Bio-Soils Initiative

The bio-soils initiative is a coordinated effort among scientists and engineers in the US and UK interested in the using of natural biological processes to provide engineering solutions to society's problems.

A New Interdisciplinary Field

The convergence of advances in molecular biology, microbiology, imaging and visualization techniques, and engineering simulation provides an enormous opportunity for geotechnical engineers together with bio-geo scientists to provide society with solutions posed by rapid global and regional change. These changes include sustainable solutions to regeneration of cities, carbon sequestration, rehabilitation of infrastructure, clean-up of brownfields, disposal of hazardous waste, protection of water resources and maintenance of ecosystems for food, and renewable energy production. Solutions to these challenges require interdisciplinary research at the interfaces between traditions science and engineering disciplines including geotechnical engineering, geosciences, microbiology, geochemistry, molecular biology, soil science, and geoenvioronmental engineering.

Inception

Realization of the potential and far-reaching societal benefits of this interdisciplinary initiative first occurred at an international workshop jointly funded by the National Science Foundation of the US and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK. Fourty-five leaders from key science and engineering communities congregated April 1-4, 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts. Participants were strongly motivated by the common realization that a radical change to engineering approaches that are far more multidisciplinary and that draw on recent advances from the pure sciences can provide substantial steps towards solving these immense societal challenges. It is important to note that the initial focus on around applications for geotechnical engineering quickly expanded into multiple far-reaching opportunities. More information regarding the workshop can be found in the Workshop Overview and Workshop Outcomes.

Roadmap for the Future

At the workshop’s conclusion there was overwhelming consensus that a new interdisciplinary field at the cross-roads of biological and soil processes is emerging and it will have a substantial impact on society. In effect, the workshop itself enabled the primary “chapters”, or topics, of this “book” to be identified and outlined. Hard science and engineering research over the next several decades in the research and education areas identified herein is necessary to begin maturing this new field. Since the workshop a number of activities continue to facilitate the field's development [Bio-Soils Activities].

Researchers in Bio-Soils

Bio-Soils researchers from academia, national labs, and industry actively participated in the workshop and/or are continuing research in this area.

More Information? Contact one of the workshop organizers.