The Sychterz (SICK-tesh) Modular Adaptive Resilient Transformable Infrastructure lab combines structural engineering with architecture, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering to study large-scale controllable structures. We build and investigate these structural systems that can undergo large and small shape changes to address the challenges of our ever-evolving environment.
News
May 31, 2023 – Ann is promoted from associate member (A.M.ASCE) to member (M.ASCE).
May 22, 2023 – Ann gives talk at US Army Corps of Engineers ERDC Vicksburg MS “Adaptive and deployable lightweight infrastructure”.
May 15, 2023 – SMARTI lab welcomes visiting PhD researcher, David Forster from the University of Stuttgart for the summer!
May 13, 2023 – Congratulations on your graduation from CEE masters, Kaylee Tucker and Juan Torres. We’ll miss you and look forward to the great things you’ll do!
May 5, 2023 – SMARTI lab attends (Ann moderates and Angshuman presents) at the ASCE Structures Congress 2023 in New Orleans, LA.
March 27, 2023 – Heather Gathman and Kaylee Tucker interviewed by University of Waterloo Women in Engineering
February 23, 2023 – Center for Infrastructure Resilience in Cities as Livable Environments (CIRCLE) wins continuation of funding, Ann Sychterz as co-PI in Thrust Integration.
February 21, 2023 – Congratulations to Angshuman Baruah for winning the Chester P. Siess Award for conference travel to an outstanding graduate student in CEE
February 17, 2023 – Ann gives talk at University of Texas at Austin “Adaptive and deployable lightweight infrastructure”.
February 13, 2023 – Congratulations to Angshuman Baruah for winning the Jacob Karol Fellowship.
February 6, 2023 – Ann Sychterz is selected as an Assistant Mentor for the ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Workshop at Colorado State, Fort Collins for summer 2023.
February 3, 2023 – Congrats to Heather Gathman on her first-author paper from her master’s research “Design of a full-scale aluminum plate tensegrity structure” in the Journal of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures
January 23, 2023 – Ann Sychterz wins ASCE SEI Futures Fund Young Professional Tier 1 Scholarship to Structures Congress May 3-6 in New Orleans.
November 4, 2022 – Ann gives talk at Tufts University “Adaptive and deployable lightweight infrastructure”.
October 20, 2022 – Ann Sychterz wins funding from Illinois Department of Transportation with Lesley Sneed and Charlie Catlett “Monitoring Bridge Health and Optimizing Inspections”.
October 11, 2022 – Ann gives talk at University of Stuttgart “Adaptive building and geotechnical infrastructure systems”.
July 16, 2022 – Ann completes the American Society of Civil Engineers ExCEEd Teaching Workshop at West Point, NY.
July 12, 2022 – Ann gives talk at SOM “Adaptive and deployable lightweight infrastructure”.
July 6, 2022 – Ann presents at the 5th International Conference on Structures & Architecture in Aalborg, Denmark.
June 2, 2022 – Congrats Kaylee on winning conference fellowship for 1) Pave the Way Scholarship for the Women Architects Festival and 2) gradSWE Illinois for the we22 conference!
May 31, 2022 – SMARTI lab attends ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute conference 2022 in Baltimore, MD good luck Anshuman and Sagnik!
May 25, 2022 – SMARTI lab attends Canadian Society for Civil Engineers annual conference 2022 in Whistler, BC good luck Heather and Kaylee!
May 3, 2022 – Angshuman has been elected president of the UIUC Structural Engineering Graduate Student Organization. Congrats!
May 1, 2022 – Ann wins NSF Engineering Civil Infrastructure #2207296 “Collaborative Research: Analyzing Deployable Torque-Activated Structural Mechanisms for Enhanced Tension Capacity of Geosystems” as lead-PI with Joe Tom (UIUC) and Ryan Beemer (UMassD)
April 28, 2022 – Ann gives talk at Johns Hopkins University “Adaptive and deployable lightweight infrastructure”.
April 14, 2022 – Ann gives talk at University of Waterloo “Path-planning for large-scale shape-changing civil structures”
March 11, 2022 – Congratulations to Angshuman Baruah on his first PhD-lead article “Assessment and Comparison of Cable-Actuation of Pill Bug Inspired Adaptive Origami Structure Using Computer Vision and Dynamic Relaxation”
November 3, 2021 – Ann, Isabella, Joe, and Ryan have journal paper published in Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering “Nonlinear soil-structure behavior of a deployable and compliant anchor system”
August 30, 2021 – Ann (lead-PI) wins Discovery Partners Institute grant with Dr. Hajj, Dr. Sneed, and Dr. Shaffer.
August 25 – SMARTI lab attends the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium 2020/2021 with papers by Heather, Angshuman, and Sagnik
August 20 – SMARTI lab welcomes new MS students Kaylee Tucker, Matt Grendzinski, and Juan Torres!
August 4, 2021 – Ann wins the Gies College of Business ORMIR faculty fellow award
July 1, 2021 – Ann (co-PI) wins Illinois Center of Transportation grant with Dr. Baser and Dr. Tom to study Measurement While Drilling (MWD)
June 8, 2021 – Ann (lead-PI) wins the Academy of Excellence for Engineering Education Strategic Instructional Innovations Program (SIIP) with Dr. Uihlein, Dr. Henschen, and Dr. Garg
May 26, 2021 – Ann presents work at EMI/PMC 2021 conference on pill bug-shaped origami structures
May 26-29, 2021 – SMARTI lab attends Canadian Society for Civil Engineers virtual annual conference 2021 in full force, good luck Heather, Angshuman, and Sagnik!
April 27, 2021 – Ann gets interviewed as external reviewer for Wired magazine [see article here]
April 25, 2021 – SMARTI lab’s first accepted journal paper “Active Control for Adaptive Origami Structures Undergoing Damage” in Engineering Structures by Sychterz and Baruah [see article here]
March 29, 2021 – Ann gives talk at ENAC EPFL, Switzerland
March 12, 2021 – Ann gives talk at Beckman Institute Autonomous Materials Systems Group
March 10, 2021 – Ann gives talk at Construction Materials Seminar
March 4, 2021 – Ann gives talk at Illinois Transportation and Highway Engineering Conference
February 19, 2021 – Ann gives talk at UIUC Structures Conference
February 12, 2021 – Ann awarded Levenick Sustainable Teaching Fellow
February 12, 2021 – Ann gives talk at Carnegie Mellon University Advanced Infrastructure Systems group
January 1, 2021 – Angshuman continues with SMARTI lab for his PhD
October 29, 2020 – Ann Sychterz named Beckman Institute Faculty Affiliate
September 2, 2020 – SMARTI lab’s new Stratasys Object 500 Connex3 multi-material 3D polymer printer is up and running
August 15, 2020 – Heather Gathman joins SMARTI lab for her masters, welcome
August 15, 2020 – Sagnik Paul joints SMARTI lab for his PhD, welcome
August 1, 2020 – Angshuman Baruah joins SMARTI lab as a master’s RA, welcome
July 27, 2020 – Ann Sychterz and Nishant Garg to work on an aluminum tensegrity bike canopy SEE Campus as a Living Lab
July 14, 2020 – Ann Sychterz named NCSA Faculty Fellow