Advanced Transportation Infrastructure Center (ATIC)
Our mission is to advance transportation infrastructure related science, technology and education.
The University of North Dakota’s Advanced Transportation Infrastructure Center (ATIC) envisions making a transformative contribution to the monitoring, assessment, construction, durability, resilience and safety of civil and transportation infrastructure through autonomy.
ATIC’s educational mission is to equip the future and the existing workforce with autonomous technologies in infrastructure engineering.
ATIC addresses the critical needs of North Dakota’s infrastructure, which plays a vital role in national security through the state’s contributions to food and energy production. In doing so, ATIC supports UND’s broader mission of discovery, research innovation and education.
Goals & Objectives
- Establish Research Programs: Address key challenges in transportation infrastructure aligned with UND’s strategic plan and North Dakota’s needs through basic and applied research.
- Educate and Train the Workforce: Provide practical, hands-on education and training opportunities for students, researchers and professionals in the field of transportation infrastructure to meet the increasing demands of industry for a skilled workforce.
Research Areas of Interest
American Society of Civil Engineers defines more than a dozen categories of civil infrastructure systems. Transportation infrastructure is facilities for transporting goods, energy or people including, but not limited to: aviation (e.g. airports), bridges, pipelines, roads and railroads.
Transportation infrastructure has gone beyond its operational service life, is overloaded and is exposed to new challenges due to climate change. New technologies are required for condition assessment, monitoring and asset management. Examples of these technologies are non-contact sensing and artificial intelligence for robust preservation and condition assessment.
Even with the most robust preservation practice, construction of new transportation infrastructure is inevitable, mainly due to growing production demand and population growth. Construction practice can benefit from less labor-intensive practices by introducing additive construction.
Workforce Areas of Interest
High demand for skilled workforce in transportation infrastructure nationwide requires more civil engineering graduates with modern areas of proficiency.
Through internship programs, civil engineering students are hired to be trained on real engineering projects. The interns learn required technical skills, along with interpersonal engineering communication.
With the increasing demand for autonomy in infrastructure management, the corresponding workforce is utilizing and incorporating autonomous systems, e.g., AI, robotics, etc., to work more efficiently.
ATIC Initiatives and Projects
Collaborations create unique engineering research and education capabilities in transportation infrastructure. View more details about our work at the links below and follow ATIC on LinkedIn and Instagram for the latest research updates, project highlights and workforce opportunities.