Teaching the next generation of engineers how to make Puerto Rico’s infrastructure resilient
In the past four years, Puerto Rico
has been decimated by hurricanes and earthquakes.
Within a two-week span in
2017, two major hurricanes left the Caribbean island without power,
clean drinking water and very few passable roads. As Puerto Rico attempted to
recover, it was devastated again by multiple earthquakes between the end of
2019 and the beginning of 2020.
Alesandra Morales-Vélez, who earned
a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Rhode Island, is
helping Puerto Rico’s infrastructure become more resilient by teaching
engineering students at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) about
sustainable practices.
“As civil engineers, we can build
the infrastructure around us, but our curriculum needs to introduce the
importance of infrastructure that is climate-resilient,” said Morales-Vélez,
who has been an assistant professor of geotechnical engineering since 2015.
A few years ago, UPRM re-designed
most of its engineering courses to take a cross-disciplinary approach to the
design and construction of resilient infrastructure under extreme loads, such
as powerful winds and earthquakes.
UPRM also created a new minor in
Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure. The first students to complete the
program will graduate this year.
“The goal has been to introduce
multi-hazard analysis, sustainability and resilience to students early in their
college careers,” said Morales-Vélez.
The URI alumna once sat in the seats
that her students now occupy. After completing her bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in civil engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, she decided to
continue her education in Rhode Island.
“I knew very little about Rhode Island, but I knew about URI Professor Chris Baxter through my adviser,” said Morales-Vélez. “My adviser went to college with Professor Baxter and they remained friends and colleagues. Professor Baxter’s work with soil characterization, shear wave velocity and laboratory testing was exactly what I was looking for.”
Taking advantage of a program
created by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, Baxter helped
Morales-Vélez enroll in the doctoral program.
“Thanks to a great fellowship
program started by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, I was able to
recruit Alesandra to URI,” said Baxter. “The program was designed specifically
to recruit doctoral students from underrepresented groups in Puerto Rico.”
After her first year at URI, Baxter
and Morales-Vélez co-authored a grant proposal to the National Science
Foundation. The project, which was approved for funding, became the subject of
Morales-Vélez’s dissertation, “Evaluation of Field Based Approaches for
Calcareous Sands Using Shear Wave Velocity Measurements.”
While Morales-Vélez is optimistic
about Puerto Rico’s ability to rebuild and recover, she recognizes how much
work there is left to do.
“Sadly, the infrastructure is still
in very poor condition,” said Morales-Vélez. “We were struck by a 6.4
earthquake on January 7, 2020. The work that is needed to rebuild our roads,
schools and hospitals is tremendous.”
