Construction Science Expands Internship-to-Research Pathway for Undergraduates
The Innovation Ideas Competition and Research Program (I2CRP) pairs undergraduates with faculty to develop practical innovations in two semesters.
Faculty in Texas A&M University’s Department of Construction Science advise undergraduate students to create innovations through the research process.
Texas A&M University construction science students who spot a job-site struggle during their COSC 494 Professional Internship can do more than write it down. Through the Innovation Ideas Competition and Research Program (I2CRP), students can compete for support to develop their ideas into research-backed solutions with faculty mentorship.
Supported by the Department of Construction Science and funded by the department’s Construction Industry Advisory Council (CIAC), I2CRP is designed to help undergraduates research and prototype practical responses to real industry needs. The department plans to expand participation with the next cohort of student innovators in 2026–2027.
How It Works
While completing their required internship, students enrolled in COSC 494 can submit a problem statement based on their recent experience. Faculty reviewers select a group of the top six submissions for oral presentations.
In the presentation competition, four winners are chosen based on feasibility and novelty, including whether the idea can reasonably lead to a prototype in about two semesters. Each competition winner receives a $1,000 cash prize.
Competition winners are invited to officially participate in the research program, where they can receive up to $6,000 in scholarship support over two semesters and hands-on faculty mentorship to guide their project.
Preparing Problem-Solvers for Industry Innovation
First launched in 2024, the program has grown from three annual winners to four due to increased student interest and CIAC support.
I2CRP provides a structured, hands-on introduction to applied research. Students learn to define a problem, review existing work and test potential solutions alongside faculty and graduate collaborators.
Students also work on sharing their results in professional formats — such as conference-style posters and manuscript submissions — within the two-semester timeline.
“With the students, you are able to connect our research more with the industry,” said Dr. Xi Wang, construction science professor and a faculty advisor for the program. “They bring more industrial insights and the real challenges they experience when they work in the industry.”
Dr. Zhenyu Zhang, program director, said the internship-to-research model helps faculty stay close to job-site needs and prepares students to carry innovation skills into industry roles.
“Eventually, students are going to become innovators in different companies, so companies want leaders in innovations as well,” Zhang noted, adding that almost all major contractors now have dedicated innovation departments and chief innovation officers.
Meet the 2025–2026 Innovators
Explore the work of three members of the 2025–2026 I2CRP cohort to see how construction science undergraduates are turning internship observations into research projects. Select a name below to learn about their project focus, what they built and what they learned along the way.
Construction science senior Stefan Plotini ’26 meets regularly with faculty advisor Dr. Zhenyu Zhang and senior lecturer Scott Vlasek to receive hands-on feedback and guidance as he develops his research project.
When construction science senior Stefan Plotini ’26 returned from his internship at Kiewit, he witnessed a problem costing the construction industry time and money: decades of hard-earned expertise are lost when experienced workers retire, leaving new teams to relearn lessons.
Through I2CRP, Plotini is developing an AI-supported approach to help capture and share that field expertise. Kiewit leaders have expressed interest in the concept and are exploring plans to support continued collaboration after Plotini graduates and joins the company.
Plotini’s research tackles the construction industry’s “tacit information” problem, or the valuable expertise that often isn’t written down because it’s learned over years of experience.
“We have people that have been in the workforce for about 30 years … all this experience they’ve gained, they don’t write it down. They just remember,” Plotini explained.
Without a system to store that knowledge, less experienced teams can run into avoidable delays and repeated questions, especially when managers are new to a project or unfamiliar with field constraints.
With guidance and support from faculty advisor Dr. Zhenyu Zhang and senior lecturer Scott Vlasek, Plotini’s concept combines wearable devices with an AI chatbot designed to answer questions using captured expertise and company records. The goal is to help office teams better understand field conditions while also giving craft professionals a channel to contribute insights that might otherwise go unshared.
“A lot of people in construction are very scared to speak up, and they don’t want to say anything because they’re scared of being wrong,” Plotini noted.
For Plotini, the experience has also reshaped his view of research and professional growth. He said he never expected to do research as an undergraduate, but he values the opportunity to contribute to Texas A&M and help build momentum for future student projects.
Plotini plans to graduate in May 2026 and pursue a Flex Master’s in Artificial Intelligence for Business, while staying connected to the research effort.
Construction science senior Sage Schaefer ’26 tests the robotic painting arm during a lab experiment, working with a graduate student collaborator to study painting techniques.
Construction science senior Sage Schaefer ’26 came to I2CRP with experience that many students do not have. Before attending Texas A&M, she worked as a professional painter for 3 years and developed expertise in cutting-in.
Mentored by faculty advisor Dr. Xi Wang, Schaefer joined a research team that spent the summer narrowing a broad question into a focused robotics project. The team reviewed where robotic painting still falls short and chose to study cutting-in painting because it is one of the most challenging parts of the trade and exposes key research gaps.
Cutting in requires precise work to paint edges and corners, which can take years of practice to master. While she worked in the industry, Schaefer’s expertise was specifically focused on cutting-in painting.
“She provided some background about the way painting works in the industry, and then we thought about how robots can help,” Wang explained. “Then we asked students to collaborate with the robot, mainly to provide guidance so the robot can do the painting,” Wang said.
By automating the challenging, time-intensive cutting-in process, robotic arms could help address the skilled labor shortage in the construction industry while delivering the precision that experienced painters like Schaefer spent years developing.
Wang said that when Schaefer first started with I2CRP, she had no experience with research or robots.
Doctoral students on the team supported the project’s technical side. “Our Ph.D. students mainly provide support with tasks like those that require extensive programming,” Wang said. “We have Ph.D. students work together with them, and we provide guidance, so that’s good teamwork.”
By the end of summer 2025, Schaefer’s research skills had grown immensely thanks to the hands-on guidance she received to guide her through all the steps from figuring out her research topic to submitting a conference paper.
Her paper was accepted at the Construction Institute (CI) & Construction Research Congress (CRC) joint conference, one of the largest events on leading construction innovations. The research was presented on March 20.
Schaefer will graduate in May, and she plans to pursue a master’s degree in construction management.
Recent construction science graduate Bryan Eubanks ’25 presents a research poster on using AI-generated content to promote construction safety at the 2026 Construction Institute (CI) & Construction Research Congress (CRC) joint conference.
As an undergraduate, Bryan Eubanks ’25 had a clear plan. He wanted to graduate from Texas A&M, start his construction career and eventually grow a side project in social media built around wellness and fitness. Research was not on his radar.
That changed after a safety class taught by Dr. Zhenyu Zhang, when Eubanks saw how AI could quickly generate videos, audio and images. He saw a way to apply those tools to a serious industry need by making safety lessons harder to ignore.
“Construction is one of the most dangerous industries across all different sectors,” Zhang said. He noted that while fatal incidents are documented in investigation reports, the information often stays in written form and does not always translate into jobsite awareness or training.
Eubanks wondered if students and industry professionals could learn from incident reports in the same formats they already watch every day on social media.
Working with Zhang and graduate student Farouq Sammour ’27, Eubanks helped create eight videos that translate fatal accident investigation reports into short-form content, including cinematic and animated versions.
The team tested the videos in the classroom and shared some on social media, where Zhang said they received “really interesting feedback.” Zhang also began using the videos as learning materials in his safety course, which gave Eubanks the opportunity to contribute to training content used by his peers.
Eubanks graduated in December 2025 and accepted a project engineer position with Cerris Builders.
Reflecting on the experience, Eubanks said he thoroughly enjoyed it and credited the program with helping him build discipline and time management skills, alongside new technical knowledge of AI tools and content creation.
In March, Eubanks presented a poster on his research at the Construction Institute (CI) & Construction Research Congress (CRC) joint conference, showcasing his work to both top academic researchers and industry professionals.
His research experience has also influenced his long-term plans. “It’s pushed me a little bit further toward grad school,” Eubanks said.
Visit the Innovation Ideas Competition and Research Program (I2CRP) page to learn how to get involved.
