drive ISEN’s success, Ratner said.
“Once we start with undergraduates, we don’t want to fail,” he said. “I want some high-five moments in energy around here.”
