The recent 2007 Portugal earthquake (Mw=6.1) in the seismotectonic context of the SW Atlantic area

An event of magnitude Mw 6.1(EMSC) occurred on 12/02/2007 at 10:35 UTC off coast of South-Western Portugal. The earthquake had its epicentre in the eastern Horseshoe Abyssal Plain, at 175 km South-West of San Vicente Cape (Figure 1). This earthquake is the largest earthquake since the great instrumental earthquake, Ms=8.0 (USGS), occurred on February 28th, 1969 in the same epicentral area. This earthquake was followed by four small aftershocks with magnitude less or equal to 3.5. There has been no reported damage associated to the event since habitated regions are too far away from the epicentre. This event has been widely felt in Portugal, particularly in the Algarve Region (I=IV – IM information), Southern Spain and Western Morocco and up to 700 km away of the epicentre (Salamanca, Madrid) (EMSC report in http://www.emsc-csem.org)

Strong ground motion in southern Portugal due to the 1755 Lisbon earthquake

The strong earthquake (M=8.8) that struck a large part of the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Morocco on November 1, 1755, was caused by the motion along a fault which localisation and spatial extent are still uncertain. According to recent numerical modelling of tsunami wave travel times, it seems that the tsunamigenic fault may be lo- cated off the southwestern coast of Portugal. Multi-channel seismic profiles in the area showed the existence of large submarine hills of tectonic origin, 100 km offshore Cabo de São Vincente, and led to the identification of active faults that may be responsible for the earthquake. E3D, a finite-difference seismic wave propagation code, is used to implement various source rupture scenarios. Based on available geophysical data and geological evidences, we propose a 3D velocity model of the upper mantle, crust, and sedimentary cover, for south Portugal and the adjacent Atlantic area. The model is constrained thanks to data available from recent instrumental earthquakes. We are able to test several possibilities, and to compare synthetic ground motion obtained onshore with historical evaluations of seismic intensity. Directivity of the source, as well as site effects, may explain the particular distribution of strong ground motion observations

International Dual Degrees at the Graduate Levels: The University of Rhode Island and the Technische Universität Braunschweig

While it has now become common for American colleges and universities to develop programs abroad for engineering undergrads in the form of student exchange, internship, special project, short-term study tours, and so forth, there has been little discussion of international exchange or special degree arrangements at the graduate level. Convinced that this must happen if we are to educate American researchers and technologists to have the skills necessary for careers in the global workplace, the University of Rhode Island has forged new dual degree programs at the masters and doctoral levels with its partner university in Germany, the Technische Universität Braunschweig. This paper presents the rational for such programs, as well as the process leading to the agreements between URI and Braunschweig, as well as a discussion of the issues and hurdles which needed to be overcome to satisfy the requirements of both sides and to make the program viable for both faculty and students

International Engineering Education: What Difference Does It Make?

As recently retired Executive Director of the International Engineering Program (IEP) at the University of Rhode Island, the author has studied several IEP alumni to determine what difference their international education has made for the progression of their engineering careers. Each earned both an engineering and a language degree (BS/BA) and each spent an entire undergraduate year abroad. What skills did they acquire? How has their bilingualism and their study and work experiences abroad impacted their lives and careers, when viewed from their current status as practicing professionals

Preparing Engineers for the Global Workplace

The University of Rhode Island takes pride in the fact that 20% of its undergraduate engineering students complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in German, French or Spanish (and soon Chinese) along with their BS engineering degree. Its distinctive International Engineering Program (IEP) is characterized by the two degrees, but also by the fact that each IEP student spends the fourth year of the five-year curriculum abroad, completing a semester of study at a partner university and a six-month internship with affiliated global companies. Over 200 undergraduates have completed the IEP curriculum, which is now well institutionalized in the culture of the University of Rhode Island. IEP faculty have recently expanded the program to the graduate level through implementation of a Dual Degree Masters Program with the Technical University of Braunschweig. Students in this program complete half of their masters work at both institutions, and the thesis abroad, with oversight from faculty at both schools. At the conclusion students receive the MS from the University of Rhode Island and the Diplom from the Technical University of Braunschweig. Building on the Dual Degree Program, URI faculty are now creating an International Ph.D. Program in partnership with Braunschweig and the National Science Foundation. Recently awarded a grant from the NSF Program in International Research and Education, URI faculty plan to develop a comprehensive international education program for the benefit of all engineering students, from day one of the freshmen year through the post-doctoral level. This paper presents a basic overview of the URI International Engineering Program at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It focuses on the value added through the experience of engineering work and study abroad, as well as on the lessons learned over the seventeen year history of the URI program, in an effort to share such insights with interested colleagues from other institutions

The Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education: How It All Began

As director emeritus of the International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island, John Grandin was in a good position to provide an overview of the evolution of the Colloquium on International Engineering Education at its twenty-year celebration at the University of Northern Arizona in 2017. This article is based on Grandin’s keynote address at the Arizona Colloquium in which he recalled how the Colloquium began, who the key stakeholders and driving forces were, how other programs got started nation-wide and how the momentum grew and led to the 2008 joint NSF sponsored workshop and the Newport Declaration to Globalize Engineering Education

Reforming American Higher Education: The University of Rhode Island International Engineering Program

The goal of this paper is to explore how American higher education may be better adapted to the needs of today’s global society by means of a more integrated curriculum, one that rigorously partners the “hard skills” of math, the sciences, and engineering (the STEM and professional disciplines) with those supposedly “softer” ones derived through the arts and humanities. The authors believe that students will be better prepared for the challenges of the contemporary workplace through an education equally grounded in the sciences and the arts, including the study of varied sets of value systems, by pursuing dual degrees across those disciplines. Having pioneered one such effective and well-known model for the internationalization of engineering education, the five year dual degree (BA/BS) International Engineering Program (IEP) at the University of Rhode Island, Berka and Grandin propose the marriage of engineering and language/culture as a model or template for a meaningful and productive partnership between science and technology, the humanities, and society as a whole, potentially adaptable to all comprehensive institutions of higher education and to a broad range of disciplines. As the United States seeks answers to a growing crisis of cost and relevance in higher education, therefore, the IEP will be presented here as an inspiration and a model for much needed reform, made possible by the creative reorganization and integration of subject areas which formerly went their separate ways, but benefitted enormously by finding their common ground

Educating Engineers as Global Citizens: A Call for Action / A Report of the National Summit Meeting on the Globalization of Engineering Education

On November 5-6, 2008, a group of 23 distinguished engineering educators convened in Newport, Rhode Island to discuss the globalization of U. S. engineering education. Their goal was to consider the changes and challenges brought about by the recent wave of globalization and to ask, as so many colleagues are doing around the country, what proactive steps need to be taken by engineering educators to ensure that their graduates are prepared to be productive citizens and professionals in today’s and tomorrow’s complex world. Encouraged and supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and its Division of Engineering Education and Centers, the group began its meeting with observations and advice from three executives in the contemporary global business arena. It was then tasked with a review of the rationale for incorporating global perspectives and skills into the engineering curriculum, as well as the urgency for doing so. The reasons for the generally slow response among engineering educators to this matter nationally, when compared to other nations in the industrialized world, were also explored. After consideration of the potential impact of the current economic downturn on this issue, the summit reviewed information about existing successful models and best practices for a more global engineering education at colleges and universities across the country in an attempt to answer the following questions: To what extent are American engineering programs sending their students abroad? What have we learned and what are the successful models and strategies for globalizing U.S. engineering education? What can be shared with the profession at large and by what means? The group concluded its work with a set of recommendations for funding agencies such as NSF, as well as a strong and succinct call to the profession at large for action, in the form of a document included in this report, entitled The Newport Declaration. The following is a summative and detailed report of this meeting, based in part on a set of papers and documents which had been prepared in advance and were then revised to include the benefit of the group’s discussions