US-India Collaboration: Universities Forge Curriculum on Infrastructure Resilience

Infra resilience: In a bid to bolster infrastructure resilience, educational institutions in both India and the United States are joining forces to develop a specialised curriculum. Samantha Power, Administrator for the USAID, unveiled plans to collaborate with esteemed universities such as Virginia Tech and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to establish a comprehensive curriculum on infrastructure resilience. This initiative, announced during the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure's (CDRI) Governing Council meeting, aims to offer certification courses in infrastructure management while fostering research focused on resilience.

Last year, Power pledged a $5 million commitment to forge partnerships between American and Indian higher education institutions. Handing over the co-chairmanship of the Governing Council and Executive Committee to France, represented by Ambassador Aurelian Lechevallier, Power emphasized the long-term impact of educational investments, highlighting their potential to shape future generations and equip them with essential skills for government and private sector roles.

The CDRI Fellowship Programme, a cornerstone of this collaborative effort, showcases the tangible impact of such initiatives. Fellows from around the globe have spearheaded groundbreaking projects, including the development of a fibre optic sensor system in Australia and Sri Lanka to detect water pressures and ground movements in real time. Similarly, in India, fellows have utilized satellite data and crowd-sourced information to enhance flood prediction models, providing communities with vital early warnings.

With Reuters Inputs