Civil structural and infrastructure assets, such as buildings, houses, bridges, dams, pipelines, power plants, tunnels, transmission towers, etc., are the basic foundation for the existence, development and growth of any society. Our society (i.e., Québec and Canada) is in vital need for developing innovative means for the design, rehabilitation, and health monitoring of its civil infrastructure. In this context, the aim of the CSSR is to promote and initiate innovative research towards achieving high safety on structures against deterioration (e.g. freeze-thaw), natural (e.g., earthquakes, blasts, fires) and man-made hazards (e.g., terrorist attacks).

CSSR team members lead interdisciplinary research in the areas of innovative structural systems, cost-efficient rehabilitation strategies, controls and smart sensing for health monitoring of structure and infrastructures. Training of highly qualified personnel, such as graduate and undergraduate research students as well as technicians, is a core component of the researchers' activities. Teaming up with other professors in the BCEE department and the GCS-ENCS faculty, the CSSR significantly increases the potential for attracting high calibre HQP along with external funding opportunities and outreach activities in the areas of sustainable structures, infrastructure renewal and safety.

Innovative structures, rehabilitation, monitoring and control is a multi-hundred billion industry that is in urgent need for technology transfer from academia. The team members build on their strong research relationship and ties with industrial partners.