Engaged Curriculum Grants
Engineering Puerto Rico’s Infrastructure
Using community-engaged engineering to design for resilience during Puerto Rico’s reconstruction
Core issues with our nation’s energy, water supply and wastewater infrastructure were brought to attention in dramatic fashion following recent natural disasters in Houston, the southeastern U.S. and Puerto Rico. This project establishes a community-engaged, multi-year, interdisciplinary Master of Engineering course to tackle the most pressing technological and societal challenges for the reconstruction of energy and environmental systems in Puerto Rico. With our partners at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, students will analyze the planning decisions that led to vulnerable infrastructure and help prioritize post–Hurricane Maria infrastructure needs. In subsequent projects, students will devise solutions that are resilient, robust and informed by stakeholder perceptions of needs, piloting prototype infrastructure in several communities on the island.
Grant type: Planning (2018-19), Development (2019-20)
Topics: Access, Equity and Justice; Arts, Communication, Media and Design; Energy, Environment and Sustainability
The Team
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Andrea Ippolito, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
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Patrick Reed, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
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Ruth Richardson, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
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Lindsay Anderson, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
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Francis Vanek, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
- Community partner: University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
Engaged Curriculum Grants
Funding teams that are integrating community-engaged learning into new and existing curricula.