An interdisciplinary team of OU researchers recently won a Major Research Instrumentation award from the National Science Foundation and received a $589,262 grant. This project is jointly funded by the NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation Program, Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and Engineering for Civil Infrastructure Program in the division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation.
The CMMI division supports the integration of research and education and funds potentially transformative research projects. The CMMI works to advance the future of manufacturing, the design of innovative materials and building technologies, infrastructure resilience and sustainability and systems for decision-making robotics and controls.
The research team includes Professors of Architecture Andrés Cavieres as co-principal investigator and Dan Butko as senior personnel. Joining Cavieres and Butko is Principal Investigator P. Scott Harvey, Co-Principal Investigators Yingtao Liu, Shreya Vemuganti and Jeffrey Volz, and Senior Personnel Amy Cerato, Royce Floyd and Jonathan Hils.
This grant will enable the team to acquire a real-time hybrid simulation testing system for cyber-physical research that replicates realistic loading conditions. This new technology will support the development of resilient infrastructure by improving researchers’ understanding of the complex behavior of building materials and structural components when affected by natural hazards.
According to Harvey, “The new instrument will transform the way the multidisciplinary MRI team conducts research, and the structural materials and components validated using the instrument will help to mitigate economic, property and human losses caused by natural hazards, improving the well-being of individuals in society.”
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
