EAGER: IMPRESS-U: Developing new approaches and structural materials to rebuild damaged Ukrainian infrastructure with environmental sustainability considerations

This EAger-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U) project focuses on innovative methods of construction of refugee shelters using a new generation of traditional and 3D printing technology that utilizes a combination of waste materials relevant to the US, Poland, and Ukraine. This research will address challenges in building resilient and sustainable infrastructure by using novel, inexpensive, and energy efficient solutions.

It will be especially relevant to Ukraine, where rebuilding its damaged economy will pose unprecedented engineering and financial challenges. The project will also adopt an environmental sustainability framework to guide materials selection for 3D printing approaches. Creative ways for enhancing efficiency and resiliency of this international partnership will include integration of Ukrainian and Polish civil engineering academics and students into Stony Brook Climate Solutions Center on Governors Island.

Efficient concepts to prepare an internationally engaged research workforce will be achieved through a virtual international exchange program based on Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) that will be delivered through American, Polish, and Ukrainian university courses focused on structural engineering and advanced materials. Practical outcome of helping refugees will be based on Ukrainian partnership with a local construction company that builds houses in Kyiv and Kyiv region using 3D concrete printing technologies for residential buildings.

Overall, a combination of virtual courses, new approaches to teaching and exchange activities, joint research and innovation projects will reshape the research, education, and innovation ecosystem in Ukraine.

The project will address a multitude of research challenges to waste incorporation into 3D printing by developing new correlations between waste composition/structure (chemical, physical, and others), and resulting mechanical/durability properties of concrete containing recycled materials. Designing novel hierarchical structures derived from different types of waste with variable (nano, micro, macro) particles that are simultaneously mixed into the same concrete samples will potentially deliver unprecedented mechanical, thermal, durability and even self-healing properties.

An important angle of the program is in conducting Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for the waste-based aggregates’ preparation as a function of their size and chemical composition.

This EAGER: IMPRESS-U project will be jointly supported by NSF, US National Academy of Sciences, Office of Naval Research Global (DoD), and National Science Centre of Poland. The research will be conducted in collaborative partnership that unites the SUNY at Stony Brook in the US, Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture in Ukraine, and Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology in Poland.

The US portion of this EAGER: IMPRESS-U project is co-funded by NSF Office of International Science and Engineering and ENG/CBET program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.