South Dakota
Mines has created a new multidisciplinary Center for Sustainable Solutions.
The center will be a hub for research and development around sustainability
including water quality, emerging contaminants, agriculture, infrastructure, carbon
capture, biofuels, bioplastics, environmental stewardship and more.
“As society faces increasingly complex problems,
providing sustainable solutions requires integrative partnerships and
approaches that build convergence of many disciplines with research and support
for stakeholders at all levels,” says Lisa Kunza, Ph.D., an associate professor
in the Department of Chemistry, Biology and Health Sciences and the director of
the new center at Mines.
In the last five years leading up to establishing
the Center for Sustainable Solutions, there have been nearly 50 faculty and researchers
from eight departments on campus participating in the efforts. “As an
institution of higher education, it is imperative to have many graduate and
undergraduate students trained in the collaborative environment that the Center
for Sustainable Solutions provides while tying the innovative efforts to
support the needs of the people,” says Kunza.
The center will help serve the needs of a wide range
of partners, from assisting the
Department of Defense (DoD) in mitigating emerging ...