IUCRC Planning Grant: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Center for Concrete Advanced Network - CAN

混凝土进步网络（CAN）是一个由学术和工业研究人员组成的联盟，致力于将尖端技术引入水泥和混凝土材料行业，改善建筑环境。水泥和混凝土是普遍存在的人造材料，在建筑中得到了广泛的应用。尽管普遍使用，但大多数现代水泥和混凝土的应用是基于相对过时的技术，需要大量的原材料投入。IUCRC将允许研究人员在纳米技术、自下而上的工程、可回收性、利用机器学习改进的结构设计以及与改善混凝土在全国建筑和基础设施中的使用有关的新兴技术方面进行合作。该奖项支持CAN IUCRC的规划阶段，使团队和参与的行业领导者能够探索未满足的需求，确定有前景的研究趋势，并正式制定拟议中心的5年研究计划。规划工作坊将允许会员和业界伙伴制定研究议程，为四个会员网站选择第一批研究项目，并促进合作活动。CAN将由威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校领导，亚利桑那州立大学、俄勒冈州立大学和德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校作为合作伙伴。CAN的成员将促进将新颖的概念和想法转化为具有影响力的可扩展和可实施的解决方案。行业合作伙伴将通过提供测试平台，向水泥和混凝土企业推广CAN的价值主张和研究成果，引导CAN的研究方向和优先事项的实现。CAN的使命是利用学术界和相关工业合作伙伴之间的使用启发研究和合作，通过材料和加工的创新，提高混凝土材料和结构的弹性和可持续性。CAN将计划开发新的技术和方法，引领新一代混凝土，比现有混凝土节能，快速部署，劳动效率高，经济，对自然资源的依赖更少。合作团队的研究能力将把混凝土材料和设计方面的科学进步与多尺度建模、机器学习、人工智能以及最终的数字化制造结合起来，在这个关键的大规模工业领域实现前沿概念。在规划研讨会和12个月的规划资助期内，CAN行业和学术领袖将讨论当前的限制、障碍和障碍，以确定行业/学术研究和传播、工程学生教育和就业准备的直接解决方案，并扩大STEM中代表性不足的学生的参与。CAN旨在为国家日益恶化的基础设施提供长期解决方案，并满足未来交通、基础设施、建筑和住房的需求。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。

The Concrete Advancement Network (CAN) is a consortium of academic and industrial researchers engaged in bringing cutting-edge technologies to the cement and concrete materials industries, improving the built environment. Cement and concrete represent ubiquitous human-made materials and continue to be widely utilized in construction. Despite a universal utilization, most modern cement and concrete applications are based on relatively dated technology, requiring massive inputs of raw materials. This IUCRC will allow researchers to collaborate on the latest advancements in nanotechnology, bottom-up engineering, recyclability, improved structural design with machine learning, and emergent technologies relating to the improvement of concrete in its use throughout the nation’s buildings and infrastructure. This award supports the planning phase of the CAN IUCRC to enable the team and participating leaders from industry to explore unmet needs, identify promising research trends, and formally establish the 5-year research plan for the proposed Center. The Planning Workshop will allow members and industry partners to establish the research agenda, select the first pool of research projects for the four member sites, and foster collaborative activities. CAN will be led by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with Arizona State University, Oregon State University, and the University of Texas at Arlington as partners. CAN’s members will facilitate the translation of novel concepts and ideas into scalable and implementable solutions with impact. Industry partners will steer CAN’s research direction and priorities to realization by providing testbeds and promoting CAN’s value proposition and research results to cement and concrete businesses.CAN’s mission is to enhance the resilience and sustainability of concrete materials and structures through innovations in materials and processing by leveraging use-inspired research and collaborations between academia and related industrial partners. CAN will plan to develop new techniques and methods that will usher the next generation of concrete that is energy-efficient, rapidly deployable, labor efficient, economical, and less dependent on natural resources than existing concrete. The collaborative teams research capabilities will couple scientific advances in concrete materials and design with multi-scale modeling, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and, ultimately digital manufacturing, towards cutting-edge concepts in this critical and massive-scale industrial sector. At the planning workshop and during the 12-month planning grant period, CAN industry and academic leaders will discuss current limitations, barriers, and obstacles to identify immediate solutions for industry/academic research and dissemination, engineering student education and job-preparedness, and broadening the participation of students underrepresented in STEM. CAN seeks to provide long-term solutions for the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure and meet the demand for future transportation, infrastructure, buildings, and housing.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.