International Programs
India
Interest in sustainable construction materials is growing, with research and construction being initiated worldwide. Structural applications of indigenous material resources such as bamboo are an integral part of sustainable development. The use of natural materials for construction, however, is limited to cultural-based traditions with little or no standardization. To develop sustainable construction materials in both an engineering and a cultural sense, one must evaluate the traditional building techniques in terms of engineering standards and develop equivalent design methods to assess and improve structural performance.
In early May 2008, IGERT Fellow and CEE PhD candidate Bhavna Sharma, CEE PhD candidate Marie Jaime, CEE undergraduate and MCSI REU Fellow Derek Mitch, and CEE Assistant Professor and William Kepler Whiteford Faculty Fellow Kent Harries travelled to the Darjeeling region of northeast India in support of their nascent work on hazard mitigation using bamboo-based residential construction. Visiting Kalimpong, Mungpoo, Darjeeling, and Gangtok, the team met with many local engineers, architects, and planners and visited a number of sites incorporating bamboo construction and other broader applications of sustainable engineering design.
A second goal of the visit was to identify opportunities and establish relationships which may be leveraged for future service-learning opportunities within MCSI and SSOE. A reciprocal visit by our Indian host, Ms. Gayatri Kharel, in June 2008 will move these efforts forward.
