The University of the District of Columbia has been awarded nearly $1 million through the U.S. Department of War’s Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, or DURIP, to establish an Integrated Geo-Structural Testing Platform for Resilient Infrastructure Systems. The award will fund new, state-of-the-art equipment for the structural and geotechnical engineering laboratories within UDC’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
“This nearly $1 million investment reflects UDC’s growing research strength and the extraordinary work of our faculty,” President Maurice D. Edington said. “The new equipment in UDC’s civil engineering laboratories will give our students access to advanced technology and hands-on learning while expanding the university’s capacity to develop solutions to critical infrastructure challenges in the District and beyond.”
The project is led by Gulen Ozkula, assistant professor of civil engineering and principal investigator, with Ujwalkumar Patil, associate professor of civil engineering, serving as co-principal investigator. Together, they will build a research environment that, for the first time, equips UDC to conduct high-fidelity experimental testing of advanced materials, structural systems and geotechnical components under realistic loading and environmental conditions.
Department of Civil Engineering Chair Pradeep Behera called the grant “a significant investment in the future of our academic and research programs” that will elevate students’ educational experience and expand the department’s capacity for high-quality, externally funded research.
UDC’s structural and geotechnical laboratories will house an advanced suite of instrumentation, including an MTS Landmark servohydraulic testing system for fatigue and fracture characterization, a high-resolution noncontact video extensometer and a digital image correlation system for full-field displacement and strain measurement.
Complementing the structural systems, the laboratories will integrate a large-scale direct shear apparatus, a cyclic triaxial testing system, a resilient modulus test system and a temperature-controlled soil-water characteristic curve apparatus to investigate soil-structure interaction, foundation behavior and pavement performance under repeated and dynamic loads. The combined platform will generate the experimental data sets needed to calibrate constitutive models and validate finite element simulations—capabilities directly aligned with national priorities in infrastructure resilience, performance-based design and rapid-deployment engineering.
Together, these tools will allow researchers to study how construction materials, soil, foundations and transportation systems respond to stress, repeated use and changing environmental conditions.
“This laboratory will significantly expand the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ research and teaching capabilities,” Dean Devdas Shetty said. “It will give our faculty and students the tools to conduct sophisticated, applied research and prepare graduates to address the infrastructure needs of the future.”
Beyond their research mission, the laboratories will become a hub for student opportunity and community impact. Experimental work in materials, structural and geotechnical testing will be embedded in capstone design projects, senior theses and faculty-led research. The laboratories will also anchor K-12 STEM outreach, workforce development workshops and testing partnerships with local engineering firms and public agencies, extending UDC’s role as a regional center for applied, community-centered engineering innovation.
“This award is transformative for our students and our research program,” Ozkula said. “For the first time, UDC students will train on the same industry-grade instrumentation used in leading laboratories nationwide while contributing to research that strengthens the resilience of the infrastructure communities depend on. It reflects exactly the kind of hands-on, high-impact engineering education we are committed to delivering.”