Imagine a thriving community built around manufacturing jobswhere the production methods and processes not only minimize wasteand mitigate negative environmental impacts, but also addresshealth risks posed to residents and workers.

How do we get there? Who needs to have a seat at the table?

A new partnership, facilitated by The JPB Foundation, aims toaddress these questions and more through the formation of theCollaboratory for a Regenerative Economy (CoRE). Led by UBsDepartment of Materials Design and Innovation (MDI), CoRE is acollaboration with Clean Production Action and Niagara Share.

CoRE will bring together scientists, manufacturers, communitypartners and other key stakeholders to understand the challenges inbuilding a self-sustaining economy in rapidly expanding andevolving industries.

This is an unusual project with its emphasis onthe interplay between science, technology, and their interactionwith human behavior to impact social change, says KrishnaRajan, Erich Bloch Endowed Chair of MDI.

While the initial focus of the project is on solar panelmanufacturing, the findings will serve as a testbed that can laterbe scaled and used for other industries.

Our project seeks to lower the barriers to the adoptionof production processes that are environmentally friendly and offerthe potential to improve community health, Rajan says.

We will use cutting-edge discoveries in materials scienceand engineering to develop innovative and transformative approachesto design data-driven, green-manufacturing processes that willreduce the use of toxic chemicals and/or those derived from fossilfuels in the solar panel manufacturing industry, hesays.

This data-driven approach to designing alternate materials forindustrial use will include human and environmental healthfactors.

Our aim is to not only reduce the use of harmfulchemicals in industrial production, but also reduce the healthhazards arising from the exposure to toxic chemicals, both duringproduction and when products are decommissioned, says MarkRossi, executive director of Clean Production Action, which isbased in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Since low-income families make up a significant portion of thefrontline communities that are impacted by industrial and energyproduction, the project aligns closely with The JPBFoundations focus on health and poverty.

This unique partnership among the academic researchcommunity, non-governmental and community outreach organizationsbrings together complementary expertise in research, marketanalysis, policy formulation and social innovation tosupport the transition toward a safer materials economy,says Liesl Folks, dean of the School of Engineering and AppliedSciences.

Key features of the CoRE initiative include industry andcommunity-targeted workshops, an MDI Summer Institute and atraineeship program that links MDI students with communityorganizations and other constituencies.

A change agent program will provide industry andcommunity leaders with the tools needed to understand and analyzethese technologies, the inherent risks and cost-benefits involved,and the best methods for adopting new approaches.

The project embraces both scientific advancements andsocial innovation, underlining the importance of bringing togetherpeople and resources in new, more effective ways to createresilient networks that can drive new innovation and value for ourcommunities, businesses and local economies, says AlexandraMcPherson, principal of Niagara Share, a Buffalo-basednonprofit.

Adds Robin Schulze, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences:This project aligns with MDIs core mission ofaddressing societal needs through significant acceleration ofdesign and discovery of new materials in a socially responsiblemanner.

UBs Department of Materials Design and Innovation is acollaboration between the College of Arts and Sciences and theSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Read more from the original source:
Safer manufacturing through materials science - University at Buffalo Reporter