The National Science Foundation’s Engineering for Civil (ECI) Infrastructure program is accepting grant proposal applications for scientific research that advances the development and modernization of civil infrastructure.
Fundable research should focus on reshaping traditional civil infrastructure to better meet society’s changing needs and safeguard the natural environment through emerging technologies. Past research projects funded through ECI grants include testing biochar for use in zero-emission landfills, determining the usefulness of full-culm bamboo (hollow tube) as an engineering material and exploring the kinetics behind Pyrrhotite-induced damage in concrete to advance its durability.
ECI grant funds should be used to fund research that is related to the physical infrastructure, such as the soil-foundation-structure-envelope-nonstructural building system, geostructures and underground facilities. This approach should be taken at every aspect, from the idea of holistic building systems that integrate construction, geotechnical, structural and architectural design, to nonconventional materials and a transformational construction process.
Projects are encouraged to explore how civil infrastructure interacts with the natural environment in three scenarios:
- Under “normal operating” conditions
- Through intermediate conditions, such as deterioration and climate change
- In extreme natural hazard events, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, sinkholes and other disasters
ECI grants are just one of two civil engineering funding opportunities from the NSF, the other being the government’s Civil Infrastructure Systems grants, which encourages research and development of critical civil systems.