NSF Mid-scale Research Infrastructure
Workshop for Intelligent Water Systems
agenda
Day 1: Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Workshop Introduction
1:00 – 1:15 p.m. U.S. EDT
Z. Jason Ren, Acting Center Director and Associate Director for Research; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
Mamadou Diallo, Program Director, Environmental Engineering, National Science Foundation
Emmanuel Taylor, Energetics
Keynote: Research Needs and Activities on Intelligent Water Systems
1:15 – 1:35 p.m. EDT
John Sudduth, CIO, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Panel 1: Data Research Advances Water Industry
1:35 – 2:15 p.m. EDT
• Christobel Ferguson, Chief Innovation Officer, Water Research Foundation
• Barry Liner, Chief Technical Officer, The Water Environment Federation
• Amro M. Farid, Associate Professor, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College
• Kate Newhart, Engineering Associate, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District Denver
• Pablo Calabuig, CEO, GoAigua US
Q&A Session for Keynote and Panel 1
2:15 – 2:35 p.m. EDT
Breakout Room Instruction
2:35 p.m. EDT
Emmanuel Taylor, Energetics
Break (please accept your breakout room request prior to breaking)
2:35 – 2:50 p.m. EDT
Breakout Session 1
2:50 – 3:50 p.m. EDT
What questions/challenges in water benefit from a digital water infrastructure?
- What are the functional requirements for digital infrastructure meant to serve water and wastewater utilities and innovators?
- List/name the data management and analysis tools that are currently used in the water industry?
- In what ways are these tools useful? What benefit do they bring?
- What shortcomings exist in these tools?
- What new features would improve the usefulness of these tools?
- What are the knowledge gaps that exist in applying big data to water and wastewater utilities?
- How can research collaborations be improved to address these knowledge gaps?
- Describe the actions/steps that you see as necessary for building a digital water infrastructure that enables the better use of data and tools.
Break (participants will be returned to the main session)
3:50 – 4:00 p.m. EDT
Keynote: Australian Water Information Research and Development Alliance
4:00 – 4:30 p.m. EDT
Rob Vertessy, Principal, Global Change Advisory
Rob Argent, General Manager Research to Operations, Bureau of Meteorology
Keynote Q&A
4:30 – 4:50 p.m. EDT
Day 1 Wrap Up
4:50 – 5:00 p.m. EDT
Day 2: Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Update from Day 1 and Overview of Day 2 Activities
1:00 – 1:10 p.m. EDT
Emmanuel Taylor, Energetics
Day 1 Breakout Room Reports
1:10 – 1:45 p.m. EDT
Keynote: Mid-scale Research Infrastructure: An NSF Big Idea
1:45 – 2:00 p.m. EDT
Paul Lane, Program Director, ECCS/MsRI, NSF
Panel 2: The Structure of a Digital Water Infrastructure
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EDT
• Ting Lu, Business Practice Leader, Clean Water Services
• Jon Weers, Lead Technologist and Data Systems Architect, National Renewable Energy Lab
• Branko Kerkez, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan
• Junjie Zhu, Research Associate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
• Mike Gardner, Founder and CEO, Aqaix
Q&A Session for Keynote and Panel 2
Breakout Room Instruction
2:35 p.m. EDT
Emmanuel Taylor, Energetics
Break (please accept your breakout room join request prior to breaking)
3:00 – 3:15 p.m. EDT
Breakout Session 2
3:15 – 4:15 p.m. EDT
How should an effort like this be managed to be sustainable during and after NSF support?
- Describe the necessary characteristics (both physical and conceptual) of a digital water infrastructure that would meet the needs of the innovators and utilities.
- What steps/actions are necessary to build an infrastructure that will serve the research and utility communities? (note: We are not worried about the order of steps)
- Describe the resources that you see as available for maintaining this infrastructure sustainably.
- Describe potential funding and management models that you see as relevant/suitable for ensuring the long term operation of the infrastructure.
- What do you believe is necessary to maintain the security and reliability of the infrastructure?
- Describe the aspects of a high quality project management plan that you see as necessary for this infrastructure development effort.
Break (participants will be returned to the main session)
4:15 – 4:25 p.m. EDT
Breakout Room Organizer/Notetaker Reports
4:25 – 4:55 p.m. EDT
Day 2 Workshop Wrap Up
4:55 – 5:00 p.m. ED
Emmanuel Taylor, Energetics
Z. Jason Ren, Princeton University