IGERT Intelligent Diagnostics

This National Science Foundation supported IGERT program has been devleoped to meet the challenges of educating U. S. Ph.D scientists and engineers who will pursue careers in research and education using their interdisciplinary backgrounds, acquired knowledge in specific disciplines, and technical, profressional, and personal skills to become leaders and creative agens for change. The program is intended to catalyze a culture change in graduate education for students, faculty, and institutions by estabilishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. The program intends to contribute to a world-class, broadly incluseive, and globally engaged science and engineering workforce.

Damage to steel buildings caused by the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake was discovered only after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Undetected leaks in the Puerto Rico underground water system steal almost 50% of the island's drinking water before it reaches the tap. Undetected precursors to deterioration and damage and subsequent postponed maintenance have resulted in maintenance deficiencies of US roadways and bridges. An estimated 42% increase in capital outlay is needed from current maintenance levels ($92 billion) for the much needed improvements (to $125.6 billion).

Northeastern University (NU) and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM) partner to to address this acute national need for experts in intelligent diagnostics. We seek to bridge the wide disciplinary gap between sophisticated sensing techniques on one hand, and engineering diagnostics on the other, by training professionals to have a thorough understanding of problem domain and solution methodologies, as well as economic, management and public aspects of intelligent diagnostics. Students will learn how to ask the right technological questions, find fitting answers, and work on state of the art research projects and address questions of policy with faculty mentors. A suite of experimental TestBEDs at NU and UPRM will be integrated into the educational curriculum and research. Access to several system level field sites is available through international and domestic partners.

Project Collaborator(s): Sara Wadia-Fascetti