A three-year, $250,000 National Science Foundation grant will match six undergraduate students with a Spanish technical institute so they can learn how to prepare civil infrastructure for natural, manmade and accidental disasters and how to recover quickly from such events.

Nur Yazdani, professor of civil engineering, was recently awarded an NSF grant that allows students to work on research with a Spanish technical institute.

The grant will allow UT Arlington to collaborate with AIDICO, Technological Institute of Construction, Valencia, Spain, on projects aligned with the multi-disciplinary Disaster Mitigation Group at UTA, which Civil Engineering Professor Nur Yazdani leads.

AIDICO researches all kinds of natural, manmade and accidental disasters, and their impacts on civil infrastructure. Research projects include the impact that windstorms, nuclear plant meltdowns, floods, cyclones, earthquakes and wild fires have on civil infrastructure like bridges, roads and buildings. In addition, the institute studies technological disasters like power grid failures, cyber failures and hazardous material spills.

This year's student team includes three UT Arlington students: Ariel Deval, Kelsey Fort and Kavitha Ramaswamy. Abin Abraham and Toddrick Brown, are from Prairie View A&M University, and one more, Toul Deguia-Cranmer, is from Lone Star College.

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