IRES Track 1: Infrastructure Design for Sustainable Urban Communities

经济全球化正在改变工程专业的性质。随着全球企业在全球范围内建立公司和研发中心，将美国工程师派往海外已经成为一种普遍的商业惯例。为了保持在科学技术的前沿，保持我国在工程领域的全球领导地位，我们必须培养我们的工程专业毕业生，使他们成为未来全球商业世界中富有成效的专业人士，并为他们提供与国际伙伴合作所需的技能。这个为期三年的IRES项目将通过在世界上发展最快的地区之一提供实践研究培训和文化体验，向美国工程专业学生传授其中一些关键技能。学生们将与美国和埃及的调查人员一起在埃及开展可持续城市设计这一日益重要的领域的研究。埃及对可持续住房和基础设施的需求尤为迫切，该国95%的人口居住在仅占国土面积6%的土地上。学生将利用埃及目前正在进行的许多国家研究计划来调查和测试可持续基础设施设计。参加者将在其国际经验之前、期间和之后得到美国和埃及研究人员的广泛指导，其最终目标是进行高水平的研究并准备在同行评议的期刊上发表研究论文。通过与他们的国际导师密切合作，学生将提高他们的跨文化技能，外语能力和专业经验，为他们在跨国环境中脱颖而出做好准备。这个为期三年的IRES项目将在埃及为大约30名本科生和研究生提供研究培训和文化体验。这些学生将与美国导师和埃及研究人员一起在埃及一个主要的国家研究中心——国家住房和建筑研究中心工作。该项目将重点关注可持续城市社区基础设施设计的多学科主题。埃及政府目前正在推进与可持续城市设计相关的重大研究计划和示范项目，包括围绕可持续性原则建造的整个新城市。我们的学生将利用这些正在进行的课程来探索和评估城市基础设施的新设计，这些设计考虑了建筑材料、施工方法、能源效率和节水。研究人员与我们的埃及伙伴合作，为该计划的第一年确定了八个研究项目，涉及可持续经济适用房、可持续建筑规范评估、基础设施健康监测、可持续建筑材料、水和雨水管理以及智能建筑设计等主题。其他研究课题将在随后几年发展。学生将与埃及研究人员并肩工作，目标是进行高水平的研究，并产生学生主导的、同行评审的出版物。该计划最终将培养具有从事国际合作研究所需的技能和国际视野的学生。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Economic globalization is transforming the nature of the engineering profession. The assignment of U.S. engineers overseas has become common business practice, as global enterprises establish corporate as well as research and development centers worldwide. To remain at the forefront of science and technology and to sustain our nation's global leadership in engineering, we must train our engineering graduates to be productive professionals in tomorrow's global business world and provide them the skills they will need to collaborate with international partners. This three-year IRES program will teach some of those critical skills to U.S. engineering students by providing hands-on research training and cultural experiences in one of the fastest growing regions in the world. The students will conduct research in Egypt with U.S. and Egyptian investigators in the increasingly important field of sustainable urban design. The need for sustainable housing and infrastructure is particularly acute in Egypt, a nation where 95% of the population lives on just 6% of the land area. Students will leverage the many national research initiatives currently underway in Egypt to investigate and test sustainable infrastructure designs. Participants will receive extensive mentoring before, during, and after their international experience from the U.S. and Egyptian researchers, with the ultimate goal of conducting high-level research and preparing research papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals. By working closely with their international mentors, the students will enhance their cross-cultural skills, foreign language abilities, and professional experience, preparing them to excel in a multinational environment.This three-year IRES project will provide approximately 30 undergraduate and graduate engineering students research training and cultural experiences in Egypt. The students will work with U.S. mentors and Egyptian researchers at one of the leading national research centers in Egypt, the National Housing and Building Research Center. The program will focus on the multidisciplinary theme of Infrastructure Design for Sustainable Urban Communities. The Egyptian government is currently pressing major research initiatives and demonstration projects related to sustainable urban design, including entire new cities built around sustainability principles. Our students will leverage these ongoing programs to explore and evaluate new designs for urban infrastructure that consider building materials, construction methods, energy efficiency, and water conservation. Working with our Egyptian partners, the researchers have identified eight research projects for the first year of the program that address the topics of sustainable affordable housing, the assessment of sustainable building codes, infrastructure health monitoring, sustainable building materials, water and stormwater management, and intelligent building designs. Additional research topics will be developed in subsequent years. Students will work side-by-side with Egyptian researchers with the goal of performing high-level research and producing student-led, peer-reviewed publications. The program will ultimately produce students who have the skills and international perspective necessary to pursue careers in collaborative international research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.