Research funding for the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at Drexel University has grown 370% over five years. This increase occurred although the laboratories are outdated, poorly organized, improperly ventilated and inefficient. This Award will renovate most of the Department's civil engineering laboratories so that they may accommodate the increased research effort and allow continued growth of the research program. The laboratories were built forty to eighty years ago and were last renovated over twenty years ago. Within these labs the Department trains undergraduate and graduate students and conducts its extensive research program. The current condition of the space greatly hampers all aspects of this training and research. Test samples cannot be installed and removed effectively. Faculty and students are forced to work in areas where temperatures routinely reach 110oF. Dust from abraded concrete floors threatens to contaminate experiments. Research efforts within the Department include the world-renowned Geosynthetic Research Institute; geotechnical and environmental engineering addressing issues of pollution abatement, structural engineering focusing on earthquake safety and innovative methods in masonry construction; and civil engineering materials research developing improved methods of testing and using materials.
