Gen AI (artificial intelligence) brings many benefits to many industries. Now, it can bring benefits to the classroom, as education will see an infusion of gen AI to help teach construction professionals at Western Michigan University and beyond. Dr. Hexu Liu earned funding from an NSF (National Science Foundation) grant of nearly $300,000. The team launched a pilot program at WMU in September 2024. It will allow the university to develop an AI-powered training platform to enable gen AI and BIM (building information modeling) to bring a classroom project to life. The training platform will include AI learning tools tailored to undergraduate construction education, which will address some of the hurdles currently faced in individualized learning, curriculum design, and instructor support. Here is how this can help in education: Transform how digital skills are taught Close the skills gap Prepare the workforce for the future of construction Looking to the future, the platform will be adopted into WMU’s curriculum. The objective will also include a web-based platform, integrated with ChatGPT, to deliver an interactive, self-pace learning experience. Keep an eye on this trend for the…

Natural disasters are picking up speed. An estimated 55,000 people died in the Turkey-Syria earthquake in February 2023. Around 50% of the reinforced concrete structures worldwide were designed without any seismic considerations—and naturally that percentage is much higher in many developing countries. Most of the ways to address this currently are very invasive and require parts of the building to be closed for a long time. What if we could use a simple low-cost, minimally invasive way to preserve all the buildings that already exist from disaster? That is exactly what a team of researchers at Purdue University is testing—a cost-effective, minimally invasive technique to fortify older concrete buildings against earthquakes. The approach involves installing adhesive anchors to metal triangular haunches as braces to reinforce beam-column joints. The haunches are attached with post-installed adhesive anchors secured with epoxy mortar, so material cost is relatively low. There’s indirect cost savings by keeping the building’s functionality intact during the installation of the haunches. Here is how this can help: Save lives. Reduces capital losses. Preserve structures worldwide. Looking to the future, the opportunities for this are huge, ultimately having a worldwide impact, especially as natural weather events continue to pick up speed. It will certainly be something to watch in the months…