ICOSSE 2011 workshop: Defining sustainability, resilience and robustness of critical infrastructures

Sustainability, resilience and robustness are interpreted to represent a range of concepts based on the application field and problem scope. As a result, their definitions lack precision which limits their assessment and developing guidelines for desired levels of achievement. In support of NSF’s Emerging Frontiers in Research Innovation (EFRI) - Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructures (RESIN) program, the eight RESIN project teams, NSF-EFRI-RESIN program directors and representatives from academia, industry and federal agencies will convene with other invitees to reconcile divergent definitions for sustainability, resilience, and robustness (SRR) of critical infrastructures.

The principal objective of this two-day workshop is to develop workable cross-disciplinary definitions for sustainability, resilience, and robustness (SRR) as related to critical interdependent infrastructures. Secondary objectives are to strategize on means to overcome computational roadblocks that are common across RESIN projects in evaluating SRR and incorporating them in decision processes and to develop coordination of RESIN outreach activities.

To that end, the eight NSF-EFRI-RESIN project participants will create a synergistic discussion environment at the workshop. The RESIN teams will advance working definitions applied to systems as diverse as energy, water/wastewater supply, telecommunications, biofuels, innovative battery technologies, and transportation grids. These definitions/concepts will:

a) broaden professional consensus across the engineering and
infrastructure planning/management communities;

b) guide the creation of new engineering standards for
sustainability, resilience and robustness;

c) contribute to enhanced operation of critical infrastructures; and

d) lead to the development of scientific questions and topics for
continued research and development.