To help train diagnostic engineers with the multidisciplinary skills needed to address technical, societal, and political challenges associated with aging and damaged infrastructure, Northeastern University has been awarded a $3 million Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grant from the National Science Foundation. Over a period of five years, the University?s second IGERT grant will fund development of the first interdisciplinary PhD program in intelligent diagnostics for aging civil infrastructure systems, in partnership with the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.

Starting in September 2008, the program will welcome seven new IGERT Fellows annually for two-year fellowships followed by funded research in the area of structural health monitoring and sensing of infrastructure systems. "Our vision is a sustainable, multidisciplinary degree program that takes advantage of the synergy between computing, sensing technology, domain specific knowledge, economics and public policy," says professor of civil engineering Sara Wadia-Fascetti. Wadia-Fascetti, associate vice provost for faculty advancement, is principal investigator on the grant.