SPIA in the NCR Discusses Sustainability with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

The IITK-VT research partnership, meeting at SPIA in late March in Alexandria, Va.

School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) faculty members met in late March in Northern Virginia with colleagues from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) to discuss the IITK-VT research partnership that is focused on sustainable infrastructure.  The partnership’s overarching goal is to encourage mutual understanding, facilitate educational reform, and engage civil society through knowledge sharing.

March meeting topics included discussing new courses to be created/transferred and also areas of research collaboration, presenting the draft knowledge platform for approval, and reviewing potential topics for a project workshop.  This is the second in-person meeting of the project group, having last met during October 2012 in Kanpur.

The initiative is funded by a grant from the Obama-Singh 21^st Century Knowledge Initiative as part of efforts to create an International Program for Sustainable Infrastructure Development.  The three-year IITK-VT partnership includes a series of meetings, workshops, research collaborations, and graduate student exchanges that are connected via a knowledge platform designed to support the virtual and digital exchange of information and data.

Virginia Tech representatives participating in the Alexandria and Arlington meetings included UAP Assistant Professor Ralph Hall, Ph.D.; UAP Assistant Professor Shalini Misra; Myers Lawson School of Construction Associate Professor Mike Garvin, Ph.D.; MI+SPIA Interim Research Director Joe Schilling, Ph.D.; MI+SPIA Operations Manager Jessica Hanff; and SPIA Director Anne Khademian, Ph.D.  Representatives from IITK attending the meeting included Professors Sudhir Misra, Onkar Dikshit, and Mukesh Sharma.

More information about the project team can be viewed on the project website at http://www.iitk-vt.net.

Following the Northern Virginia meetings, IITK representatives met with Virginia Tech faculty members in Blacksburg to continue the project dialogue.  The next in-person meeting will occur again in Virginia in Fall 2013 and the schedule will include time for small group discussions among faculty members about specific research proposals that are in progress.

Learn more about the VT-IITK partnership by watching these videos from SPIA Director Anne Khademian, Ph.D. and Myers Lawson School of Construction Director Brian Kleiner, Ph.D.