Syracuse University has launched an Infrastructure Institute with the aim of facilitating the effective and efficient development of new, modernized and socially responsible public infrastructure.
The Institute will integrating and support a range of distinct disciplines with a singular focus on infrastructure, including architecture, civil and environmental engineering, communications, computer engineering and science economics.
“The Infrastructure Institute breaks new ground in education, commentary, and research and will enrich and enable a new generation of students and professionals as they improve upon and create desperately needed infrastructure,” said Professor Laura Steinberg, Ph.D. executive director of the Infrastructure Institute. Professor Steinberg is the former dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University. She continues to serve as a special assistant to the vice chancellor of Syracuse University and is a professor in the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.
“We know of no other university that has created an institute, such as the Syracuse University Infrastructure Institute, which integrates as many disciplines around an infrastructure focus,” notes Professor Steinberg.
Steven M. Charney, chairman of national construction and infrastructure law firm Peckar & Abramson, P.C. is the founding advisor of the Infrastructure Institute and also serves on the Advisory Council of the University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management.
According to Professor Steinberg and Charney, “an unprecedented collaborative effort will be required to meet the demand for modernized and new infrastructure, which will require an extraordinary integration of historically distinct skillsets.
“Such integration is critical to the ability to plan, design, engineer, finance, operate, maintain, and implement socially responsible infrastructure.”
The Infrastructure Institute is Charney’s vision, borne out of the recognition that traditional methods and “siloed” industry perspectives must yield to a unified approach.
“Syracuse University is uniquely positioned to address the challenge – the colleges and schools offered in the academic setting at Syracuse University closely mirror those that must align in both the public and private sectors to meet current and future infrastructure demand,” added Charney.
He pointed out that “the colleges and schools on campus that are engaging with the Infrastructure Institute include the full array of interrelated disciplines essential to our mission — all of which will work together with a focus on infrastructure.”
Charney added, “The excitement in seeing this institute come together in response to the staggering infrastructure needs across the United States and globally, should pale in comparison to the impact the Institute can have at home and around the world.
