This ten-week collaborative international REU site program will establish a Smart Structures Undergraduate Research Collaboratory where students at the Universities of Akron, South Carolina, and Connecticut will partner with the Korean Advance Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) to gain access to world class facilities in Smart Structures and by doing so this will enhance the scope of the undergraduate research. A challenge faced by the Smart Structures community is the fact that structures vary in different geographical regions due to local building practices, availability of materials and dynamic loads likely to be experienced in the region. Ideal Smart Structure solutions should be universal in order to achieve the desired performance for various structures in the environment.
Reducing structural damage due to natural and made-made hazards in is vital to the safety and economic viability of society. Smart Structures which are those structures that can sense their environment and react accordingly, can provide more resilient designs, more effective construction, and extend overall the safe life of our built infrastructure. This collaborative project will further advance research on universal solutions in Smart Structures.
This program will engage six undergraduate students over ten weeks in these research activities: 1) formal training in structural dynamics, health monitoring and control; 2) experience conducting laboratory experiments in Smart Structures; 3) travel to KAIST in South Korea to experience international collaboration and gain access to world class facilities in Smart Structures; and 4) participate in site visits and cultural events.
The PIs will focus recruitment efforts on students from underrepresented groups at minority institutions. Undergraduate students will work directly with U.S. and Korean graduate students gaining valuable insight about research and graduate school.
established a Smart Structures Undergraduate Research Collaboratory (a collaborative laboratory) where student participants at the three participating universities conducted geographically distributed experiments to explore universal Smart Structure solutions and immerse themselves in a research intensive program with an international collaboration focus. The Universities of Akron, South Carolina, and Connecticut established a strong working partnership with the Korean Advance Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) to gain access to world class facilities in Smart Structures and enhance the scope and depth of the undergraduate research experience of the program. The project funded 18 REU students and 3 graduate students over the course of three summers (2010, 2011 and 2012). Over this time the students engaged in six team research project in the areas of structural health monitoring and structural control which resulted in 6 final reports, 6 final presentations, 2 conference publications, and 1 journal publication. The research, borne out of the collaborative interest of the participating faculty included topics such as: In-field ambient vibration testing of a PSC box girder bridge and finite element model updating; Application of the Model Updating Cognitive System technique; Estimation of marching frequency using human induced vibration; Structural Control of a Three Story Building Using a Self-Powered and Self-Sensing MR Fluid Damper System; Vibration Mitigation of Traffic Signal Support Structures – Strut versus Signal Head Vibration Absorber; and Mitigating Cable Vibrations to Increase Bridge Life Span. The projects involved analytical, laboratory and field testing at both the US institutions and at KAIST. The students also participated in various planned cultural activities in Korea to broaden their knowledge of the Korean culture. The program had wonderful diversity. Of the 18 REU participants, 10 (56%) were female students and 12 (67%) were minority students. Of the 3 graduate student mentors, 1 was a female student. The program was highly successful in encouraging participants to consider graduate school in engineering through participation in the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Conference and targeted discussions with faculty throughout and after the program. At least 9 of the 18 participants are attending graduate school and 2 of the participants have received NSF graduate fellowships.
