Civil infrastructure systems (CIS) is an interdisciplinary research area concerned with the analysis, modeling, design, and evaluation of public works systems (e.g., roads, water resource management) from a range of perspectives that includes engineering, social and political sciences, and public policy. Research topics in this area range from engineering models of physical processes (e.g., traffic/transportation systems, deterioration of pavements) to public policy issues in community decision making.

With respect to issues articulated in the NSF workshop on Human-Centered Systems, CIS research is an application domain in which (1) information management and representation is important: a common focus is to provide complex information for decision makers to help them make good decisions or have 'good situation awareness' (2) collaboration is inherently multidisciplinary among practitioners and researchers (e.g., public policy, government, engineering, social science), (3) design of information systems for decision making is problem-driven, and (4) many issues in political and cultural factors of decision making and information use are of explicit concern.

CIS is a particularly interesting domain in which to examine such questions. Infrastructure is 'invisible', pervasive, with complex interdependencies and implications for a huge range of effects with respect to people, the built environment, and the natural environment.

Examples of some key questions in CIS modeling and decision making include:

• The importance of rich spatio-temporal representations to support decision making.

• How to show interactions among the different interrelated infrastructure systems (e.g., water pipes, roads, rivers...)

• Related to the above, predictive models (of deterioration,etc.). One key issue is the vast amounts of data required for engineering models that are recognized as valid and also hold up in court.

• How to make science and engineering models intelligible to public policy makers and citizens? Can rich interactive visual simulations help make compelling arguments? What are the ethical issues?

In our panel, the following distinguished speakers presented their work:

Dr. Patrick McCarthy, Purdue University, provided a general overview of civil infrastructure systems management that included economic, engineering, and political science concerns. A major theme in the Purdue project is the design of an integrated infrastructure management system that supports a variety of levels of decision making and situation awareness.

Dr. Rae Zimmerman, New York University discussed several case studies in urban civil infrastructure. Her analysis focused on the institutions and stakeholders involved in civil infrastructure management and decision making, both in planning/design of infrastructure and in coping with incidents and failures of infrastructure.

Charles Schroeder, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, discussed a variety of issues in civil infrastructure systems, focusing on contractual management and outsourcing issues (with respect to issues of coordination and accountability) and technology transfer of advanced information technologies into the public sector for public works applications.

Dr. James Garrett Jr., Carnegie Mellon University, discussed wearable computing for bridge inspectors as a specific example of how advanced information technologies can support more effective decision making and problem solving in civil infrastructure management.