November 28, 2012
Dear Board Member,
Our November update features a Thought Leader Series piece by Bruno Sarda, director of global sustainability operations at Dell and a consultant for the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.
Please feel free to email or call us with any questions or comments about this briefing. We will save December news for the January letter to reduce your holiday season correspondence.
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Wicked Problems: How Systems Thinking, Technology, and New Partnerships Can Tackle Sustainability’s Challenges
 By Bruno Sarda
Note: Bruno Sarda is the director of global sustainability operations at Dell, a consultant for the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, and a faculty member at the School of Sustainability.
Our world faces ‘wicked’ problems.
Wicked problems, as explained by Ann Kinzig, chief research strategist at ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability, are challenges that are complex “all the way down.” They resist simple solutions.
Wicked problems include how to deal with a rapidly changing and unstable climate. How to feed a projected 9 billion people on this planet while enabling many to rise out of poverty. And how to do all of the above while respecting the physical boundaries and finite resources of our planet. These problems are the key challenge of sustainability.
Sander van der Leeuw, dean of ASU’s School of Sustainability, has advanced the idea that such thorny problems, let alone their potential solution paths, are so complex they exceed the human brain’s capacity to fully grasp them. They involve massive data sets and require a level of systems thinking that can only be achieved with the computing power of technology — lots of it.
Delivering such power — the power to make sense of what is unfathomable to the best human minds — requires a new approach. It demands open public-private partnerships, extensive interdisciplinary research teams, and latest-generation technology able to process extraordinary amounts of data.
The world already has corporate-based models of how new kinds of collaboration might make this work. Dell, for example, has partnered with the Translational Genomics Research Institute and others to accelerate personalized treatment for pediatric cancer. The partnership applies Dell cloud technology to help researchers and doctors quickly analyze aggressive tumors in a patient and identify the best treatments to administer.
A number of universities are also stepping up their collaborative projects. ASU’s Global of Institute of Sustainability was launched specifically to tackle the world’s wicked problems by directing talent and resources toward developing solutions-oriented research. The Institute is particularly adept at working in partnership with organizations outside of academia — cities, nonprofits, and businesses — to address complex issues and develop new models for understanding and addressing sustainability challenges.
Nevertheless, researchers and decision-makers around the world need more powerful analysis and greater reach to effectively extract knowledge from enormously complex data sets. How can we fulfill these needs?
One strategy is to establish open collaborations anchored by businesses and universities aimed at developing what are commonly called “community research computing services.” One model for this approach is the set of initiatives partnering Dell with ASU, Clemson University, and University of Indiana. These projects support groundbreaking research by providing “big data” research analytics, open source frameworks, large-data management, and other important services.
But even broader computing partnerships are needed, perhaps more along the lines of the new supercomputer project, Stampede, built by the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center. This collaboration partners seven universities — including Texas, Cornell and Ohio State — with Dell, Intel, and the National Science Foundation. When deployed in January 2013, Stampede will rank as the most powerful supercomputer system in the National Science Foundation’s eXtreme Digital program, with the ability to support scientists investigating our most challenging scientific and engineering problems related to genomics, climate, environment, nanotechnology, and others.
Read more »
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The Sustainability Consortium continues global expansion plan: Operations begin in China
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The Consortium utilizes a $2 million grant from The Walmart Foundation to improve China's massive manufacturing base with product sustainability assessment and support. Read more » |
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ASU to lead renewable energy training, education in the Pacific Islands
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The College of Technology and Innovation has been awarded $1 million from USAID to train local communities in up to 12 Pacific Islands to support off-grid solar PV equipment installation, operation, and maintenance. Read more » |
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DNA vaccine poised to deliver ultra-rapid and cost-effective disease protection
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Roy Curtiss, director of the Center for Infections Diseases and Vaccinology, has revealed the design of a universal platform for delivering highly potent DNA vaccines by using a re-engineered bacterium to speed delivery to host cells in the vaccine recipient. Read more » |
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A new computational method for timing the tree of life
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Director of the Center for Evolutionary Medicine and Informatics, Sudhir Kumar's method estimates relative times of divergence between species at a rapid pace, allowing others to explore the long-term development of the biosphere. Read more » |
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ASU researcher says relocating animals to save species is not always a good move
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School of Human Evolution and Social Change faculty researcher Irene Pérez offers a guide to curb species extinctions by reducing inappropriate translocation projects and enabling efficient use of scarce conservation resources. Read more » |
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The Sustainability Consortium featured in Scientific American
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In a piece called "World Changing Ideas 2012," The Sustainability Consortium details its Ultimate Sustainability Index; a system that forces corporations to clean up all stages of the supply chain. Read more »
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ASU adds composting program, joins EPA Food Recovery Challenge
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To celebrate America Recycles Day, ASU now has composting bins at the Hassayampa and Barrett, The Honors College dining halls that compost all food and paper food-service items. Read more »
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ASU groups seek to collaborate, construct interdisciplinary energy narrative
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The Energy, Ethics, Society, and Policy research community meets to combine stories that capture the realities of clean energy and show how energy interacts with us on a daily basis. Read more »
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Wastewater recovery research earns NASA grant
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Sustainability Scientist Mary Laura Lind is set to use the $200,000 grant to develop anti-corrosion polymer membranes fortified against highly acidic solutions and salts to be used for water filtration. Read more »
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ASU appoints Halden as director of new Center for Environmental Security
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Sustainability Scientist Rolf Halden says the Center will use a proactive approach to examine chemical and biological threats in the environment locally and globally and develop mitigation strategies. Read more »
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ASU team showcases hydrogen-powered vehicle in Chem-E-Car championship
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A team of engineering students advised by Sustainability Scientist César Torres takes eighth place with their hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle that uses a chemical reaction to stop the car. Read more »
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