On a Mission of Sustainability

These people are ... on a mission to build a sustainable world. chemists, biologists, geologists, ecologists, engineers ... POWERED BY PEOPLE ne day in 190s, a bout of smog darkened the skies of Los Angeles so much that many people thought a solar ecliose had occurred. For several decades to follow, smog outbreaks regularly closed schools and forced residents to don gas masks. By mid-century, Caltech chemist Arie Haagen-Smit had discovered that ozone was the chiet cause of this haze and the automobile industry a primary culprit that produced these noxious molecules. He went on to pioneer policy changes for motor vehicle pollution standards and now. while there are more cars and people in L.A. than ever, dark smog days are a thing of the past. Caltech researchers have long been central to sustainabil- Ity research. and they are now on the cusp of new opportunity: in September 2019, philanthro pists and entrepreneurs stew-art and Tunda Recnick nledoedi $750 million dollars to the Resnick Sustainability Institute (RST) at. Caltech to find innovative research and education. In existence for a decade, the RSI is reenergized by this pledge "Addressing the challeng- es of climate chanoe and the stewardshin of our precious natural resources is a responsibility we all share. This historic pledge affords the Caltech community a unique onnortunitu to resnond via hold research and educational The RSI has supported 96 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. These junior scientists, collectively known as the Resnick Fellowe are central to innovative recgarch nraiecte and creative colutione to a wido rando of cucteinahility challondae Already Resnick Fellows and alumni have started a number of sustainability. focused companies. The landmark 2019 pledge provides for an additional focus on undergraduate education. Funds from the gift will support the renovation of underaradiate chemistry aboratories and hen rectructure core underaraduate courcac that will train aeneratione of crianticte in cuctoine bility crianca To that and the DCl hoe farmad a comnuewide oducation com. mittee led by Professor of Chemistry Theodor Agapie (PhD '07) and lecs Adkins Smits Family Professor of Geochemistry and Global Environmental Science. The committee will examine how best to Water initiatives that can have transformational societal impact," says RSI director and Bren Professor of Chemistry Jonas leters. As a small but remarkably impactul institution with a demonstrated capacity to solve really tough prob-lems, we will now have resources, tools, and some of the world's brightest minds on a mission to delver real-world solutions to society's vexing challenges in energy, climate, water, and the broader environment." This support also has established four core research initiatives, each led by a faculty researcher: Water Resources (Mark Simons, John W. and Herberta M. Miles Professor of Geonhysics and JPT, Chief Scientist). Climate Science (Paul Wennberg, the R. Stanton Avery Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering). Sunlight to Overvthing (Harry Atwater Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science), and Ecology and Biosphere Engineering (Dianne K. Newman. Gordon M. Binder/Amsen Professor of Bioloov and Geobiology). As nlans take shane for these new initiatives. the RSI continues to shed light on some fundamental questions. What does it mean to create a sustainable society? Where can we imorove, and where are we doing well? What questions is Caltech in particular best positioned to answer? THE CHALLENGE: Availability of Fresh Water Ensuring sustainable supplies of fresh water to meet human and environmental needs, which are stressed by changes in climate land use and nonulation. reanires • dynamic understanding of both natural and human sys-tems, and how they interact. Acquiring this understand- ing is the overarching coal of the RST's Water Resource: initiative led by Mark Simons. enrich and create a focus on sustainability within all of Caltech's educational arograms The Resnick Sustainability Resource Center. funded by the pledge, will include laboratories focused on ecoloay and biosphere engineering, and translational science and engineering, as well as a solar science and catalvsis center a high-nerformance comouting center, a water and environment lab, and a remote-sensing center. The PSI center alen will feature lecture and interaction snaces ac well as new state-of-the-art underaraduate teachina labs. Every first-year undergraduate student will rotate through these labs in conjunction with redesigned core educational courses that incorporate sustainability science and engineering. "We will aim to develop new tools to accurately measure surface and underground water resources, and how these resources change over time," says Simons. "With these data we will develop a new scientific understanding of water llow as impacted by site-specinc geography. I'm: frameworz will inform decision-sunnort. tools and expand our knowledge of built and natural waver systems. Ine design and engineering or new and innovative water treatment. technologies is also a central element of our vision." To that end, the RSI recently sponsored projects that have helped to create models for the interconnected surface water network, which will enable better water management in the face of climate change. Simons also notes the imnortance of remote sensing as a tool for studies of water resources. Recently, using an unprecedented number of satellite radar images. Caltech reonhvsicist. tracked how the ground in Southern California rises and falls as groundwater is pumped in and out of subsurtace aouifers. The results of this research may provide water management districts with means to assess the precise shape and size of aquifers, and the impact of the region's water use on those acuiters. Next Steps: The croun's research priorities, savs Simons. are to: • Investigate the potential of tools developed by seismologists to be used to monitor underground water • Monitor the budget of subsurface water in aquifers with remote sensino • Enhance understanding of groundwater interactions with surface waters to best replenish underground reservoirs and ontimize their use • Develop an integrated model of the land surface and near-surface that accounts for the role of olants geography, climate, and hydrologic processes • Improve treatment options for both salt and wastewater to increase fresh water supply • Build smart nanostructured materials that car offiantlenutrot aolt from moton TUE OUAII ENCE Climate Change Greenhouse gas concentrations are increasing as a nault of amiacione from fragil fral autrantion end man oe well as those produced in nearly all aspects of society: from agriculture and air conditioning to Ziploc bags and ronine noarly crewthing imnaste the limate It ic hard Climate MS '18) (left) and Liyin He (MS 18) (right) use o predict crop yield anc emissions, respectively. to determine what the future holds for the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The goal of the Climate Science initiative is to answer questions about the impact of elevated temperature and carbon dioxide on the hinsnhere. why methane concentra- should respond to these changes. "Hundamentally we want to know what the fate of Earth is and how we can imorove our predictions of that fate. Devel. oping pathways to alter that fate is perhaps the biggest challenge we face," says Paul Wennberg. "We aim both to reduce the uncertainty around prediction and to engineer solutions to mitigate climate change." One of the maior climate science tools is remote sensing: observing and making measurements of Earth from space and on the ground. The last several decades, savs Wennberg. have been revolutionary in terms of being able to observe the earth, both in situ and through remote sensing. Now, scientists can observe global changes in atmosoheric composition. in the land surface and in our oceans and polar regions. They also can monitor emissions of carbon dioxide from burned fossil fuels and leaks of methane from the natural gas infrastructure Next Steps: The initiative's next priorities save Wennhero are to. • Quantify, the fastore that driva climata chanco in. cluding emissions of methane from agriculture and natural gas production, land-use changes in tropical recione the vonidly chancino artie and corhon dioxide emissions from growing megacities • Nevalon naw mathode end modale to imnunna limoto change forecasts • Dorolon mothode to mitigoto droonhonco doc emissions through the reduction of methane losses from the energy infrastructure and agriculture, and romosol ond hiriol of carhon dinvidc • Create resiliency in built and natural systems so thot thay non edent to vicine tamnaroturae fooda drought, and sea level changes THE CHALLENGE: Sustainable Energy The Kol's tocus on sustainable energy is based on the rec ognition that while coal, oil, and natural gas make up 81 percent of the United States' energy consumption, these resources are tnite. and the use of tossu tuels inects massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change. As Harry Atwater notes. this means that the development of renewable energy from naturally replenished sources will be vital for a more sustainable future. Perhaps the most renewable resource of all, says Atwater, is sunlight: more energy from the sun falls on the earth in one hour than is used by every person in the world over the course of a year. Photovoltaic solar energy, into usable energy, offers a promising alternative to fossil fuels. While the price of oil has remained relatively steady over the decades, photovoltaic solar energy technology has become less and less expensive. sunlight could power everything we make and do in our world." says Atwater The Sunlight to Everything initiative aims to develop technological canahilities to advance zero-carhon renew. able resources and reimagine industrial and manufacturing processes in an environmentally sustainable way. Though solar power is abundant, its supply still fluc-tuates; when clouds block the sun, for example, no power can be created. Thus. batteries that can store excega solar-derived electricity are crucial if solar energy is to replace fossil fuels. Caltech researchers have recently Sunlight relate suents made Dowling (right) Co-taught a more sustainable. magazine.caltech.edu Biosphere Ecology Postdoctoral scholar Kurt Janistrom studles the inti mate relationship between bacteria and fungi in soils to demonstrate how fungi orotect o ants trom narm-ful toxins. In a warming world, this work could be used to make crops more sustanao e developed a new method to develop rechargeable batteries based on fluoride, which can last up to eight times longer than today's standard lithium-ion batteries. Researchers at the Institute also have developed complex mathematical frameworks to map the energy grid across the nation, frameworks that will help determine when and where energy may be used most efficiently and where blackouts may occur. Next Steps: Atwater says the group will focus on research that will: • Turn solar and wind energy into baseload electricity as well as fuel sources • Use solar power to produce cheap and energy-efficient fertilizers and fuels • Make dramatic leaps forward in battery technology and efficient electrical grids • Utilize machine learning to find new catalysts for chemicals, energy, and materials • Develop commercially viable solar power that can be beamed from space to Earth • Harness microbial biomass degradation to generate biofuels THE CHALLENGE: A Harmonious Biosphere Many of Earth's organisms, from microbes to plants to humans, profoundly affect important global processes, including the flux of greenhouse gases into and out of Spring 2020 Caltech magazine the atmosphere. Throughout Earth's history, no group of organisms has been more important in this respect than microbes; their metabolic activities have shaped the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere over billions of years. However, in the past century, human activities have changed the earth's systems significantly. The goal of the Ecology and Biosphere Engineering (EBE) initiative, led by Dianne Newman, is to understand how complex ecological relationships are affected by human activities and to identify means to promote more sustainable ecosystems. Specifically, the initiative will support research to advance knowledge of the distribution, abundance, and global impacts of diverse lifeforms on Earth; the physical, chemical, and biological interactions that define them; and how the control of particular organisms or communities may lead to desirable outcomes. "A focus on ecology and biosphere engineering will be a new direction for Caltech," says Newman. "Though we have many interested scientists and engineers on campus, ecology is an area we have not traditionally studied." Newman notes that Caltech's interdisciplinary Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions (CEMI) provides an example of the type of focus and collaboration that will characterize the EBE initiative. Members of CEMI, which has brought together more than 30 faculty from nearly every division since its inception in 2012, work on diverse problems that range from the control of methane by microbial communities in deep ocean sediments to the development of new tools for ultrasound imaging that harness microbial gas vesicles. Next Steps: Areas for initial investment, says Newman, could include research that will: • Develop more accurate ways to monitor and/or control certain species in ecosystems • Develop real-time sensors to monitor ecosystem changes over diverse spatial and temporal scales • Characterize soil microbial communities that associate with particular crops or forests in order to explore ways to bolster plant resilience in the face of increased drought or floods, to maximize nutrient retention and recycling, and to protect plants from pathogens whose ranges are expanding due to climate change • Find ways to better model the terrestrial biosphere's contribution to the global carbon cycle to minimize negative consequences associated with fertilizer production, transport, and runoff. • Engineer novel capabilities in photosynthetic organisms to make them more efficient at energy capture • Devise new ways to make greener plastics [C) The Art of Playful Science AnnMarie Thomas PhD 'O7) has found her life's work in a mash-un of science and play. By Judy Hill