The Smart Management of Infrastructure Laboratory (SMILab) drives innovation through a diverse and robust portfolio of funded research, bridging the gap between fundamental mechanics and real-world application. Supported by major federal agencies including the NSF, NASA, DOE, and USDOT, as well as national laboratories and industry partners, our work addresses critical challenges in transportation safety, aerospace, and structural health monitoring. From developing autonomous inspection robots and Augmented Reality (AR) interfaces to deploying low-cost sensors for community resilience, SMILab is dedicated to creating smarter, safer, and more sustainable infrastructure systems for the future.
48. Federal Railroad Administration CRISI: The Rail Center for Research Enhancing Short-line Transportation (Rail CREST) under Penn State University; 08/01/2025-07/31/2028 PI Moreu (Co-PI Losada-Rojas)
47. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC); “Human-machine interfaces for Digital Twins.” 10/15/2025-10/14/2026 PI Moreu
46. Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “Augmented Reality-Assisted Quality Control for Structural Component Placement in Bridge Construction” 01/01/2026-12/31/2026 PI Moreu (Co-PI Zhang)
45. National Science Foundation (PI: Meeko Oishi, ECE): NSF NRT: Responsive and Resilient AI for Autonomous Systems Engineering (RAISE) 06/01/2025-05/31/2030 PI: Oishi (ECE) Co-PIs: Danielson (ME), Fierro (ECE), Moses (CS) Senior Personnel Moreu
44. Sandia National Laboratories, “Non-linear Mechanics and Dynamics Structural Sensing and Damage Assessment” PI Moreu (Co-PI Tariq Khraishi, ME)
43. Air Force Research Laboratory: “Agile Manufacturing for High Value, Low Volume Production” 04/01/2018-04/30/2028 Co-PI Moreu, PI R. Fierro, ECE; M. Oishi (Co-PI), C. Danielson (Co-PI)
42. Department of Energy, “Tap testing control and stabilization for nuclear facilities inspection vertical walls using machine learning and robots” 09/28/2024-09/27/2026 UNM PI Moreu (FIU PI Lagos)
41. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC); “Human-centered interfaces with robots and structures: a new paradigm.” 03/15/2024-03/14/2025 PI Moreu
40. Federal Railway Administration BAA; Research Initiatives in Support of Making Railroading a Career of Choice: “The Railroader of the Mid-Century” 09/23/2021-03/31/2025 PI Moreu; Co-PI: Noh (Stanford) and Jung (FSU-FAMU)
39. NSF: “Collaborative Research: HDR DSC: Infusing community-centered data science into undergraduate engineering curricula” 09/01/2021-09/30/2026 UNM PI Moreu, PI: Napolitano (PSU)
38. Halterman Engineering, Montara, CA; “Smart Structures and Sensors Engineering Services” 10/01/2024-09/30/2025 PI Moreu
37. Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “Automated Quality Assessment of Prestressed Members using LIDAR and AR” 10/01/2024-09/30/2025 PI Moreu (Co-PI Zhang)
36. New Mexico Regional Development Corporation, “Post-wildfire Flooding Monitoring using Low-Cost Efficient Wireless Intelligent Sensors in New Mexico Tribal Land” 06/01/2023-10/31/2025 PI Moreu
35. Sandia National Laboratories, “Investigation of the Multi-Input Multiple-Output Dynamic Testing: Numerical Investigation” 10/01/2021-09/30/2025 PI Moreu
34. Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “Increasing understanding to climate emergencies and enhancing safety of rural and tribal areas using wireless smart sensors and human-environment-data interfaces using Augmented Reality (AR)” 06/01/2023-02/01/2025 PI Moreu (Co-PI Zhang)
33. National Science Foundation; SCC-CIVIC-FA Track B: Low-Cost Efficient Wireless Intelligent Sensors (LEWIS) for Greater Preparedness and Resilience to Post-Wildfire Flooding in Native American Communities 10/01/2021-12/31/2024; PI Moreu; Co-PIs: Mark Stone, CCEE; Su Zhang, EDAC; Yolanda Lin, Geography; Carolyn Hushman, Educational Psychology
32. Federal Railroad Administration “Expanding Summer Youth Programs in Rail through Virtual Learning and a National Campus Network” 06/01/2024-10/31/2024 PI Moreu, Senior Personnel E. Castillo, MTU PI Lautala
31. Sandia National Laboratories, “Experimental Techniques for the Control of Nonlinear Dynamical Structures” 10/01/2022-09/30/2024 PI Moreu
30. Office of Naval Research “Scanning and Visualizing Damage connecting Augmented Reality (AR) with LiDAR, Models and Databases” 08/01/2022-04/30/2024 PI Moreu
29. NSF: SRS RN: Transforming Rural-Urban Systems: Trajectories for Sustainability in the Intermountain West; Senior Personnel Moreu; PI Stone (UNM)
28. Office of Naval Research, “Measuring Damage Outdoors while Flying (MDOF)” 09/13/2021-03/30/2024 PI Moreu; Co-PI: R. Fierro (ECE)
27. Department of Energy (Florida International University, PI): MSIPP WIPP: “Time Machine for underground inspection using Augmented Reality” PI Moreu, Co-PI Stormont. FIU PI Lagos
26. Tran-SET Program, Louisiana State University U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “TranSET 6: Bridge Inspection Training and Enhanced Operations using Augmented Reality (21-052-ST)” PI Moreu
25. Federal Railroad Administration: “Expanding Summer Youth Programs in Rail through Virtual Learning and a National Campus Network” PI Moreu, Senior Personnel E. Castillo, MTU PI Lautala
24. Tran-SET Program, Louisiana State University U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “TranSET 5: Increasing Bridge Durability and Service Life with LIDAR Enhanced Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)” 08/01/2021-02/01/2023 PI: Moreu Co-PI: C. Lippitt
23. National Academy of Sciences, NCHRP IDEA: “Fatigue crack monitoring using AR” 02/01/2021-01/31/2023 UNM PI Moreu, KU PI Li
22. Sandia National Laboratories; Sandia UNM ENGR 2019 NMSBA; “Wearable Fall Protection Sensor Market Feasibility” 08/20/2021-12/31/2021 PI Moreu
21. National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board (TRB) IDEA Safety: “Augmenting Reality for Safer Inspections of Railroad Infrastructure and Operations” PI Moreu, Co-PI Law (CULS, UNM)
20. Sandia National Laboratories, “Control of Nonlinear Dynamical Structures under Extreme Normal Environments” 10/01/2019-09/30/2022 PI Moreu
19. Tetra Tech Inc.: “Crash Beam Attenuation”; PI Moreu, Co-PI Wierschem (UTK)
18. Sandia National Laboratories, “Investigation of the Multi-Input Dynamic Testing” 10/01/2018-09/30/2021 PI Moreu
17. National Science Foundation; SCC-CIVIC-PG Track B: Low-Cost Efficient Wireless Intelligent Sensors (LEWIS) for Greater Preparedness and Resilience to Post-Wildfire Flooding in Native American Communities 01/15/2021-06/30/2021 PI Moreu; Co-PIs: Mark Stone, CCEE; Su Zhang, EDAC; Yolanda Lin, Geography; Carolyn Hushman, Educational Psychology
16. Federal Railway Administration BAA; Research Initiatives in Support of Rail Safety; FRA-HF-004, Research Initiatives in Support of Rail Safety: “Automation and the Human-Machine Interface” 07/01/2020-06/31/2021 PI Moreu, Co-PI Law (CULS, UNM)
15. Office of Naval Research; “Engaging University of New Mexico ROTC Cadets in Cybersecurity Research” 01/01/2020-07/08/2022 PI Moreu, Co-PI Sorrentino (ME, UNM)
14. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC); “Safe and Augmented Human-Robotic Interaction for Space (SAHRIS).” 04/08/2025-02/28/2021 PI Moreu
13. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos National Laboratory “Cybersecurity of Cyber-physical Systems Using Wireless Smart Sensors” 08/01/2020-09/30/2021 PI Moreu
12. Tran-SET Program, Louisiana State University U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “20GTUNM31 – An automated system for inspecting rock faces and detecting potential rock falls using machine learning” 08/01/2020-09/30/2021 Co-PI Moreu, PI Stormont.
11. Tran-SET Program, Louisiana State University U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “20STUNM04 – Bridge Cracks Monitoring: Detection, Measurement, and Comparison using Augmented Reality ” 08/01/2020-12/31/2021 PI Moreu
10. National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board (TRB) IDEA Safety: “Measuring Behavior of Railroad Bridges under Revenue Traffic using Lasers and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Safer Operations: Implementation” 11/01/2018-08/31/2020 PI Moreu
9. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos National Laboratory “Smart management of infrastructure using human-infrastructure interfaces” 04/01/2019-05/20/2020 PI Moreu
8. Tran-SET Program, Louisiana State University U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “TranSET 3: Bridge Construction Monitoring using LIDAR for Quantified, Objective Quality-Control Quality-Assurance (QOQCQA)” 07/01/2019-06/30/2021 PI: Moreu Co-PI: C. Lippitt
7. Tran-SET Program, Louisiana State University U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “TranSET 2: Strategies for Prioritizing Needs for Accelerated Construction after Hazard Events” 03/01/2018-09/30/2019 Co-PI Moreu, PI Valentin (UNM)
6. Los Alamos County, “Augmented inspection to assist existing design and maintenance of infrastructure” 05/01/2018-09/30/2018 PI Moreu
5. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos National Laboratory “Augmenting Human Assessment of Infrastructures Performance Through New Technologies” 04/01/2017-05/31/2018 PI Moreu
4. Tran-SET Program, Louisiana State University U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), “Tran-SET 17STUNM02: Development, Training, Education, and Implementation of Low-cost Sensing Technologies for Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)” 05/01/2017-11/30/2018 PI: Moreu Co-PI: C. Lippitt
3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC); “Structural Performance Monitoring Using Wireless Sensors (WSW) for Cost-Efficient Management and Development of Commercial Space Vehicles” 04/01/2017-06/15/2018 PI Moreu
2. National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board (TRB) IDEA Safety: “Railroad Bridge Inspections for Replacement Prioritization Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with 3D Laser Scanning Capabilities” 11/01/2016-03/31/2018 PI Moreu, Co-PI Taha
1. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos National Laboratory “Ensuring the Sustainability and Resilience of Timber Bridge Railroad Infrastructure Using Remotely Deployed Sensor Nodes” 05/15/2016-08/15/2016 PI Moreu