IRES: U.S.-India Research Program to Promote Improved Quality of Life thru Innovative Applications of Engineering Technologies.

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

0966561 Chetan Sankar Auburn University This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) award entitled U.S.-India Research Program to Promote Improved Quality of Life thru Innovative Applications of Engineering Technologies provides fifteen Auburn University students a unique opportunity to conduct mechanical engineering research at the premier Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) and the Center for the Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)- Mohali, India. US PI Chetan Sankar,AU is an expert in tele-communications technologies and will work jointly with J.S. Bhatia, Director of CDAC-Mohali, a national R&D laboratory and pioneer of telemedicine in India. US coPI P.K. Raju, AU will partner with Professors A. Ramachandraiah and K. Balasubramanian of IITM, all of whom are Directors of either the acoustics or non-destructive testing labs at their respective universities. For each of the three award years, five graduate and undergraduate students will avail themselves of the combined strengths of these academic/research institutions for a comprehensive international research experience. The unifying research theme for this IRES project is the application of three engineering technologies to improve the quality of life. By using 1)thermal, visual, and acoustic comfort measurement technologies, student teams will design more comfortable and energy efficient living spaces, thereby improving the quality of living, 2) using non-destructive testing technologies, students will develop products to help evaluate the structural integrity of roads and bridges, thereby improving the quality of highway infrastructure, and 3) using wireless technologies, student teams will develop new products that will make possible the delivery of high quality healthcare through telemedicine applications, thereby improving the quality of health. The intellectual merit of this project is that Auburn University students will have an intensive research and collaborative experience with teams of students and researchers in India. The AU students will work with experienced researchers and industry experts to help them document their research in papers and case studies that will be published in journals and presented at conferences. As for broader impacts, the students will develop personal contacts, new international networks, and deeper insights on global R&D issues, all of which could have a lasting impact on their continued interest in international collaborative research. It is also expected that solutions developed by student teams will eventually be integrated into products, processes and models that will directly benefit society. Case studies developed in this project will be integrated into the AU curriculum and will broaden the impact of the international experience to include students that did not have the opportunity to directly participate in IRES.