This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This U.S.-Poland International Research Experience for Students (IRES) will provide an international research experience for graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Florida A&M University. The program has two overarching goals. The first is to formalize international research training for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students in the field of civil infrastructure systems. The second is to nurture the development of strong professional relationships between European Union engineers, in this case Polish engineers, and U.S. engineers. The objectives of this program include 1) recruiting a diverse group of four undergraduate students and two graduate students to the program annually, 2) connecting these students with established researchers in the U.S. and in Poland, 3) providing a series of industry-related research activities in Poland, and 4) providing a sequence of scientifically related cultural experiences in Poland to promote a better understanding and appreciation of international research and industry.
In total, 24 undergraduate and graduate students will be recruited from the University of Nebraska and Florida A&M University to participate in this IRES project. These students will be formed into teams and each team will focus on particular civil infrastructure-related theme. Each team will have a graduate student as team leader and an undergraduate student from each of the participating US institutions. It is anticipated that three of the students will be from historically underrepresented groups. The project leader, in conjunction with the faculty advisor, will select a specific research topic. The team will identify the project, formulate the activities, and coordinate with each other and the Polish engineers. During their six week technical tour of Poland the teams will collaborate with Dr. Henryk Zobel (Warsaw University of Technology), Dr. Tadeusz Tatara (Cracow University of Technology), and Dr. Maria Kaszynska (Szczecin University of Technology). The teams will also attend a civil infrastructure conference and tour large-scale European civil infrastructure-related projects.
