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.”
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
