TIER 1 UNIVERSITY TRANSPORTATION CENTER (UTC) Sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology in the U.S. Department of Transportation
INSPECTING AND PRESERVING INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH ROBOTIC EXPLORATION VOL. 7 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2023 INSPIRE-UTC Biannual Publication
In this issue: Director's Message News Field Application Research Technology Transfer Outreach Upcoming Events Awarded in December of 2016 by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the five-year INSPIRE UTC is a Tier 1 University Transportation Center with a research priority of preserving the existing transportation system as part of the UTC Program (https://www. transportation.gov/utc/2016-utc-grantees) that was authorized under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.
CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
Director’s Message Greetings colleagues and friends! Since our last newsletter, the INSPIRE University Transportation Center (UTC) has hosted various virtual and in-person events for additional interest and outreach. This edition will celebrate the achievements of INSPIRE UTC's administrative center, the Center for Intelligent Infrastructure (CII) that is supported by Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). CII faculty members have been supporting administrative, outreach, and technical programs executed at the INSPIRE UTC. Their achievements have demonstrated the interdisciplinary nature and strength of the CII (and INSPIRE UTC) at Missouri S&T. This issue will highlight both incoming and graduating undergraduate research students. The center has recruited six undergraduates in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science as well as celebrated the graduation of four undergraduates in mechanical engineering. Each student participated in research related to unmanned systems, augmented reality concepts, and administrative duties at the INSPIRE UTC. One center graduate, Derek Edwards, was ‘inspired’ to host Missouri S&T’s 1st on-campus multirotor race with a professional drone racing league pilot, “AMARI.” Other highlights include an update of the Pooled-Fund Study on the Traffic Disruption-Free Bridge Inspection Initiative with Robotic Systems in collaboration with seven state Department of Transportation members. The pooledfund study represents one of the technology transfer activities initiated by the INSPIRE UTC. This edition also features a video script on the “Frontier in Infrastructure Research and Education (F.I.R.E.)” series, which summarizes INSPIRE UTC's key contributions to Autonomous Infrastructure Robots (AIR) that are interactive to bridges or other infrastructure. Featured outreach will include Kaleidoscope Discovery Center’s FIRST Lego League and Missouri Future City Competition attended by the Missouri State Governor, as well as workshops and camps with local middle-school students in STEM Education and Diversity hosted by the Kummer Center or STEM Education. Also featured is Missouri S&T’s participation in a pilot Manufacturing Academy which seeks to build a curriculum by broadening incoming student perspective on manufacturing engineering. The Center continues to host webinars on a quarterly basis which serve to highlight collaborative opportunities and research being conducted at the INSPIRE UTC. The upcoming webinar being presented by Dr. Iris Tien from the Georgia Institute of Technology, “Accurate and Efficient Updating of Bridge Risk Assessments Based on Inspection Data,” will present analytical fragility functions integrating the impacts of corrosion and scour inspection data. We hope you enjoy the featured articles and news at the INSPIRE UTC and invite you to visit our website at https://inspire-utc.mst.edu for additional information about upcoming events and webinars. Genda Chen, Ph.D., P.E., F. ASCE, F. SEI, F. ISHMII, F.SPIE
Director, INSPIRE University Transportation Center Director, the Center for Intelligent Infrastructure