Research Centers

Auburn Engineering is one of the nation’s top 50 institutions in research expenditures. Pioneering research is underway in our 21 research centers and dozens of labs across campus, focused on producing technology and innovation that will help drive economic growth while improving human life on a global scale. Read more about Auburn Engineering’s quality indicators in research on pages 10-11.

Alabama Center for Paper and Bioresource Engineering Alabama Micro/Nano Science and Technology Center Alabama Transportation Assistance Program Auburn University Detection and Food Safety Center Auburn University Transportation Research Institute Center for Advanced Vehicle and Extreme Environment Electronics Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts Center for Cyber and Homeland Security Center for Microfibrous Materials Center for Polymers and Advanced Composites Cyber Research Center Erosion and Sediment Control Testing Facility GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory Highway Research Center Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security MRI Research Center National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence National Center for Asphalt Technology NextFlex Alliance - Harsh Environment Node Occupational Safety, Ergonomics and Injury Prevention Center Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center

NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION LEADER TAPPED TO HEAD AUBURN UNIVERSITY TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE

As the Southeast’s leader in transportation research and education, Auburn University took another step forward in 2021 with the formation of the Auburn University Transportation Research Institute and the hiring of national transportation leader Laurence Rilett as the institute’s inaugural director.

The institute will provide greater visibility and a shared identity for all transportation-related research and educational programs at the university. It will also foster continued growth and expansion of Auburn’s rich history in its transportation research programs, ranging from advanced roadway design, aviation systems, next generation vehicles and transportation related logistics.

In fiscal year 2020, Auburn Engineering’s centers and labs secured a combined total of more than $24 million in extramural funding for

Laurence Rilett transportation research, education and outreach efforts. This level of extramural funding for transportation is greater than any other single research topic on the Auburn campus.

“I am a big believer in multi-disciplinary research, and bringing all of Auburn University’s transportation-related research teams under one roof will position us to solve the complex challenges facing our nation’s multimodal transportation system and to educate the next generation of transportation professionals,” Rilett said.

Rilett comes to Auburn after having served as a distinguished professor of civil engineering and the Keith W. Klaasmeyer Chair in Engineering and Technology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as the director of the Mid-America Transportation Center and the Nebraska Transportation Center.

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ADVANCED STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

STRENGTHENS AUBURN’S CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL REPUTATION

Auburn University strengthened its reputation as the premier destination for civil and envrionmental engineering research in 2020 by opening the doors on a $22 million state-of-the-art laboratory that will provide solutions to the nation’s growing infrastructure issues for years to come.

“The Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory is the next step in elevating Auburn University’s prestige,” said Auburn University President Jay Gogue. “It will allow for our exemplary faculty to find life-saving solutions to extreme events by creating more sound buildings, bridges, towers, pipelines and machinery that can withstand the forces of nature. And the new Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory provides a unique, hands-on learning experience for our students.”

Located on the western edge of campus, the 42,000-square-foot Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory, or ASEL, includes a high bay laboratory with a strong wall and strong floor specially engineered to handle extreme structural testing loads; a geotechnical chamber within the strong floor; a concrete materials research and testing laboratory; wind testing capabilities that can replicate hurricane-level loads; and faculty and graduate student spaces.

Due to its location, the university’s previous structural testing laboratory in the Harbert Center could only accommodate elements up to 40 feet in length. The new facility allows for elements up to 140 feet long.

Additionally, the new lab’s floor is twice as large and features anchor points that hold more than 10 times the load as the floor in the previous lab. The former structural laboratory in the Harbert Center will be repurposed for other academic and research use.

But the ASEL’s most unique feature may be the 4,700-cubic-foot geotechnical test chamber within the strong floor footprint — one of the few test chambers in the nation included in a university laboratory — that will allow the department’s geotechnical researchers to conduct testing on foundations, anchorages and towers previously only possible in the field.