Inter-Americas Collaboration in Materials Research and Education

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Abstract The proposed program will work to strengthen emerging collaborations between Africa and the Americas in the area of infrastructure materials research and education. It will be directed by Prof. Wole Soboyejo at Princeton University. The program will provide a Princeton-based setting for transforming materials research and education in infrastructure materials design, synthesis and characterization. At Princeton, theprogram will combine forces with the Princeton Materials Institute (PMI), the Institute for Advanced Studies (the workplace of Albert Einstein), the U.S./Africa Materials Institute, the Carl Fields Center and the Graduate School to provide a first- rate environment for Visiting materials scientists and students. Beyond Princeton, the Institute will coordinate interactions between 6 universities in the U.S. These include: Harvard, Northwestern University, U. of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), the Ohio State U., Rutgers University and Iowa State University. A total of 5 South American scientists will be supported (per year) to spend nine weeks of each year working with their counterparts in the U.S. from Brazil and Colombia. The program will focus on infrastructure materials research that can lead to more affordable housing in the Americas. In particular, the reinforcement of cementitious materials with natural cellulose fibers and industrial wastes will be explored within a combined theoretical and experimental framework. Composite mechanics concepts will be used to guide the design of infrastructure materials that can be used to provide more affordable housing in the Americas and the global environment. Joint workshops will be used to facilitate the collaboration and dissemination of information from the program. The project is funded jointly by the Engineering Directorate and the Division of International Programs.