The object of this project is to assist the Program Director in determining what practicing professionals and university faculty believe are the benefits and pitfalls of cooperative research. The rationale for this endeavor is to help maximize the benefits of funding projects when they may result in international cooperative efforts. The project will be accomplished primarily through interviews that will be conducted by phone and in person. The project team may review reports resulting from international conferences and research funded in civil engineering to determine if commonalties exist that support or corroborate information taken from interviews. the project should provide information that can help the NSF refine its decision-making in this area of grant giving, making international cooperative research more effective and resulting in information that will benefit the field of civil engineering. ***
