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A passion for teaching came early for Idriss
Dr. Rola Idriss
As a little girl, Rola Idriss would gather her friends around and give them lessons to help them with their school work. Today, she is a professor of civil engineering who recently celebrated her 15th year at NMSU and teaching continues to be her greatest passion in life.
“That is why I am here,” said Idriss, who has received accolades for her teaching as well as for her ground-breaking research in bridge design. She received the Patricia Christmore Faculty Teaching Award in 1994 and the Roush Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1995. In 2006, she received the Ed Foreman Endowed Professorship for Excellence in Civil Engineering.
A passion for engineering and math follow her love of teaching. “I’ve been very fortunate to combine my interests. I am so fortunate. Every aspect of what I do is interesting and I feel like I’m contributing,” she said.
“Dr. Idriss is very passionate in her teaching. She is very clear in class and adapts to the different backgrounds of her students,” said master’s candidate Fuling Zhong.
While her future in academia may have been cast in childhood, Idriss’ involvement in bridge research may have been purely accidental.
Just after civil war broke out in her native Lebanon, Idriss along with her month-old son and husband boarded a plane as mortar shells exploded around the Beirut airport. It was 1977 and they were headed for Chicago. The war ended in 1990.
“It was the best decision we ever made,” said Idriss. “The United States was in great need of doctors, engineers and scientists and we were able to immigrate very easily.”
Idriss had earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from University St. Joseph in Beirut, an affiliate of the University of Lyon, France. Her husband, a medical doctor, completed his residency in Chicago. They moved on to Albuquerque, and finally to Las Cruces where her husband established his medical practice and she pursued her master’s and doctoral degrees. Along the way they had another son and a daughter.
“Ken White was my adviser and NMSU was famous for bridge design and inspection. I wanted to please my adviser so I pursued research in that area,” she said. “I quickly realized it was a very exciting field—the design, instrumentation and evaluation. I was in the right place at the right time.”
Idriss’ research led to a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award in 1994 and recognition as an Engineering News Record Top 25 Newsmaker in 1996, followed by numerous grants from the Federal Highway Administration, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and other agencies. In 2006, she received the Ed Foreman Endowed Professorship for Excellence in Civil Engineering.
“It started out with just a sketch from an idea that I had: Can we use fiber optics for evaluation in bridges? We did some lab testing using various sensors and found them to be useful. So then we built a full-scale bridge in the laboratory,” she said.
Her “smart bridge” technology monitors bridge performance from the inside, incorporating fiber optic sensors that monitor how bridges perform under day-to-day stresses from use and weather. Three such bridges already have been installed in New Mexico and may someday be the standard in bridge construction.
“Instead of relying on visual inspections of the bridge, the sensors will tell us on a continual basis how much the bridge is stressed and how it is performing under load,” Idriss said. The fiber-optic sensors, built into the concrete girders during the fabrication process, send beams of light through the structures, measuring changes in temperature and shape that indicate stress within the bridge. Data is collected from computer equipment in a protective cabinet at the bridge site.
The technology is not only improving bridge safety, Idriss said, but also “allowing us to get more information on the new materials that are being used in bridge construction.”
“Dr. Idriss is an excellent academic leader,” said Zhiyong Liang, post-doctoral research assistant who has been working with Idriss for the past nine years on smart bridge technology. “It’s exciting to see how many advantages there are to the technology. I have never been bored working on this project.”
Idriss makes a place for zeal in her life. Far away from the seaside country she grew up in, she now considers Las Cruces her home. “I am a fan of the desert. I have a cactus garden at home. I love the different varieties and the wonderful flowers. There’s a reason they call this the Land of Enchantment.”
From Fall 2009 Panorama
Linda Fresques
October 2009