The goal of this CRCD project at the University of Missouri-Rolla, entitled "Advanced Materials for Civil Infrastructures: Multidisciplinary Curriculum Development," is to create multidisciplinary educational resources for the students of the UMR and the greater professional community in the capabilities and use of advanced materials and sensors for civil infrastructures. Advanced composite materials offer superior mechanical properties, long-term durability, and fabrication flexibility. Recent sensor advances offer in-situ monitoring of the health, geometric, environmental, and structural characteristics of civil engineering structures. Although it is a relatively new area in civil engineering, the importance of composite materials and integral "smart" sensors are rapidly increasing due to the improved performance and durability as compared to conventional technologies. The area addresses growing needs for strengthening and rehabilitating aging structures and for designing new structures to more stringent requirements and for longer lifetime. Advanced materials and smart structures technology encompass several engineering disciplines; hence, effective education must cross the traditional boundaries. Engineers must gain interdisciplinary knowledge and experience to effectively understand and use the new technology. The specific objectives of the project are:
* To develop an interdisciplinary teaching laboratory, * To construct, instrument, and monitor a smart all-composite bridge on the UMR campus as a field experience for students and as a technological demonstration, * To create a World Wide Web site for the Internet which features tutorials for the component technologies, multimedia demonstrations from the course, virtual experiments from the teaching laboratory, up-dated results from the bridge demonstration, and links to other Internet sites related to smart advanced structures, * To develop and offer an associated short course for professionals, * To demonstrate educational methodologies for effective interdisciplinary instruction, * To prepare an integrated CD-ROM hypermedia resource of technology tutorials, experimental demonstrations, virtual experiments, bridge tests, course notes, and new technical developments in this area.
The project will address the national need for engineers with interdisciplinary experience and solutions to infrastructure challenges. It is an extension of the long-standing joint research activities of the interdisciplinary research team and will involve significant industrial interaction. The combination of the course and laboratory, bridge demonstration, Internet access, short course, and educational innovations is a comprehensive approach to disseminating new technology. These many facets will benefit undergraduates, graduate students, their future employers, infrastructure engineering at UMR, other academic programs, and industry.
