Sustainable Infrastructure
In less than a century, the U.S. has experienced a major societal transition from designing and building urban environments and the associated pathways between destinations to maintaining the operational infrastructure of communities.
From massive repairs of aging systems for water, sanitation and more, to developing new improvements to preserve natural resources, it’s imperative that we harness technology and public policy across engineering and urban planning disciplines to create sustainable solutions.
To address these concerns, iSEE is encouraging and coordinating work in key areas of sustainable infrastructure:
- Transportation
- Built environment
- Risk, resilience and adaptation
- Pollution and waste
- Cities and urban environments
Funded Projects
Critical Infrastructure and Transportation
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Awarded $350,000 in July 2015.
Led by Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Ximing Cai, this project will create a framework for new strategies to expand and operate interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) — using multiple renewable energy sources to fuel better regional and national transportation systems.
Oil Pollution Treatment: Nano-CarboScavengers
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Awarded $170,000 in July 2015.
Led by Bioengineering Associate Professor Dipanjan Pan, the team will continue developing and optimizing a Nano-CarboScavenger (NCS), a particle designed to attract oil for easy removal from water.
Stormwater and Mosquito Control
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Awarded $350,000 in July 2015.
Led by Entomology Associate Professor Brian Allan, the team’s goal is to offer solutions, technology, and modeling for stormwater management in hopes of controlling mosquito populations and resulting diseases.
Smart Water Disinfection: Targeting Viruses
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Awarded $400,000 in June 2014.
Led by Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Benito Mariñas, the project will work to overcome safe water challenges in emerging populations as well as those looming in the developed world. The iSEE funding will help secure a large research center focused on smart systems for safe global water.
iSEE-supported Project
Mapping Extreme Events & Resilient Communities
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Awarded $200,000 by the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in May 2015, and renewed in May 2016.
Led by Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Yanfeng Ouyang, CEE Associate Professor Paolo Gardoni, and Law and Philosophy Associate Professor Colleen Murphy, this team of experts coalesced by iSEE modeled the impacts of natural events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes — as well as human actions such as terrorist attacks or interventions — on communities and ecosystems.
More on Infrastructure
The University of Illinois researches infrastructure solutions from several different angles on the Urbana-Champaign campus.
Check out these links:
Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute, Illinois Applied Research Institute