This award represents continued partial support of the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (BICE). The National Research Council, through its Division of Engineering and Physical Sciences, established the BICE in 1994 to investigate questions of technology, science, and public policy applied to urban systems and services; above ground and underground construction; the relationship between the constructed and natural environments, and their interaction with human activities; the effects of natural hazards on constructed facilities; and related issues of planning, design, construction management, surety, and use of the built environment. The BICE brings together in an independent forum expertise from a wide range of scientific, engineering, and social science disciplines to address problems and issues of infrastructure and the build environment. The BICE provides a unique structure to respond to specific requests from government, or to act on its own initiative with public or private sector support. In pursuit of its goals, BICE plans to conduct on-going strategic planning for studies, workshops, symposia, and information dissemination activities dealing with a variety of infrastructure issues. In the past, the BICE has coordinated activities with the Institute for Civil Infrastructure (ICIS), established by NSF at the Wagner Graduate School at New York University and currently collaborates with the NRC Disasters Roundtable. During the coming year, BICE will continue to explore themes focused on extreme events, complex systems, and critical infrastructure protection.
