60NANB22D199

Purpose: This award will complete initiation of the Soil Carbon Solution Center (SCSC) at Colorado State University, thereby providing the university and stakeholders with modeling and data access currently not available from the university. The project will provide access to specialized technologies, services, and expertise to support the scientific needs and enhance the scientific productivity of its staff members while supporting outreach and education initiatives.

Activities to be performed: The recipient will create a diverse stakeholder advisory board composed of members drawn from industry, NGOs, businesses, indigenous communities, government agencies, and producers who have extensive experience in one or multiple aspects of soil solutions development. Several staff positions will be filled. Full-time staff will be hired to focus on communications, project management, and the launch of the SCSC's modeling and data consortium. Summer salary support will be provided for several CSU faculty associated with the center. The SCSC director expects to conduct searches and hire an associate center director, communications director, and two data scientists in early 2023. A computational capability will be established with the purchase of the necessary computing hardware for use by 2 data scientists. This will allow the center to begin providing soil modeling and data services.

Expected outcomes: The SCSC will support breakthrough research and development of new technologies for promoting soil carbon sequestration and improving overall soil health in agricultural systems. By leveraging the unique expertise and leadership of researchers across CSU, transdisciplinary expertise will be brought to bear addressing implementation barriers and bringing soil carbon solutions to scale. The SCSC aims to create new and productive collaborations among scientists in the field of soil ecology and biogeochemistry, energy sector engineering, crop genetics, agro and environmental economics, extension and outreach, business development, humanities, and environmental policy, toward a common goal of developing applied soil-based solutions and bringing them to scale, globally, as a key CO2 removal technology and a means to improve sustainable food, fiber, and bioenergy production, and environmental health.

Intended beneficiaries: This project will benefit a broad range of stakeholders in the soil carbon sequestration community. Advanced tools will be created that benefit industry development and employment in a new domestic and global industry, spurring development and employment in the U.S. The SCSC will provide to the public curated, certified soil models, access to certified compiled model versions and source code, testing and validation of model improvements proposed by other academic consortium members, access to field measurement databases, full up-to-date documentation of models and databases, intensive training courses in the application of models and tools, and hosting of interns and guest researchers interested in more extensive training in the use of process-based biogeochemical simulation models.

Subrecipient activities: The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.

Colorado State University

11.617 - Congressionally-Identified Projects

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [DOC]

Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-2002 United States

Single Zip Code

None

Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 04/30/24 to 12/31/24.