REU Site: Engineering for Bouncing Back

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenic stresses and shocks, such as hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, and Maria, recurring heat waves, and droughts in the West, lead contamination in drinking water at Flint, Michigan, economic distress in Detroit Michigan, and floods in the Mississippi River, have triggered communities across the US to consider resiliency in their preparedness and planning activities. There is critical need for research and education that advances a systems view of resilience, specifically, one that incorporates response, recovery, and mitigation via multitude of solutions spanning the built infrastructure systems, social institutions, emerging technologies, and stakeholder engagement and capacity-building in communities. To meet this need, a novel undergraduate research program on "Engineering for Bouncing Back" (EBB) will be developed at this REU site - one that integrates researchers and undergraduate students from Civil and Construction Engineering, Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science on the topic of resilience. The REU Site is built upon ongoing research in the field of Resiliency at Oregon State University, and offers exciting interdisciplinary research opportunities to undergraduates nationwide. Technical research projects coupled with a suite of REU activities will be offered at this REU site to enable the accomplishment of research and education goals, specifically: (1) Advance the science on interdisciplinary methods, tools, and technologies used towards (a) improving resiliency of built infrastructure systems, (b) improving resiliency of ecosystems and natural resources, (c) improving capacity for community resilience, and (d) improving capability for risk and resilience assessment in communities, and (2) Improvement of the ability of students to employ Systems Thinking skills in solving complex resiliency research problems, and increase their motivation to pursue interdisciplinary graduate research. Each undergraduate student will be part of a research team comprising of a primary faculty mentor, faculty collaborators (from multiple socio-technical disciplines), and graduate student. In addition to research projects, students will participate in cohort-building activities such as, field trips to communities facing unique resiliency challenges, and a movie night focused on community resilience stories. Professional development will be comprised of activities such as weekly skill-building workshops and panels, a 10-page project report, and the final EBB REU symposium. Applications will be sought from highly motivated underrepresented and minority students at quarter-term institutions and related programs. Broader EBB REU recruiting efforts will take place at national conferences for undergraduate engineering students from underrepresented groups. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.