Research Opportunities

The ultimate goal of this program is to provide a high-quality, rewarding and enjoying summer research experience for undergraduate students interested in construction (and related fields).

Our program will consist of individual and group activities, reinforced with enrichment and professional development activities, as well as a continuous mentorship and tracking plan.

Students will work with their faculty mentors on a scaled research project designed to allow students to experience the entire research experience, including:

Research problem identification
Literature review
Data collection and/or experiment
Data analysis and/or model development
Validation of the results/model
Interpretation of the results
Presentation
Possible publication of the research

This holistic process and experience will allow REU students to build a sense of ownership of their project and obtain strong confidence in conducting research as an independent researcher at the end of the REU program. During the process, both faculty mentors and graduate student mentors will constantly monitor the student’s research progress and provide proper guidance to ensure that each student will build critical thinking skills and obtain effective research skills and techniques to conduct science driven research, and produce evidence informed research results.

Other Enrichment and Professional Development Activities

Every Wednesday will be used to provide EAs and PDAs. EAs include invited presentations from industry innovators including Kiewit or DPR (Week 3), and Autodesk (Week 7). EAs will also include two field trips to innovation driven companies such as House X Lab in Houston, Texas (Week 4) and Designstone in San Marco, Texas (Week 8). These invited presentations and field trips will give REU students opportunities to witness how construction research is being applied in real settings and helping innovate the industry. A guided tour of labs at the Center for Infrastructure renewal (CIR) is planned for all REU students on Week 6. An optional tour of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center (HRRC) will also be organized for students.

REU students will participate in a REU orientation program and a welcome BBQ organized by the LAUNCH office (launch.tamu.edu) in the first week. College Station and surrounding area have plenty of recreational activities. Optional weekend activities will also be organized by mentors to aid with socializing and building relationships between peers and with mentors. A farewell dinner in Week 10 that will be arranged by the Department of Construction Science will offer another opportunity for the REU students to celebrate their accomplishments and build long-term relationships between the participant students, faculty and graduate student mentors.

The Research Environment

As a major research-intensive university, Texas A&M is at the forefront in making significant contributions to scholarship and discovery, including in science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M generated annual expenditures of more than $1.15 billion in fiscal year 2022, which is first in Texas. Texas A&M also ranked in the top 16 universities of the most recent NSF Higher Education Research and Development survey based on research expenditures in fiscal year 2021.

The Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M is the largest construction program in the nation and it offers B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in construction science. Our faculty are internationally recognized for their excellence and impact.

Research Opportunities

Other Enrichment and Professional Development Activities

The Research Environment

Work with talented researchers on projects including: