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 Highlight
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.