Community-Engagement in Clean Energy: 15 Years of Tribal Partnerships in the Pacific Northwest

The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) will mobilize unprecedented capital investments in clean energy technologies that can demonstrate tangible benefits to underserved and overburdened communities. In this era of clean energy development, the most successful scientists and engineers will need the ability to formulate scholarly questions and develop practical strategies that are informed by an understanding that clean energy is a socio-techno-economic grand challenge. Consequently, early in any scientific or technical advance, questions of material supply chains, life-cycle impacts, and the need for authentic community-engagement will be deemed an essential preliminary step toward scaling. Trainees able to balance the social, technical, and economic dimensions of clean energy will be ideally prepared to succeed in the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (PSTS) sector of the economy, where materials science and engineering job growth is projected to be more than double the rate of manufacturing employment over the next decade.[1-2]<br/><br/>The Northwest U.S. has a hundred-year legacy of major federal investment in clean energy infrastructure, but is widely acknowledged as a cautionary tale for the consequences of inequitable and unjust energy development.[3] With this as place-based context, the author will discuss lessons learned from 15 years of community-engaged clean energy research and educational activities with Northwest tribal nations supported through NSF IGERT, USDA CAP, and State of Washington funding that has involved students (undergraduate and graduate) and professional staff. Using a variety of bioenergy, wind, and solar-related education, research, and demonstration projects as tangible examples, we will describe a common trajectory our community-engaged clean energy projects have taken, typically starting as “technical assistance” questions that community decision-makers and influencers (such as elders) want addressed by an arms-length third party, and evolving to more scholarly questions. The training elements of community-engaged projects are ideal for PSTS careers, and participation in year-long tribal partnership projects was cited as a primary reason 9 Native American students chose to return to graduate school as part of a NSF IGERT training program led by the speaker. Other research and student outcomes will be documented, as well as professional challenges associated with community-engaged research and education given that this scholarly model remains fairly uncommon in the physical sciences and engineering.<br/><br/>[1] BLS employment projection for materials engineers (2021-2031) https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=17-2131&ioType=o<br/>[2] BLS employment projection for materials scientists (2021-2031)<br/>https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=19-2032&ioType=o<br/>[3] L. Ortolano and K.K. Cushing, Grand Coulee Dam 70 years later: What can we learn, <i>Intl J. Water Res. Dev.</i>, <b>18</b>(3), 373-390 (2002).