Professors Betti, Chiara, Waisman and Yin Awarded RISE Research Grant
06/01/2009
A preliminary proposal for ISPEM (Integrated Sustainable Policy Economic Model), presented by Professor Raimondo Betti, Assistant Professor Nicola Chiara, Assistant Professor Haim Waisman and Assistant Professor Huiming Yin, has been accepted by RISE (Research Initiatives for Science and Engineering) at Columbia University. By focusing on the integration of sustainable and eco-efficient infrastructure with economic life-cycle analysis, Professors Betti, Chiara, Waisman and Yin will research a rational and exhaustive framework for central and local governments to evaluate and plan sustainable infrastructure systems.
The ISPEM’s SLCCA (sustainable life-cycle cost analysis) model will help public authorities to manage the design, construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of infrastructure systems toward a sustainable future. In detail, ISPEM combines stochastic economic models with laboratory test time-series-data to perform a reliable comparison between new materials and infrastructure sub-systems in accelerated time-dependent environmental conditions. The centerpiece of the project is the development of an accelerated degradation chamber empowered with life-cycle assessment capabilities whose results will be incorporated in an ad-hoc policy economic model.
The preliminary studies will be submitted for funding to FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) and NSF in Fall 2009.