COLLABORATIVE PROJECT INVESTIGATES PUBLICPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
W
hen the President recently proposed a trilliondollar plan to repair the nation’s failing infrastructure, he signaled that a significant portion of that plan will rely on public-private partnerships.
Last year, Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and Whitman School of Management assembled a team of student and faculty researchers to investigate public-private partnerships in the United States with a goal of informing government representatives of the benefits, pitfalls, and opportunities. To do so, the team of undergraduates and Ph.D. candidates led by O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor, and Terry Brown, the executive director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, identified the perceived benefits and weaknesses of the partnerships, researched specific projects to determine if those notions rang true,
and compiled a quantitative and qualitative comparison of public-private partnerships projects versus traditional design-bid-build projects. As detailed in their comprehensive report, they found that public-private partnership infrastructure projects in the United States have a significantly greater likelihood of meeting schedule and cost requirements when compared to conventional approaches. However, the success of such projects is highly dependent on key factors, including political commitment, favorable and complete value-for-cost analysis, supportive local and state legislation, the accurate assumption of interest rates, and other key financial parameters. “These partnerships are not ideal for all projects, but they are a good option for big projects. We found that they are particularly well-suited for transportation, hospitals, schools, and water systems,” says Salem.
UNCOVERING CONNECTIONS IN THE WATER CYCLE
P
lants move more water into the atmosphere than streams or rivers move across the landscape. Observing, measuring, and simulating this process called transpiration is challenging, yet vital for understanding the water cycle and our water supply.
By including groundwater flow in their model, the amount of water moved through transpiration increased. This suggests that groundwater flow, which is generally simplified or excluded from other continental scale simulations, plays a larger role than previously understood.
In “Connections between groundwater flow and transpiration partitioning,” Assistant Professor Laura Condon and Professor Reed Maxwell of the Colorado School of Mines use highperformance computing to factor in the impact of groundwater flowing beneath vegetation at the continental scale to understand just how important plants’ use of water is to the water cycle. With this knowledge, scientists will be able to better predict how much freshwater will be available under changing climate conditions.
“If groundwater is impacting the behavior of transpiration as our model shows, then it needs to be taken into consideration if we want to better understand what large-scale water availability will look like over the next 100 years,” Condon explains.
Condon and Maxwell’s research studied transpiration’s part in moving water from the surface of the land to the atmosphere.
Streamflow Streamflow
Lateral Lateralgroundwater groundwaterflow flow Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
Gifts to our College allow us to further prepare our students in ways that will differentiate them in the competitive marketplace and magnify the value of a Syracuse University engineering and computer science degree. Gifts will also support specific initiatives aimed at positioning our College as a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education, as presented in our Transforming Our Future plan at eng-cs.syr.edu/transformation. With your help, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Please consider making your gift today at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Integrated Hydrologic Models
CERTIFICATE OF ADVANCED STUDY IN PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP VISIT US ON FACEBOOK
@ENGINEERINGSU
The College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs are now partnering to co-administer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership (CAS-PIML).
CONNECT WITH US
The CAS-PIML is a 15-credit concurrent degree for public administration or engineering graduate students. Courses
@ENGINEERINGSU
ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering PEOPLE AREN’T THE ONLY BENEFICIARIES OF POWER PLANT CARBON STANDARDS
T
Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SYRACUSE NY
E,E,TT
E, TE, T
Traditional Land Surface Models
PAID
O. Sam Salem Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering omsalem@syr.edu
The complete research appeared in the July 22, 2016 issue of Science Magazine. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research and Office of Advanced Scientific Computing through the IDEAS project.
Streamflow Streamflow
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
will cover the planning, design, and policy considerations of public infrastructure along with environmental and social sustainability issues. The program is geared toward mid-career professionals who are interested in infrastructure planning, engineering, management, and administration.
he politically embattled Clean Power Plan set out to regulate carbon dioxide emissions to protect public health and welfare. Given that other pollutants are emitted from power plants—along with carbon dioxide—research has shown that carbon emission standards for the power sector benefit human health. New research shows that they would also benefit crops and trees.
The study is authored by researchers from Drexel University, Syracuse University, Boston University, and Harvard University, convened by the Science Policy Exchange. It is the first study to model the ecosystem impact of contrasting policies, one of which was similar to the Clean Power Plan.
“These benefits to people and ecosystems are nearly immediate and occur in urban and rural communities across the U.S. We know from this and other studies that the economic value of the added benefits from power plant carbon standards are large and exceed the estimated cost of implementation.”
LEADING ON INFRASTRUCTURE
M
ore than 300 million Americans rely on roads, bridges, public water mains, and utilities every day, but in much of the United States those basic infrastructure systems are aging faster than repairs can be made. Trillions of dollars of investment will be needed in the coming years.
According to the study, the corresponding reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions from coal power plants would also mean a decrease in ground-level ozone—a known inhibitor of plant growth. By using modeling predictions of the year 2020, the researchers found that proper implementation of the Clean Power Plan would provide a significant boost to the productivity of key indicator crops, such as corn, cotton, soybean, and potato, as well as several tree species.
O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a partnership between the College of Engineering and Computer Science and three other colleges at Syracuse University to study and assist public agencies across the country with solutions to their infrastructure needs. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Whitman School of Management, and the College of Law each bring their expertise in public-private partnerships, public policy, and budgeting to the Public Civil Infrastructure Program (PCI).
“Our work shows the importance of considering the co-benefits of our nation’s energy policies going forward,” said Syracuse University Professor Charles T. Driscoll, co-author of the study.
Salem says the PCI’s mission includes “strategies and methods to minimize project costs and durations, improve project delivery systems, provide better publicity for public agencies and more
SPRING 2017
justifiable budget requests, and raise the skill sets of the current and future workforce.” The PCI will also look at standards for public-private partnerships that have been successful in Europe and are now seeing greater attention in the United States. “Breaking from the traditional, yet inefficient, publicly funded model requires considerable education of public officials and administrators, including changes to federal, state, and municipal laws, as well as the private sector,” said Salem. The PCI will also make its research and reports publicly available to planners, designers, contractors, managers, investors, law and policy makers, public agencies, and private sectors nationwide. In addition, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering and Computer Science are co-administering courses on infrastructure and public policy. The two schools also offer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership to graduate students.
TEACHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF POLICY AND ENGINEERING
U
pdating aging roads, water, and sewer lines is not only a challenge for engineers but also for those who have to develop budgets and policies for governments around the world. Practical solutions require understanding technical, political, and social implications and Professor Laura J. Steinberg wanted to develop a collaborative approach to infrastructure education.
To do so, Steinberg developed two courses focusing on infrastructure management and policy. The course Modern Urban Infrastructure is open to any undergraduate or graduate student on the Syracuse University campus; the other, Planning and Management of Public Infrastructure, is open to Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs graduate students in the master’s in public administration (MPA) program and College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate students. Positioned at the intersection of policy and engineering, the courses explore the planning and management of public infrastructure. For MPA students, the course can provide new perspectives on the realities of financing and construction. Engineering students gain insight into the complicated mix of
factors that lead to policy decisions. The classes are taught in a seminar style to encourage opinions, interaction, and conversation. The courses are currently featured as a case study on the American Society of Engineering Education website.
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Singh is responsible for elevating the prominence and reach of the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s research activities, fostering interdisciplinary and translational research, directing funds and support for multi-investigator collaborations, and developing the research infrastructure and expertise necessary to attract federally funded research opportunities. He is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
A Syracuse University professor during the 1970s, Nemerow was a pioneering expert in water pollution and industrial waste treatment.
T
he Nelson L. Nemerow Memorial Scholarship in Environmental Engineering has been established in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. The scholarship will support environmental engineering graduate students with interests in clean water initiatives. It was endowed with a generous gift from Nemerow’s son, Dr. Glen Nemerow ’73, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences. Nemerow is credited with establishing SU’s environmental engineering department in 1976. His research promoted water conservation and advanced the design of water treatment plants.
Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89
Today, Hopkins is a leader at Arcadis, a design and consultancy firm, where she is an executive board member and the executive with responsibility for the Americas and global leadership of the
Gurdip Singh Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Programs Ph.D. Stony Brook University
NELSON L. NEMEROW MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FURTHERS LEGACY OF A WATER RESOURCES VISIONARY
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT As a student, Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89 balanced her time between excelling in her civil engineering course load and serving as captain of the field hockey team. The skills she honed on and off the field set her on a trajectory of continued success in her career.
NEW FACULTY
company’s water and environment business lines. She also serves on Blumont’s board for international relief and development. Previously, she held a series of progressive roles in project execution, business development, and general management at Parsons. As its group president of federal business, she was responsible for worldwide operations of the U.S. government business. Hopkins embodies the SU spirit of passion and accomplishment we hope to instill in all our alumni.
Glen Nemerow says, “My dad really enjoyed teaching and getting students excited about clean water. He was extraordinarily farsighted on the topic. When he was at the height of his career in the ’70s, people didn’t quite realize the importance of water conservation like we do today. I hope this scholarship furthers the legacy of the work he started.” The scholarship was awarded for the first time this spring to doctoral students Kyotaek Hwang and Changcheng Pu. Learn more by visiting the prospective graduate student webpage on eng-cs.syr.edu.
CONNECTING WOMEN IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
P
rofessor Shobha K. Bhatia and Assistant Professor Sucheta Soundarajan were awarded a National Science Foundation grant to better connect women faculty in geotechnical engineering. The project, a national collaborative effort with the University of Michigan and Drexel University, focuses on professional networking to improve retention, advancement, and scientific collaboration among this largely disconnected scientific community.
RESEARCH AREAS
19 249 # of Faculty
# of Undergraduate Students
84 40
Bhatia and Soundarajan have partnered with Sharon Alestalo, program director of Women in Science and Engineering and SU Advance, to create more robust connections within the geotechnical engineering community by providing women faculty with greater access to mentoring, resources, and opportunities to collaborate. Featured in Geostrata, their work combines face-to-face networking meetings and virtual networking practices to increase collaboration opportunities. The team’s final evaluation, including
FACTS AND STATS
# of Master’s Students
a before-and-after social network analysis, will evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts and recommend promising practices for use in other disciplines where women face similar challenges.
GREEN ROOF PROVIDES LAYER OF WARMTH, EDUCATIONAL WEALTH
# of Ph.D. Students
Degrees Awarded May 2015–2016
66
Undergraduate
41
Geotechnical Engineering, including Geosynthetics and Geofoams
Smart Management of Water Systems for Sustainability
Construction Engineering and Project Management
Structural Engineering and Health Monitoring
Civil Infrastructure Systems and Management
Sustainability Engineering
Graduate
Green Infrastructure
H
igh above the streets of downtown Syracuse, instruments installed by Cliff Davidson, the Wilmot Professor of Environmental Engineering, and his students are adding to our understanding of the benefits of green roofs.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
For more than two years, a one-and-a-half-acre green roof at the Onondaga County Convention Center has been a classroom for Syracuse University students in which to explore how green roofs can help the greater community address some of its most persistent infrastructure problems. If plans proceed as scheduled, local schools will soon be able to get access to the stream of data coming out of this project. Davidson’s recent research has focused on how a green roof might make a difference in energy use for space heating during Central New York’s cold and snowy winter season. “Central New York is a great place to do this work,” says Davidson, who is nationally known for his work in green infrastructure and sustainable engineering. “We have it all here—such an incredible diversity of weather.”
LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17, Civil Engineering & Business
Davidson and his students, in a two-year study, found that the energy balance of the building is influenced by the green roof. Downward heat flux was evident in the summer, and upward heat flux dominated during the heating season. Davidson says that vegetation and soil on a green roof provide extra insulation on top of the roof’s traditional foam insulation.
It is not hard to see how LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17 ended up enrolled in Syracuse University’s H. John Riley 3+2 civil engineering and MBA program. He’s been around construction equipment and business his entire life. His family owns and operates Sessler Wrecking, a company that specializes in the demolition of industrial and commercial structures. As a young boy, he and his brother would pose for photos with construction equipment and enormous bridges. But while his family’s expertise is in taking structures down, Sessler’s is in putting them up.
Since beginning work on his degrees, he has completed internships at Hunter Roberts Construction group and the Dubai Contracting Company, as well as a co-op for GE Transportation. He will begin work this summer as a project engineer at Hunter Roberts. “I see civil engineers as the people who hold everything together: the roads, the bridges, the buildings—all of the infrastructure that surrounds us is civil engineering. I look forward to the day I can build something and say, ‘That was me. I contributed.’”
COLLABORATIVE PROJECT INVESTIGATES PUBLICPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
W
hen the President recently proposed a trilliondollar plan to repair the nation’s failing infrastructure, he signaled that a significant portion of that plan will rely on public-private partnerships.
Last year, Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and Whitman School of Management assembled a team of student and faculty researchers to investigate public-private partnerships in the United States with a goal of informing government representatives of the benefits, pitfalls, and opportunities. To do so, the team of undergraduates and Ph.D. candidates led by O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor, and Terry Brown, the executive director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, identified the perceived benefits and weaknesses of the partnerships, researched specific projects to determine if those notions rang true,
and compiled a quantitative and qualitative comparison of public-private partnerships projects versus traditional design-bid-build projects. As detailed in their comprehensive report, they found that public-private partnership infrastructure projects in the United States have a significantly greater likelihood of meeting schedule and cost requirements when compared to conventional approaches. However, the success of such projects is highly dependent on key factors, including political commitment, favorable and complete value-for-cost analysis, supportive local and state legislation, the accurate assumption of interest rates, and other key financial parameters. “These partnerships are not ideal for all projects, but they are a good option for big projects. We found that they are particularly well-suited for transportation, hospitals, schools, and water systems,” says Salem.
UNCOVERING CONNECTIONS IN THE WATER CYCLE
P
lants move more water into the atmosphere than streams or rivers move across the landscape. Observing, measuring, and simulating this process called transpiration is challenging, yet vital for understanding the water cycle and our water supply.
By including groundwater flow in their model, the amount of water moved through transpiration increased. This suggests that groundwater flow, which is generally simplified or excluded from other continental scale simulations, plays a larger role than previously understood.
In “Connections between groundwater flow and transpiration partitioning,” Assistant Professor Laura Condon and Professor Reed Maxwell of the Colorado School of Mines use highperformance computing to factor in the impact of groundwater flowing beneath vegetation at the continental scale to understand just how important plants’ use of water is to the water cycle. With this knowledge, scientists will be able to better predict how much freshwater will be available under changing climate conditions.
“If groundwater is impacting the behavior of transpiration as our model shows, then it needs to be taken into consideration if we want to better understand what large-scale water availability will look like over the next 100 years,” Condon explains.
Condon and Maxwell’s research studied transpiration’s part in moving water from the surface of the land to the atmosphere.
Streamflow Streamflow
Lateral Lateralgroundwater groundwaterflow flow Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
Gifts to our College allow us to further prepare our students in ways that will differentiate them in the competitive marketplace and magnify the value of a Syracuse University engineering and computer science degree. Gifts will also support specific initiatives aimed at positioning our College as a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education, as presented in our Transforming Our Future plan at eng-cs.syr.edu/transformation. With your help, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Please consider making your gift today at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Integrated Hydrologic Models
CERTIFICATE OF ADVANCED STUDY IN PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP VISIT US ON FACEBOOK
@ENGINEERINGSU
The College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs are now partnering to co-administer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership (CAS-PIML).
CONNECT WITH US
The CAS-PIML is a 15-credit concurrent degree for public administration or engineering graduate students. Courses
@ENGINEERINGSU
ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering PEOPLE AREN’T THE ONLY BENEFICIARIES OF POWER PLANT CARBON STANDARDS
T
Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SYRACUSE NY
E,E,TT
E, TE, T
Traditional Land Surface Models
PAID
O. Sam Salem Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering omsalem@syr.edu
The complete research appeared in the July 22, 2016 issue of Science Magazine. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research and Office of Advanced Scientific Computing through the IDEAS project.
Streamflow Streamflow
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
will cover the planning, design, and policy considerations of public infrastructure along with environmental and social sustainability issues. The program is geared toward mid-career professionals who are interested in infrastructure planning, engineering, management, and administration.
he politically embattled Clean Power Plan set out to regulate carbon dioxide emissions to protect public health and welfare. Given that other pollutants are emitted from power plants—along with carbon dioxide—research has shown that carbon emission standards for the power sector benefit human health. New research shows that they would also benefit crops and trees.
The study is authored by researchers from Drexel University, Syracuse University, Boston University, and Harvard University, convened by the Science Policy Exchange. It is the first study to model the ecosystem impact of contrasting policies, one of which was similar to the Clean Power Plan.
“These benefits to people and ecosystems are nearly immediate and occur in urban and rural communities across the U.S. We know from this and other studies that the economic value of the added benefits from power plant carbon standards are large and exceed the estimated cost of implementation.”
LEADING ON INFRASTRUCTURE
M
ore than 300 million Americans rely on roads, bridges, public water mains, and utilities every day, but in much of the United States those basic infrastructure systems are aging faster than repairs can be made. Trillions of dollars of investment will be needed in the coming years.
According to the study, the corresponding reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions from coal power plants would also mean a decrease in ground-level ozone—a known inhibitor of plant growth. By using modeling predictions of the year 2020, the researchers found that proper implementation of the Clean Power Plan would provide a significant boost to the productivity of key indicator crops, such as corn, cotton, soybean, and potato, as well as several tree species.
O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a partnership between the College of Engineering and Computer Science and three other colleges at Syracuse University to study and assist public agencies across the country with solutions to their infrastructure needs. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Whitman School of Management, and the College of Law each bring their expertise in public-private partnerships, public policy, and budgeting to the Public Civil Infrastructure Program (PCI).
“Our work shows the importance of considering the co-benefits of our nation’s energy policies going forward,” said Syracuse University Professor Charles T. Driscoll, co-author of the study.
Salem says the PCI’s mission includes “strategies and methods to minimize project costs and durations, improve project delivery systems, provide better publicity for public agencies and more
SPRING 2017
justifiable budget requests, and raise the skill sets of the current and future workforce.” The PCI will also look at standards for public-private partnerships that have been successful in Europe and are now seeing greater attention in the United States. “Breaking from the traditional, yet inefficient, publicly funded model requires considerable education of public officials and administrators, including changes to federal, state, and municipal laws, as well as the private sector,” said Salem. The PCI will also make its research and reports publicly available to planners, designers, contractors, managers, investors, law and policy makers, public agencies, and private sectors nationwide. In addition, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering and Computer Science are co-administering courses on infrastructure and public policy. The two schools also offer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership to graduate students.
TEACHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF POLICY AND ENGINEERING
U
pdating aging roads, water, and sewer lines is not only a challenge for engineers but also for those who have to develop budgets and policies for governments around the world. Practical solutions require understanding technical, political, and social implications and Professor Laura J. Steinberg wanted to develop a collaborative approach to infrastructure education.
To do so, Steinberg developed two courses focusing on infrastructure management and policy. The course Modern Urban Infrastructure is open to any undergraduate or graduate student on the Syracuse University campus; the other, Planning and Management of Public Infrastructure, is open to Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs graduate students in the master’s in public administration (MPA) program and College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate students. Positioned at the intersection of policy and engineering, the courses explore the planning and management of public infrastructure. For MPA students, the course can provide new perspectives on the realities of financing and construction. Engineering students gain insight into the complicated mix of
factors that lead to policy decisions. The classes are taught in a seminar style to encourage opinions, interaction, and conversation. The courses are currently featured as a case study on the American Society of Engineering Education website.
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Singh is responsible for elevating the prominence and reach of the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s research activities, fostering interdisciplinary and translational research, directing funds and support for multi-investigator collaborations, and developing the research infrastructure and expertise necessary to attract federally funded research opportunities. He is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
A Syracuse University professor during the 1970s, Nemerow was a pioneering expert in water pollution and industrial waste treatment.
T
he Nelson L. Nemerow Memorial Scholarship in Environmental Engineering has been established in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. The scholarship will support environmental engineering graduate students with interests in clean water initiatives. It was endowed with a generous gift from Nemerow’s son, Dr. Glen Nemerow ’73, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences. Nemerow is credited with establishing SU’s environmental engineering department in 1976. His research promoted water conservation and advanced the design of water treatment plants.
Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89
Today, Hopkins is a leader at Arcadis, a design and consultancy firm, where she is an executive board member and the executive with responsibility for the Americas and global leadership of the
Gurdip Singh Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Programs Ph.D. Stony Brook University
NELSON L. NEMEROW MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FURTHERS LEGACY OF A WATER RESOURCES VISIONARY
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT As a student, Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89 balanced her time between excelling in her civil engineering course load and serving as captain of the field hockey team. The skills she honed on and off the field set her on a trajectory of continued success in her career.
NEW FACULTY
company’s water and environment business lines. She also serves on Blumont’s board for international relief and development. Previously, she held a series of progressive roles in project execution, business development, and general management at Parsons. As its group president of federal business, she was responsible for worldwide operations of the U.S. government business. Hopkins embodies the SU spirit of passion and accomplishment we hope to instill in all our alumni.
Glen Nemerow says, “My dad really enjoyed teaching and getting students excited about clean water. He was extraordinarily farsighted on the topic. When he was at the height of his career in the ’70s, people didn’t quite realize the importance of water conservation like we do today. I hope this scholarship furthers the legacy of the work he started.” The scholarship was awarded for the first time this spring to doctoral students Kyotaek Hwang and Changcheng Pu. Learn more by visiting the prospective graduate student webpage on eng-cs.syr.edu.
CONNECTING WOMEN IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
P
rofessor Shobha K. Bhatia and Assistant Professor Sucheta Soundarajan were awarded a National Science Foundation grant to better connect women faculty in geotechnical engineering. The project, a national collaborative effort with the University of Michigan and Drexel University, focuses on professional networking to improve retention, advancement, and scientific collaboration among this largely disconnected scientific community.
RESEARCH AREAS
19 249 # of Faculty
# of Undergraduate Students
84 40
Bhatia and Soundarajan have partnered with Sharon Alestalo, program director of Women in Science and Engineering and SU Advance, to create more robust connections within the geotechnical engineering community by providing women faculty with greater access to mentoring, resources, and opportunities to collaborate. Featured in Geostrata, their work combines face-to-face networking meetings and virtual networking practices to increase collaboration opportunities. The team’s final evaluation, including
FACTS AND STATS
# of Master’s Students
a before-and-after social network analysis, will evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts and recommend promising practices for use in other disciplines where women face similar challenges.
GREEN ROOF PROVIDES LAYER OF WARMTH, EDUCATIONAL WEALTH
# of Ph.D. Students
Degrees Awarded May 2015–2016
66
Undergraduate
41
Geotechnical Engineering, including Geosynthetics and Geofoams
Smart Management of Water Systems for Sustainability
Construction Engineering and Project Management
Structural Engineering and Health Monitoring
Civil Infrastructure Systems and Management
Sustainability Engineering
Graduate
Green Infrastructure
H
igh above the streets of downtown Syracuse, instruments installed by Cliff Davidson, the Wilmot Professor of Environmental Engineering, and his students are adding to our understanding of the benefits of green roofs.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
For more than two years, a one-and-a-half-acre green roof at the Onondaga County Convention Center has been a classroom for Syracuse University students in which to explore how green roofs can help the greater community address some of its most persistent infrastructure problems. If plans proceed as scheduled, local schools will soon be able to get access to the stream of data coming out of this project. Davidson’s recent research has focused on how a green roof might make a difference in energy use for space heating during Central New York’s cold and snowy winter season. “Central New York is a great place to do this work,” says Davidson, who is nationally known for his work in green infrastructure and sustainable engineering. “We have it all here—such an incredible diversity of weather.”
LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17, Civil Engineering & Business
Davidson and his students, in a two-year study, found that the energy balance of the building is influenced by the green roof. Downward heat flux was evident in the summer, and upward heat flux dominated during the heating season. Davidson says that vegetation and soil on a green roof provide extra insulation on top of the roof’s traditional foam insulation.
It is not hard to see how LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17 ended up enrolled in Syracuse University’s H. John Riley 3+2 civil engineering and MBA program. He’s been around construction equipment and business his entire life. His family owns and operates Sessler Wrecking, a company that specializes in the demolition of industrial and commercial structures. As a young boy, he and his brother would pose for photos with construction equipment and enormous bridges. But while his family’s expertise is in taking structures down, Sessler’s is in putting them up.
Since beginning work on his degrees, he has completed internships at Hunter Roberts Construction group and the Dubai Contracting Company, as well as a co-op for GE Transportation. He will begin work this summer as a project engineer at Hunter Roberts. “I see civil engineers as the people who hold everything together: the roads, the bridges, the buildings—all of the infrastructure that surrounds us is civil engineering. I look forward to the day I can build something and say, ‘That was me. I contributed.’”
COLLABORATIVE PROJECT INVESTIGATES PUBLICPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
W
hen the President recently proposed a trilliondollar plan to repair the nation’s failing infrastructure, he signaled that a significant portion of that plan will rely on public-private partnerships.
Last year, Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and Whitman School of Management assembled a team of student and faculty researchers to investigate public-private partnerships in the United States with a goal of informing government representatives of the benefits, pitfalls, and opportunities. To do so, the team of undergraduates and Ph.D. candidates led by O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor, and Terry Brown, the executive director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, identified the perceived benefits and weaknesses of the partnerships, researched specific projects to determine if those notions rang true,
and compiled a quantitative and qualitative comparison of public-private partnerships projects versus traditional design-bid-build projects. As detailed in their comprehensive report, they found that public-private partnership infrastructure projects in the United States have a significantly greater likelihood of meeting schedule and cost requirements when compared to conventional approaches. However, the success of such projects is highly dependent on key factors, including political commitment, favorable and complete value-for-cost analysis, supportive local and state legislation, the accurate assumption of interest rates, and other key financial parameters. “These partnerships are not ideal for all projects, but they are a good option for big projects. We found that they are particularly well-suited for transportation, hospitals, schools, and water systems,” says Salem.
UNCOVERING CONNECTIONS IN THE WATER CYCLE
P
lants move more water into the atmosphere than streams or rivers move across the landscape. Observing, measuring, and simulating this process called transpiration is challenging, yet vital for understanding the water cycle and our water supply.
By including groundwater flow in their model, the amount of water moved through transpiration increased. This suggests that groundwater flow, which is generally simplified or excluded from other continental scale simulations, plays a larger role than previously understood.
In “Connections between groundwater flow and transpiration partitioning,” Assistant Professor Laura Condon and Professor Reed Maxwell of the Colorado School of Mines use highperformance computing to factor in the impact of groundwater flowing beneath vegetation at the continental scale to understand just how important plants’ use of water is to the water cycle. With this knowledge, scientists will be able to better predict how much freshwater will be available under changing climate conditions.
“If groundwater is impacting the behavior of transpiration as our model shows, then it needs to be taken into consideration if we want to better understand what large-scale water availability will look like over the next 100 years,” Condon explains.
Condon and Maxwell’s research studied transpiration’s part in moving water from the surface of the land to the atmosphere.
Streamflow Streamflow
Lateral Lateralgroundwater groundwaterflow flow Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
Gifts to our College allow us to further prepare our students in ways that will differentiate them in the competitive marketplace and magnify the value of a Syracuse University engineering and computer science degree. Gifts will also support specific initiatives aimed at positioning our College as a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education, as presented in our Transforming Our Future plan at eng-cs.syr.edu/transformation. With your help, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Please consider making your gift today at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Integrated Hydrologic Models
CERTIFICATE OF ADVANCED STUDY IN PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP VISIT US ON FACEBOOK
@ENGINEERINGSU
The College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs are now partnering to co-administer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership (CAS-PIML).
CONNECT WITH US
The CAS-PIML is a 15-credit concurrent degree for public administration or engineering graduate students. Courses
@ENGINEERINGSU
ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering PEOPLE AREN’T THE ONLY BENEFICIARIES OF POWER PLANT CARBON STANDARDS
T
Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SYRACUSE NY
E,E,TT
E, TE, T
Traditional Land Surface Models
PAID
O. Sam Salem Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering omsalem@syr.edu
The complete research appeared in the July 22, 2016 issue of Science Magazine. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research and Office of Advanced Scientific Computing through the IDEAS project.
Streamflow Streamflow
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
will cover the planning, design, and policy considerations of public infrastructure along with environmental and social sustainability issues. The program is geared toward mid-career professionals who are interested in infrastructure planning, engineering, management, and administration.
he politically embattled Clean Power Plan set out to regulate carbon dioxide emissions to protect public health and welfare. Given that other pollutants are emitted from power plants—along with carbon dioxide—research has shown that carbon emission standards for the power sector benefit human health. New research shows that they would also benefit crops and trees.
The study is authored by researchers from Drexel University, Syracuse University, Boston University, and Harvard University, convened by the Science Policy Exchange. It is the first study to model the ecosystem impact of contrasting policies, one of which was similar to the Clean Power Plan.
“These benefits to people and ecosystems are nearly immediate and occur in urban and rural communities across the U.S. We know from this and other studies that the economic value of the added benefits from power plant carbon standards are large and exceed the estimated cost of implementation.”
LEADING ON INFRASTRUCTURE
M
ore than 300 million Americans rely on roads, bridges, public water mains, and utilities every day, but in much of the United States those basic infrastructure systems are aging faster than repairs can be made. Trillions of dollars of investment will be needed in the coming years.
According to the study, the corresponding reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions from coal power plants would also mean a decrease in ground-level ozone—a known inhibitor of plant growth. By using modeling predictions of the year 2020, the researchers found that proper implementation of the Clean Power Plan would provide a significant boost to the productivity of key indicator crops, such as corn, cotton, soybean, and potato, as well as several tree species.
O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a partnership between the College of Engineering and Computer Science and three other colleges at Syracuse University to study and assist public agencies across the country with solutions to their infrastructure needs. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Whitman School of Management, and the College of Law each bring their expertise in public-private partnerships, public policy, and budgeting to the Public Civil Infrastructure Program (PCI).
“Our work shows the importance of considering the co-benefits of our nation’s energy policies going forward,” said Syracuse University Professor Charles T. Driscoll, co-author of the study.
Salem says the PCI’s mission includes “strategies and methods to minimize project costs and durations, improve project delivery systems, provide better publicity for public agencies and more
SPRING 2017
justifiable budget requests, and raise the skill sets of the current and future workforce.” The PCI will also look at standards for public-private partnerships that have been successful in Europe and are now seeing greater attention in the United States. “Breaking from the traditional, yet inefficient, publicly funded model requires considerable education of public officials and administrators, including changes to federal, state, and municipal laws, as well as the private sector,” said Salem. The PCI will also make its research and reports publicly available to planners, designers, contractors, managers, investors, law and policy makers, public agencies, and private sectors nationwide. In addition, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering and Computer Science are co-administering courses on infrastructure and public policy. The two schools also offer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership to graduate students.
TEACHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF POLICY AND ENGINEERING
U
pdating aging roads, water, and sewer lines is not only a challenge for engineers but also for those who have to develop budgets and policies for governments around the world. Practical solutions require understanding technical, political, and social implications and Professor Laura J. Steinberg wanted to develop a collaborative approach to infrastructure education.
To do so, Steinberg developed two courses focusing on infrastructure management and policy. The course Modern Urban Infrastructure is open to any undergraduate or graduate student on the Syracuse University campus; the other, Planning and Management of Public Infrastructure, is open to Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs graduate students in the master’s in public administration (MPA) program and College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate students. Positioned at the intersection of policy and engineering, the courses explore the planning and management of public infrastructure. For MPA students, the course can provide new perspectives on the realities of financing and construction. Engineering students gain insight into the complicated mix of
factors that lead to policy decisions. The classes are taught in a seminar style to encourage opinions, interaction, and conversation. The courses are currently featured as a case study on the American Society of Engineering Education website.
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Singh is responsible for elevating the prominence and reach of the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s research activities, fostering interdisciplinary and translational research, directing funds and support for multi-investigator collaborations, and developing the research infrastructure and expertise necessary to attract federally funded research opportunities. He is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
A Syracuse University professor during the 1970s, Nemerow was a pioneering expert in water pollution and industrial waste treatment.
T
he Nelson L. Nemerow Memorial Scholarship in Environmental Engineering has been established in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. The scholarship will support environmental engineering graduate students with interests in clean water initiatives. It was endowed with a generous gift from Nemerow’s son, Dr. Glen Nemerow ’73, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences. Nemerow is credited with establishing SU’s environmental engineering department in 1976. His research promoted water conservation and advanced the design of water treatment plants.
Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89
Today, Hopkins is a leader at Arcadis, a design and consultancy firm, where she is an executive board member and the executive with responsibility for the Americas and global leadership of the
Gurdip Singh Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Programs Ph.D. Stony Brook University
NELSON L. NEMEROW MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FURTHERS LEGACY OF A WATER RESOURCES VISIONARY
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT As a student, Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89 balanced her time between excelling in her civil engineering course load and serving as captain of the field hockey team. The skills she honed on and off the field set her on a trajectory of continued success in her career.
NEW FACULTY
company’s water and environment business lines. She also serves on Blumont’s board for international relief and development. Previously, she held a series of progressive roles in project execution, business development, and general management at Parsons. As its group president of federal business, she was responsible for worldwide operations of the U.S. government business. Hopkins embodies the SU spirit of passion and accomplishment we hope to instill in all our alumni.
Glen Nemerow says, “My dad really enjoyed teaching and getting students excited about clean water. He was extraordinarily farsighted on the topic. When he was at the height of his career in the ’70s, people didn’t quite realize the importance of water conservation like we do today. I hope this scholarship furthers the legacy of the work he started.” The scholarship was awarded for the first time this spring to doctoral students Kyotaek Hwang and Changcheng Pu. Learn more by visiting the prospective graduate student webpage on eng-cs.syr.edu.
CONNECTING WOMEN IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
P
rofessor Shobha K. Bhatia and Assistant Professor Sucheta Soundarajan were awarded a National Science Foundation grant to better connect women faculty in geotechnical engineering. The project, a national collaborative effort with the University of Michigan and Drexel University, focuses on professional networking to improve retention, advancement, and scientific collaboration among this largely disconnected scientific community.
RESEARCH AREAS
19 249 # of Faculty
# of Undergraduate Students
84 40
Bhatia and Soundarajan have partnered with Sharon Alestalo, program director of Women in Science and Engineering and SU Advance, to create more robust connections within the geotechnical engineering community by providing women faculty with greater access to mentoring, resources, and opportunities to collaborate. Featured in Geostrata, their work combines face-to-face networking meetings and virtual networking practices to increase collaboration opportunities. The team’s final evaluation, including
FACTS AND STATS
# of Master’s Students
a before-and-after social network analysis, will evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts and recommend promising practices for use in other disciplines where women face similar challenges.
GREEN ROOF PROVIDES LAYER OF WARMTH, EDUCATIONAL WEALTH
# of Ph.D. Students
Degrees Awarded May 2015–2016
66
Undergraduate
41
Geotechnical Engineering, including Geosynthetics and Geofoams
Smart Management of Water Systems for Sustainability
Construction Engineering and Project Management
Structural Engineering and Health Monitoring
Civil Infrastructure Systems and Management
Sustainability Engineering
Graduate
Green Infrastructure
H
igh above the streets of downtown Syracuse, instruments installed by Cliff Davidson, the Wilmot Professor of Environmental Engineering, and his students are adding to our understanding of the benefits of green roofs.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
For more than two years, a one-and-a-half-acre green roof at the Onondaga County Convention Center has been a classroom for Syracuse University students in which to explore how green roofs can help the greater community address some of its most persistent infrastructure problems. If plans proceed as scheduled, local schools will soon be able to get access to the stream of data coming out of this project. Davidson’s recent research has focused on how a green roof might make a difference in energy use for space heating during Central New York’s cold and snowy winter season. “Central New York is a great place to do this work,” says Davidson, who is nationally known for his work in green infrastructure and sustainable engineering. “We have it all here—such an incredible diversity of weather.”
LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17, Civil Engineering & Business
Davidson and his students, in a two-year study, found that the energy balance of the building is influenced by the green roof. Downward heat flux was evident in the summer, and upward heat flux dominated during the heating season. Davidson says that vegetation and soil on a green roof provide extra insulation on top of the roof’s traditional foam insulation.
It is not hard to see how LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17 ended up enrolled in Syracuse University’s H. John Riley 3+2 civil engineering and MBA program. He’s been around construction equipment and business his entire life. His family owns and operates Sessler Wrecking, a company that specializes in the demolition of industrial and commercial structures. As a young boy, he and his brother would pose for photos with construction equipment and enormous bridges. But while his family’s expertise is in taking structures down, Sessler’s is in putting them up.
Since beginning work on his degrees, he has completed internships at Hunter Roberts Construction group and the Dubai Contracting Company, as well as a co-op for GE Transportation. He will begin work this summer as a project engineer at Hunter Roberts. “I see civil engineers as the people who hold everything together: the roads, the bridges, the buildings—all of the infrastructure that surrounds us is civil engineering. I look forward to the day I can build something and say, ‘That was me. I contributed.’”
TEACHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF POLICY AND ENGINEERING
U
pdating aging roads, water, and sewer lines is not only a challenge for engineers but also for those who have to develop budgets and policies for governments around the world. Practical solutions require understanding technical, political, and social implications and Professor Laura J. Steinberg wanted to develop a collaborative approach to infrastructure education.
To do so, Steinberg developed two courses focusing on infrastructure management and policy. The course Modern Urban Infrastructure is open to any undergraduate or graduate student on the Syracuse University campus; the other, Planning and Management of Public Infrastructure, is open to Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs graduate students in the master’s in public administration (MPA) program and College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate students. Positioned at the intersection of policy and engineering, the courses explore the planning and management of public infrastructure. For MPA students, the course can provide new perspectives on the realities of financing and construction. Engineering students gain insight into the complicated mix of
factors that lead to policy decisions. The classes are taught in a seminar style to encourage opinions, interaction, and conversation. The courses are currently featured as a case study on the American Society of Engineering Education website.
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Singh is responsible for elevating the prominence and reach of the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s research activities, fostering interdisciplinary and translational research, directing funds and support for multi-investigator collaborations, and developing the research infrastructure and expertise necessary to attract federally funded research opportunities. He is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
A Syracuse University professor during the 1970s, Nemerow was a pioneering expert in water pollution and industrial waste treatment.
T
he Nelson L. Nemerow Memorial Scholarship in Environmental Engineering has been established in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. The scholarship will support environmental engineering graduate students with interests in clean water initiatives. It was endowed with a generous gift from Nemerow’s son, Dr. Glen Nemerow ’73, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences. Nemerow is credited with establishing SU’s environmental engineering department in 1976. His research promoted water conservation and advanced the design of water treatment plants.
Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89
Today, Hopkins is a leader at Arcadis, a design and consultancy firm, where she is an executive board member and the executive with responsibility for the Americas and global leadership of the
Gurdip Singh Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Programs Ph.D. Stony Brook University
NELSON L. NEMEROW MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FURTHERS LEGACY OF A WATER RESOURCES VISIONARY
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT As a student, Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89 balanced her time between excelling in her civil engineering course load and serving as captain of the field hockey team. The skills she honed on and off the field set her on a trajectory of continued success in her career.
NEW FACULTY
company’s water and environment business lines. She also serves on Blumont’s board for international relief and development. Previously, she held a series of progressive roles in project execution, business development, and general management at Parsons. As its group president of federal business, she was responsible for worldwide operations of the U.S. government business. Hopkins embodies the SU spirit of passion and accomplishment we hope to instill in all our alumni.
Glen Nemerow says, “My dad really enjoyed teaching and getting students excited about clean water. He was extraordinarily farsighted on the topic. When he was at the height of his career in the ’70s, people didn’t quite realize the importance of water conservation like we do today. I hope this scholarship furthers the legacy of the work he started.” The scholarship was awarded for the first time this spring to doctoral students Kyotaek Hwang and Changcheng Pu. Learn more by visiting the prospective graduate student webpage on eng-cs.syr.edu.
CONNECTING WOMEN IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
P
rofessor Shobha K. Bhatia and Assistant Professor Sucheta Soundarajan were awarded a National Science Foundation grant to better connect women faculty in geotechnical engineering. The project, a national collaborative effort with the University of Michigan and Drexel University, focuses on professional networking to improve retention, advancement, and scientific collaboration among this largely disconnected scientific community.
RESEARCH AREAS
19 249 # of Faculty
# of Undergraduate Students
84 40
Bhatia and Soundarajan have partnered with Sharon Alestalo, program director of Women in Science and Engineering and SU Advance, to create more robust connections within the geotechnical engineering community by providing women faculty with greater access to mentoring, resources, and opportunities to collaborate. Featured in Geostrata, their work combines face-to-face networking meetings and virtual networking practices to increase collaboration opportunities. The team’s final evaluation, including
FACTS AND STATS
# of Master’s Students
a before-and-after social network analysis, will evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts and recommend promising practices for use in other disciplines where women face similar challenges.
GREEN ROOF PROVIDES LAYER OF WARMTH, EDUCATIONAL WEALTH
# of Ph.D. Students
Degrees Awarded May 2015–2016
66
Undergraduate
41
Geotechnical Engineering, including Geosynthetics and Geofoams
Smart Management of Water Systems for Sustainability
Construction Engineering and Project Management
Structural Engineering and Health Monitoring
Civil Infrastructure Systems and Management
Sustainability Engineering
Graduate
Green Infrastructure
H
igh above the streets of downtown Syracuse, instruments installed by Cliff Davidson, the Wilmot Professor of Environmental Engineering, and his students are adding to our understanding of the benefits of green roofs.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
For more than two years, a one-and-a-half-acre green roof at the Onondaga County Convention Center has been a classroom for Syracuse University students in which to explore how green roofs can help the greater community address some of its most persistent infrastructure problems. If plans proceed as scheduled, local schools will soon be able to get access to the stream of data coming out of this project. Davidson’s recent research has focused on how a green roof might make a difference in energy use for space heating during Central New York’s cold and snowy winter season. “Central New York is a great place to do this work,” says Davidson, who is nationally known for his work in green infrastructure and sustainable engineering. “We have it all here—such an incredible diversity of weather.”
LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17, Civil Engineering & Business
Davidson and his students, in a two-year study, found that the energy balance of the building is influenced by the green roof. Downward heat flux was evident in the summer, and upward heat flux dominated during the heating season. Davidson says that vegetation and soil on a green roof provide extra insulation on top of the roof’s traditional foam insulation.
It is not hard to see how LaVerne Sessler ’16, G’17 ended up enrolled in Syracuse University’s H. John Riley 3+2 civil engineering and MBA program. He’s been around construction equipment and business his entire life. His family owns and operates Sessler Wrecking, a company that specializes in the demolition of industrial and commercial structures. As a young boy, he and his brother would pose for photos with construction equipment and enormous bridges. But while his family’s expertise is in taking structures down, Sessler’s is in putting them up.
Since beginning work on his degrees, he has completed internships at Hunter Roberts Construction group and the Dubai Contracting Company, as well as a co-op for GE Transportation. He will begin work this summer as a project engineer at Hunter Roberts. “I see civil engineers as the people who hold everything together: the roads, the bridges, the buildings—all of the infrastructure that surrounds us is civil engineering. I look forward to the day I can build something and say, ‘That was me. I contributed.’”
COLLABORATIVE PROJECT INVESTIGATES PUBLICPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
W
hen the President recently proposed a trilliondollar plan to repair the nation’s failing infrastructure, he signaled that a significant portion of that plan will rely on public-private partnerships.
Last year, Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and Whitman School of Management assembled a team of student and faculty researchers to investigate public-private partnerships in the United States with a goal of informing government representatives of the benefits, pitfalls, and opportunities. To do so, the team of undergraduates and Ph.D. candidates led by O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor, and Terry Brown, the executive director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, identified the perceived benefits and weaknesses of the partnerships, researched specific projects to determine if those notions rang true,
and compiled a quantitative and qualitative comparison of public-private partnerships projects versus traditional design-bid-build projects. As detailed in their comprehensive report, they found that public-private partnership infrastructure projects in the United States have a significantly greater likelihood of meeting schedule and cost requirements when compared to conventional approaches. However, the success of such projects is highly dependent on key factors, including political commitment, favorable and complete value-for-cost analysis, supportive local and state legislation, the accurate assumption of interest rates, and other key financial parameters. “These partnerships are not ideal for all projects, but they are a good option for big projects. We found that they are particularly well-suited for transportation, hospitals, schools, and water systems,” says Salem.
UNCOVERING CONNECTIONS IN THE WATER CYCLE
P
lants move more water into the atmosphere than streams or rivers move across the landscape. Observing, measuring, and simulating this process called transpiration is challenging, yet vital for understanding the water cycle and our water supply.
By including groundwater flow in their model, the amount of water moved through transpiration increased. This suggests that groundwater flow, which is generally simplified or excluded from other continental scale simulations, plays a larger role than previously understood.
In “Connections between groundwater flow and transpiration partitioning,” Assistant Professor Laura Condon and Professor Reed Maxwell of the Colorado School of Mines use highperformance computing to factor in the impact of groundwater flowing beneath vegetation at the continental scale to understand just how important plants’ use of water is to the water cycle. With this knowledge, scientists will be able to better predict how much freshwater will be available under changing climate conditions.
“If groundwater is impacting the behavior of transpiration as our model shows, then it needs to be taken into consideration if we want to better understand what large-scale water availability will look like over the next 100 years,” Condon explains.
Condon and Maxwell’s research studied transpiration’s part in moving water from the surface of the land to the atmosphere.
Streamflow Streamflow
Lateral Lateralgroundwater groundwaterflow flow Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
Gifts to our College allow us to further prepare our students in ways that will differentiate them in the competitive marketplace and magnify the value of a Syracuse University engineering and computer science degree. Gifts will also support specific initiatives aimed at positioning our College as a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education, as presented in our Transforming Our Future plan at eng-cs.syr.edu/transformation. With your help, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Please consider making your gift today at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Integrated Hydrologic Models
CERTIFICATE OF ADVANCED STUDY IN PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP VISIT US ON FACEBOOK
@ENGINEERINGSU
The College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs are now partnering to co-administer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership (CAS-PIML).
CONNECT WITH US
The CAS-PIML is a 15-credit concurrent degree for public administration or engineering graduate students. Courses
@ENGINEERINGSU
ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering PEOPLE AREN’T THE ONLY BENEFICIARIES OF POWER PLANT CARBON STANDARDS
T
Vertical Vertical Exchanges Exchanges
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SYRACUSE NY
E,E,TT
E, TE, T
Traditional Land Surface Models
PAID
O. Sam Salem Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering omsalem@syr.edu
The complete research appeared in the July 22, 2016 issue of Science Magazine. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research and Office of Advanced Scientific Computing through the IDEAS project.
Streamflow Streamflow
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
will cover the planning, design, and policy considerations of public infrastructure along with environmental and social sustainability issues. The program is geared toward mid-career professionals who are interested in infrastructure planning, engineering, management, and administration.
he politically embattled Clean Power Plan set out to regulate carbon dioxide emissions to protect public health and welfare. Given that other pollutants are emitted from power plants—along with carbon dioxide—research has shown that carbon emission standards for the power sector benefit human health. New research shows that they would also benefit crops and trees.
The study is authored by researchers from Drexel University, Syracuse University, Boston University, and Harvard University, convened by the Science Policy Exchange. It is the first study to model the ecosystem impact of contrasting policies, one of which was similar to the Clean Power Plan.
“These benefits to people and ecosystems are nearly immediate and occur in urban and rural communities across the U.S. We know from this and other studies that the economic value of the added benefits from power plant carbon standards are large and exceed the estimated cost of implementation.”
LEADING ON INFRASTRUCTURE
M
ore than 300 million Americans rely on roads, bridges, public water mains, and utilities every day, but in much of the United States those basic infrastructure systems are aging faster than repairs can be made. Trillions of dollars of investment will be needed in the coming years.
According to the study, the corresponding reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions from coal power plants would also mean a decrease in ground-level ozone—a known inhibitor of plant growth. By using modeling predictions of the year 2020, the researchers found that proper implementation of the Clean Power Plan would provide a significant boost to the productivity of key indicator crops, such as corn, cotton, soybean, and potato, as well as several tree species.
O. Sam Salem, chair and Yabroudi Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a partnership between the College of Engineering and Computer Science and three other colleges at Syracuse University to study and assist public agencies across the country with solutions to their infrastructure needs. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Whitman School of Management, and the College of Law each bring their expertise in public-private partnerships, public policy, and budgeting to the Public Civil Infrastructure Program (PCI).
“Our work shows the importance of considering the co-benefits of our nation’s energy policies going forward,” said Syracuse University Professor Charles T. Driscoll, co-author of the study.
Salem says the PCI’s mission includes “strategies and methods to minimize project costs and durations, improve project delivery systems, provide better publicity for public agencies and more
SPRING 2017
justifiable budget requests, and raise the skill sets of the current and future workforce.” The PCI will also look at standards for public-private partnerships that have been successful in Europe and are now seeing greater attention in the United States. “Breaking from the traditional, yet inefficient, publicly funded model requires considerable education of public officials and administrators, including changes to federal, state, and municipal laws, as well as the private sector,” said Salem. The PCI will also make its research and reports publicly available to planners, designers, contractors, managers, investors, law and policy makers, public agencies, and private sectors nationwide. In addition, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering and Computer Science are co-administering courses on infrastructure and public policy. The two schools also offer a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Infrastructure Management and Leadership to graduate students.