1. Environmental Science 4 Corners Research Alliance 3/9/07 Kansas City

2. Fishing for Collaborations

3. Environmental Sciences Themes 1. Environmental & Socio-economic Sustainability of Biofuels 2. Decision Support for Land & Water Management 3. Drought & Environmental Risk Abatement 4. Impact of Changing Population Demographics on Communities 5. Environmental Education for Sustainable Water Resources Management

4. Environmental Sciences Theme National Center for Research on Sustainable Biofuel Production

5. Environmental Sciences Theme Goal: Conduct research on the environmental & socio- economic sustainability Research Themes: Impacts of climate change, water availability/drought on biomass production Impacts of biofuel production on land & water resources Alternative strategies & scenarios Assessing carbon cycling in the system Risk management/decision science Impacts of land tenure change National Center for Research on Sustainable Biofuel Production

6. Environmental Sciences Theme National Center for Research on Sustainable Biofuel Production Approach: Create a coordinated network for decision support and policy analysis for discoverable, accessible, interoperable, common information, data bases to enhance land and water management and biofuel production

7. Environmental Sciences Theme National Center for Research on Sustainable Biofuel Production Participants: UNL, KU, MU, ISU, KSU (& IU?) CALMIT, UNL Water Center, National Drought Mitigation C, High Plains Regional Climate C, Comp Sci/Eng, Public Policy C, Mead K Biological Survey, K Applied Remote Sensing, K Geological Survey, KU Field Station, Public Policy I Geographic Resources C, Missouri Climate C, Water Resources C, Center for Applied Resources & Environmental Systems, Mo Resource Assessment Partnership, RuPRI I Water Resources Center, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, C for Ag & Rural Development, Public Policy C Global Research on Water-based Economies, GISSAL, BEOCAT, KC for Agriculture Resources & Environment, K Water Resources Institute, Konza Prairie Biological Station, K Population Lab, K Institute for Civic Discourse, K Weather Laboratory, Carbon Sequestration

8. Environmental Sciences Theme National Center for Research on Sustainable Biofuel Production GIS, web services Remote Sensing Agriculture, Land, Water & Climate Data Drought Assessment/Mitigation Field/Lab Instrumentation & Facilities Population Geography & Demographics Community Engagement Social Science Research Public Policy Decision Analysis/Modeling Carbon Sequestration/Cycle Focus Areas & Expertise:

9. Environmental Sciences Theme National Center for Research on Sustainable Biofuel Production Upcoming NSF opportunities in the intersection of energy and environment DOE USDA NIDIS NASA ROSES Congressionally directed funds Private industry, incl. venture capitalists Foundations States? Opportunities:

10. Environmental Sciences Theme National Center for Research on Sustainable Biofuel Production Determine research clusters (topics, leaders, & people) Identify existing collaborations and ties Develop specific projects within theme through a focused regional VC meeting Develop white papers Enlist administrative support to facilitate progress Submit proposals, achieve success!!! Infrastructure Assessment (current assets & needs) of each area from each institution Action Items….

11. Questions??