Carnegie Mellon Awarded Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Autonomous Sustainable Urban Systems (ATLAS)

Imagine a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort to create a sustainable, equitable future using autonomous systems. This is exactly what the Autonomous Technologies for Livability And Sustainability  (ATLAS) Planning Grant for Engineering Research Centers (ERC) for strives to do. 

Metro21, in collaboration with departments across Carnegie Mellon, recently received a planning grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to begin this ERC. The initiative would identify and address research objectives that could foster a future of sustainable, autonomous systems in accordance with the ATLAS vision and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ERC ATLAS planning effort would also establish and strengthen partnerships across disciplines and industries to build a diverse stakeholder community.

What exactly would urban sustainability and autonomous systems research involve? The possibilities are endless and would cover topics such as energy, water, buildings, transportation, sensors, data integration, and agriculture. The Metro21 and NSF Sustainable Urban Systems (SUS) workshop that took place in July offered a glimpse into the kind of research that the ERC ATLAS effort will produce. The ERC initiative has the potential to bring experts in from all wakes of technology, policy, and industry to solve the challenge of sustainable urban development.

Stay tuned for more information on ATLAS.