IGERT: Solving Urbanization Challenges by Design – A New PhD Program Between Architecture & Engineering

Lead PI: Patricia Culligan , George Deodatis , Dr. Vijay Modi , , Richard Plunz, Robert Beauregard

Unit Affiliation: Urban Design Lab (UDL)

August 2009 - July 2016
Inactive
Global
Project Type: Research

DESCRIPTION: This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program seeks to address the growing challenges of urbanization through a PhD program that integrates architecture, engineering, and planning perspectives to focus on adaptive, ecological, and resilient urban planning and design. Each IGERT trainee will be empowered to conduct research at the emergent boundaries between architecture, urban planning, and engineering, and will be uniquely capable of contributing to the advancement of technological and scientific solutions that can address the grand challenges of urbanization.

OUTCOMES: Sixteen doctoral students held research focused on solving pressing issues of urban sustainability. Five new students will join the program in September 2012, for a total cohort to date of twenty-one students. The most important intellectual contribution of this IGERT will be the interdependent requirement of planning and design for adaptability, ecology, and resilience. The program further benefits from collaborations with universities in urban environments located within Europe, Africa, and Asia.