BACKGROUND
America’s highway infrastructure is crumbling. The American Society of Structural Engineers gave highways a grade of D- in its 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, yet our nation’s economy and quality of life require a highway and roadway system that is safe, reliable, efficient and comfortable. The nation’s current spending level of $70.3 billion for highway capital improvements[1] however, is well below the estimated $186 billion needed annually to substantially improve the nation's highways.[2]
Auburn University and its partners will create a University Transportation Center to produce targeted, useful research to help solve real problems. New, innovative approaches must address problems posed by deteriorating highway infrastructure. Band-Aid approaches will no longer work; in the future UTCs must be innovative, effective, efficient and accountable.
The tightly focused theme of this Tier 1 University Transportation Center is “Rapid Technology Deployment for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure.” The consortium’s focuses are research, education and technology transfer in connection with Pavement, Bridges and Erosion Control. As the cost of building roads and bridges increases, revenues into the federal Highway Trust Fund stagnate. State Departments of Transportation can save billions in taxpayer dollars by building faster, maintaining better and figuring out how to make infrastructure last longer.
Facilities are already in place. Auburn researchers are able to compress 10 to 20 years of normal road use into just two years by utilizing the one-of-a-kind National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) test track. The NCAT site is so unique that other universities send researchers to use the facility, and representatives from China, Australia, Europe and Malaysia have visited Auburn in hopes of emulating the outdoor laboratory.
Finding better, cheaper, faster ways to build roadways saves taxpayers money, but bridges and erosion control are also important. Most of the nearly 600,000 bridges in the U.S. have been designed for a 50-year lifespan, and the average age is now 43 years. Replacing them all is an impossible dream; methods of rehabilitation and repair are being pushed to the forefront of bridge research. Virginia Tech presently has three bridges in the eastern U.S. instrumented for remote monitoring with web-based access, and the 300-acre NCAT test track site includes a deep foundation testing facility for evaluating different foundations for bridges and buildings as well as a section for erosion control testing built for Auburn’s Highway Research Center.
Consortium members need to be familiar enough with the industry to know what research is really needed, and need to be able to provide better methods and better science for the transportation industry to make decisions. All consortium universities enjoy extremely close relationships with the Federal Highway Administration, numerous state Departments of Transportation and industry, and channels are in place to transfer results of research to those who will benefit. As one of 10 original Local Technical Assistance Programs in the nation, Auburn has more than 20 years experience in training the transportation workforce. Today, two consortium partners—Texas A&M and University of Nevada-Reno—are also home to their state’s LTAP centers. In addition, three consortium members—Auburn, TAMU and UNR—are home to three of the nation’s five Superpave Centers.
Finally, consortium members are quite comfortable with the role and purpose of University Transportation Centers. Auburn has been a member of the Council of University Transportation Centers for several years, and Texas A&M is already home to a UTC.
A. APPLICANT INFORMATION
If there is room we can include small pix of each university
Auburn University, located in Auburn, Al., is the lead institution in the consortium. Auburn is joined by Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.; and the University of Nevada at Reno, Reno, Nev. Auburn’s partners bring significant but complementary strengths to the consortium.
Auburn, through NCAT, has a notable program in asphalt technology with strengths in laboratory testing, accelerated loading on the test track and materials and construction. The University of Nevada, Reno, has extensive experience with asphalt pavement preservation, and Texas A&M has a strong concrete pavements program in addition to its asphalt program. Texas A&M has been a leader in implementing X-ray computed tomography, ground penetrating radar and surface energy measurements to improvement pavements. Texas A&M and Auburn both have very strong programs in use of recycled materials and warm mix asphalt.
Auburn University and the other institutions involved already have extremely active education, workforce development and technology transfer programs in place. As land-grant institutions, all share a focus on teaching practical science and engineering and disseminating practical information learned from research. Auburn and Texas A&M are also sea-grant and space-grant institutions, reflecting their broad range of research. Ongoing research at consortium universities is funded by agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
None of the consortium members is a specifically minority-serving institution, but all have active diversity programs and this UTC is designed to incorporate faculty and students from minority-serving institutions.
i. Auburn University
Auburn University, located in Auburn, Al., is a co-educational, public research institution with more than 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It is one of the largest public universities in the state.
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering: Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, established in 1872, is a leader in the Southeast in engineering education, workforce development and research. The new Shelby Center for Engineering Technology is designed to move Auburn to the forefront in transportation research in the 21st century. The Department of Civil Engineering is the largest Civil Engineering program in Alabama, graduating almost half of the state’s civil engineers each year. In fiscal year 2010, research awards in Civil Engineering totaled $7.5 million.
National Center for Asphalt Technology: The 1.8-mile NCAT track is divided into more than 40 sections. Limestone, granite and other materials are trucked in from other states to build sections; issues vary from region to region because soil conditions vary and states use materials available at home to save money.
ii. Texas A&M University
Texas A&M, located in College Station, Tx., is a co-educational, public research institution with more than 50,000 students. The flagship institution of the Texas A&M System, it is the sixth largest university in the country.
Texas Transportation Institute: The world’s largest university-based transportation research and education instsitute, TTI is dedicated to applying research findings as rapidly as possible. Much of TTI’s woprk stresses implementation of findings. TTI also plays a key role in training and educating students; since 1950, more than 4,000 transportation professionals have been trained at TTI. More than 50 TTI researchers hold joint academic positions at Texas A&M. The institute maintains close ties with Texas A&M’s College of Engineering.
Dwight Look College of Engineering: Texas A&M’s civil engineering department is ranked eighth (undergraduate) and eighth (graduate) among all civil engineering programs at public institutions. The College of Engineering currently enrolls more than 7,600 undergraduates (including more than 1,400 women) and more than 2,700 graduate students. With more than 70 faculty members, 1,100 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students, the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M is the largest CE program in the country.
iii. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, known as Virginia Tech, is a co-educational, public research institution located in Blacksburg, Va. With more than 28,000 students, Virginia Tech is the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and leading research institution.
Cooperative Center for Bridge Engineering (VaTech): The Virginia Cooperative Center for Bridge Engineering seeks to advance the state of bridge engineering in the U.S. Jointly administered by Virginia Tech and the Virginia Transportation Council, the center seeks to transfer new bridge engineering technologies to transportation officials and work cooperatively with VTRC and VDOT to address bridge engineering issues of immediate importance to the Commonwealth. Research focuses on reducing bridge structure costs, rapidly installing and rehabilitating structures, maintaining existing bridges and enhancing durability and life of new and existing structures.
Virginia Tech College of Engineering: Virginia Tech’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, ranked in the top 10 accredited civil and environmental engineering departments by U.S. News and World Report, is one of the largest programs in the United States. The department has 46 full-time faculty, 657 undergraduates and 400 graduate students.
iv University of Nevada, Reno
University of Nevada, Reno, a co-educational, public university, is Nevada’s flagship institution and educates more than 17,000 students.
College of Engineering: The College of Engineering’s purpose is to expand the boundaries of knowledge, advance and create new information and technology, develop students’ skills, abilities and understanding, transfer technology to industry, positively impact the regional economy and advance engineering as a discipline and a professions. Research and outreach grants and contracts were expected to exceed $25 million in fiscal year 2011. In the 2010 academic year, the college graduated 181 BS degree students, 61 MS degree students and 12 Ph.D. students.
A. ELIGIBILITY
As the lead institution, Auburn University far exceeds all eligibility criteria to become a Tier 1 University Transportation Center. Transportation research and education are a key focus area at Auburn. Auburn has consistently committed significant sums to support ongoing transportation research and education programs. Table 1 illustrates that Auburn has committed well in excess of $400,000 in regularly budgeted institutional amounts to support ongoing research and education programs in each of the preceding five years.
Table 1. Auburn University base budget allocations.
FY2006 / FY2007 / FY2008 / FY2009 / FY2010Civil Eng. / $2,329,350 / $2,477,812 / $2,539,168 / $1,974,569 / $1,923,571
HRC / $ 369,515 / $ 383,088 / $ 403,151 / $ 406,455 / $ 399,806
75% CE+HRC / $2,116,528 / $2,241,447 / $2,307,527 / $1,887,381 / $1,842,484
The table shows the hard funds allocated by Auburn to the Department of Civil Engineering and the Highway Research Center each year. All HRC funds directly support the transportation research and education program. In addition, 17 of the 22 civil engineering faculty members (approximately 75 percent) are directly involved in education, research and outreach programs related to transportation and transportation infrastructure. The other five faculty members are in the area of environmental engineering and occasionally are involved in work directly related to transportation. The total of 75 percent of the Civil Engineering Department budget plus the HRC budget far exceeds $400,000 each year.
NCAT transportation research expenditures for the five fiscal years from 2006 to 2010 totaled more than $27 million, averaging more than $5 million each year (see Table 1). Likewise, Highway Research Center transportation-related expenditures totaled more than $5 million, averaging more than $1 million annually, and the Civil Engineering Department’s transportation-related expenditures totaled nearly $3 million, with an average of nearly $590,000 annually.
Table 2. Research and Total Funds related to Transportation spent by CE, HRC and NCAT
AU DEPARTMENT / FY2006 / FY2007 / FY2008 / FY2009 / FY2010NCAT (funds spent) / 4,013,600 / 7,853,600 / 5,629,200 / 7,985,300 / 6,098,000
NCAT (Transportation-related funds spent) / 2,996,200 / 6,256,600 / 4,888,000 / 7,359,500 / 5,555,200
HRC (funds spent) / 1,025,271 / 1,147,378 / 1,076,163 / 1,080,519 / 1,436,148
HRC (Transportation-related funds spent) / 922,740 / 1,032,640 / 968,547 / 972,467 / 1,292,533
CE (budgeted funds spent) / 889,950 / 1,270,025 / 1,155,865 / 1,286,204 / 1,277,545
CE (Transportation-related funds spent) / 444,975 / 635,012 / 577,932 / 643,102 / 638,772
Total funds spent / 5,928,821 / 10,271,003 / 7,861,228 / 10,352,023 / 8,811,693
Transportation-related funds spent / 4,363,915 / 7,924,252 / 6,434,479 / 8,975,069 / 7,486,505
Auburn far exceeds the requirement of at least five graduate degrees each year for five years in transportation-related fields. Currently, 587 students are studying to achieve bachelor’s degrees in engineering. In addition, there are currently 75 master’s level students and 34 doctoral students. Since, 2006, a total of 136 graduate degrees have been awarded in Civil Engineering, with almost all being transportation-related. That total includes:
· 32 master’s degrees and five doctorates awarded in 2006,
· 29 master’s and five doctorates awarded in 2007,
· 19 master’s and four doctorates awarded in 2008,
· 18 master’s and two doctorates awarded in 2009
· 19 master’s and three doctorates awarded in 2010.
In addition to undergraduates, Texas A&M is currently educating some 50 graduate students in materials and pavements. The University of Nevada-Reno graduate degree in pavements and materials engineering is currently educating 28 master’s level students and six doctoral students. Appendix ? lists the names, degree awarded and graduation year of five students for each of five years who received graduate degrees from the Auburn University Department of Civil Engineering.
Auburn’s College of Engineering has 142 tenure-track faculty, with 22 tenured or tenure-track faculty and four research faculty in the Department of Civil Engineering. As a group, they have published – articles on transportation-related topics in refereed journals during the previous five years. These include ----. (See Appendix A)
C. Potential sources of matching funds
The primary source of matching funds for this UTC will be the National Center for Asphalt Technology test track. Most all of the work there is performed with funding using State Planning and Research (SPR) funds from 12 states in addition to Alabama, as well as industry funds. Funds provided by the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) Research and Education Foundation also can be used as matching funds. In addition, NCAT provides training, and most of these funds can be used for matching funds as well. Faculty members’ state-supported salaries are also available for the match. (We need to finalize the match funds amounts etc.)
Auburn University will provide matching funds for all amounts allocated to the Diversity and Operations categories. Partner universities will be responsible for providing matching funds equal to all research funds received. Among consortium partners, Virginia Tech funds will come from the Virginia Transportation Research & Innovation Center, which is funded by the Virginia Department of Transportation.