A group of undergraduates from universities around the country spent 10 weeks at UD this summer, immersed in an unusual and challenging research experience in bridge engineering, as part of a federally funded program.

The four women and six men, all rising juniors and seniors, came to Delaware from a variety of schools, including the universities of Colorado, Massachusetts and Washington, as well as Rice, Johns Hopkins, Penn State and South Dakota State universities.

The National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program enables students to experience firsthand how basic research in science, math and engineering is carried out through REU "sites" at universities throughout the nation.

The site at UD was established in 2002 under the aegis of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering. Prof. Michael J. Chajes, department chairperson, serves as the academic director of the program. The new REU in bridge engineering joins an existing REU in chemical engineering at UD. The University's Undergraduate Research Program, led by Prof. Joan S. Bennett, provides a strong infrastructure for the two REU sites.

The primary mission of the competitive program is to provide a stimulating research experience that will encourage students from a wide range of backgrounds to pursue additional research in the future.

"We applied for the grant based on the large need for bridge engineering research and trained professionals in bridge engineering that has been created by the deteriorating condition of our nation's bridges," Chajes explains. "We hope that our program will help to encourage these students to continue their education and contribute to the field through advanced research."

"The area of bridge engineering is more diverse than most people realize," Dennis Mertz, director of the center, says. "It includes not only all fields of engineering but also economics, history and social science. We're providing the REU participants with the experience of a multidisciplinary research environment, where they work on a specific problem with a team of faculty, postdocs and graduate students."

Student research projects addressed such topics as novel bridge monitoring techniques, bridge management systems and the application of high-performance materials to bridges. One student worked on developing a computer application to automate the task of oversize vehicle permit review, while another investigated the use of soy-based materials to make stay-in-place forms for bridges. The program participants also included an English major (see article on next page), who learned about various aspects of technical information dissemination, including interviewing, writing, presentations and Web development.

Although 10 weeks is a very short period of time in the life of a research project, the students made significant progress, REU advisers say.

"I was very pleased with the contributions my two students made in their research areas," Tripp Shenton, one of the faculty advisers, says. At least a few of the participants are expected to be co-authors on papers related to their projects.

In addition to the research projects, the program offered seminars and cultural and educational field trips.

"For our regular Friday lunchtime seminars, we tried to address topics that would help the students in their career development," Chajes says. One week was spent on the fundamentals of technical research presentations and another on issues to consider in attending graduate school.

Field trips were a highlight of the program, participants say. The students attended the International Bridge Conference in Pittsburgh, viewed repairs of fatigue cracks on a local bridge and visited concrete and steel manufacturing sites, bridge design firms and the Delaware Department of Transportation. The summer culminated with a trip to New York City to tour bridges over the East River, visit Parsons Brinckerhoff--one of the largest bridge design firms in the world--and take the Circle Line Cruise, which circumnavigates Manhattan Island and passes seven major bridges over five rivers.

"The lab experience was good in familiarizing us with research, but the field trips were the best part of the program," Ryan Giles, an REU participant from Rice University in Texas, says. "The trips showed us what it's really like to work in the engineering field."

Newark's location also drew high marks from the students. "UD is the perfect distance from everything," Matt Swinehart, who also attends Rice but lives in Oregon, says. "You can get anywhere--New York, Washington, D.C., the beaches--in two hours or less."

The students all acknowledge that they could have made more money if they had worked in industry for the summer, but they say they have no regrets about the choice they made.

"We're going to be working in offices for the rest of our lives," Penn State's Laura Rosas says. "This was a much different experience."

--Diane Kukich, AS '73, '84M