REU Site: Green Infrastructure for Sustainable Urban Environments (GI4SUrE)

In this Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site Program, Green Infrastructure for Sustainable Urban Environments (GI4SUrE), a diverse cohort will participate in research supporting the advancement of Green Infrastructure to improve public and ecological health in urban environments. Green Infrastructure can be described as the interconnected natural spaces in urban environments such as parks, riparian areas, and nature-based storm water control measures that serve to clean storm water runoff, reduce urbanization impacts to local surface waters, and offer protection from flooding.

Research will include state of the art field, laboratory, and modeling studies to better understand and optimize these systems. Students that participate in this REU will have the chance to improve their research and critical thinking skills while bolstering their ability to communicate with technical and non-technical audiences through oral and written mediums.

Additional experiences include access to new mentors, exposure to the various career pathways made possible by a graduate degree in engineering, and training on how to collaborate with, learn from, communicate with, and consider the perspectives of colleagues outside their discipline. This program will serve to improve the diversity of the engineering profession and student participation in graduate school by extending opportunities to traditionally underrepresented groups in science and engineering.

Through a 10-week, summer undergraduate research experience, the GI4SUrE REU Site aims to: (1) propel scientific knowledge regarding Green Infrastructure (GI) contributions to sustainable urban water, and (2) provide a high quality professional and social atmosphere where attendees are educated on fundamental research methodologies and critical thinking. Under the guidance of faculty mentors, students will perform field, laboratory, and/or modeling studies to explore how GI functions to mitigate the effects of urban runoff on surface water quality and hydrology.

Green Infrastructure has been deemed as a way to build better infrastructure as part of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenge to restore and improve urban infrastructure, making it a vital topic for investigation. REU students will be exposed to state of the art techniques and convergent research by the inclusion of non-engineering co-mentors in a subset of the projects to address complex questions that consider social, hydrologic, ecologic, and/or economic outcomes.

Through a targeted recruiting strategy, this REU site will bolster the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in undergraduate engineering research. Students will gain skills in research methodology, communication, convergent approaches, and working in team environments which will be invaluable in their professional endeavors. Further, exposure to the various career pathways that are open to individuals with advanced degrees will aid them in determining their desired career path, whether it be academia, industry, government, or non-government organizations.

REU contributions to GI knowledge will be invaluable. As billions of dollars are being spent nationwide to reduce the effects of urbanization through the use of GI, there is a critical need to better understand and optimize its performance to make these efforts more scientifically informed. Overall, the REU intends to establish direct, lasting mentoring relationships between participants and faculty, and long-term relationships among those in the cohort.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.