Transitioning Toward a Sustainable World: Role of Sustainability and Converging Technologies

All are invited to listen to Dr. Norman Scott’s seminar entitled: “Transitioning toward a sustainable world: Role of sustainability and converging technologies” on April 5, starting at 1:45 PM in Room 219 of Agricultural Engineering Building.

Dr. Norman Scott is Professor Emeritus and former Vice President for Research at Cornell. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He  is currently Chairing the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, a major program unit of the National Research Council, a nonprofit institution that provides expert advice on agriculture, forestry, fisheries, wildlife, and the use of land, water, and other natural resources. They provide information designed to address the most pressing challenges facing the nation and world, help shape sound policies, inform public opinion and advance the pursuit of science, engineering and medicine.

The main theme of Dr. Scott’s seminar will center around what needs to be done to achieve a sustainable world as far as use of natural resources are concerned. He summarizes his talk in these words:  “The next 50 years will be a critical time for the planet, given the needs of the human population for food, energy and water and the implications of those needs for the stewardship of the earth’s natural resources.  Such challenges cry out for a robust, global, and interdisciplinary scientific effort that can map the best path forward and create novel tools to improve the human condition.  In general, we can imagine the traditional manner of approaching individual technical issues in agriculture, food and natural resources giving way to cross-disciplinary, systems approaches, involving not only social scientists, but other scientific and engineering disciplines, to take advantage of synergies and, importantly, the convergence of technologies from disparate fields. A transition to a sustainable world depends on our ability to integrate technological, economic, social and political issues of environmental protection and economic development. The future depends on harnessing the power of modern technologies (nanotechnology, biotechnology, information sciences and neural sciences) consistent with the interests of the poor and hungry, and with a respect for the environment. Agriculture as a source for food, natural raw materials for bio-industries and energy will increasingly be a major engine to drive our transition to a sustainable world. The overarching concept of integrated sustainable communities is an embodiment of the integrated principles of ecological systems and engineering systems thinking.”

Dr. Norm Scott’s visit to OSU is co-sponsored by: The Department of Food Agricultural and Biological Engineering; Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center of the College of Food Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; and the Office of Energy and Environment at OSU.  

Contact Person:
Prof. Erdal Ozkan
ozkan.2@osu.edu
614-292-3006