The Illinois NEES Testing Facility in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory hosted 28 undergraduate engineering researchers in August for the NEES Young Researcher Symposium. During the two-day event, students who had spent the summer participating in research at NEES equipment sites presented their work.
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The Illinois NEES Testing Facility in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory hosted 28 undergraduate engineering researchers in August for the NEES Young Researcher Symposium. During the two-day event, students who had spent the summer participating in research at NEES equipment sites presented their work.
Students pose on the Ledge at Willis Tower in Chicago.
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, NEES is the George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, a shared network of 14 unique experimental equipment facilities located at universities across the nation, collaborative tools, a centralized data repository, and earthquake simulation software. The Illinois NEES site houses the Multi-Axial Full-Scale Sub-Structure Testing and Simulation (MUST-SIM) facility, which provides a total testing-analysis-visualization-display environment that combines the ability to test full-scale subassemblies under complex loading and boundary conditions.
The summer NEES Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program offers students a chance to participate in earthquake engineering research at one of seven equipment sites. The Illinois NEES facility hosted three of the students. Those selected for the 10-week program come from civil engineering, computer science, electrical engineering and architecture programs at a variety of universities. Many of them came from schools that do not have NEES equipment sites.
“The goal is not just to take them from NEES sites but to engage the whole country, specifically targeting some universities that are not PhD-granting,” says Greg Pluta, Illinois NEES Operations Manager.
At the symposium, the culminating event of the REU program, organized and hosted by NEES faculty and staff, students presented their summer research in a joint poster session. A keynote presentation by Bill Spencer, professor of civil and environmental enginering at Illinois. focused on smart structures monitoring.
Additional activities included an orientation to the geologic and architectural history of
Students present their research at a poster session.
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![Students present their research[cr][lf]at a poster session.](/_sitemanager/viewphoto.aspx?id=37594&s=0)