In grade schools long ago, many people had to build something out of toothpicks or Popsicle sticks—a house, a bridge, a boat. It might have been an art project or a science experiment, but the idea was to make something new out of existing materials … One of those requirements is how composite materials behave during earthquakes. At the University of Alabama, the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering is doing seismic testing on CLT with the goal of “optimizing how much CLT and how much light-frame in the building that will make it work best,” says Thang Dao, assistant professor of structural engineering.