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1. Design and Assessment of Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) Curricula for Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34386  

   Lopez del Puerto, Carla; Cavallin, Humberto; Suarez, Oscar; Munoz Barreto, Jonathan; Perdomo, Jose; Vázquez, Drianfel; Andrade Rengifo, Fabio; Guillemard, Luisa; Troche, Ormari (June 2020, Proceedings Article published in 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings)

   The devastation caused by recent natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes, has increased awareness regarding the importance of providing interdisciplinary solutions to complex infrastructure challenges. In October 2018, the University of Puerto Rico received a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) collaborative award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop an integrated curriculum on resilient and sustainable infrastructure. The project titled “Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainability Education – Undergraduate Program (RISE-UP) aims to educate future environmental designers and engineers to design and build a more resilient and sustainable infrastructure for Puerto Rico. This paper presents the design, initial implementation, and assessment of a curriculum encompassing synergistic interactions among these four domains: integrated project delivery, user-centered design, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and sustainability and resiliency. The project seeks to foster interdisciplinary problem-solving skills involving architects, engineers and construction managers, in order to better prepare them to face and provide solutions to minimize the impact of extreme natural environment events on infrastructure. The new curriculum stresses on problem-settings, the role that participants have on defining the characteristics of the problems that have to be solved, learning in action, reflecting on the process, and communication between the different stakeholders. This multisite and interdisciplinary program provides students with the necessary support, knowledge, and skills necessary to design and build resilient and sustainable infrastructure. This instructional endeavor consists of four courses designed to reduce gradually the difference between what students are able to accomplish with support structures and what students are able to accomplish on their own. To maximize and enhance the educational experience, the program blends a technology-infused classroom learning with broad co-curricular opportunities such as site visits, undergraduate research, and internships. As students advance in the program, they will be exposed and required to perform increasingly complex tasks. During the first year of the program, the following outcomes were achieved: 1) implementation of the faculty teamwork process to develop courses and analyze cases from an interdisciplinary perspective, 2) development and approval of an interdisciplinary curriculum on resilient and sustainable infrastructure, 3) development of case studies on situations associated with disaster and interdisciplinary responses, 4) development of a case study database, 5) establishment of an Advisory Board with government agency representatives and faculty, and 6) recruitment and enrollment of 30 students as the first RISE-UP cohort. In summary, the body of knowledge acquired from this project can serve as a model that can be replicated to develop and enhance academic programs at other institutions. 

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2. Development of Educational Modules to Assess Flood Risk and Mitigation Strategies for Coastal Communities

   Pagan-Trinidad I.; López del Puerto C.; Cavallin H.; Montalvo, R. (June 2022, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference)

   Coastal Communities are exposed to multiple hazards including hurricanes, storm surges, waves, and riverine flash floods. This paper presents the outcome of a Basin-wide Flood Multi-hazard Risks module that was developed and offered as part of a collaboration between two research projects: the UPRM-DHS Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) funded by the Department of Homeland Security and the Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainability Education Undergraduate Program (RISE-UP) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The content was designed to give students an understanding of complex project management in coastal communities. The main learning objective was for students to be able to assess and recognize the actions that can be taken to improve resiliency in coastal communities. Students learned how to manage multi-hazard floods. Through knowledge gained by participating in lectures, discussions, and the development of case studies, students were able to assess flood risk and current mitigation strategies for coastal communities in Puerto Rico. The learning experience provided an overview of the history, needs, and challenges that coastal communities face regarding flood and coastal hazards. Through the case studies, students were able to appreciate and understand the risk exposure on the natural and built infrastructure, and the importance of always taking into consideration the social impact. 

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3. IReNE: AN ENVIRONMENTALLY IMPACTED INFRASTRUCTURE CASE STUDY REPOSITORY FOR EDUCATION ON RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES

   https://doi.org/10.14455/10.14455/ISEC.2022.9(1).EPE-02  

   Cavallin, H.; López del Puerto, C. (June 2022, EURO MED SEC 4 State-of-the-art Materials and Techniques in Structural Engineering and Construction)

   Maintaining information that documents damages that natural disasters cause to infrastructure and documenting the efforts to rebuild it, is essential for future infrastructure mitigation and reconstruction actions. To address this, we have developed the Interdisciplinary Research Network Extension (IReNE) aimed to keep record and centralize data relevant to cases in Puerto Rico. IReNE has been conceptualized following the case study methodology and it has been designed to fit and scaffold the Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainability Education – Undergraduate Program (RISE- UP), following the four stages defined by the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) model and a Project Based Learning approach. This paper presents the development of IReNE and presents case study examples of its current use for supporting the RISE-UP teaching model. IReNE was designed as an open-source platform that will be timely available to researchers, academics, and practitioners. We also expect their conceptual and applied developments to be replicated in other academic contexts, and therefore contributing on documenting, systematizing, and disseminating the impact of natural events on infrastructure. 

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4. What Can We Do? An Exploratory Study on Undergraduate Student Climate Change Perceptions.

   Skeeter, W.J.; Reed, J.R.; Cissell, J.; Islam, R.; Keellings, D. (November 2019, Geographical Bulletin)

   A survey was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory atmospheric processes course towards various climate change related topics, such as the validity of, and the scientific consensus surrounding climate change. Further questions sought information regarding student knowledge of climate change, such as when they were first exposed to the science, and their methods of seek- ing out information regarding climate change. This study additionally seeks to identify sectors of the human and natural world that students feel climate change negatively affects. Results indicate that students desire information about mitigation strategies, regardless of whether they believe humans are the leading cause of climate change. Additionally, students must be made more aware of the non-natural impacts of climate change (infrastructure, economy, etc.). These findings can help instructors enrich course content to include topics relevant to student concerns regarding climate change, particularly its adverse impacts, and mitigation strategies. 

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5. Enhancing Student Preparedness Through Experiential Learning: Lessons Learned from Assessing Building Structural Damages after the January-May 2020 Earthquakes in Puerto Rico

   García Canto, L. (July 2020, 18th LACCEI International Multi-Conference for Engineering, Education, and Technology)

   Puerto Rico is exposed to multiple hazards including hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. The Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainability Education Undergraduate Program (RISE-UP) at the University of Puerto Rico aims to introduce students to interdisciplinary problem-solving related to real challenges, especially those associated with the occurrence of natural disasters. The objective of this work is to share our experience with experiential learning related to structural engineering. The lessons learned from this experience, from the student ́s perspective, could encourage faculty members to develop similar undertakings in their programs and students to participate when opportunities arise. During the 2019 fall semester, we enrolled in a course which covered the relationship between design and natural disasters, with an emphasis on rapid response to recover during the aftermath. The course combined lectures and in-class exercises on basic structural analysis, classifications of structures and the use of the FEMA Rapid Visual Screening (P-154) form. This was complemented with field visits of structures affected by Hurricane Maria where we developed several case studies. From December of 2019 to February 2020, Puerto Rico suffered an earthquake swarm reaching magnitudes as high as 6.4, which caused structural damages throughout the South West of the island. Following these events, we were able to use the training acquired during our course in a real-life, post-disaster situation. At the University, we participated in visual inspection brigades, where we aided professional engineers and faculty members in data collection and categorizing building damages. Our involvement helped streamline efforts as we provided additional support in report writing and organization of the data collected using GIS and other tools. The results of the visual inspections indicated that in many cases pre- existing conditions were aggravated by the earthquakes. Furthermore, we also witnessed firsthand the complexities of assessing infrastructure damage during and following high seismic activity. This experience enhanced our awareness of the significance of our profession in ensuring the safety of others both immediately after an earthquake and in the face of future disasters. 

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