UT Arlington REU Site on Hazard Mitigation

University Of Texas At Arlington, Arlington TX

Investigators

Abstract

This three-year REU Site program at the University of Texas at Arlington is focused in the area of Hazard Mitigation. The project will provide an excellent opportunity to integrate research and education. The objectives of the program are to: 1) recruit students into and retain students in four-year engineering programs through graduation; 2) encourage participants to pursue graduate degrees in engineering; and 3) expose participants to practical applications of engineering research. The undergraduate students will work on research teams with faculty and high school teachers participating in the ongoing NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site on Hazard Mitigation. In addition to students being involved in computer or laboratory-based research, they will be engaged in other activities such as field trips, presentations and workshops, which are all designed to broaden the student?s educational experiences. They will have an additional opportunity to participate in the education process by performing demonstrations and/or giving demonstrations (based on their research) to K-12 students. The program is designed to ultimately inform students of and motivate them for the attainment of advanced degrees in engineering. It will additionally provide benefits to participants who decide not to attend graduate school by introducing them to practical applications of engineering research to real world problems. This is especially important with the increased occurrences of natural disasters (such as hurricanes and tornadoes), terrorist threats, cyber security breaches and infrastructure failures (such as massive blackouts) that the world has experienced over the past several years. The Principal Investigator will recruit engineering and science students from local community colleges with which the university has established relationships, as well as other universities, with emphasis on minority serving institutions (MSIs). The program intends to recruit students into and retain students in four-year engineering programs through graduation. Students will be encouraged to pursue graduate degrees in engineering.