Dr. Venkata Allada, associate professor of engineering management at UMR, is among researchers from six universities to receive an AT&T Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship.

Allada received a $25,000 renewal grant to support his project, "Artifact System Reengineering for Sustainable Product Development."

Industrial Ecology is a multidisciplinary field that studies industrial and economic systems and their linkage with natural systems. It also intersects with disciplines such as law, economics, anthropology, business studies, engineering, and the social and physical sciences.

"I am very pleased that AT&T has chosen UMR’s project for second-year funding and look forward to a productive research partnership with AT&T to create a framework for the design and development of sustainable product systems while considering the economic and environmental aspects of products," Allada says.

Most experts agree that environmental regulations will not be sufficient for realizing sustainable development. Rather, market mechanisms and business opportunities have to be developed. Typically, the "design for environment" (DfE) approach offers product-level point solutions and does not emphasize system-level design issues. The UMR research team is developing a framework for the design and development of sustainable product systems while considering the economic and environmental aspects of products.

"Industrial ecology requires that economic and environmental considerations be part of the design process," said Brad Allenby, AT&T Environment, Health and Safety vice president. "We are thus pleased to support this important research at the University of Missouri-Rolla on the design and development of environmentally appropriate products."