Georgia Tech CoE alumni Jamie Padgett and Bassem Andrawes received CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation this year.  This is one of the foundation’s most competitive grant programs and the honor is presented to only 400 young researchers annually across all scientific disciplines.  Both Padgett, now a professor at Rice University, and Andrawes, professor at the University of Illinois, are former students of Reggie DesRoches, Georgia Tech professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

As many as one in four of the nation’s bridges is structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, the American Society of Civil Engineers said in a report last year. That means tens of thousands of bridges across the nation are either require either repairs or should be replaced.  Padgett believes that a new approach is required to enhance bridge safety, while achieving heightened performance goals based on defined metrics.  Her research team will conduct analytical modeling of data collected in field visits and perform bridge case studies. They will use vulnerability modeling to uncover the complex and intertwined effects of events that can occur throughout a typical bridge’s life, like storm surge, earthquakes, aging or deterioration and increased service load demands.

Andrawes' research interests are primarily in the areas of structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, bridge engineering, seismic retrofit of structures, application of innovative and smart materials in structures subjected to natural and man-made hazards, constitutive modeling of shape memory alloys under extreme dynamic loads, passive and active control of structures, large-scale experimental testing, and nonlinear finite element methods.  He will use his CAREER Award to develop and study a new technology that uses smart materials to reinforce lifeline concrete structures with the aim of mitigating damage from strong earthquakes.