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Faculty and students at the College of Engineering and Computing will collaborate with Belgian and Portuguese universities as part of a five-year $2.5 million NSF-funded study focused on leading-edge research on dam and levee failure.
Driven partly by U.S. concerns over the failed New Orleans levees following Hurricane Katrina, the international collaboration will include exchanges of students and faculty members among the participating institutions, said Hanif Chaudhry, a University civil engineering professor and principal investigator on the project.
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| Hanif Chaudhry |
"The National Science Foundation knows that the United States isn't the leader for engineering research in every field," Chaudhry said. "We can learn from European engineering researchers who have developed advanced methodologies with dam and levee design. We have expertise in computer modeling, but they have done more experimental work with huge laboratories to simulate design and construction models.
"We think there are a lot of good things that can come from an intermixing of ideas in a project like this."
In November, research faculty from Belgium and Portugal will visit the College of Engineering and Computing. Beginning next year, 10 civil engineering undergraduates from the United States will travel to Europe to observe and participate in research. In addition, five graduate students, a research assistant professor, and a post-doctoral fellow will be supported by the project. During the course of the five-year project, four workshops will be held in Puerto Rico, Belgium, Portugal, and at Carolina.
Chaudhry hopes that more U.S. undergraduate students, particularly those from under-represented groups, will be motivated to pursue Ph.D. degrees as a result of their participation in the project.
"This is a golden opportunity for our students and faculty because we have funding for travel and support and sufficient time to develop real learning opportunities," said Chaudhry, whose departmental colleague Jasim Imran is co-principal investigator. "By the time we're done, I think we will have advanced the state of the art on dam and levee design."
11/07
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