The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced Jan. 19 the formation of the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems (ICIS), a partnership among New York University, Cornell University, Polytechnic University of New York and the University of Southern California. In forming the institute, the NSF is providing a five-year, $5 million grant to fund the effort.

Infrastructure systems provide transportation, water supply, electric power fuel and communications that are critical for modern communities. The institute will link engineering and the applied social sciences to develop better solutions for the myriad of infrastructure problems facing the nation.

"We want to find a new paradigm for solving infrastructure problems," said Thomas D. O'Rourke, Cornell professor of civil and environmental engineering, who will serve as co-chair of the institute's executive committee. "Three decades ago the environment emerged as an issue; now it is the paradigm for people to recycle and be good stewards of the environment. That is what we're hoping to achieve with infrastructure, where people will not take infrastructure for granted and will be more attentive to its problems."

Joining O'Rourke as principal investigators with the new institute will be Arnim H. Meyburg, director of Cornell's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Richard E. Schuler, director of the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs.

Coincidentally, as the new institute was announced, ice storms wracked the Northeast in early January, and residents of northern New York and New England were reminded of just how precious infrastructure -- in this case electric power -- is in their lives.

With power lines and power stations down, thousands of residents, businesses and farmers learned that it might take several weeks to restore their electric links. One of the goals of the new institute will be to identify areas that need more research to stave off disruption even in the event of a natural disaster.

"The recent ice storm is a reminder of what mass social disruption can occur when natural events affect our infrastructure," said Schuler. "The ice storm occurred in rural regions of the Northeast. Imagine New York City without power for two weeks. It would be a mess."

The new institute will bring together the professional activities related to infrastructure, which Schuler says is a fragmented industry. A slate of projects has been developed by the institute to educate the public, down through preschool, about infrastructure and to encourage integrated thinking about how to sustain what we have, protect it from natural and human hazards, and accommodate institutional change.

At Cornell, a variety of programs and disciplines will be involved in the new institute. These include: Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell Institute of Public Affairs, Cornell Information Technologies' Office of Distance Learning, Center for the Environment, Power Systems Engineering Research Consortium and the Transportation Infrastructure Research Center.

"One of the goals of the institute is to help coordinate the widespread infrastructure activities currently undertaken by university, industry, government and national laboratories," Meyburg said. "Cornell can contribute substantially to this goal through its own multidisciplinary programs."

Institute projects include the expanded use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) by the electric, gas and water utility industries, workshops and white papers on improved public and private cooperation, the use of art to develop community participation in local projects, telecommunications to educate K-6 grades about infrastructure and programs to reduce the institutional barriers to new technology.

Said O'Rourke: "Infrastructure is the essential and distinguishing characteristic of a modern, industrialized world. We are seeking solutions to very tough problems."