This Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes (PASI) award, jointly supported by the NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), will take place in the summer of 2010 at the Universidad de Piura, in Lima, Peru. This PASI, co-organized by Dr. Christine M. Fiori of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Dr. Edward J. Jaselskis of Iowa State University, will be a collaborative research project to study the work of the ancient engineers of the Great Inka Road of the Andes. How is it that the Inka engineers succeeded in building their 25,000 road system and other structures on the steep and unstable mountains of the Andes and the rainforest of the Amazon? The PASI will join engineering researchers and student participants with anthropologists, archeologists and ethnologists to review and asses Inka construction practices. Collectively, the group will explore linkages between hydrology, hydraulics, geotechnical, and modern day construction techniques.
The PASI will offer an opportunity for participants to gain a fundamental understanding of how natural forces act on structures and how to apply ancient practices to modern, sustainable engineering practice. Furthermore, U.S. graduate students/postdocs, and junior faculty will attend lectures and do field work with participants from several South American Universities, thus providing an international perspective that can lead to further collaborative efforts. Dissemination will be addressed through submissions to various well-known engineering publications. In addition, PASI contents will be made available through a publicly accessible online web forum hosted at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Future exhibits under development, associated with the research, will include a focus on engineering construction, highlighting the profession in a new light and to a nontraditional audience.
