Texas A&M PGR-CIB chapter wins
Sebestyén Future Leaders Award

A proposal for a student summit at Texas A&M focusing on integrated design solutions and the built and human environment earned an international award for the Texas A&M PGR-CIB, which is short for the Postgraduate Built Environment Research Chapter of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building Construction.

Vishal Porwal, Texas A&M PGR-CIB president, penned the proposal, which, with the help of the group's officers and faculty advisors, won the CIB's Sebestyén Future Leaders Award.

The aim of the October 2010 proposed summit and a concurrent research competition was to expose students to the latest developments in research and innovation and to provide network opportunities with the leaders in the field.

The award-winning proposal objectives include:

• creating of a global trans-institutional student summit in the Americas that fosters international exchange and cooperation throughout the CIB research network;
• establishing a research conference that could be attended by people without any restriction of global boundaries through the use of information technologies such as webcasting;
• providing a reliable source of information concerning research and innovation worldwide in the field of building and construction;
• encouraging research groups in American universities to form active CIB-endorsed student chapters, and
• improving the personal contact and communication among CIB student chapters around the world with CIB research task groups and working commissions.

The summit would also host a peer-reviewed student research competition.

According to the proposal, members of the Texas A&M chapter will approach private corporations as well as related departments and colleges at Texas A&M for sponsorship; Jose Fernandez-Solis, the chapter's advisor and assistant professor of construction science, said fundraising efforts began at a Nov. 18 meeting.

The award-winning entry was part of a call for proposals from the CIB earlier this year to demonstrate how member students have the potential to be future leaders in their chosen fields of work and to understand the value of building research.

For more about the Aggie CIB chapter, visit cib.tamu.edu.

The CIB's home page is available at www.cibworld.nl.

- Posted: Nov. 23, 2009-