Categories: Graduate News
      Date: Apr 13, 2009
     Title: Robert Moser Awarded SMART Scholarship

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) graduate student Robert Moser was awarded the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Program Scholarship for service from the Department of Defense. He has been recruited to work at the Army Corp's Research and Development Center. The award, which begins in Fall 2009 and will last for 2 years, is funded at $33K annually and will include a supplement for health insurance, books, and travel. As part of the scholarship, he will perform a summer internship.

"Robert is a true self-starter, with incredible energy and focus. He puts in 110% effort in everything he does, from his studies to his extracurricular activities," said CEE Associate Professor Kimberly Kurtis. "I have no doubt that with his dedication, work ethic, maturity and intelligence that he will make important contributions to the fields of concrete technology and structural design and to society."

Robert has selected a research topic of international importance, with relevance to sustainable development of civil infrastructure and to the robustness of commercial structures, such as off-shore oil platforms. This research will require the coupling of high performance concrete with corrosion-resistant reinforcement to produce reinforced (both conventional and prestressed) elements with 100+-year service lives in marine and coastal environments. This is very much interdisciplinary research; it must take advantage of recent advancements in the technology of producing high performance concrete as well as the development of manufacturing technologies to allow reinforcement bars and strands to be produced from the newly available and more economical low-Nickel stainless steel and stainless steel clad reinforcement.

Moser received his BS in civil engineering from Georgia Tech in May 2007. He is co-advised by Drs. Lawrence Kahn, Kimberly Kurtis, and Preet Singh, associate professor in Materials Science and Engineering. Moser will pursue a career in the field of experimental structural research with a government organization, university, or industry.

The SMART Scholarship for Service Program is established by the Department of Defense (DoD) to support undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines. The program aims to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at DoD laboratories. For additional information about the SMART Scholarship, visit http://www.asee.org/fellowships/smart/.