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Research into ancient roads earns Virginia Tech faculty member national recognition

   

Christine Fiori standing in front of a mountain range. Christine Fiori

BLACKSBURG, Va., June 7, 2011 – Engineering News-Record recognized Christine Fiori, a faculty member at the Myers-Lawson School of Construction in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the College of Engineering, as a top 25 newsmaker for 2010 for her contributions to the construction industry at a gala in New York City last month.

The magazine’s editors recognized Fiori, the director of undergraduate programs at the school, for her recent research into the engineering practices of the ancient Inca. Fiori, with support from the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., is researching sections of the Great Inca Road, a 700-year old roadway that is still in use today, to help modern engineers design in a more holistic manner. According to Fiori, despite lacking special tools or a formal written language, the Inca built sturdy roads and bridges that took into account the natural flow of water and took into account fluctuations in water flows, floods, and other hydrological factors.

Fiori expects to spend this summer leading another group of researchers and students back to Peru to continue studying the engineering practices of the Inca and is working with the Smithsonian to prepare a special exhibit on the Inca Road that will open in 2013.

Fiori received her bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. from Drexel University, and was previously a civil engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force and a faculty member at Arizona State University before coming to Virginia Tech in 2007.

Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies is composed of four schools: the School of Architecture + Design, including architecture, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture; the School of Public and International Affairs, including urban affairs and planning, public administration and policy and government and international affairs; the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, which includes building construction in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and construction engineering management in the College of Engineering; and the School of the Visual Arts, including programs in studio art, visual communication and art history.