This award supports a series of three 3-week international Summer Schools in the design and construction of smart structures. The schools will provide students with multidisciplinary training in key areas related to smart structures: structural dynamics, control systems, circuit technology, wireless technology, and informatics. In addition, they will familiarize students with forefront research related to smart structures technology in participating countries. The Summer Schools will be held in Korea in 2008, the US in 2009, and Japan in 2010 and will involve approximately ten graduate students in civil and mechanical engineering from each of the participating countries. The program of each school includes coursework, labs and site visits.
The program is a collaboration among PI Spencer, C.B. Yun, professor and director of the Smart Infra-Structure Technology Center (SISTeC) of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Korea; Yozo Fujino, head of the Bridge Engineering Laboratory at University of Tokyo in Japan; and Guo-Qiang Li, professor of structural engineering at Tongji University in China. It is expected that the schools will create an environment in which highly motivated students, faculty, and professionals will be able to establish lasting international collaborative arrangements. The NSF award, jointly funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation in the Directorate for Engineering, supports the U.S. side of the collaboration.
Introduction The Asia-Pacific Summer School on Smart Structure Technology (APSS) is a 3-week program including coursework, lectures, labs, and site visits, which allows graduate students studying civil engineering and related fields to learn about smart structure technology in an international setting. Roughly ten graduate students from each of the US, Korea, Japan, and China sponsored by the organizations NSF, KOSEF/SISTeC, JST, and NNSFC, respectively participated in this program each year. In the original period of this program, the host institute alternated between Korea, the United States, and Japan. The selection of participants each year was based on their competence in civil engineering, potential for continued academic and professional growth through the program, relevance of interest to an interdisciplinary and international approach to smart structures technology, and potential for success studying in a foreign country. Special emphasis was placed on the recruitment of individuals from underrepresented groups Technical Aspect The APSS program has helped to supplement the multidisciplinary approach which is insufficient in traditional civil engineering education. The curriculum addressed the hardware, software, data informatics, and applications of smart structures technology. Professors who are experts in the field of smart structure technology and are at the forefront of such research in their respective countries as well as the international community were invited to give lectures and interact with the students. The selection of lecturers and topics were made in a way that established a firm understanding of the multidisciplinary nature of this field. The laboratory experiences and technical tours exposed students to the first hand application of smart structure technology. The laboratory based student competition provided a realistic and challenging application of the technology studied. The laboratories also gave students a solid experience with experimental methods suitable for use in their future research. Cultural Aspect For each of the three original years of the program, Korea, the United States, and Japan have provided a unique perspective and series of successes not only inside but beyond the field. The cultural aspects of the host country have been highlighted through classes on the history, culture, and language of the host country and tours of sites with cultural and historical significance, such as palaces, temples, and museums. Such activities lent themselves to increased international cooperation through cultural understanding and involvement. From this annual summer school program, one can see that immersion in another culture has proved to be an excellent way to facilitate the growth and comprehension of new knowledge. Cooperation By engaging in a program with strong, daily interaction with faculty and peers, the students have been brought into the international research community and planted the seeds for long-term collaboration. The cross-cultural understanding has been incorporated in the professional career development of the students through on-site living and studying with the diverse set of students in the program. New relationships fostered through the program would almost certainly encourage students to both join and create international research projects in the future, as well as facilitate smoother interaction with international researchers at their own institutions. Any student continuing in the field of smart structure technology will have the confidence to interact with world top-notch research fellows at an international level. Feedback This program was successfully implemented with very positive feedback from the students and faculty involved. Alumni responses, in the form of summary reports and exit surveys, were a critical part of the program. These alumni responses have helped to identify weak points and prompted changes to the program, which helped to improve overall quality from year to year. Conclusion The APSS program has created a strong pool of creative and diversely educated US students to carry the field of smart structures technology into its future developments, particularly women and underrepresented minorities. It lessened gaps in the education of graduate students in the field of smart structures technology. The 3-week program exposed US students to the unique successes of the host countries and host researchers in the field and created an environment in which highly motivated students, faculty, and professionals were able to establish lasting international collaborative arrangements. In addition to tailoring a yearly educational program to meet the needs of smart structures technology, multiyear program objectives were established. These multiyear objectives ensure not only that students can receive a consistently first-rate experience, but also facilitate interaction with program alumni as a means of enhancing the experience of current participants and continue the education of the alumni.A positive experience with the APSS summer program has highlighted the effectiveness that this type of program can have in engaging motivated graduate students.
