Research and Teaching Goals
Approved by Voting Faculty of the
Department of Civil Engineering
Spring 2004
A long term plan for research and teaching in the Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering requires an initiative for hiring and integrating
new faculty, as well as a strategy for promoting the strength of our current
faculty. As a Department, we intend to focus our research and teaching in three
main areas:
We envision a synergy between traditional and innovative research and teaching in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Our current focus in undergraduate education is in the areas of environmental engineering, water resources engineering, structural engineering, geotechnical engineering and surveying. Our graduate courses and research are built on this foundation (Figure 1). We see our long term growth based on the diversity of research and teaching expertise of our existing faculty in the areas of intelligent infrastructure systems (Figure 2). Whether we are replacing faculty or increasing the number of faculty through strategic hires, our emphasis is collaboration within our department. We also view this as an opportunity to increase our involvement with interdisciplinary research and education groups on campus such as Environmental Studies, Materials Research and Environmental Policy and Research. This initiative will also benefit the public through research contribution and regional workshops.
Figure 1. Current Faculty in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Figure 2. Current and Proposed Areas of Research for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The following list outlines some of the potential areas of funding through the National Science foundation.
Environmental Research and Education
NSF has supported activities associated with environmental research and education for decades, primarily through disciplinary programs. In recent years, program officers have recognized that many exciting research opportunities in this area cut across extant disciplines and have formed interdisciplinary and inter-organizational programs in response. In supporting activities at the interdisciplinary frontiers, NSF has sought to integrate holistic multidisciplinary investments with disciplinary-intensive opportunities. Because of the tremendous opportunity for advances in environmental science and engineering revealed by this integrative approach, NSF considers environmental research and education a strategic priority for the Foundation.
Civil and Mechanical Systems
The Civil and Mechanical Systems (CMS) Division is part of the Directorate for Engineering at the National Science Foundation. We fund research that contributes to the knowledge base and intellectual growth in the areas of infrastructure construction and management, geotechnology, structures, dynamics and control, mechanics, and materials, sensing for civil and mechanical systems as well as the reduction of risks induced by earthquakes and other natural and technological hazards. The division encourages cross-disciplinary partnerships at the intersections of traditional disciplines, to promote discoveries using technologies such as adaptive systems, nanotechnology and simulation to enable revolutionary advances in our nation's civil and mechanical systems.
Bioengineering and Environmental Systems
The Bioengineering and Environmental Systems (BES) Division supports research and education in the rapidly evolving fields of bioengineering and environmental engineering. BES has two principal goals. The first goal is to enable and facilitate the deployment of new technologies in BES's fields in service to society for use in the biotechnology, medical, and environmental arenas. The second goal is to advance bioengineering and environmental engineering education, particularly through the development of innovative programs by new faculty.
Infrastructure and Information Systems (IIS)
The Infrastructure and Information Systems (IIS) program supports research to develop new science bases necessary for development and deployment of advanced information systems and technologies required to sustain the nation's infrastructure. IIS research impacts on infrastructure system design, construction, maintenance, operation and control, and includes networking technology, internet-based data systems, voice and data communications technologies and GIS-based multimedia global infrastructure information systems. In addition, the IIS program portfolio includes systems and network approaches to infrastructure management and life-cycle engineering, integrated systems behavior and network simulation, hazard preparedness and response, societal and economic impacts, decision theory, intelligent systems and engineering (life-cycle design), and conceptual and theoretical bases of scalable enterprise for civil systems construction and management.
Geotechnical and GeoHazards Systems (GHS)
The Geotechnical and GeoHazards Systems (GHS) program seeks to advance the fundamental engineering and related knowledge for geostructures (foundations, slopes, excavations, soil and rock improvement technologies, and reinforcement systems); geohazards mitigation; constitutive modeling and verification; remediation and containment of geoenvironmental contamination; transferability of laboratory results to field scale; and non-destructive and in situ evaluation. GHS support is given for research that will increase geotechnical and geohazards knowledge necessary to mitigate the impacts of natural and technological hazards on both the constructed and the natural environment. A broad spectrum of research is supported, including the use of data from laboratory and field experiments to verify design procedures and methodologies, simulation of phenomena, collection of data from catastrophic events, including rapid-response reconnaissance inspections.
Additional funding agencies include, but are not limited to, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Army Corp of Engineers, Federal Highway Administration, the Department of Education and state funding agencies with similar functions.
The research results of this initiative will be disseminated through journals and conferences within our fields. It should also be recognized that infrastructure systems engineering is advancing, with venues specifically targeting research in this area. In support of this statement, a description of the American Society of Civil Engineering Journal of Infrastructure Systems is provided below.
The Journal of Infrastructure Systems will publish cross-disciplinary papers about methodologies for monitoring, evaluating, expanding, repairing, replacing, financing, or otherwise sustaining the civil infrastructure. The infrastructure supporting human activities includes complex and interrelated physical, social, ecological, economic, and technological systems such as transportation, energy product and distribution; water resources management; waste management; facilities supporting urban and rural communities; communications; sustainable resources development; and environmental production. Increasingly, inter- and multidisciplinary expertise is needed to not only design and build these systems, but to manage and sustain them as well. Typical management problems are fraught with uncertain information, multiple and conflicting objectives, and sometimes numerous and conflicting constituencies. Solutions are both complex and cross-disciplinary in nature, an require the thoughtful integration of sounds engineering judgment, economic flexibility, and institutional forbearance. Papers considered for publication must (1) contain a clear and well-defined engineering component, and (2) make a contribution to the art and science related to infrastructure systems. Papers considered for publications will undergo ASCE's rigorous peer review. ISSN: 1076-0342
Our long term goal is to add five additional faculty positions:
In summary, this plan will serve as a blueprint for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It addresses fundamental concepts presented in Southern at 150:
