Workshop on Frontier Research Directions in Civil and Environmental Engineering; held April 2007, Washington, DC

土木和环境工程师在建筑和自然环境中提供最基本的社会基础设施需求。在过去的40年里，它们在美国和大多数发达国家的基础设施、交通、水资源、环境质量和自然灾害保护方面取得了巨大的进步。尽管有这些突破，土木和环境工程师面临着一系列新的社会需求的挑战，包括更新老化的基础设施，满足快速发展国家的基础设施需求，满足社会对安全和保障的需求，以及解决大规模的环境问题和可持续性问题，到2050年世界人口将达到100亿。所有这些挑战都是复杂的，需要创新来掌握能源资源，应对全球气候变化，管理日益复杂的基础设施系统，并保护社区免受自然和人类威胁。所有这些因素都表明，有必要为工程创新制定一个国家议程。现在是召开一个研讨会来确定土木和环境工程前沿研究方向的适当时机。智力优势：土木和环境工程师面临的智力挑战需要通过专注于社会需求的世界级研究人员的跨学科团队培养的指导。该研讨会是土木和环境工程研究界建立共识，沟通优先事项，并制定有关各种研究计划的需求和优先事项的指导的重要的第一步。这次讲习班的成果不仅有助于将这一领域的国家研究议程的优先事项结合起来，而且有可能在今后发起和确定创新的研究活动。更广泛的影响：本次研讨会的成果将开始在全国范围内的土木和环境工程计划的框架未来的研究领域的过程。该研讨会的目标将是建立一个前瞻性的研究组合，解决社会需求，这将有助于吸引不同的人口进入中东欧领域，因为它超出了目前的学科界限。它将确定需要发现和指导的领域，并将为未来几年的研究投资提供指导。进一步的影响将在较长的时间内发生：1）土木与环境工程专业的毕业生进入劳动力市场，具备应对未来挑战所需的专业知识，2）学术部门通过教师招聘做出回应，以与将通过本次研讨会启动的过程开发的研究优先事项保持一致。本次研讨会的更广泛的成果也将通过对社会基础设施的影响来衡量，在美国和全球范围内，这将是建筑和自然环境中新的研究方向的结果。最后，从这次研讨会收集的信息将传播到土木和环境工程研究大学和中心以及专业组织，如ASCE，以达到土木和环境工程师的大横截面。

Civil and environmental engineers provide for the most basic societal infrastructure needs within built and natural environments. Over the past forty years they have produced tremendous advances in infrastructure, transportation, water resources, environmental quality, and protection from natural hazards in the United States and most of the developed world. Despite these breakthroughs, civil and environmental engineers are challenged with a new array of societal needs, including the renewal an aging infrastructure, meeting infrastructure needs of rapidly developing countries, satisfying societal demands for security and safety, and addressing large-scale environmental concerns and sustainability for a world population of 10 billion by 2050. All these challenges are complex and in need of innovation to master energy resources, address global climate change, manage increasingly complex infrastructure systems, and protect communities from natural and human threats. All of these factors indicate that there is a need for setting a national agenda for engineering innovation. This is now an opportune time to convene a workshop to define frontier research directions in civil and environmental engineering. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual challenges facing civil and environmental engineers require guidance fostered through interdisciplinary teams of world-class researchers focused on societal needs. The workshop represents an important first step for the civil and environmental engineering research community to build consensus, communicate priorities, and develop guidance regarding the needs and priorities of various research programs. The results of this workshop will not only help to coalesce the priorities for a national research agenda in this field but it also has the potential for initiating and defining innovative research activities in the future. Broader Impacts: The outcomes of this workshop will begin the process of framing future research areas within Civil and Environmental Engineering programs nationally. A goal of the workshop will be to build a forward looking research portfolio addressing societal needs that will assist in attracting a diverse population into the field of CEE as it expands beyond its current disciplinary boundaries. It will identify areas where discovery and instruction are needed, and will provide guidance for research investment for years to come. Further impact will occur over longer-periods as: 1) graduates in Civil and Environmental Engineering enter the work force with the expertise needed to address future challenges, and 2) academic departments respond through faculty hiring to be aligned with the research priorities that will be developed through the process that this workshop initiates. The broader outcomes of this workshop will also be measured through influence on societal infrastructure, within the United States and globally, that will occur as a result of new research directions within the built and natural environment. Lastly, the information gleaned from this workshop will be disseminated to civil and environmental engineering research universities and centers and professional organizations, such as ASCE, in order to reach a large cross-section of civil and environmental engineers.