Clemson University to create endowed chair in sustainable development

Published: June 16, 2010

Gene Eidson image by: Clemson University

CLEMSON — A rapidly growing population is placing unsustainable demands on our natural resources. Without action, economies and quality of life nationwide risk compromise.

To help mitigate these effects, Clemson University has established the Center of Economic Excellence in Sustainable Development. The center will foster research through innovative public-private partnerships linked by a common thread of environmental sustainability.

Clemson received approval from the S.C. Endowed Chairs Review Board this month to establish the center with $4 million in state funds matched by $4 million in private donations.

Gene Eidson, professor of biological sciences and the principal investigator who led the effort to create the new center and endowment, said, “The work of this center will be broad and deep, and reach into almost every aspect of the natural and built environments.

“The center will consolidate faculty expertise from across campus to initiate a world-class research enterprise to develop the technological foundation of sustainable development.” 

The research activities of the center will dovetail with other Clemson economic development centers and institutes, including the Restoration Institute, Advanced Fiber-Based Materials, Urban Ecology and Restoration, and the Cyber-Institute.

South Carolina can help safeguard its economy by investing in the development of hardware platforms, software systems, materials and information technology that will serve as the underpinnings of the resources essential for sustainability, Eidson said.

Partnerships and licensing agreements built on intellectual property developed by the center will help create high-paying, “green economy” jobs supporting graduates from South Carolina colleges and skilled workers trained in the state’s technical schools.

The resulting tools, products and services will enable the state to monitor, manage and protect its natural environment — the principal driver of its key tourism, forestry and agricultural economies.

Research will be led by a new endowed professor who will integrate sustainable development with information technology to advance the research, education and outreach objectives of the center.

The chair holder also will play a key leadership role identifying commercial opportunities for the center’s Intelligent River© research. While originally conceived to support watershed and river basin monitoring, the technologies under development by Clemson’s Intelligent River© research enterprise, led by Eidson, are transferrable to a wide range of applications within the sustainable development center.

In broad terms, the Intelligent River© initiative will deploy a network of sensors and probes in the Savannah River to transmit vast amounts of information wirelessly. Data, including temperature and dissolved oxygen levels that are presently downloaded manually in the field, will be collected remotely in near real time to be viewed via the Internet by anyone with a computer or hand-held device.

The suite of “intelligent” solutions possible through this new center span an array of applications that will enable a more sustainable future for South Carolina. They include: 

• Intelligent Wastewater — in-line monitoring of water quantity, pollutant load and treatments
• Intelligent Forest — onsite data to optimize forestry management, enable sustainable harvesting and evaluate environmental response to climate change
• Intelligent Farm — networks of sensors to enable optimized application of fertilizers, pesticides and water
• Intelligent Transportation — traffic-flow monitoring system to optimize roadway use while minimizing congestion
• Intelligent Wind — onsite monitoring of turbine blades and environmental factors to optimize energy production while minimizing maintenance
• Intelligent Infrastructure — integrated infrastructure sensors, such as the “Smart Brick,” to monitor thermal profiles and predict infrastructure fatigue
• Intelligent Campus – integrated monitoring infrastructure that provides real-time, remote data acquisition to research faculty and their graduate students to optimize research initiatives across the entire campus

“Capitalizing on these opportunities requires an integrated approach to research, intellectual property development and commercialization — precisely the focus of this center,” Eidson said.

The center and endowed chair are the latest examples of the university’s commitment to the environment through sustainability and alternative energy initiatives, and emphasize the university’s statewide collaboration through multi-college, multi-discipline research.

In February, President James F. Barker announced the President’s Commission on Sustainability, an initiative charged with creating and implementing a plan to make the university carbon neutral.

As a signatory to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, Clemson has pledged to reduce carbon emissions and to incorporate sustainability into its curriculum for all students.

In April, the university unveiled its clean-energy strategic plan, which comprises three key elements:

• educational programs, from certifications to graduate levels, to enhance the skills of the current workforce in energy-related industries
• innovation and technology transfer through growth of research in targeted areas and continued development of the university’s innovation campuses
• an initiative to transform the main campus into a national model for sustainability

Clemson has committed to creating a net-zero campus — a comprehensive system of renewable-energy production, efficient distribution and conservation that will eliminate the use of coal, offer research and educational opportunities for faculty and students, and provide partners with innovative solutions and demonstration sites for pilot programs.

To that end, development of a proposed international center for wind-energy systems at the Restoration Institute in North Charleston already is under way, said John Kelly, the institute’s executive director, and Clemson University vice president for economic development and public service and agriculture.

The institute, with research focused on renewable energy, advanced materials and ecology, soon will be anchored by a $98 million, wind-turbine drive-train testing facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and state and private resources.

Kelly said these initiatives, combined with the Center for Economic Excellence in Sustainable Development, are vital to the nation’s energy independence and economic well-being.

“For the United States to depend on other countries for energy, and for us as citizens to be environmentally unsound, is both irresponsible and shortsighted,” Kelly said.

“The cross-campus, statewide research and development at Clemson, together with our hugely successful public-private partnerships, will create jobs for the state, drive our economy and help secure our future. Dr. Eidson’s vision of sustainable development will benefit us all.”

Eidson is director of the Clemson Center for Watershed Excellence and the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science. He also leads the restoration ecology focus area of the Restoration Institute.

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S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence

The S.C. General Assembly in 2002 established the Centers of Economic Excellence Program and is funded by S.C. Education Lottery proceeds. The legislation authorizes the state’s three public research institutions to use state funds to create Centers of Economic Excellence in research areas that will advance South Carolina’s economy.

State funds must be matched dollar-for-dollar by private investment in the program. The program also supports endowed chairs, world-renowned scientists who lead the Centers of Economic Excellence.

The program has created 12 Centers of Economic Excellence, supporting 16 endowed chairs at Clemson to take advantage of the university’s faculty expertise and research strengths.