News and Events
IRISE Issues the 2024-25 Annual Report
May 2025
New Tool for Building and Fixing Roads and Bridges: Artificial Intelligence
November 19, 2023
Amir Alavi, center, an engineering professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is one of the leaders of a project using artificial intelligence in transportation projects in Pennsylvania.
Reengineering concrete: Pitt professor develops computer code to produce cheaper, lighter design
August 20, 2023
Rather than solid concrete, future bridge deck designs could look something like this metamaterial example created by a special computer code. Amir Alavi's team is developing potential deck designs for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
AI Platform ‘Evolves’ Metamaterials
August 17, 2023
Evolution has led to some creative, counterintuitive, and downright weird properties in the natural world. Evolution-inspired algorithms produced synthetic materials with equally surprising traits, a study shows.
IRISE Issues the 2022 Annual Report
May 22, 2023
Allegheny County Presentation on Three Sisters Bridges to Undergraduate Seminar
October 27, 2022
On October 27, 2022, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department's Undergraduate Seminar featured a presentation on the history and rehabilitation of the Three Sisters Bridges in downtown Pittsburgh, also known as the Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Street Bridges, or the Roberto Clemente, Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson Bridges.
IRISE Scholarship Winner Completes First Rotation
September 2022
The first recipient of the IRISE scholarship was Gabriel Salgado. Gabriel recently completed his first six-month assignment with the Allegheny County Department of Works.
IRISE Issues the 2021 Annual Report
May 25, 2022
Pitt Researcher Gloria Zhang Recipient of Three Awards
Summer 2022
Pitt PhD student Gloria Zhang won three awards for her work with deep learning techniques assisting Dr. Amir Alavi on the Improving Bridge Assessment through the Integration of Conventional Visual Inspection, Non-Destructive Evaluation, and Structural Health Monitoring Data project. The awarding organizations were the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for Bridge Construction and Design, the International Bridge Conference and the Pitt Advancing Research through Computing Competition. Gloris has completed her PhD work at Pitt and is now on the faculty at New Mexico State University.
Southern Beltway Pre-Opening Tour
August 15, 2021
On August 25, 2021, Pitt faculty and students visited the Pennsylvania Turnpike Southern Beltway project as the new section between US Route 22 and I-79 neared completion prior to its mid-October opening to the public. The visit included a tour of the entire new facility, with intermittent stops to observe and discuss final paving operations, major structures, environmental issues that were addressed during construction, electronic tolling systems and a new maintenance facility. Engineers from both the Turnpike and its construction manager CDR Maguire provided an excellent explanation of the many issues associated with construction of a new facility in an environmentally sensitive, suburban area.
IRISE Issues the 3rd Annual Report
May 24, 2021
Allegheny County Presentation on Three Sisters Bridges to Undergraduate CEE Seminar
November 13, 2020
On November 13, 2020, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department's Undergraduate Seminar featured video presentations and discussion on the history and current rehabilitation of the Three Sisters Bridges in downtown Pittsburgh, also known as the Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Street Bridges, or the Roberto Clemente, Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson Bridges. Arranged by the Allegheny County Director of Public Works and IRISE Steering Committee member Stephen Shanley, the County's Bridge Engineer Richard Connors narrated three short videos and responded to student questions in a virtual environment. You can view the presentations below.
IRISE Issues the 2019-2020 Annual Report
July 13, 2020
Customizing Rigid Pavement ME and Early Opening to Traffic Study
February 20, 2020
Presented at the American Concrete Pavement Association
Southern Beltway Plant and Paving Tour
September 27, 2019
On September 27, 2019, Pitt students visited the Pennsylvania Turnpike Southern Beltway project, located near I-79 west of Bridgeville. The visit included the concrete mixing plant. Students also observed a section of concrete pavement being placed, and interacted with engineers from IRISE members Golden Triangle Construction and the Pennsylvania Turnpike about concrete mixture properties, paving logistics, site preparation, QA/QC and long term pavement performance features.
Student Site Visit to Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement Project
July 16, 2019
On July 16, 2019, Pitt students visited a project on Pennsylvania Turnpike 43 being performed by IRISE member Golden Triangle Construction where they demonstrated and discussed concrete pavement partial depth repairs and use of concrete mixtures that enable the road to become open to traffic much faster than conventional mixtures.
IRISE Issues the first Annual Report
May 13, 2019
Michael Baker International teams with Pitt's IRISE Consortium as first private consulting engineering firm
December 18, 2018
Representatives from Pittsburgh-based Michael Baker International this morning visited the University of Pittsburgh to present funding for the new Impactful Resilient Infrastructure Science and Engineering (IRISE) research consortium at the Swanson School of Engineering. Founded in 2018 by the Swanson School's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Pitt’s IRISE consortium hosts first brainstorming session to map out infrastructure research strategies
November 8, 2018
This past October the Impactful Resilient Infrastructure Science and Engineering (IRISE) research consortium kicked off the planning process for its 2019 research program by conducting a brainstorming session at the University of Pittsburgh campus.
Rising Above: IRISE Launches at Pitt
September 17, 2018
