2000 ASEE Southeast Section Conference 1

For the last five years a summer undergraduate research site in structural engineering, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has operated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). During this time 25 students from 18 colleges and universities have participated. Participants are recruited nationally and have come from as far way as California and Puerto Rico. The program is intended to provide students interested in graduate studies with an introduction to research methods, and to provide students who will not continue their studies past a BSCE with a better understanding of how research provides the theoretical foundation of engineering practice. Students work individually with UAB faculty on literature reviews, computer modeling, laboratory testing, and field research. Whenever possible, students work on ongoing projects funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the University Transportation Center for Alabama, other public agencies, and private industry. Three students have researched structural failure case studies and the technical and ethical lessons to be learned from them. Participants also have the opportunity to tour construction sites and construction material manufacturer’s and fabricator’s facilities. During the past two years, an ethics seminar series involving a philosophy professor from the UAB Center for the Study of Ethics and Values in the Sciences has been added. At the end of the program students prepare research papers and web pages documenting their work and present their results to faculty, students, and other participants. Many students have continued on to graduate school after completing the program. Significant challenges for faculty include rapidly assessing student research abilities and developing and guiding research projects that can be realistically accomplished in nine weeks