Frederick, Camille, Hugo, Andrew, Ivan and Katrina. Just the mention of the names elicits vivid images of the destruction caused by these devastating storms. University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) engineers, led by Nasim Uddin, Ph.D., P.E., are developing new building materials to protect people and property from powerful hurricanes such as these. “Improved building materials have the potential to reduce life and property losses, which will continue to increase if steps are not taken to make coastal communities less vulnerable,” he said.
WHO: Uddin is an associate professor in the UAB Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research, on the topics of advanced composite materials and effective damage mitigation measures for infrastructure during natural disasters and terrorist attacks, has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals.
One material Uddin and his team have in development is externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, which are stronger than concrete and can withstand hurricane-force winds, bullets and explosions.
MORE: Uddin is organizing an NSF-funded international workshop on disaster mitigation construction in Bangladesh, currently the world's foremost natural disaster-prone country, in December 2005.