Professor David Rockwood is now at around the half-way point on his Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant. His teaching and research at Da Nang University of Science and Technology (DUT) in Da Nang, Viet Nam began late August 2017, and will conclude at the end of June 2018. Rockwood is working with a team of 14 faculty and 25 students to design, prototype, and test structural, constructional, and thermal performance of innovative wall assemblies. This work is a follow-up to Rockwood’s Fulbright Specialist grant that allowed the study of worker housing. The aim of these two combined research efforts is to help enable the building of high-quality affordable passively cooled housing. The team completed their background investigation this past fall semester and will begin prototyping and testing this spring. Rockwood was invited to give the opening address at a symposium on sustainable design and education sponsored by the DUT Faculty of Architecture, and to offer remarks during the celebration event for the DUT Faculty of Architecture’s 20th Anniversary.

The grant started with a Fulbright orientation in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. This past December, Fulbright hosted an Enrichment Seminar for the U.S. Scholars in Da Lat, Viet Nam. Also at this time, Rockwood served on the Peer Review Panel to select Vietnamese Scholars who have applied for research projects in the U.S. Immediately following this event, Rockwood traveled to Ha Noi, Viet Nam to serve as an interviewer on the Speed Interviews for prospective Vietnamese Scholar applicants, and to attend the Gala celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Viet Nam.

The Fulbright program helps to support linkages between the U.S. Scholars and institutions in Vietnam and East Asia. Professor Rockwood has so far received two invitations to lecture, and travel funding was provided by Fulbright Occasional Lecturing Program grants. He gave two lectures at Binh Duong University (“Invention in Architecture” and, “Permanent Fabric Forming and Reinforcement for Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Thin Shell Structures”) in Binh Duong, Viet Nam. And later, Rockwood gave a lecture (“Invention in Architecture, Design, and Urban Transportation”) at Hong Bang University in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. Rockwood was also invited to give a one-day workshop on tropical screen design at Hoa Sen University in Ho Chi Minh City. He has been invited to give a keynote at the 2nd International Conference on Child-Friendly Education, hosted by Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta in Central Java, Indonesia, with the support of the Fulbright East Asia & Pacific Regional Travel Program. Hoa Sen University has also invited Professor Rockwood to return to deliver a lecture on bamboo gridshells this spring.

Student field trip to condominium under construction in Da Nang, Viet Nam

Lecture at Binh Duong University, Binh Duong, Viet Nam

Lecture at Hong Bang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Tropical Screen Workshop at Hoa Sen University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam