BOARD MEETING DATE: May 14, 1999 AGENDA NO. 13
PROPOSAL:
Participate in MIT’s Proposal to Link Various Air Quality Planning Models
SYNOPSIS:
AQMD has been requested to participate on a team of MIT researchers which has been invited by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to submit a proposal to link the economic impact, air quality, land-use, transportation, and mobile source models used for air quality planning in southern California. Linking the models will facilitate data transmission from one model to another, thereby significantly reducing the staff’s time to run the individual models. If the proposal is awarded to MIT, the team is requesting assistance in-kind of AQMD staff in identifying input and output parameters of each model and obtaining electronic data files.
COMMITTEE:
Mobile Source, April 16, 1999. Less than a quorum was present during the discussion of this item; Committee Members present requested additional information concerning the project.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Authorize staff to provide necessary in-kind assistance to MIT’s model integration team, should the NSF fund their proposal.
Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer
Background
In February 1999, a team of MIT professors and researchers submitted a pre-proposal, "Application of a Distributed and Collaborative Computational Infrastructure to the Integration of Regional Economic and Environmental Models for Los Angeles," to the NSF, requesting $1.5 million funding for the project. The principal investigator of the project is Dr. Karen Polenske, Professor of Regional Political Economy and Planning at MIT. Dr. Polenske is also a member of the AQMD’s Scientific, Technical and Modeling Peer Review Advisory Group. This group peer-reviews modeling updates and related issues for the next scheduled AQMD update.
In March, the MIT pre-proposal passed the first stage of the NSF review and the MIT team was invited to submit a full proposal by May 17, 1999. NSF will make a decision whether or not to fund the proposal by September 1999. The tasks identified in the pre-proposal will take three years to complete at a cost of $1.5 million to be funded by the NSF.
Proposed Model Integration
The proposal will link five multidisciplinary proprietary models/data through the application of Distributed-based Object Modeling Environment (DOME). These models are:
Specifically, the integration will be achieved by building complex interfaces between the models. In order to accomplish this, it is essential that the MIT have the assistance of involved agencies to identify the input and output parameters of each model and obtain electronic data files. Therefore, if the NSF selects the MIT team’s proposal, they will need in-kind assistance from the AQMD.
The MIT team’s work will benefit the AQMD in that it will significantly accelerate complex modeling activities. Currently, it takes significant amount of time to post-process the outputs of one model into subsequent models. After the models are linked through DOME by the MIT Team, the post-processing will be automated. It is estimated that this could save the AQMD a significant amount of time running the individual models.
In addition, the MIT team will make the integrated model available on the world-wide web which will provide easy access for potential users. This will also facilitate information exchange among the model users which can improve the overall effectiveness of the models.
Proposal
Staff proposes that the Board authorize AQMD staff’s provision of necessary in-kind assistance (as described above) to the MIT model integration team should the team’s proposal be awarded funding by the NSF.
Resource Impacts
The tasks identified in the pre-proposal will take three years to complete at $1.5 million. If awarded by the NSF, the MIT team would like to obtain assistance in-kind from involved agencies, primarily in identifying input and output parameters of each model and obtaining electronic data files. Existing staff would be utilized to provide AQMD’s in-kind assistance within currently budgeted resources.
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