Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering Distinguished Lecture
Monday, October 15, 2018
Frazier Alumni Pavilion, 4:00 p.m.
Amr Elnshai, Ph.D., DIC, FREng
Vice President and Vice Chancellor of Research and Technology Transfer
University of Houston
Topics: National Research Funding and Implications for Emerging Research Universities and
Hybrid (analytical-experimental) Evaluation Procedures and Applications in Civil Engineering
Abstract: The presentation covers two topics. The first is a rapid assessment of sources of research funding over the past 40-50 years, and how can emerging research universities respond to the national research expenditure policy and trends. Trends in civil versus military, fundamental versus applied, and corporate versus federal research funding are identified. Pondering the outcome of the latter review, thoughts are offered with regard to tactics and mechanisms that emerging research universities could deploy to claim a fair share of the national research budget. The second part is specific to civil engineering. The concept of sub-dividing complex systems into components, modeling parts that are amenable to simulation, while creating physical models for parts for which there are no or inadequate analysis models. The components are then linked at the boundaries in such a manner that all features of interaction between the analytical and experimental components are taking into account in studying the complex system. Application examples to structural and structural-geotechnical systems are presented. Potential applications to other fields of engineering are also offered.