RII Track-2 FEC: Sustainable Engineering Infrastructures and Solutions for Tribal Energy Sovereignty

Tribal communities often consist of rural, spread-out populations with distributed, smaller-scale power, heat and fuel energy systems, which are less reliable and may be less resilient to anticipated shifts in weather patterns and severity due to climate change. To assist in addressing this issue and to strengthen the research infrastructure of the North Dakota and Kansas EPSCoR jurisdictions, the University of North Dakota in collaboration with North Dakota State University and Kansas State University, with participation by Haskell Indian Nations University, Turtle Mountain Community College, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, and the Tribal Research Network Group will research technologies and methods to provide sustainable, reliable and efficient engineering infrastructures and solutions for tribal energy sovereignty.

The project also encompasses educational activities, including tasks that will train tribal members to develop tribal nation workforces and expand their technical capacity to implement renewable energy sources for building tribal energy resiliency and independence. This innovative project will be developed in partnership with tribal nations in Kansas and North Dakota and its outcomes will be assessed from environmental, economic, and social perspectives for both the short- and long-term.

An inter-related suite of technologies will be explored to provide potential solutions for tribal communities including: 1) widely scalable photovoltaic-thermal systems for both heat and power; 2) robust on-demand energy storage systems for power, heating, and cooling; 3) the production of renewable fuels and power from waste materials (e.g. plastics) and non-food agricultural resources (e.g. corn stover, wheat straw, waste and crop oils) in small scale, nearly self-sufficient processes; and 4) power microgrid technologies with both on- and off-grid modes depending on demands and surpluses. The associated economic, sustainability, and social impact will be defined for use by tribal nations to support their energy sovereignty.

This project will also seek to expand the understanding of how to best support native students in STEM at traditional research universities with the creation of a program that will be developed in collaboration with three tribal colleges and implemented at the three participating research universities. The INgineering program focuses on enhancing pathways into STEM careers for native students.

This RII EPSCoR Track-2 project also includes workforce development for native STEM students and K-12 teacher professional development using project-based learning of culturally relevant engineering design. Development and mentoring for junior and mid-career faculty participants and graduate students are also key aspects of the project.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.