Institute for Computational Sustainability facts for kids
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| Established | 2008 |
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Field of research
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Computational sustainability |
| Director | Carla P. Gomes |
| Campus | Cornell University (primary) |
The Institute for Computational Sustainability (ICS) is a special group of scientists. It was started in 2008 with help from the National Science Foundation. The ICS focuses on a new area called computational sustainability. This means they use computer science to help solve big problems related to sustainability.
Sustainability is about making sure we use our planet's resources wisely. This way, there will be enough for people now and in the future. The ICS believes that computer experts can really help manage our natural resources better. They also think this work makes computer science even more exciting. Carla Gomes leads the institute. It brings together scientists from many places, like Cornell University and Oregon State University.
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Who Works at ICS?
The ICS team is made up of many different kinds of scientists. They include computer scientists, biologists, and environmental experts. There are also engineers, mathematicians, and economists. These experts come from 7 different colleges and 12 different departments.
Main Leaders of the Team
The main leaders of the ICS team are:
- Carla P. Gomes, from Cornell University (She is the Director of ICS).
- David Shmoys, from Cornell University (He is the Associate Director of ICS).
- Thomas Dietterich, from Oregon State University (He is a Deputy Director for ICS at OSU).
- Mary Lou Zeeman, from Bowdoin College (She is a Deputy Director for ICS at Bowdoin).
What Are the Goals of ICS?
The National Science Foundation gave a special grant to support the ICS. This grant helped the institute set up some important goals.
How Computers Help Sustainability
One big goal is to use "Computational Thinking" for sustainability. This means using computer science ways of thinking to:
- Find new answers to sustainability questions.
- Create new challenges and methods in computer science. This is similar to how "Computational Biology" became a new field.
Creating a New Field of Study
Another goal is to create a brand new field called Computational Sustainability. This field focuses on using computer methods to find a balance. It looks at what the environment needs, what the economy needs, and what society needs. The aim is to build a sustainable future for everyone.
Building a Research Community
The ICS also wants to:
- Do and encourage research in Computational Sustainability.
- Build a strong group of researchers. This group will include many more people than just those who started the Expedition.
Support from the National Science Foundation
In 2008, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a five-year program. This program was set up to support research in computational sustainability.
NSF's Announcement
The NSF explained that they started four new "Expeditions in Computing." Each of these grants was for $10 million. These grants help teams of researchers and teachers work on big research plans. These plans promise to make great progress in computing and help society a lot.
Carla Gomes and her team at Cornell University led one of these Expeditions. They worked with other universities and organizations. Their project was called "Computational Sustainability: Computational Methods for a Sustainable Environment, Economy, and Society." They explored how to develop and use computer methods. These methods help create a sustainable environment, economy, and society.
The team worked on problems that computers had not traditionally solved. They hoped to create the new field of computational sustainability. This is much like how computational biology developed in earlier years. This new field helps different areas of study work together. The research team includes computer scientists, mathematicians, economists, biologists, and environmental scientists.
