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Home / Research

Research

Solutions for the Common Good

Improving Infrastructure Resiliency 

Renowned Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics faculty and their students collaborate with researchers across campus and the world to solve problems critical to humankind – structural integrity in the face of earthquakes and other natural disasters, traffic safety and efficiency, and the transportation of water and sediment, for example.  

Further, the University of Arizona’s commercial arm, Tech Launch Arizona, helps CAEM researchers commercialize their inventions – in areas ranging from construction to mining to transportation and beyond – for public works and industry. Think green energy technology that could help save the coral reefs and traffic routing software that could help save you time on your commute. 

Focus Areas

CAEM conducts research in the following primary areas:

  • Construction engineering management
  • Engineering mechanics
  • Geomechanics and geotechnical
  • Hydraulics and hydrology
  • Structures
  • Transportation engineering

Project Highlights

Studying Traffic for a More Efficient World

CAEM associate professor Yao-Jan Wu is director of the new Center for Applied Transportation Sciences, a collaboration between UA and the Arizona Department of Transportation working to developer smarter cities.

Our goal is to combine emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence with existing multimodal infrastructure to make traffic move more efficiently – thereby reducing emissions and preventing people from sitting in congested traffic.

Entrepreneur Applies Idea to Save Ecosystem

Quakewrap, founded by professor emeritus Mo Ehsani, creates fiber-reinforced polymer products for reinforcing structures, like the UN offices in Beirut. The company’s InfinitPipe technology could, for example, pump cold water to save dying coral reefs.

It’s really the infinite pipe that makes this proposal economical.

Proud Moment for UA-Born Traffic Application

Associate professor Yi-Chang Chiu gave his team a big thumbs up when Metropia, an advanced prediction and routing app, hit the streets of Tucson, easing not only typical city congestion but also traffic on campus during sports events.

Launching the app to the Tucson community, which has watched our app grow firsthand from that very first Startup Tucson weekend, is a particularly proud moment for myself and my team.

Earthquake Work Results in Building Code Changes

Robert Fleischman was principal investigator on a 10-year research project examining how to build precast concrete structures to withstand earthquakes. The project won the 2016 Charles H. Pankow Award for Innovation from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

We attacked a complicated problem and conducted computer simulation and experimentation to develop a design procedure – then proved it worked in large-scale structural testing and changed the building codes.

Research Centers and Facilities

Much of CAEM’s transportation engineering research takes place at the UA’s interdisciplinary Transportation Research Institute, which addresses the mobility, safety and environmental challenges of a rapidly evolving transportation landscape.

Further, a number of multidisciplinary labs facilitate discovery, including the Civil Engineering Prototype Lab, a precision design and manufacturing facility specializing in test fixtures and tooling.

See UA College of Engineering-affiliated Research Centers and Institutes.

Featured Video

Fast Forwarding to Driverless Cars & Smart Traffic

Yao-Jan Wu and Jonathan Sprinkle

  • Employee Resources
The University of Arizona
Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering & Mechanics
1209 E. Second St.
P.O. Box 210072
Tucson, AZ 85721
520.621.2266

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