Great Lakes ReNEW named finalist in NSF Regional Innovation Engine Competition
August 3, 2023
The project is one of two U of M affiliated finalists in the competition.
Two proposed projects affiliated with the University of Minnesota were chosen as finalists for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines competition. The Midwest Sustainable Plastics Innovation Regional Engine (M-SPIRE), a U of M-led effort to drive the global transition to sustainable plastics, and Great Lakes ReNEW, a Chicago-based effort with significant U of M partnership to create a decarbonized circular blue economy in the Great Lakes region, were among 16 finalists announced by NSF this week. Each of these initiatives have the potential for $160 million in NSF funding over 10 years.
ReNEW’s University of Minnesota partners are led by Jeffrey Peterson, director of the U of M Water Resources Center and professor in the Department of Applied Economics, and include Paige Novak (Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering), Vipin Kumar (Computer Science and Engineering), Tianhong Cui (Mechanical Engineering) and Jeff Strock (Soil, Water and Climate). Their roles in the potential project would include developing new water management and treatment technologies that recover useful resources, including sensors to monitor and manage these systems.
