CME students form partnerships for international research, education and gain cultural experiences.

National Science Foundation
Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) Grant
Recipient: Farhad Ansari,
Department Head & Professor
UIC Civil & Materials Engineering

The NSF-PIRE-ISHM grant in Civil and Materials Engineering seeks to establish a collaborative US-Asia network of centers to pursue basic research and education in the area of Intelligent Structural Health Management (ISHM) of Safety-Critical Structures.

The partner organizations are:

U.S.A .
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Northwestern University (NU)

ASIA
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) in China
Pusan National University (PNU) in South Korea
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM)
National Aerospace Labs (NAL)
GE India Technology Center (GEIT), in Bangalore, India.

These groups from the four countries bring a complementary set of science and technology expertise enabling us to adopt a cross-disciplinary approach to ISHM.

The research goals of this collaborative effort are:

(1) To develop novel sensors, systems and algorithms incorporating the latest technology and expertise from the various partner countries.

(2) Utilize global test beds necessary to evaluate the developed systems. The education goals of this project are to foster in our students a unique set of skills and capability to work with the international community, learning host countries customs and culture. More specifically, the students will have the capability to work in international environments.

(3) Gain fundamental scientific and technological depth with breadth;

(4) Technological perspicacity, namely the ability to discern appropriate technological solutions which are implementable taking into account geographic-specific considerations.

(5) An awareness of entrepreneurial and intellectual property issues relevant to transitioning from innovation in the laboratory to invention of fieldable ISHM systems.

Aside from learning unique skills and the capability to work in international settings, students travel, sightsee, learn new customs and cultures and make new friednships.

To learn more about the students experiences, click here: