CEE Magazine Winter 2023

CEE

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering The Grainger College of Engineering University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Winter 2023

Department updates Alumni news and features

New major!

CEE istockphoto.com/Jacob Wackerhausen

The CEE magazine is published twice a year for alumni and friends of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering Students will: Learn the skills to take on climate change and solve complex, evolving societal challenges Choose an emphasis: environmental sustainability with energy, climate, water resources, public health, or clean water and sanitation Engage in hands-on undergraduate research Enter the rapidly growing job market for Environmental Engineers protecting communities and ecosystems

Ana P. Barros, NAE Donald Biggar Willett Chair of Engineering and Head Celeste Bock Senior Director of Advancement Operations (217) 333-6955 celeste@illinois.edu Steven Hall Director of Advancement (217) 300-7830 stevhall@illinois.edu Keely K. Ashman Assistant Director of Alumni and Corporate Relations Olivia Grubisich Communications Specialst

CEE Magazine Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering The Grainger College of Engineering University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 1201 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250 205 North Mathews Avenue Urbana, Illinois 61801 cee.illinois.edu Cover: The sculpture “Convolution” by Barbara Cooper hangs outside the Vernon L. Snoeyink Water Chemistry Laboratory in the new Civil and Environmental Engineering Building. The sculpture was funded through the Art in Architecture Program.

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Funding our Priorities/Ana Barros

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Our Incredible CEE Ecosystem/David Byrd

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Transportation Secretary Buttigieg visits CEE

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60 years of alumni engagement

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New rail center to be established at UIUC

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Ouyang named to ICT Mobility position

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New degree program: BS in Environmental Engineering

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Verma researches toxicity of indoor air pollution

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Team develops fast, automated, affordable test for cement durability

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ICT, IDOT research local pavement materials

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Impact of oyster reefs on coastal morphology studied

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Project applies the biological principle of mutualism to infrastructure monitoring

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Workshop explores technologies to aid disaster resilience

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Research explores the molecular changes of osteoarthritis

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Department News

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Baker, Barkan receive CEE Impact Awards

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Distinguished Faculty Awards: Fernandez, Khachaturian, Struble

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Impact of Giving

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Alumni news

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In memoriam

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Parting Shot: On top of the world

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Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 3

have identified a u Researchers number of chokepoints in U.S.

CEEAA Board of Directors

agricultural and food supply chains through a study that improves our understanding of agri-food supply chain security and may aid policies aimed at enhancing its resilience.

President David L. Byrd, P.E. (BS 01, MS 06) Aggregate Construction Consultants Skokie, Ill. Vice President Dana B. Mehlman, P.E. (BS 99, MS 01) Vedder Price PC Chicago Second Vice President and Secretary Daniel J. Whalen, P.E. (BS 84, MS 85) Hanson Professional Services Inc. Springfield, Ill.

Check out these and other stories at

uCEE.ILLINOIS.EDU/NEWS

Past President Paula C. Pienton, P.E., S.E. (BS 85) CN Homewood, Ill. Directors Ama O. Addai, P.E., (BS 04) Ardmore Roderick Chicago

graduate student Ally Kolar (BS 22) u CEE shares her Illinois experience, from teaching engineering exchange students to traveling to Rome with her Global Leaders in Construction Management cohort.

Jackie A. Becker, P.E. (BS 07) Ameren Transmission St. Louis, Mo. Kimberly Cummins, P.E. (BS 98) Cummins Engineering Corporation Springfield, Ill. Kevin C. Fuhr, P.E. (BS 96) Hanson Professional Services Chicago Brian S. Heil, P.E., (BS 96, MS 97) Oates Associates Inc. Collinsville, Ill. Matthew A. Johnson, P.E., S.E. (BS 04, MS 08) Fehr Graham Champaign

13th Symposium on River, Coastal and u The Estuarine Morphodynamics, RCEM 2023,

Kurt A. Keifer, P.E. (BS 97, MS 99, PhD 06) IMS Infrastructure Management Services Tempe, Ariz.

was held at UIUC September 24-28. More than 200 delegates from 20 countries included engineers, geologists, ecologists, geomorphologists, biologists, computer scientists, applied mathematicians and water managers – all of whom study coastal, estuary and river processes.

Justin R. Lewis, P.E. (BS 07, MS 08) Keller North America Chicago Michael J. Mack, P.E. (BS 89) Burns & McDonnell Downer’s Grove, Ill. Andrew J. Martin, P.E. (BS 98) Greeley and Hansen LLC Chicago

Professor Helen Nguyen will u CEE begin planning a global center to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies for vulnerable communities in the changing climate, thanks to a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Douglas S. Pelletier (BS 95) Burns & McDonnell Chicago Katherine Pripusich-Sienkiewicz (BS 03, MS 13) Amazon Web Services Chicago Robert Risser (BS 87, MS89) Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Chicago Richard Sieracki (BS 74) The Kenrich Group LLC Chicago Michael Vitale, P.E. (BS 82, MS 84) Mott MacDonald Cleveland, Ohio

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Funding our priorities

By Ana Barros, NAE Donald Biggar Willett Chair in Engineering and Head Dear Alumni and Friends of CEE, I am pleased to write at this time of Thanksgiving to thank you individually and the CEE Alumni Association as a whole for your generosity, dedication and loyalty to CEE. I am delighted to report that the state of CEE is strong. Our student enrollment is approaching 1,400 (including more than 600 graduate students) and we see great enthusiasm around our new B.S. in Environmental Engineering coming this fall, research activity and expenditures are the highest in a decade, CEE is home to two new national Centers, and our staff, faculty and students are excelling and being recognized in myriad ways. We are looking forward to the many opportunities and challenges worth meeting to provide an exceptional student-centered education and to remain at the forefront of the profession.

In 1965, the department’s alumni newsletter announced the establishment of a new fund to enable donors to direct their gifts to the civil engineering department to be used for whatever needs were most pressing. Established through a Declaration of Trust between the University of Illinois Foundation and the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Civil Engineering Alumni Association, the resulting Civil Engineering Trust Fund was for “the advancing and furthering of purposes and achievements of the

Civil Engineering Department.”

In recent years, the CEE Trust Fund was renamed The Priority Fund, but nearly 60 years later, its purpose remains the same: to allow the department to direct funds wherever they are most needed.

In 1965, the list of examples for use of the Trust Fund included “scholarships for undergraduate students or fellowships for graduate students; student loans; research programs; establishment of special professorships or chairs; publications; lecture programs; faculty and student participation in regional and national conventions; conferences for educational or professional purposes, stimulation of interest among alumni and friends of the department; acquisition of library and reference materials; or purchase or rental of equipment; visiting professorships; and special prizes for students and/or staff for scholastic or professional achievement.”

Today, the need for unrestricted, discretionary funds is just as keen. Thanks to our Priority Fund, we can give undergraduate students the opportunity to work on research projects with faculty and graduate students while getting paid, through the Research Experience for Undergraduates program. Thanks to the Priority Fund, the department can provide much-needed financial support to our more than 25 CEE-based Registered Student Organizations and CEE undergradu-

ate and graduate student activities. The CEE magazine, which has kept CEE alumni informed and engaged for 60 years, is also supported by this fund. Other uses include purchase and replacement of specialized equipment for labs and financial support to allow faculty to explore exciting new directions in research. Another innovation made possible by the Priority Fund recently are “Brain Breaks” for students – once-a-month, drop-in events with snacks and table games, where undergrads and grad students alike can visit with faculty, staff and each other in a relaxed environment. These events have helped encourage a sense of community – something that had suffered during the pandemic.

During the department’s campaign to raise money for the new Civil and Environmental Engineering Building and the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge, gifts to the Priority Fund fell off a bit, as donors focused their philanthropy on Continued on the next page

To explore ways to give to the department, please contact: Ana Barros, barros@illinois.edu or Steve Hall, Director of Advancement, (217) 300-7830, stevhall@illinois.edu

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Funding our priorities

Our Incredible CEE Ecosystem

Continued from the previous page

the campaign for teaching laboratories, reconfigurable classroom space, and office space for our burgeoning numbers of faculty and graduate students. This focused generosity resulted in the success of the greatest capital project the department had undertaken since the building of the Hydrosystems Laboratory in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and we are so grateful. We see the impact of these new spaces every day. And while it is true that there is still work to be done to realize the full potential of the new laboratory spaces, we must turn our attention to additional needs.

So I ask each of you to consider a gift to the Priority Fund. If you belonged to a student organization during your college years, or found yourself amazed by a faculty member’s innovative research, or enjoy hearing about events and research in your home department at Illinois, then you have benefited from the Priority Fund. As always, I know the department can count on you, our students of the past, to reach back to help the students of the present.

In this season of gratitude, know that the department is grateful for all of our alumni around the world, doing great work and carrying the Illinois name to new heights of achievement.

Go Illini! i

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“Like a fine wine, you get better with age.”

— Everyone

By David Byrd (BS 01, MS 06) President, CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors I know all of you reading this have asked yourself at one point in time, likely after a long day of work during your commute home, “If Civil and Environmental Engineering were associated with a type of wine, what would it be?” As Illinois CEE’s are known for our inherent ability to think deeply about these philosophical questions, I’m sure you eventually settled on Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a well-balanced and versatile wine that has a well-thought-out blend of characteristics, similar to how a Civil Engineer has to balance out the many factors for their projects – structural integrity, cost effectiveness and environmental impact, to name a few. We are also constantly adapting to new challenges within our profession, kind of like how a good Cab can pair well with many various dishes should the Chef need to change the menu at the last minute. And like a fine wine, our Alumni Association continues to get better with age. We turned 60 this year!

On May 25, 1963, the first meeting of the CEE Alumni Association (CEEAA) took place, while Nathan Newmark was serving as department head. This issue has devoted several of its following pages to our history and serves as a fantastic and educational trip down memory lane for

the CEEAA and the department overall.

We have come a long way in 60 years; the alumni association is as active as it has ever been, far outpacing all other departments of The Grainger College of Engineering.

If you’ve ever tasted a very young Cabernet Sauvignon, you know to expect your palate to be filled with mouth-drying tannin that can make your teeth stick to the insides of your lips. It’s best to drink a Cab after five years of aging, giving the tannin time to mellow out and making for a smoother wine. Similarly, recent graduates can sometimes find their early careers less than palatable. For this reason, the Young Engineers Division (YED) was established to help smooth out the transition to the workforce for our young CEE alumni. The YED has worked through its inaugural cycle of leadership and success-

Learn more about the YED and how to get involved at this link, or email uiuc.yed@gmail.com

Join us!

Apply to join the CEEAA Board of Directors!

The CEEAA Board of Directors, pictured under the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge in October 2023. From left, Kimberly Cummins, Paula Pienton, Justin Lewis, Kevin Fuhr, Andy Martin, Dan Whalen, Brian Heil, Kurt Keifer, Jackie Becker, Dana Mehlman, Rich Sieracki, Dave Byrd, Doug Pelletier, Kate Sienkiewicz, Matt Johnson, Michael Mack, Ama Addai.

fully transitioned duties to a new group of young leaders looking to build off the momentum created from their predecessors. The YED has emerged as the CEEAA’s link to engaging our younger alumni base in just a few short years. I had the pleasure of presenting the YED’s first scholarship at the CEE department’s annual award convocation last April; you can read more about this new scholarship elsewhere in this issue. YED Chairperson Lance Langer (BS 15) and his committee heads are doing great work!

The CEEAA is expanding our Spring Break Shadow program this year. We actively match students with firms that want to offer a short one- to five-day “in the life of” experience working for your firm for current students. Expect your firm to re-

ceive information about this program and how to participate. Additionally, we are looking for alumni interested in serving on the CEEAA Board of Directors. We have a number of seats to fill for terms starting in September 2024. The selection of new directors will occur in March via self-nominations we have received. If you have a passion to serve our alumni, students and the department overall, please take the time to fill out a nomination form located on the CEE at Illinois website.

Mark your calendars for March 7, 2024, for our annual Alumni Awards Dinner at the Union League Club in Chicago. We have a great program planned for everyone! I look forward to catching up with all of you then. ILL…

For more information about the

CEE Alumni Association Spring Break Shadow Program please contact Justin Lewis, chair of the Student Support Committee, JRLewis@keller-na.com

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, state dignitaries visit to support transportation infrastructure research initiatives “It was a true honor to welcome Secretary Buttigieg, Representative Budzinski and Senator Durbin,” said CEE Department Head Ana Barros. “This department has a long history of leadership in transportation engineering research, teaching and public service. From its earliest days, Illinois engineers designed and built the nation’s transportation infrastructure – from the very first roadway designs developed in the early 20th century to today’s pioneering research in physics-informed neural networks for transportation.”

The visitors then participated in a panel discussion, moderated by The Grainger College of Engineering Dean Rashid Bashir in the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center, with an audience of 150 faculty, staff, students, and state and local officials. Topics included disruptions in the supply chain from COVID-19, the opportunities provided by President Biden’s $1 trillion 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the rewards of public service.

“This University and this department, rightly, are proud of the contributions they have made in U.S. infrastructure and to our economy in so University of Illinois System President Timothy Killeen greets many ways,” Buttigieg Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. said. “We are going to The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and The Grainger College of Engineering at Illinois hosted a visit July 31, 2023, by Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation; U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski; and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

The group was in Central Illinois to highlight a $22.6 million grant to redesign a problematic railroad crossing in Savoy, Ill. Afterwards, they visited CEE to learn about the latest transportation-related research as CEE faculty and students gathered on the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge to present their projects.

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look for more; having seen some of the demonstrations on the walk over I can see extraordinary things are around the corner – the brainpower that is emanating from this institution.

"Due to the infrastructure bill, we are now marshalling in resources that represent the greatest infusion of federal dollars into U.S. transportation infrastructure in my lifetime – to maximum effect. What that means is not only do we have to choose good projects, we have to make better use of every dollar of infrastructure spending and every square foot of pavement and every inch of rail … because we may not get another moment like this for a while.”

Durbin and Budzinski, who both have strong ties to the University of Illinois, echoed these sentiments.

“It’s exciting to come to this campus – always exciting,” Durbin said, “mainly because of the people on this campus and what they mean to our nation and to the world.”

“I got involved in public service actually at Quad Day at the University of Illinois,” said Budzinski, an alumna of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “I hope we all leave today inspired by the transformational moment that we are all experiencing from infrastructure to the CHIPS Act and the raised investment to addressing climate change. These are all very real efforts that will transform our communities.”

Continued on page 10

The Grainger College of Engineering Dean Rashid Bashir moderated a panel discussion in the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center, which was attended by about 150 faculty, staff and students. From left: Bashir; U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski; Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation; and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

“This University and this department, rightly, are proud of the contributions they have made in U.S. infrastructure and to our economy in so many ways.”

—Pete Buttigieg Professor Chris Barkan explains an aspect of the RailTEC research display for Pete Buttigieg.

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“It’s exciting to come to this campus — always exciting — mainly because of the people on this campus and what they mean to our nation and to the world.

— Dick Durbin

Continued from page 8

CEE’s roots in transportation engineering go back to the founding of the University of Illinois; Railway Engineering and Civil Engineering were both among the original course offerings in 1867. Today, CEE at Illinois hosts a 110-year-old conference for transportation engineers and is home to three major transportation research centers, all of which were represented during the visit: The Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC) Established in February 2023 and supported by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, TRANSIPIC works to improve the durability of transportation infrastructure by advancing new technology and materials, particularly in precast concrete systems. The new center is a consortium of five universities, including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, Louisiana State University, SUNY University at Buffalo and the University of Texas San Antonio. CEE Professor Bassem Andrawes leads the center.

“In light of new challenges facing our nation and the world, we need, now more than ever, to invest in research that will take our infrastructure into the future,” Andrawes said. “TRANS-IPIC will help our nation meet this challenge through performing groundbreaking transformative research. The support we’ve received from the U.S. DOT grant established this effort. And to be housed within Grainger Engineering means we can attract the best engineering students and researchers in the world to help innovate within this effort.”

Top photo: Professor Bassem Andrawes demonstrates for Pete Buttigieg how shape memory alloys work. Andrawes’s research group has been researching these smart materials for transportation infrastructure applications and technologies. Middle photo: Assistant Professor Ria Kontou discusses her work with (from left), Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Omer Osman, Pete Buttigieg and Professor Imad Al-Qadi. Bottom photo: Buttigieg chats with (from left) Osman, Assistant Professor Ramez Hajj and Al-Qadi.

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The Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) Led by CEE Professor Imad L. Al-Qadi, ICT serves the Illinois Department of

Transportation engineering students and faculty pose at the entrance to the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge with (from center, blue tie) Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation; Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Omer Osman; U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski; Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering Rashid Bashir.

Transportation, the state of Illinois and the nation’s needs through research, education and outreach. ICT promotes the timely implementation of cost-effective technologies that improve safety and reliability as well as reduce congestion for the state of Illinois and the nation.

“It was a great and exciting honor to present the accomplishments of CEE transportation students, staff and faculty at the state, national and international levels – especially those of the Illinois Center for Transportation – to Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Representative Nikki Budzinski, Senator Dick Durbin, and [Illinois Department of Transportation] Secretary Omer Osman,” Al-Qadi said. “Secretary Buttigieg was really impressed with the inclusiveness and interdisciplinary approach that ICT uses to tackle transportation challenges in the state and the nation.

He was especially interested in the use of various technologies to advance mobility, such as artificial intelligence, autonomy, computer vision, renewable energy, logistics, infrastructure assessment, wireless sensors, materials science, battery technology, quantum communication, supply chain, platoons and security, across local and network-wide scales.

“Secretary Buttigieg was excited about the vision of the Illinois Autono-

mous and Connected Track, especially the inclusiveness of the various aspects of mobility, incorporation of advanced technologies and cybersecurity techniques, and its ability to test under all-weather conditions.”

The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) RailTEC offers the most extensive curriculum in railway engineering and transportation in North America and is a global leader in practical and theoretical research advancing the field in a broad range of important and timely railroad and rail transit engineering and transportation topics. RailTEC has strong ties to industry and government and serves as a source for continuing education of rail professionals.

RailTEC is led by Professor Christopher P.L. Barkan, who said that conversations between railroad engineering faculty and students with the visitors focused on rail safety, an important topic for RailTEC researchers.

“This was a great opportunity for RailTEC and all the faculty and students in Transportation Engineering,” Barkan said.

“They were interested in rail safety and several in RailTEC are engaged in research

pertinent to this topic. Assistant Professor J. Riley Edwards’s work on the track system will help prevent derailments, and my research on optimizing tank car safety design reduces the likelihood of a hazardous materials spill if a derailment does occur. Although rail safety has dramatically improved in the past two decades, the derailment and hazardous materials release in Ohio early this year reminded us that accidents can still happen.”

The visit from Buttigieg, Budzinski and Durbin was motivating to researchers and students at the University, said Dean Rashid Bashir.

“When solving problems, Grainger Engineers do not wait to innovate,” Bashir said. “Our commitment to this type of collaborative and creative work comes from the complete confidence we have in our dedicated researchers and energized students. Seeing Secretary Buttigieg, Congresswoman Budzinski and Senator Durbin here honoring this commitment galvanizes us all around the idea that Grainger Engineering and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can change the world we live in for the better.” i Photos by Heather Coit Reporting by Aaron Seidlitz contributed to this story.

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60

years of alumni engagement

In 1963, the Department of Civil Engineering (CE) established its own Alumni Association. Then-Department Head Nathan Newmark had formally applied to the University of Illinois Alumni Association (UIAA) for official recognition of the CE group as a constituent chapter. As such, the CEAA would be credited with $2 of the $5 annual dues paid to the UIAA by any CE alumni.

The first meeting of the newly formed CE Alumni Association was held on May 25, 1963, at the Illini Union. A slate of officers was elected.

In honor of the 60th anniversary of what is now known as the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association and its hard-working Board of Directors, here’s a look at some of the earliest alumni news.

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60 “The Department needs your help in many ways. ... We hope that our common bond of having attended what we like to think of as the finest engineering college in the country will enable us to work together effectively in making it an even finer institution in the future.”

— Nathan Newmark (April 1964)

“This Department ranks first in the nation in number of Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering.”

(April 1964)

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Shoutout to the person who typed every issue on a manual typewriter.

The department shares some news about the building that would become Nathan M. Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, described as Phase I. Phases II and III were planned as the Hydrosystems Laboratory and a connecting bridge. The department did not realize the bridge until recent years. (August 1964)

“Eligible applicants were promptly notified and asked to pay a tuition deposit of $30 within two weeks.”

(August 1964)

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Newmark and Everitt contribute to the establishment of the National Academy of Engineering (August 1964)

The end of an era; CEE alumni still talk about their adventures at surveying camp.

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“The Civil Engineering Systems Laboratory has assumed a prominent role in the work of the Department.” (August 1964) The department pioneered the use of computers for civil engineering applications.

A few more memories from later years...

The alumni are introduced to the concrete canoe (Spring 1970) The CE Building is renamed after Newmark’s passing (Spring 1981)

Formal dining in the crane bay to celebrate the dedication of the new Civil Engineering Building (July 1968)

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New rail center to be established at Illinois A consortium led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will establish a new rail research and development center, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced in September.

The objectives of the center include improving the safety, efficiency, reliability and resilience of passenger and freight rail transportation. Annual funding of $5 million will be provided through the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Rail Research and Development Center of Excellence program.

“CEE is proud to be the home of the premier railroad engineering program in North America,” said Ana Barros, CEE department head. “This latest investment by the U.S. Department of Transportation is sure to pay dividends for years to come in the form of critical advancements in railroad research and education.”

The University of Illinois offers the most extensive research program and academic curriculum in railway engineering and transportation in North America through its Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC), which is headquartered in CEE. The new FRA National University Rail Center of Excellence (NURail CoE) is a consortium of nine universities and will be led by CEE Professor Christopher P. L. Barkan, who also serves as the George Krambles Director of RailTEC in CEE. RailTEC is a global leader in theoretical and translational research

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on a broad range of rail and rail transit engineering and transportation topics with advanced research underway developing solutions to improve railway, safety, system planning, operations, infrastructure design and maintenance, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability.

lective wisdom of academia, industry experts and government agencies to tackle the challenges facing our passenger and freight rail transportation systems, ensuring safety, efficiency and reliability are at the core of its mission.”

“Modern and safe rail infrastructure

UIUC offers the most extensive research program and academic curriculum in railway engineering and transportation in North America.

The award was announced September 29, 2023, by U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski.

“Our railways have always been the backbone of America, connecting communities, powering industries and propelling our economy forward,” Durbin said.

“Yet, with the evolving demands of the 21st century, there is an urgent need to modernize and optimize our rail systems.

The National University Rail Center of Excellence, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will harness the col-

Chris Barkan

is critically important to our state and nation, and this investment will help boost the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign’s efforts to improve our rail systems,” said Duckworth. “I’m proud to see the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continuing to deliver right here in Illinois, and I’ll keep advocating for federal resources for infrastructure improvements that help working families across our state get where they need to be faster, safer and easier all while helping create jobs in the process.”

“Students and faculty at the University of Illinois lead the way in 21st century research and technology every day – and it’s only fitting we tap their expertise to help bring our rail system into the future,” said Budzinski. “I’m thrilled to see my alma mater selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation to spearhead a National University Rail Center of Excellence with partners across the country. I look forward to seeing the hard work of our Illini improve safety and efficiency in this critical national industry.”

“I am delighted that the Federal Railroad Administration is recognizing Urbana’s expertise in rail research and workforce development,” said Susan Martinis, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at UIUC. “I applaud Sen. Durbin for his work to authorize the Rail R&D Center of Excellence, and for being such a champion of our research enterprise.”

Barkan thanked members of the Illinois delegation for their support of the legislation that led FRA to create the new center saying, “We greatly appreciate the Illinois delegation’s vision for the importance of rail to our state and the nation and are grateful for the confidence that FRA has shown in selecting us to lead the first-ever FRA Rail Center of Excellence.”

Negotiations with FRA are underway with the goal of having the contract in place by the end of the year.

In addition to UIUC, the NURail CoE consortium includes the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Delaware, Kansas State University, Michigan Technological University, Morgan State University, Rutgers University, University of Texas at Austin, and Tuskegee University.

In addition to the consortium’s focus advancing the state of the art of rail transport, a critical objective of the NURail CoE will be development of educational and research programs that expand opportunities for minority and women scholars and encouraging them to pursue rail careers. i

Ouyang named ICT Associate Director for Mobility The Illinois Center for Transportation has named CEE Professor Yanfeng Ouyang, University of Illinois George Krambles Endowed Professor in Rail and Public Transit, as its Associate Director for Mobility.

Ouyang’s role, which began August 16, will include promoting ICT’s collaborative research activities with other UIUC units, industry partners and peer institutions.

He will also support and develop new research initiatives in the areas of autonomous, connected, electrified and shared mobility systems.

Ouyang’s goals include engaging a broader range of federal, state, local and private sponsors to help expand ICT’s research activities on promoting future mobility — including those supporting the development of the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track.

He also aims to further strengthen ICT’s education and outreach efforts.

Key issues Ouyang hopes ICT will explore include sustainable and equitable mobility systems for passengers and freight in urban and rural areas, types of technology-enabled mobility services that will best serve the future, policies to manage mobility supply and demand, and future mobility and energy solutions to improve community resilience and quality of life.

Ouyang has served on the CEE faculty since 2005. His research involves transportation systems engineering,

Yanfeng Ouyang

with a focus on mobility service planning, network optimization and operations control for efficiency, resilience and sustainability.

Ouyang, an ICT researcher since 2006, is involved with several ongoing Illinois Department of Transportation-sponsored projects involving transit ridership and needs as well as transportation safety.

His recent ICT-IDOT projects include Development of Design Guidance for Smart Work Zone Systems, Development of a Pavement Friction Management Program, Quantifying Impacts of Prolonged Events on Transit System Ridership, Statistical Analysis of COVID-19’s Impact on Transit Ridership for CTA Rail, CTA Bus, PACE and METRA (Pilot Study), Development of Guidelines for Messages in Dynamic Messaging Signs to Improve Safety, Compliance and Avoid Distraction; and Investigating Statewide Transit Maintenance Needs.

Ouyang is grateful for the opportunity to join ICT’s team and to help promote the future of emerging mobility services.

“I was fortunate to join UIUC in the same year when ICT was established,” Ouyang said. “It is a true pleasure and honor to join the ICT team and contribute to the exciting efforts in the years to come.” i

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New degree program:

B.S. in Environmental Engineering

By John Popovics, Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies Although the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been awarding graduate degrees (Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy) in Environmental Engineering since 1972, we have never offered a bachelor’s degree specifically in environmental engineering. Rather, we have offered a B.S. in Civil Engineering with the possibility of an environmental engineering focus.

We now see an opportunity to launch a strong, distinct environmental engineering (EnvE) undergraduate program. This program will begin accepting first-year students in fall 2024. Existing students were given the option of transferring into the EnvE B.S. program beginning in this current academic year.

The motivation for the EnvE B.S. degree is clear. Society faces a broad range of challenges related to sustainable development while, at the same time, improving quality of life. We believe that the depth and complexity of natural-built environment interactions, and the detailed design considerations needed for agile infrastructures, cannot be adequately addressed through current training programs in civil engineering – even with an environmental specialization. Environmental engineers must be prepared to address the increasingly complex and evolving challenges associated with population growth, urbanization and changing environments to achieve equitable, healthy and prosperous communities while simultaneously maintaining the

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John Popovics

ecosystems that support them. In other words, environmental engineers collaborate with environmental and climate scientists, planners, hazardous waste technicians, engineers, public policy experts and other specialists, such as experts in law and business, to address environmental problems and sustainability. A focused degree is needed to provide training and motivation for students to meet these requirements. Furthermore, environmental engineering has a distinct body of knowledge that is required for professional licensure (licensure is critical to environmental engineers’ ability to practice and advance their careers), which is evidenced by separate and distinct environmental engineering disciplinary examinations for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Professional Engineering (PE) examinations.

The EnvE B.S. degree at the University

of Illinois Urbana-Champaign therefore seeks to provide rigorous and focused training at the intersection of the natural sciences and engineering fundamentals.

The proposed program will be distinguished by attributes that are not available together in any individual degree program in the UI System, in the state of Illinois, or in the nation, including (i) the integration of atmospheric sciences with infrastructure planning and design, (ii) the development of computational skills including mathematical techniques to work with environmental and temporal datasets, (iii) the incorporation of engineering design experience distributed across the curriculum, and (iv) the provision of concentration areas and coursework in emerging areas of critical importance in the 21st century.

This degree program is expected to be completed in eight semesters of full-time studies, where enrolled students will gain core knowledge in math, science and engineering and select a “primary” concentration within the B.S. EnvE program from among the following five alternatives: Public Health Engineering; One Water; Energy and Environmental Sustainability; Climate and Environmental Sustainability; and Water Systems and Sustainability. Graduates will be well-positioned to pursue professional degree programs in engineering as well as diverse programs related to environmental policy, public health and the natural sciences.

The program is also anticipated to catalyze the development of educational and research initiatives across campus,

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beginning with those departments directly collaborating in the B.S. EnvE primaries, in particular the departments of Atmospheric Sciences, Community Health and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Additionally, the program is expected to be of greater interest (relative to civil engineering and most other engineering disciplines) to women and underrepresented minority students, which will help the Grainger College of Engineering increase their representation in the student body.

When fully implemented, we expect about 200 students to be enrolled in the program, with about 50 graduates per year. One of the main motivators for the development of the B.S. in Environmental Engineering degree is the market demand for students trained in this discipline. Environmental engineering-related professions have grown rapidly in recent

decades and are associated with two of the three engineering occupations with the largest projected employment increases (as a percentage) through 2030. It is expected that the graduates from the proposed program will help meet the growing need for environmental engineers without compromising the employment potential for graduates from existing programs in Illinois.

The department has earned ABET accreditation for its civil engineering degree and is prepared and well-positioned to earn ABET accreditation for the Environmental Engineering degree once it is eligible to do so. To earn ABET accreditation, a program must demonstrate suitable satisfaction of pre-set learning outcomes that consider both technical competencies as well as development of broader skills and ethics. The next scheduled ABET evaluation will occur in 2025. i

Environmental engineers must be prepared to address the increasingly complex and evolving challenges associated with population growth, urbanization and changing environments to achieve equitable, healthy and prosperous communities while simultaneously maintaining the ecosystems that support them.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 21

Verma leading research into toxicity of indoor air pollution health effects and that the PM mixtures arising from pertinent sources in different microenvironments could be vastly different in toxicity, Verma wrote.

A promising measure that has recently demonstrated credibility in epidemiological studies is the PM-driven cellular oxidative stress created by excess reactive oxygen species (ROS). The capability of PM2.5 to generate ROS or consume antioxidants is called the oxidative potential (OP), or ROS activity. Recent epidemiological studies have shown stronger associations between OP and specific health endpoints than with PM mass concentrations alone. However, these studies have focused only on ambient measurements, while the OP of PM2.5 in indoor environments, where most of the human exposure occurs, has hardly been investigated.

Verma’s team aims to fill that knowledge gap by comprehensively characterizing the origin of toxicity of indoor PM resulting from both indoor and ambient emission sources. They aim to investigate the evolution and dynamics of indoor OP resulting from indoor and ambient sources by developing and applying methods

Vishal Verma

to measure OP source and sink processes; establish an indoor OP emissions inventory by measuring the ROS activity of PM2.5 emitted from a wide variety of indoor emission sources frequently present in buildings; and conduct field evaluation and pilot application of methods to measure OP source and loss functions in a real indoor environment to predict indoor OP. The study, “Characterizing Sources and Sinks of the Oxidative Potential of Indoor Particulate Matter,” is funded by a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Researchers include professors Brent Stephens and Mohammad Heidarinejad from Illinois Tech. i

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Indoor air pollution is largely unregulated and not well understood. Exposure to inhalable fine particulate matter (PM2.5), particularly indoor concentrations, is known to be harmful, but the causal mechanisms are unclear. In a new study funded by the National Science Foundation and led by CEE Associate Professor Vishal Verma, researchers from both UIUC and Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago will advance understanding of the sources and health effects of a range of indoor air pollutants and provide an important benchmark for future studies.

“Indoor air pollution ranks ninth among 69 risk factors of disease globally that are believed to be preventable,” Verma wrote. “More than 4% of all global deaths are attributed to indoor air pollution.”

One of the most hazardous components of indoor air pollution is PM2.5.

Although ambient PM2.5 concentrations are highly regulated, there are no regulatory standards for indoor PM2.5 concentrations. Recent studies have shown that PM2.5 mass is not the best proxy for its

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CEE researchers have developed a new test that can predict the durability of cement in seconds to minutes – rather than the hours it takes using current methods. The test measures the behavior of water droplets on cement surfaces using computer vision on a device that costs less than $200. The researchers said the new study could help the cement industry move toward rapid and automated quality control of their materials.

The results of the study, led by Illinois CEE Assistant Professor Nishant Garg, are reported in the journal npj Materials Degradation.

“Concrete is one of the most consumed materials on our planet, second only to water,” Garg said. “Over time, the concrete used to build our infrastructure degrades over time via exposure to deicing salts; freeze and thaw cycles; and ingress of water – all of which can lead to corrosion of the rebar that is used to strengthen the structures. Ultimately, this leads to failure, sometimes catastrophically, as seen in the 2021 condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla., where 98 lives were lost.”

One of the key tests used to predict the durability of cementitious systems is based on the ability of cement paste – a mixture of cement-based binder and water – to absorb water, Garg said. Water absorption is linked to cement’s durability; the more porous the cement paste is, the more water it will absorb, ultimately leading to corrosion of the embedded rebar in reinforced concrete.

A standard test, known as ASTM C1585, is performed in a lab by exposing a concrete sample that contains cement paste to water while a technician continuously measures the “sorptivity” – or how much water the sample absorbs

Michelle Hassel

Team develops fast, automated, affordable test for cement durability

Assistant Professor Nishant Garg, standing, and graduate student Hossein Kabir used computer vision to develop a fast and convenient method for testing cement durability that can be used in the field or laboratory.

and transmits – by observing its weight change for several hours, if not days.

In the study, the new device predicts initial sorptivity using computer vision to see how quickly a single water droplet is absorbed into the surface within the first few seconds or minutes. Garg said the test is far less tedious than the current ASTM method and can be performed on the fly in the field or in the lab.

“We performed the new test on more than 60 unique samples, and there’s a fairly good correlation between our results and the results from the conventional ASTM test method,” Garg said. “So we are now proposing our new testing method as an alternative to test the durability of cementitious systems in a few seconds.”

In addition to the importance of droplet absorption, the research team also learned that the initial angle at which wa-

ter droplets come into contact with the cement surface matters, too.

“The dynamics of absorption change quickly while the water droplets change shape on the surface,” Garg said. “Intricacies like these are all factored into our new test.”

The team is currently working on ways to scale up the test for mortars and more varieties of concrete, which are texturally and chemically more complex.

“The key takeaway from the study is that testing the durability of building materials is very slow, tedious and labor-intensive,” Garg said. “With the availability of technologies like computer vision and analysis, we can develop tests that are faster, automated and convenient.”

The department of civil and environmental engineering at Illinois supported this research. i

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 23

ICT, IDOT research local pavement materials

By McCall Macomber Using local goods is key to reducing environmental impacts caused by hauling materials. Our pavement materials are no different.

Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) and Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) aim to increase the use of local pavement materials in a joint project, “R27-216: Optimizing the Use of Local Aggregates in Stone-matrix Asphalt (SMA).”

Imad Al-Qadi, ICT director and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, leads the effort with Brian Hill, IDOT’s hot-mix asphalt operations engineer. Jim Trepanier, IDOT’s engineer of Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA), aggregate and chemical tests, led the project until his retirement in December 2022.

The two agencies seek to evaluate the use of locally available aggregates – materials such as gravel or crushed stone that are bound together to form roads, among other uses – from Illinois in stone-matrix asphalt, a resilient and flexible pavement mixture.

Illinois, which does not produce the high-strength materials used in SMA, currently imports aggregates for SMA from surrounding states. The cost to transport these aggregates generally leads to increased mixture costs.

“Using local aggregates is a challenge because they are not as strong as aggregates that we import from other states,” Al-Qadi said. “We wanted to come up with a new design that will allow us to use local aggregates while maintaining performance.”

Local aggregates available in Illinois generally include dolomite, limestone and gravel.

Effectively using local materials in

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The constructed test site for a joint Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) and Illinois Department of Transportation project at ICT in Rantoul, Ill., on May 19, 2023. The 450-foot-long site consists of six pavement sections made with different stone-matrix asphalt mixtures using aggregates available in Illinois.

SMA will not only decrease construction costs but also lower environmental impacts through reduced fuel and energy usage as well as emissions.

“SMA mixtures have performed well in Illinois, which has been documented in several ICT projects,” Hill said. “IDOT is really interested in the use of locally available coarse aggregate to identify if we can see a reduction in mixture costs and reduction in environmental impact while maintaining mixture stability and performance.”

Through a series of performance tests, the project team selected four SMA mixes made with aggregates from various parts of Illinois and two control mixes made with imported aggregate.

A construction crew, led by Open Road Paving, assembled a 450-foot-long test area at ICT, where they placed the six SMA mixes on top of concrete and hotmix asphalt layers on May 18 and 19.

The construction crew used a groundpenetrating radar technique developed

by Al-Qadi and colleagues to measure the pavement’s density in real time, a patent of which is pending as part of a Federal Highway Administration project.

Underneath the SMA layer, Al-Qadi and his students installed 53 sensors, which measure strain from simulated traffic loads as well as temperature, and 12 pressure cells, which measure vertical pressure at the bottom of the SMA layer.

The next steps? Use ICT’s upgraded Accelerated Transportation Loading and System to collect data and to compare the mixes’ performance. ATLAS simulates a pavement’s long-term performance in an accelerated period using real-life traffic and environmental conditions, allowing researchers to determine how a pavement will perform in real life.

Al-Qadi’s team will test the pavement sections using different loads with acceleration and deceleration as well as shear stresses at specific angles. If the ATLAS test sections demonstrate promising results, IDOT aims to update their specifi-

Impact of oyster reefs on coastal morphology is focus of new project

cations and supporting documents for SMA using local materials.

“If proven successful, those specifications and supporting document updates should allow for more options for mix designers and potentially increase the use of locally available coarse aggregate in SMA mixtures, which could lead to reduced mixture costs and reduced environmental impact,” Hill said.

Al-Qadi credits the success of the effort thus far to the collaboration between UIUC, IDOT and industry members.

“The Technical Review Panel of this project, led by Jim and Brian, has been wonderful in providing feedback during the whole process, from coming up with the mix designs to the plan for construction,” Al-Qadi said. “The contractor who worked with us, Open Road Paving, has also been amazing.”

For ICT’s graduate students, the project had an additional benefit: the chance to get hands-on experience.

“This has been a very nice experience for my students to be involved in construction, instrumentation and testing while paving,” Al-Qadi said. “The students got to have hands-on experience of something they usually learn about only in class.”

The joint ICT-IDOT project will conclude March 2024. i

address critical research needs within the coastal community and advance the state of knowledge of coastal science.”

An extensive series of experiments is planned in the large wave flume at the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory in 2024, with a second experimental series to be conducted in 2025 at the Large-Scale Sediment Transport Facility at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory in Vicksburg, Miss.

Additional researchers include Assistant Professor Alberto Canestrelli of the University of Florida and Associate Professor William Nardin of the University of Maryland. i An oyster reef, below, and (inset) two scaleddown, 3D-printed models of oyster reef breakwaters for small-scale laboratory experiments. The model on the left is covered with oysters, while the one at right is bare.

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Al-Qadi places a strain gauge cable embedded in a base layer saw cut. Al-Qadi’s team instrumented the test area with 53 sensors to measure strain from simulated traffic loads using ICT’s Accelerated Transportation Loading System as well as temperature.

A team including CEE Associate Professor Rafael Tinoco will study the impact of oyster reefs on coastal morphology with the goal of informing restoration strategies, thanks to a four-year, $999,319 project funded by the U.S. Coastal Research Program.

Oyster reefs form when oysters cluster on hard, sub- Rafael Tinoco merged surfaces and fuse together as they grow. The reefs provide habitat for other ocean creatures and plants.

The project was developed with input and guidance from end-users in Florida and Maryland to connect ecologists, engineers and biologists in an interdisciplinary effort to study the reefs with a combination of physical experiments and numerical modeling. The overall goal is to provide end-users with clear guidelines on the effects of oyster reefs on coastal morphology.

The U.S. Coastal Research Program supports “academic proposals that align with or support federal research priorities in sediment transport processes to

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 20232525 Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023

Project applies the biological principle of mutualism to infrastructure monitoring In nature, two species to predict, reconfigure and often interact to their muadapt,” El-Gohary writes. tual benefit. Birds called oxThe CPS envisioned by peckers, for example, ride this project will feature three around on the backs of large integrated components: grazing animals like rhinos, data-driven, knowledge-ineating parasites such as the formed deep learning methflies that pester their hosts. ods for generalizable damIn a new research project age prognostics to predict led by CEE Professor Nora Nora El-Gohary the onset and propagation El-Gohary, this principle of of infrastructure damages, “mutualism” is being applied to improve providing information about target damdamage sensing in infrastructure through ages to inform reconfigurable sensing; the development of a new Cyber-Physical signal difference maximization theorySystem (CPS), thanks to a $1.2 million based reconfigurable sensing methods grant from the National Science Founda- to optimize and physically control the tion. configurations of the sensors to actively “Drawing inspiration from mutualism seek to monitor each of the predicted tarin biology where two species interact in a get damages, providing damage-seeking way that benefits both, the cyber and the feedback to inform damage prognostics; physical interact in a way that they simul- and quality-aware edge cloud computtaneously benefit from and contribute to ing methods for efficient and effective each other to enhance the ability of a CPS damage information extraction from raw

sensing signals, serving as the bridge between damage prognostics and reconfigurable sensing.

The proposed CPS will be tested in multi-damage monitoring of bridges using simulation-based and actual CPS prototypes and would be generalized to monitoring other civil infrastructure in the future. In the civil infrastructure systems domain, the mutualistic interactionenabled CPS will allow for reconfiguring a single type of sensor, adaptively based on damage prognostics, to monitor multiple classes of infrastructure damages, improving the cost-effectiveness of multidamage infrastructure monitoring by reducing the types and number of sensors needed and maximizing the timeliness and accuracy of damage assessment and prediction at the same time.

El-Gohary is collaborating with UIUC Computer Science Professor Vikram Adve and Stevens Institute of Technology. i

Earthquake workshop explores disaster resilience technologies

By Olivia Grubisich Earthquake experts from around the globe came together for the advanced research workshop “Emerging and Disruptive Technologies to Enhance Disaster Resilience,” at Cukurova University in Turkey Oct. 23-24, 2023. CEE professor Tugce Baser organized the event in response to the Kahramamaras earthquake sequence and cascading hazards that struck southern Turkey in February 2023. NATO’s Science for Peace and Security program supported the event.

Throughout two days of programming, attendees participated in lectures, panels and break-out sessions focused on defining challenges and possible research

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initiatives related to characthe ideas and issues disterization of large ground cussed go beyond the deformations. These sessions problem of earthquakes. brought together speakers Researchers attending the and researchers with expertise event addressed the inin geosciences, civil engineercreasing frequency and seing, remote sensing, artificial verity of hazardous events intelligence and disaster reand cascading hazards sponse. Speakers included Lt. Tugce Baser around the globe. The Corey J. McGlynn of the U.S. workshop aimed to idenAir Force Base in Adana, Turtify opportunities for the key, and Maria Blees of the U.S. Embassy utilization of technologies like AI, remote in Ankara, Turkey, who shared their expe- sensing and quantum technologies to deriences with damage assessment and re- tect large ground deformations related to covery efforts following the earthquake. natural disasters and mitigate the impacts Although the Kahramamaras earth- these events have on vulnerable people, quake sequence inspired the workshop, communities and infrastructure. i

By Ananya Sen Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint disease, affecting 22% of adults over 40 globally. Although the condition has been extensively studied from a medical perspective, the molecular changes associated with osteoarthritis remain unclear. In a new study, researchers have used a combination of techniques to track the progression of the disease and the changes associated with it.

The cartilage in the joints, along with a lubricant known as the synovial fluid, provides a smooth surface that helps withstand weight-bearing movements. The fluid contains several molecules, including hyaluronan (HA) and phospholipids.

Since the cartilage environment cannot be quickly healed or repaired, researchers have tried to diagnose the early stages of joint disease by monitoring the molecular weight and concentration of HA. “Although we know that in healthy joints there is very low friction, it is unclear which other molecules are involved and how they change during osteoarthritis,” said Rosa Espinosa-Marzal, Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Scholar and a professor of environmental engineering and science, and materials science and engineering.

“During the early stages of osteoarthritis, cartilage starts degrading, and previous research has shown that the molecular composition of the synovial fluid changes. We wanted to see if the two changes are related to each other.”

In a healthy joint, the molecular weight of HA varies between 2-20 MDa with a concentration ranging from 1-4 mg/ml. However, in diseased joints, HA is broken down resulting in a lower molecular weight. Additionally, its concentration is also reduced by 10 times. Based on these observations made by other researchers, the study looked at how the

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Research explores the molecular changes of osteoarthritis

concentration and moatomic force microscopy, to lecular weight of HA examine how these molecules influences the structure assemble on gold surfaces. of healthy and diseased “The formation of a film is joints. possible only when there is To do so, the rean optimal concentration of searchers combined HA and phospholipids. Even vesicles with high and though the gold surfaces have low molecular weight very little in common with HA. Using neutron cartilage, our studies indicate scattering and light Rosa Espinosa-Marzal that there could also be an opscattering, they discovtimum concentration under ered that the molecubiological conditions,” Espinosa-Marzal lar weight of HA can vastly change the said. “This is an important observation structure of the vesicles. Lower molecular because we can use the concentration weight HA, which mimics osteoarthritis- changes as a diagnostic tool.” diseased joints, results in larger vesicle The researchers are now working on size. They also observed that the molecu- using cartilage to understand whether lar weight of HA changes the thickness of their observations with gold surfaces also the phospholipid layers in the joints. hold true in a biologically relevant sysThe researchers also studied how tem. They are also interested in studying these differences can influence the for- the other molecular components that are mation of a protective film; in joints this found in joints to build a more comprefilm is responsible for the very low friction hensive model of the changes that are aswe need for unhindered motion. Once sociated with osteoarthritis. again, they used a combination of techThe study was funded by the National niques, quartz crystal microbalance and Science Foundation. i

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 27

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Zhao receives AGU Global Environmental Change Early Career Award CEE Assistant Professor Lei Zhao was announced as the 2023 recipient of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Global Environmental Change Early Career Award. Presented annually, the award recognizes outstanding contributions in research, educational or societal impacts in the area of global environmental change by honorees within 10 years of receiving their Ph.D. or highest terminal degree.

Zhao joined the faculty of CEE at Illinois in 2018. His research concerns the physical and engineering processes in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer where most human activities and environmental systems are concentrated, with a particular focus on built surfaces and urban environments. He combines theory, numerical modeling, remote sensing and in situ observations, and cutting-edge machine learning methods to study environmental fluid mechanics and land-atmosphere dynamics that relate to urban environments, urban climatology and hydrology, climate change, climate impacts and adaptation.

Zhao is affiliated with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment.

“I am truly humbled and honored to receive such a prestigious award,” Zhao said. “I highly appreciate AGU and the Global Environmental Change section for the recognition and, more importantly, for providing such a great international cross-fields platform to promote Earth and space sciences and support global communities continuously for over 100 years. I feel very lucky and deeply encouraged.

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Lei Zhao

“This award is never a single-person result; I sincerely appreciate all the wonderful people that I have collaborated with and all the brilliant young talents of my research group. This award reminds me of all the giants in science that I have the luck to meet and engage with. I hope I can transmit some of their great minds and values to my group and younger generations.

“This award will continuously encourage me, like all previous honorees as role models, to work hard on advancing the science and technology that shape a better Earth’s future. I hope that, through our group’s work, we could contribute to ensure future cities resilient, sustainable and livable for people to flourish.”

AGU is the world’s largest Earth and space science association. Honorees will be recognized at AGU23, which will convene more than 25,000 attendees from over 100 countries in San Francisco and online December 11-15, 2023. i

Several CEE doctoral students presented their research at Pavements 2023: those advised by Professor Imad Al-Qadi are Lama Abufares, Measurements of Asphalt Concrete’s Aggregate Dielectric Constant Using Ground-Penetrating Radar; Yusra Alhadidi, Stability of Repurposed Plastics in Asphalt Binder; Akash Bajaj (on behalf of José Rivera-Perez) Asphalt Concrete Crack and Rut Depth Prediction Using Extensive Database; Lara Diab, Data Organization and Analysis of Flexible Pavement Test Sections at the National Airport Pavement Test Facility; Javier García Mainieri, Optimization of Local Aggregate Use in SMA; and Watheq Sayeh, Network Pavement LifeCycle Cost Optimization: A PiecewiseLinearized Approach. Those advised by Ramez Hajj are Abhilash Vyas, Development of a New Balanced Mix Design Framework that Incorporates Binder Tests; and Qingwen Zhou, Impacts of Electrified Trucks on Flexible Pavements, Graph-based Simulator to Predict Airport Flexible Pavement Responses from 3D Finite Element Analysis.

Professor Imad L. Al-Qadi, Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Founding Director of the Illinois Center for Transportation, has been awarded the Roy W. Crum Award from National Academies’ Transportation Research Board (TRB). The award recognizes outstanding achievement in the performance and production of fundamental or developmental transportation-related research and is also a lifetime achievement award.

Al-Qadi is recognized for his diverse and distinct career accomplishments that have influenced the field of transportation and contributed tremendously to its growth by developing pavement material standards, analytics and technologies that continue to shape the evolution and advancement of resilient and sustainable transportation systems.

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Makhnenko awarded National Science Foundation CAREER Award Angshuman Baruah

Professor Imad Al-Qadi delivered the 2023 Carl L. Monismith Lecture at the International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference (Pavements 2023) in Austin, Texas, on June 15. Al-Qadi’s lecture focused on safe, resilient and zeroemission pavements. He emphasized the importance of multidisciplinary efforts to improve the sustainability of pavements while maintaining their resiliency.

Angshuman Baruah (MS 2020), a Ph.D. candidate in Structural Engineering working with Assistant Professor Ann Sychterz, has been awarded the 2023 O.H. Ammann Research Fellowship in Structural Engineering from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Baruah earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the National Institute of Technology-Silchar in India. Before coming to Illinois for his master’s, Baruah worked for five years for POWERGRID, an enterprise of the Indian government, to oversee construction of substations and implement infrastructure projects. His research focuses on adaptive structures, particularly active control for adaptive origami as civil infrastructure.

Ph.D. student Abigail Beck (MS 20), whose adviser is associate professor Eun Jeong Cha, and Ph.D. student Juanya Yu, whose adviser is Professor Paolo Gardoni, have won 2023 CERRA Student Recognition Awards at the International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP 14).

Continued on the next page

CEE assistant professor Roman Y. Makhnenko has won a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award. His project, “Shales as Barriers for Fluid Flow in Geoenergy Projects,” will address the challenges in characterization of clay-rich geomaterials’ behavior from laboratory to field scales.

“Shale formations are abundant in the subsurface and are key for successfully reaching the net-zero emission target to mitigate climate change by storing heat, CO2, H2 and nuclear waste deep underground,” Makhnenko says. “The large sensitivity of the low-permeable nanoporous clay-rich materials to changes in degree of saturation, mechanical loading, pore pressure and temperature, convert their characterization into a very challenging task. Overcoming this challenge is a required step to reliably predict and model the short- and long-term response of shales in assessing the safety of lowcarbon geoenergy projects.”

The research developments will be integrated into the educational program by training engineering students on approaching the design of energy geotechnics projects; guiding students to apply their knowledge to create video education modules; and engaging them in public deliberation, contributing to the nation’s effort to increase diversity in the STEM workforce and the worldwide effort to mitigate climate change.

Makhnenko joined CEE at Illinois in 2016. He leads the rock mechanics program at Illinois, which includes modern

Roman Makhnenko

high-pressure high-temperature rock testing facilities and the development of new graduate and undergraduate courses on the topic. The rock mechanics group is working on projects related to CO2 sequestration in the Illinois Basin, induced seismicity, assessment of seasonal hydrogen storage in saline aquifers, and the application of machine learning to efficiently characterize and model rock behavior in underground applications.

CAREER awards, administered under the Faculty Early Career Development Program, are the NSF’s most prestigious form of support and recognition for junior faculty who “exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. i

Civiland andEnvironmental EnvironmentalEngineering EngineeringAlumni AlumniAssociation—Winter Association—Winter2023 2023 29 Civil

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Fall Webinar: Garg presents “Three Tiny Tales from the World of Construction Materials” Assistant Professor Nishant Garg presented the webinar, “Three Tiny Tales from the World of Construction Materials” on September 28, 2023. The presentation was one in a series of faculty webinars presented for alumni and the public. All are available online.

“Our choice of construction materials has evolved over thousands of years, and it continues to evolve today,” Garg wrote.

“In this webinar, I will narrate three short stories from the world of construction materials in the context of the 21st century. The stories are titled Sustainability, Circularity and Resilience – all of which will build upon the latest research findings from my group.”

This webinar and others are available on CEE’s YouTube channel. Follow the link in the QR code at right, or visit http://youtube.com/ceeatillinois.

Hadil Helaly

Continued from the previous page ICASP is one of two main conferences in the field of civil engineering risk and reliability. The award is given to the students recognized as rising stars in the field based on their conference papers and presentations.

Nishant Garg

Associate professor R.D. Cusick and CEE Ph.D. student Seyed Aryan Emaminejad have won the SENTRY Artificial Intelligence in Wastewater Challenge for 2023. Their published work this year validated strategies to use bio-electrode sensor data to optimize supplemental carbon dosing in biological nutrient removal processes.

Professor Nora El-Gohary has been appointed Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, effective January 1, 2024, with Yong Kwon Cho, a Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology. El-Gohary is recognized for her expertise in data analytics and artificial intelligence. Cho is renowned for his contributions to field automation and robotics.

Ph.D. student Hadil Helaly (MS 20) has received the W.E. O’Neil Award. Her research is in optimizing the planning of conventional and accelerated bridge construction methods.

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DEPARTMENT NEWS

Zhang to pursue greener infrastructure thanks to NSF grant

Assistant Professor Eleftheria Kontou is an Associate Editor with the journal of Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. It is the leading journal in showcasing sustainable transportation systems research.

Professor James LaFave (BS 86, MS 87) has received the 2023 Martin P. Korn Award from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). The award goes to LaFave and his co-authors for their paper, “Seismic Performance of a Ductile Rod Exterior Connection System for Precast Concrete Industrial Buildings,” which was published in the PCI Journal. The award annually recognizes the authors of the best design/research/state-of-the-art paper in the PCI Journal on precast concrete used in buildings and other structures.

LaFave’s co-authors include former Illinois CEE graduate student Donghyuk Jung (PhD 18), who is now an assistant professor at Korea University in Seoul, and former Illinois CEE adjunct faculty member Thomas Kang, who is a professor at Seoul National University (SNU). The other co-authors are former SNU graduate students Dong Joo Lee and Sanghee Kim. Ph.D. candidate Shanshan (Shirley) Liu, an advisee of assistant professor Eleftheria Kontou, was awarded the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sus-

X. Shelly Zhang

Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Her research interests are in the general areas of topology optimization, stochastic programming, machine learning, multi-scale metamaterials, additive manufacturing and 3D/4D printing. She directs the MISSION Laboratory (MultI-functional Structures and Systems desIgn OptimizatioN), which focuses on exploring topology optimization, stochastic programming, and additive manufacturing to develop multifunctional, resilient, sustainable and innovative engineering infrastructure and materials for applications at different scales, from as large as high-rise buildings to as small as material microstructures. i

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Shanshan (Shirley) Liu

CEE Assistant Professor X. Shelly Zhang (BS 12, MS 14) has received a $337,054 grant from the National Science Foundation to advance the quest for greener infrastructure.

“Civil structures built with carbonintensive materials could produce a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions,” Zhang said. “Effective reduction of greenhouse gas can be partially achieved by the adoption of carbonnegative, bio-based construction materials.”

The project’s goal is to establish a theoretical, computational and experimentally validated framework to enable next-generation, carbon-negative civil structures with minimized lifecycle environmental impact and maximized structural performance. Through physics-based optimization, tailored fabrication and industrial application, the researchers will produce innovative structural solutions that yield negative net-carbon emissions, high performance and efficient material use, and effectively contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas and mitigation of global warming.

Zhang joined the CEE faculty in 2018.

She is also an alumna of CEE at Illinois, having earned her bachelor’s (2012) and master’s (2014) degrees in the department. Zhang is affiliated with the

Civiland andEnvironmental EnvironmentalEngineering EngineeringAlumni AlumniAssociation—Winter Association—Winter2023 2023 31 Civil 31

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Transport and Energy Efficiency Baker, Barkan honored with CEE tainable from the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation. It is given for transformative Impact Awards research proposals that challenge conWilliam F. Baker (MS 80) and Professor Christopher P.L. Barkan were awarded CEE Impact Awards in 2023.

The awards are presented to faculty or alumni whose sustained efforts and dedication have significantly advanced the mission of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, elevated our reputation, and enhanced the education of our students with longlasting impact.

William F. Baker is a Consulting Partner for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, a Chicago-based architectural and engineering firm. His work has included leadership roles in scores of major building projects.

As the designer of the structural system that enabled construction of the world’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – Baker is internationally known for structural engineering innovation.

He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. His many awards include the Gold Medal from the Institution of Structural Engineers (UK) and the Fazlur Rahman Khan Medal from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. He has Chris Barkan previously served on the CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors and established the Baker Structural Engineering Fund to support a faculty scholar in structural engineering.

Barkan is the George Krambles Faculty Fellow, the Executive Director of the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center

cee.illinois.edu 3232 cee.illinois.edu

ventional wisdom. Liu’s research will assess the potential of electric school buses to supply backup power to resilience hubs.

Ana Barros and Bill Baker

(RailTEC) and the George Krambles Director of the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center.

He teaches courses in railroad transportation engineering, railway signaling and operation, advances in rail technology and graduate seminars in various rail transportation topics. His research interests are in railroad transportation safety and risk analysis, hazardous materials transport, energy efficiency, rail capacity, railroad infrastructure and operating economics, and the development and cost-effectiveness of new rail technologies.

In his role as Director of the University of Illinois rail program, he has principal responsibility for the railroad engineering research and academic activities and coordinates and supports faculty and students, conducting research on a wide range of topics to improve rail safety, reliability and efficiency. i

Professor Arif Masud has been awarded the J.N. Reddy Medal for Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures “for contributions to the mechanics of coupled field problems, stabilized and variational multiscale methods, and discontinuous Galerkin methods.” Established in 2018, the J.N. Reddy Medal is conferred in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of advanced theoretical and computational methods for the modeling of natural and engineered materials. It honors J.N. Reddy, a well-known authority in applied and computational mechanics and founding Editor-in-Chief of MAMS Journal. The award was presented at the International Conference on Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures in August, where Masud presented the J.N. Reddy Medal Plenary Lecture.

Assistant Professor X. Shelly Zhang has been elected as an Executive Committee member of the largest and most influential research organization in her field, the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.

Assistant professor Lei Zhao has won the Timothy Oke Award for original research in the field of urban climatology from the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC). It is given annually to one or several individuals at an early to mid-career stage, when they achieve individual visibility and impact, develop and broaden the scope of their research topics and demonstrate leadership.

DEPARTMENT NEWS

CEE Alumni Association honors Distinguished Faculty 2023 The CEEAA Alumni Association (CEEAA) Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the department, to the education of our students, and to the pursuit of knowledge and betterment of society through research. It is conferred by the CEEAA Board of Directors at a luncheon on the day of their fall meeting on campus.

This year’s honorees are Gabriel G. Fernandez, Narbey Khachaturian (posthumous) and Leslie J. Struble. Struble could not attend the luncheon. Members of Khachaturian’s family accepted the award on his behalf.

Gabriel G. Fernandez (MS 72, PhD 77) For more than 30 years of dedication to, and excellence in, teaching in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as a Visiting Assistant Professor and a Research Engineer; and for the invaluable, real-world project experience he brought to his classes from his wealth of experience as an active consultant and expert in the design of underground structures.

Narbey Khachaturian (BS 47, MS 48, PhD 52) For nearly 65 years of dedication to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), beginning in 1945 when he arrived at UIUC to begin his undergraduate studies after a 129-day, wartime voyage from Iran, through 37 active years on the CEE faculty, to his nearly 20 years of continuing service as a Professor Emeritus; for his commitment to students as a professor of structural engineering, as CEE Associate Head for Undergraduate Affairs and as Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering; and for his service to the profession as a co-founder of the American Society of Civil Engineers Technical Council on Forensic Engineering in 1982.

Leslie J. Struble For service to the profession during her 43-year career in construction materials research and education for both industry and academia; for her contributions to building materials standards, and research and published writing on the composition, microstructure and properties of Portland cement and concrete; for her commitment to ensuring the CEE curriculum offered students high quality laboratory experiences with a strong writing component.

At left: Dave Byrd with Gabe and Pamela Fernandez. At right (from left to right): Grace Khachaturian, Steve Khachaturian, Margaret Khachaturian, David Byrd, Christian Khachaturian and Janet Khachaturian.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 33

GIVE

IMPACT OF GIVING CEE at Illinois is profoundly grateful for our alumni and friends who are able to donate to support our work.

In FY23 gifts included:

cee.illinois.edu

A total of $4,396,453 from 849 gifts across 622 distinct donors

•

$2,379,528 for student scholarships, awards and prizes from 88 donors

•

$382,011 for graduate fellowships from nine donors

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$289,999 to the CEE Priority Fund from 347 donors

•

$270,890 in new gifts to the CEE Modernization from 57 donors

•

$10,350 to the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program from four donors

Fred Zwicky

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•

Research Experience for Undergraduates

istockphoto.com/John Anderson

For more information on the coral reef restoration project, follow this link.

Undergrad works on project to save the coral reefs As a CEE sophomore, Aditi Chockalingam joined Professor Rosa Espinosa-Marzal’s research group, working with postdoctoral researcher Joaquin Yus Dominguez on coral restoration.

“I got the opportunity to join the Coral Reef Restoration group as an undergraduate researcher through my TAM 211 Professor, Professor Gabriel Juarez,” Chockalingam, now a junior, wrote. “I had come across this research during freshman year but didn’t know how to join. I found out that Professor Juarez also participated in this research, and I asked him to put me in touch with Professor Espinosa so that I might join her group.”

Espinosa-Marzal is contributing her materials expertise to a multi-disciplinary project funded by the National Science Foundation with the goal of encouraging coral larvae to settle and corals to grow.

During the 2022-2023 school year, Chockalingam worked 5-8 hours a week, assisting in creating coatings with different polymer mixtures.

“The purpose of these coatings is to foster coral larvae settlement and release oxygen to better the environmental conditions for coral,” Chockalingam said. “I love working with Professor Espinosa and her research group, and I am constantly learn-

CEE’s REU Program seeks to expand undergrads’ opportunities for research • Aditi Chockalingam, left, and Rosa EspinosaMarzal

ing during my time here.

“When I found this research project, I immediately knew that this was something I wanted to be involved in. Since being on this project I have learned so much about coral and coral larvae, what their ideal environment is and how our project is making strides to help restore that environment.” i Although Chockalingam successfully sought out the opportunity to participate in research on her own, CEE's Research Experience for Undergraduates Program was created to help connect students with these valuable experiences and enable them to be paid for their work.

In 2023, 29 CEE undergrads participated in research with their hours paid by the REU program

The department’s goal is to allow as many undergraduates as possible to participate in research and be paid for their work through the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.

Through the years, gifts to this program from alumni and friends have resulted in growing numbers of students being afforded these valuable educational opportunities. The department hopes to inspire enough gifts that 25% of our undergraduates, or roughly 150 students, can participate per year.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 35

GIVE

Michelle Hassel

Scholarships

New Scholarship: Young Engineers Division

By Lance Langer (BS 15) and Harsh Patel(BS 18, MS 23) The Young Engineers Division (YED) is the young professionals branch of the UIUC Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association and is dedicated to building and expanding young alumni relationships post-graduation. The YED focuses on creating opportunities through networking, mentoring, professional development and scholarship.

Since the creation of the Scholarship Committee, it has been the goal of our organization to raise sufficient funds to award a scholarship to a deserving student who exemplifies high academic achievement, who has a strong work ethic and who actively contributes to student organizations.

This past year the YED was honored to award its first ever scholarship to Megan Otto, a junior with a primary focus in Construction Management. Lance Langer (BS 15), YED Chairperson, and Harsh Patel (BS 18, MS 23), YED Scholarship Committee, recently conducted this Q&A with Otto.

Harsh: What inspired you to pursue civil engineering, and what is your concentration of study?

Megan: My parents inspired me to

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Megan: My academic goals include succeeding in my classes. This doesn’t necessarily mean getting an A. To me, being successful in my classes means that I put in the most effort I can, and I learn as much as possible. Professionally, I hope to work as a construction manager and take the FE and PE exams to become a professional engineer.

Megan Otto

pursue engineering from a young age because of my love for math and science. My dad studied Computer Science and Physics here at U of I, so I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. I chose Civil Engineering because I enjoy Computer-Aided Design, and I want to work on large-scale projects. Because of my interest in construction, I chose my area of concentration to be Construction Engineering & Management.

Lance: Tell us about your academic and professional career goals.

Harsh: What extracurricular activities/organizations are you involved in at UIUC? Megan: My main extracurricular is the Off-Road Illini Baja SAE, a club where we design, build and compete an off-road vehicle in international competitions every year. Although this club is not very related to civil engineering, I still learn a lot about engineering in general, and I get to have fun while doing it. I love it because I can do hands-on work, and I get to meet a lot of other people in Grainger.

I was on the leadership team for this club both last year and this year. I am currently the treasurer, so I handle all of the team’s finances.

In addition, I work as a research lab assistant for Garg Group this semester. I mix mortar cubes and test the 1-day, 3-day, 5-day, and 28-day compressive strengths.

CEE Priority Fund Undergraduate scholarships attract and retain top students and increase access In FY23-24, the department awarded 123 scholarships for rising students totaling $416,000 In FY23-24, first-year students received 28 scholarships offered at admission totaling $120,000 The student retention rate from the first to the second years is 92%

I am also a general member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers student chapters at UIUC. Lance: Can you tell us about your initial reaction when you found you were selected as the YED Scholarship winner?

Megan: I was extremely happy and excited when I found out I was selected as the winner for this scholarship. It proved to me that all the hard work I have been putting into my academics is paying off.

Harsh: How does winning this scholarship impact your academic goals?

Megan: This scholarship motivates me to continue putting a lot of effort into my academics and to not give up.

Lance: Has there been anyone who has played a significant role in your academic journey? If so, can you share an important experience or lesson you learned from them?

Megan: My friends from the Off-Road Illini and from my classes in civil engineering have played a huge role in my academic journey. They are constantly motivating me to be the best that I can.

I would not be able to get through my classes without them because of how much we rely on each other to study to-

The CEE Priority Fund allows the department to direct money where it is most needed at the time. Some uses for the fund have included small grants to faculty to work on innovative areas of research; Brain Breaks for students that offer snacks, games and fellowship; and financial support for our CEE-based Registered Student Organizations, including the Concrete Canoe Team.

gether and motivate each other. They are all extremely supportive, and I am very appreciative of them.

Harsh: What are your thoughts on the role of networking and staying connected with fellow engineers and alumni in your professional development?

Megan: I think that networking is an extremely important part of professional development. I try to network as much as possible and stay in touch with previous employers, coworkers and alumni from my club.

Lance: What are you passionate about outside of your academic course load and extracurriculars?

Megan: I like to cook and bake with my friends and roommate in my free time. I also enjoy running 10Ks. I ran the BTN Big 10K this past summer with my dad, where students and alumni from Big Ten schools run the race together in Chicago.

The YED scholarship is uniquely funded by young professionals. Every contribution, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to creating opportunities for talented students and continues the ongoing legacy of excellence within the CEE Department. To support the YED Scholarship, visit cee.illinois.edu/give. i

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 37

GIVE

Fred Zwicky

Graduate Fellowships

Rui Zhang (BS 21) earned her bachelor's degree from the department as part of the cooperative agreement with Zhejiang University in China. She completed her master's degree at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, then returned to UIUC for her Ph.D. Zhang is studying under Associate Professor Megan Konar. Zhang is researching the relationship between water resources and food supply chains, with the goal of addressing water shortages.

“From a student’s standing, especially international students, UIUC has a very friendly and welcoming community – for example our staff and professors. And I missed UIUC so so much when I was not here!” she says. “As both an undergrad and grad student from UIUC, I greatly appreciate the university's academic environment and its commitment to conducting research that is vital to human well-being.”

She is very grateful for the fellowship support she has received.

“Other than the financial help that I get from the fellowship, this is also a great honor for me.

I feel that my past work is recognized by our department, and this means a lot to me.”

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CEE at Illinois is grateful for the generosity of our alumni, friends and companies who so generously support our graduate students through fellowship and award funds. Here, new and continuing fellowships for Fall 2023: Abbott Scholarship Saint Moon Kim Junhyung Park Alfredo & Myrtle Mae Ang Fellowship Haojia Cheng Yibo Wang CEE Fellowship Jongmin Rim Yuhui Zhai Rui Zhang Zihan Zheng Peter K. Dai Fellowship Hyunhwa Kim IACPA Provost Match Scholarship Benjamin Manaugh Jordan Ouellet Richa Bhardwaj Ravindar K. & Kavita Kinra Fellowship Arushi Arnav Sarang Bhagwat

Yaman Garg Rishabh Puri Ashwani Sunil Rai Krishna Polavaram Sarang Bhagwat Hari Dave David Maidment Fellowship Hsing-Yu Huang Ivan Racheff Fellowship Johanna Arita Nhung Do Wenjun Guo Oluchi Nweke Wanqi Wang Harry Schnabel Jr. Research Fellowship Majd Diab Ghanem SURGE Fellowship Aniston Cumbie VinUni IL Smart Health Institute Fellowship Nhung Do

ALUMNI NEWS

Reunion!

Holding the banner on the left is Carlos Campos-Callao (MS 96, PhD 99). Holding the banner on the right is Joe Elarde (BS 95, MS 98). Next to Joe is Qilin Li (MS 99, PhD 02). The next row back from left to right: Jennifer Miller (MS 92, PhD 96), Costas Pelekani (MS 97, PhD 99), Jeannie and Vern Snoeyink, Mary Jo Kirisits (MS 97, PhD 00), Lance Schideman(BS 92, MS 94, PhD 06), Samer Adham (PhD 93). Back row left to right: Frederick Cannon (PhD 93), Jess Brown (BS 98, MS 99, PhD 02), Kevin Jim (MS 99), Detlef Knappe (BS 89, MS 91, PhD 96), Thomas Gillogly (MS 95, PhD 99), Issam Najm (MS 87, PhD 90), Michael Hartlaub (BS 03, MS 05), Darren Lytle (PhD 95).

Alumni of Professor Emeritus Vernon L. Snoeyink’s research group gathered on campus August 26, 2023, to see Snoeyink and the laboratory named for him, to which they had donated.

The Vernon L. Snoeyink Water Chemistry Laboratory is a first-floor teaching lab in the new Civil and Environmental Engineering Building. Many alumni and friends donated to build and outfit the space.

The group who visited in August had

not had the chance to attend the Grand Opening of the building in April 2022.

Their visit included a tour of the new building and the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge. A highlight for the group was visiting the fourth floor of Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, the location of the environmental labs, where they had toiled away as graduate student researchers.

They are pictured here during a visit to the Snoeyinks’ home. i

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 39

ALUMNI NEWS

Jason Frank (BS 95), PE, MBA, was named the 2022 recipient of the T&DI Airfield Pavement Practitioner Award. This award recognizes practicing engineers employed in the airfield pavement engineering profession who have demonstrated leadership and/or achievement in airfield pavement projects. Frank was honored at the ASCE International Airfield & Highway Pavements Conference this past June in Austin, Texas. He is a regional aviation leader for Garver Engineers.

Evgueni Filipov Melba Crawford

Melba Crawford (BS 70, MS 73), the Nancy Uridil and Frank Bossu Professor in Civil Engineering at Purdue University, is the recipient of the 2023 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Mildred Dresselhaus Medal for ”contributions to remote sensing technology and leadership in its application for the benefit of humanity.”

IEEE Medals are the highest-ranking honors granted by IEEE, the world’s largest professional and educational organization for the greater engineering, computing and technology community.

Lutgarde Raskin

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Evgueni Filipov (MS 12, PhD 16), assistant professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Unversity of Michigan, received the 2023 Leonardo da Vinci Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI). This is the highest award given to junior faculty through EMI. Filipov was cited “for outstanding contributions to the field of origami-inspired deployable and reconfigurable structures including: establishing new simulation tools, creating stiff lightweight origami, developing functional origami structures at multiple scales, and leading in service and education that broaden the field.”

Lutgarde Raskin (PhD 93), the Altarum/Erim Russell O’Neal Professor and Vernon L. Snoeyink Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan, has received the 2023 Simon W. Freese Environmental Engineering Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental and Water Resources Institute. Raskin was cited for “her extraordinary accomplishments in using fundamental scientific principles and current research findings to solve the most challenging environmental problems.”

John Hill

John Charles Hill (BS 81) married Dianne Alksninis in November 2022. He retired from PMA Consultants on September 1, 2023.

To submit alumni news, please email civil@illinois.edu

IN MEMORIAM

CEE ONLINE

1

#

RANKED NO. 1 MSCE ONLINE PROGRAM

BY U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering The Grainger College of Engineering University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Sherwin Asrow (MS 47) died Oct. 3 in Highland Park, Ill. He was 101. Asrow was a structural engineer who worked on a number of Chicago landmarks, including Chase Tower, McCormick Place, Water Tower Place and Willis Tower. He co-founded the Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings. A video interview with Asrow appears on the Committee’s website, which may be accessed using the QR code above.

Anthony M. Baratta (BS 89) died Sept. 1, 2022. He was 63. Baratta was born May 30, 1959, in Boston, Mass. After his graduation from UIUC, he worked as a civil engineer at the Illinois Department of Transportation for 42 years before retiring in 2022. He is survived by his wife, Lori; children Alyssa (Andrew) Baratta-Martin and Dominic Baratta; and a grandson.

Daryll W. Chenoweth (MS 80) died July 28, 2023. He was 73.

Gregory A. Meisinger (BS 81) died June 25, 2018. He was 61.

Herbert A. Schroeder (BS 48) died Aug. 15, 2023. He was 101. Schroeder was born on April 2, 1922, on an 80-acre farm near Belleville, Ill. He volunteered for the U.S. Navy and served through the end of World War II. After the war, he attended the University of Illinois to earn his bachelor’s degree. He began his career in Columbus, Ohio. There he met his wife, Pat, and they started their family. In 1962 Herb found a position at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and moved the family to Oakwood, Ohio. The family lived in Oakwood for over 45 years. Schroeder retired in 1984. He is survived by his two sons Robert (Maureen) and James (Kimberly), four granddaughters and two great-grandsons.

Excellence.

Flexibility.

Illinois.

Earn your master’s degree online from the nation’s top-ranked CEE program • • • • • •

Enjoy the flexibility and convenience of an online program Work with our top-ranked faculty Take the same classes as resident students View class recordings on your own schedule C omplete homework, projects and exams per the class schedule Earn the same degree as awarded on campus

With CEE Online, you can earn a master of science degree from the nation’s topranked online CEE program. Explore our Certificate program, or take a class as a non-degree student. All online students receive access to recorded on-campus lectures and follow the class syllabus, including the same assignments, exams and projects as on-campus students.

Watch course lectures around your busy lifestyle, and apply new principles immediately in your current job. Online students may take up to five years to complete the degree. Visit our website for complete details.

Contact Us General program questions: Email: ceeonline@illinois.edu Phone: (217) 333-3921

Meg C. Griffin, P.E. Assistant Director for Graduate Programs mgriffn@illinois.edu

cee.illinois.edu/ceeonline Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 41

IN MEMORIAM

Judith Liebman 1936-2023 First woman on the tenure-track engineering faculty

Larry Kanfer

Judith S. Liebman (nee Stenzel), Professor Emerita of Operations Research, died on Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Urbana.

She was 87. She was the first woman on the CEE faculty, as well as the first woman on the tenure-track engineering faculty.

Liebman was born in Denver, Colo., on July 2, 1936. Raised mostly in Kansas City, she returned to Colorado for college at the University of Colorado (Boulder), where she majored in Physics. Interviewing for a student committee assignment in her freshman year, she met her future husband, Jon. As she delighted in telling people throughout their lives together, “Jon was the only man I ever met whose eyes lit up when I said my major was Physics.”

Following Judith’s graduation in 1958, the couple was married in San Diego, where Jon was serving on a U.S. Navy destroyer and Judith was writing computer programs for Convair Astronautics.

Shortly thereafter, the Navy assigned Jon to the NROTC unit at Cornell University in

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Ithaca, NY. At Cornell, the couple decided that Jon would leave the Navy and pursue a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering.

Judith supported them by continuing to pioneer as a computer programmer, first for a General Electric research laboratory and then for the Cornell Chemistry Department.

When Jon accepted a faculty position at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, Judith undertook Ph.D. studies in Operations Research at the same institution. On completion of her degree, in 1971, she joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in the departments of Public Health Administration and Operations Research. But one year later the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) offered faculty appointments to both of the Liebmans (an unheard of move, violating so-called nepotism rules, that required the permission of thenPresident Corbally to proceed), which they accepted, with Judith taking a minor appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as well.

When Jon was selected to be Head of Civil Engineering, Judith moved her faculty appointment entirely into Mechanical Engineering. From 1986 to 1992, Judith served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate College at UIUC. Judith and Jon both retired in 1996, though they continued to teach part-time for several years.

Judith’s research areas were applications of operations research in engineering optimization, health systems, and military and civil infrastructure investment.

She also had a deep interest in studies directed towards improving engineering education.

Jon and Judith Liebman

cee.illinois.edu

Judith was the first woman president of the Operations Research Society of America (now INFORMS); served on the Commitee for Engineering Education of the National Academy of Engineering; chaired the Advisory Commitee to the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder; was a member of the Board of the University of Colorado Foundation; served on the U.S. Army Science Board and its Executive Commitee; and chaired the Advisory Commitee for the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate.

With Jon, Judith built a world-class collection of contemporary glass sculpture, and she served for many years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, an international charitable organization promoting art made from glass.

She was a gourmet cook, an accomplished pianist, a Master Gardener and an avid bridge player. The Liebmans traveled extensively, visiting all seven continents.

Among her many awards, Judith was proudest of her selection by engineering students to be an Honorary Knight of St. Pat, and of being a two-time winner of the Everitt Teaching Award of The Grainger College of Engineering. She was selected as a Distinguished Engineering Alumna by the University of Colorado and received the George E. Kimball Medal for distinguished service to the profession of operations research.

Judith is survived by her husband of almost 65 years; her brother, John Stenzel; sons, Christopher and Michael; daughter, Becky Knight; eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. i

ON TOP OF THE WORLD CEE alumnus Joseph Geagea (MS 82, BS 81) of Houston climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in June 2023. “I took my school with me proudly to the summit,” he said. “With Grainger Engineering, you rise to the top.” At 19,341 feet, Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2023 43

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering The Grainger College of Engineering University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250 205 North Mathews Avenue Urbana, Illinois 61801

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID CHAMPAIGN, IL PERMIT NO. 453