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Campus aerial with engineering building and Flatirons in the background
A demonstration of a small centrifuge in the geotech lab to three onlooking students.
Aditi Bhaskar and student interact by a hydrology instrument in front of a large expanse of lawn with the Flatirons in the background.
Azadeh Bolhari, her back to the blackboard in front of her class.
Researchers in the CIEST lab dressed in hard hats look over a large pipe that is being tested.

The Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) has been awarded a competitive grant by the U.S. Department of Education to provide Graduate Assistantships in Areas of National Need (GAANN) beginning immediately.

Selected graduate students (at MS and PhD levels) will receive full financial support* for up to five years to work with world-renowned faculty and experts on “Inclusive Engineering for Climate-Ready, Smart, Sustainable and Equitable Infrastructure." The goal is to design, monitor and renew America’s civil infrastructure for extreme demands of climatic and environmental stressors.

If you are passionate about the resilience and sustainability of the built environment and the wellbeing of your community, consider this unique career path in research and education by applying to this opportunity!

Rebuilding and maintaining the U.S. critical infrastructure requires novel, human-centered solutions that utilize innovative and sustainable materials, methods, data and technologies, and processes to design, build, retrofit, monitor, manage and operate a multitude of built environment systems. These solutions must reflect the altered demands due to climate change on the water, transport, energy and housing sectors, both those existing and deteriorating and those to be newly built or upgraded. The solutions must also be just, equitable and inclusive, to benefit all population groups particularly those vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In achieving these goals, sustained improvements in engineering research and pedagogy are required.This project aims to support such improvements through research and training of the next generation of U.S. engineers and scientists.

This GAANN opportunity provides funding and support to a cohort of graduate students pursuing PhD degrees (a.k.a., GAANN “Fellows”), with or without an MS degree, who are interested in interdisciplinary research and education related to climate-ready, smart, sustainable and equitable infrastructure. Graduate students selected for this interdisciplinary GAANN program will be trained as leading scholars and educators who will be well-positioned to tackle our nation’s emerging infrastructure challenges and opportunities. During their graduate degree, fellows will work to obtain a Certificate in College Teaching from CU’s Center for Teaching and Learning.  In our selection of the GAANN Fellows, we prioritize applications from historically underrepresented and underserved groups within engineering and sciences. However, all are welcome to apply and will be considered.

*Cost share commitments to support these students come from faculty, CEAE, College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) and the Graduate School at CU Boulder.

On this website, you can learn about potential research activities/directions supported by this GAANN project, faculty participants who can serve as your mentors and co-advisors, application requirements, and information on how to apply!