UD CEE Outlook

OUTLOOK

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

ALUMNI NEWSLETTER SPRING 2017 | ISSUE NO. 7

INSIDE » Welcome from the chair » Department News » Research » Faculty Highlights

College of Engineering DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

» Student News » Alumni News

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

I

I often wonder how many people, including our alumni, know the history of civil engineering at UD.

For example, did you know that civil engineering was one of the two original engineering degrees created at UD? The other was agricultural engineering, which was phased out some years ago.

And did you know that the degree is more than 125 years old?

Or that we now have more than 3500 living alumni?

HARRY (TRIPP) SHENTON III BCE ‘82, MCE ‘84 PROFESSOR AND CHAIR

2 | UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

Our alumni are working in all sectors of the industry— public and private, large and small—and many are leaders in the industry. UD has a reputation as one of the best engineering programs in the country, and civil engineering is deeply rooted in that history.

In the 1940s and 50s, attention turned to issues related to providing clean water to society and to dealing with wastewater. The civil engineering curriculum was updated to add courses and content in this important new area.

Over the years the sub-discipline expanded to incorporate the many other issues facing our environment, including hazardous waste, air pollution, and soil remediation.

In the 1990s, we added a four-year bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, and, soon after that, the name of the department was changed to “Civil and Environmental Engineering.” Now, the environmental program, which was spearheaded by the late Professor Steve Dentel, attracts some of the best students in the college, and women outnumber men in the major.

The creation of the environmental engineering program was a major milestone in the history of the department—one that signified our intention to “make our mark” on this important discipline and be a leader in training and educating students to address the important environmental challenges we face today.

As the world changes, our department will continue to respond to the evolving needs of industry and society. We are currently working to establish a program in Construction Engineering and Management to prepare graduates for careers as project engineers, project managers, estimators, and other related positions. This will be another huge step for us and for the continued growth of the department.

Looking back, 100 years from now, the faculty and administration will see this as a major milestone for the department and the university—and one that marked the beginning of a new opportunity for UD to lead the way.

I hope you enjoy reading this edition of CEE Outlook. As always, please feel free to contact us—we welcome your questions, concerns, and suggestions. To stay connected via social media, be sure to follow us on Facebook at UDelawareCEE. Sincerely,

Harry (Tripp) Shenton III PROFESSOR AND CHAIR

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Transportation plays a vital role in this age of information technology and a global community, and top-quality transportation research and education cannot be provided in isolation.

–Ardeshir Faghri

Leadership Change for Delaware Center for Transportation The Delaware Center for Transportation recently announced a change in leadership, with professor Ardeshir Faghri, who had led the center since 1999, stepping down, and Christopher Meehan, Bentley Systems Inc. Chaired Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, taking over as director.

DCT’s primary goal is to serve as a resource to the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), other state DOT’s, local transportation agencies and transportation-related federal organizations. Through collaboration between policy scientists and civil and environmental engineers, the center supports research, development and educational activities to address transportation needs. Current research projects are focused on a broad range of topics, including bridge health monitoring, traffic data

analysis and evaluation, bridge design, and passenger and rail service support.

Meehan’s research interests include soil mechanics and soil shear behavior, slope stability, foundation engineering, soil-structure interaction, soil and site improvement, and design of levee systems. He has two current DCT projects, one focused on monitoring of a geosynthetic reinforced soil integrated bridge system in Delaware and the other on pile downdrag issues for bridge design.

Marikka Beach retires Marikka Beach retired on July 1, 2016, after

13 years of service in the department. She began her career in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and her ever-present smile soon became the face of the department. Her attention to detail, high level of work ethic and ability to manage multiple simultaneous tasks earned her the respect and praise of many faculty and colleagues, both in the department and across campus. She was a welcome and familiar face to countless students and external visitors, alumni and friends of the department. Her commitment to the University of Delaware was evident in her volunteerism for many events including convocation and commencement, Alumni Weekend and other campus-wide events.

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING | 3

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Environmental Lab Renovation

E

nvironmental engineering labs in Du Pont Hall were recently renovated, with funding provided by the Unidel Foundation, the College of Engineering, and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering–in part from donations from alumni. Labs were completely gutted and outfitted with new casework and counter tops, new lighting, new and larger fume hoods, drop ceiling and flooring, and safety and code upgrades. The updated facilities will enable UD to remain competitive in recruiting high quality graduate and undergraduate students, as well as faculty for the environmental engineering program.

4 | UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

BEFORE

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING | 5

RESEARCH // TRANSPORTATION

PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Lisa Stabler, president of the Transportation Technology Center Inc., delivers a keynote address on big data in the rail industry; UD’s Allan Zarembski chairs the Big Data in Railroad Maintenance Planning Conference; Gary Carr, chief of the track research division of the Federal Railroad Administration, speaks on “Leveraging Big Data and Machine Learning for Rail Safety.”

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Railroad Big Data

Railway engineering at UD

More than 150 representatives of the railway and academic communities turned out for the 2016 Big Data in Railroad Maintenance Planning Conference in December.

Since the establishment of UD’s railroad engineering program in 2012: • Four research-based master’s students are completing or have completed their degrees, and four students are currently working on doctoral degrees.

• Close to 200 undergraduate and graduate students have taken UD’s railway engineering courses, all of which are electives.

• Zarembski is teaching not only three courses at UD but also summer classes at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, as well as a number of online courses that reach students across the world.

• UD is a partner, along with Virginia Tech, on a Tier 1 University Transportation Center (UTC) program recently awarded to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas for “Improving Rail Transportation Infrastructure Sustainability and Durability” (see section at the end of this article for more details).

The third annual conference was chaired by professor Allan Zarembski and presented by the UD Railroad Engineering and Safety Program, the UD Big Data Center, and UD Professional Engineering Outreach.

Conference presentations covered a range of topics, including applications and case studies, big data analysis techniques, maintenance strategies, risk management, automated inspection technologies and asset management.

The focus was on making more effective use of the growing volume of inspection and other data now available to railway engineering managers to help them make their rail systems safer, more efficient and more productive.

READ MORE > http://www.udel.

edu/udaily/2016/december/ big-data-railroad-maintenance/

Railway UTC The U.S. Department of Transportation announced in December that $300.3 million in grants will go to 32 university transportation centers (UTCs) to accelerate research and education programs dealing with the county’s transportation challenges.

A $1.4 million grant to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will facilitate studies of rail infrastructure through a collaboration with the University of Delaware and Virginia Tech to analyze design, construction and maintenance efficiencies for future high-speed rail projects.

Among UD’s research activities will be the integration of a new generation of inspection technology with track degradation analysis and maintenance planning and the use of data analytics to develop improved planning and forecasting tools for railroad infrastructure.

Additional activities will include education and workforce development, such as developing and enhancing accredited degree-granting programs, and technology transfer to develop partnerships across sectors and move research into practice.

READ MORE > http://www.rtands.com/index.php/passenger/

usdot-awards-dol300m-for-utc-grants.html?channel

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RESEARCH // GEOTECHNICAL

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Rapid bridge replacement Stopped traffic due to highway repair has become costly to the economy, prompting transportation agencies to search for innovative ways to quickly complete roadway projects.

Civil engineers from the University of Delaware, led by Christopher Meehan, Bentley Systems Incorporated Chair of Civil Engineering, have partnered with the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) to replace a twolane bridge just north of the C&D canal using a rapid bridge replacement technology called Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS). Developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), GRS-IBS is a cost-effective solution that uses prefabricated elements for repairing and replacing aging bridges. This project, the first of its kind in Delaware, was supported through funding from FHWA’s Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative.

GRS-IBS bridges are built using a prefabricated shallow foundation system, eliminating costly downtime associated with cast concrete that can take 28 days to cure. For this particular project, locally available concrete masonry blocks were laid in rows, backed with gravel and topped with a geosynthetic fabric to hold the rock in place, creating a composite sandwich foundation. The process was repeated in layers, and then a precast-concrete bridge superstructure was placed on top. The entire bridge spans approximately 37 feet.

Meehan’s research team provided extensive technical support on the project including designing and implementing a custom structural health monitoring system that included more than 150 sensors to continuously monitor the bridge’s long-term performance. He hopes the data collected will

provide information about how GRS-IBS bridges behave, something that is currently lacking in the industry.

“University of Delaware has extensive experience in the design and construction of geosynthetic structures.

We were a logical choice to assist DelDOT with this project because of that know-how,” Meehan explains.

GRS-IBS systems can be used with steel, concrete or composite superstructures and can be constructed over land or water. GRS-IBS technology also resolves what is colloquially known as the “bump at the end of the bridge,” a phenomenon that can affect ride quality and create wear points that decrease a bridge’s life span due to dynamic stress from large vehicles or salt treatments used to prevent icing.

Meehan calls GRS-IBS an accessible technology that can be built almost anywhere.

“This technology is ideal for applications such as Engineers Without Borders projects. You show up with rolls of fabric, get some locally sourced stone and concrete block, and build bridges. The only heavy equipment that would be needed is to set the superstructure in place—it’s really neat stuff,” Meehan says.

While faculty made design decisions, UD students oversaw construction, managed the project with DelDOT, and installed all the sensors and instrumentation.

Meehan and his students reported the work in a 2014 article in Civil Engineering magazine, a trade publication that reaches more than 30,000 practicing engineers.

Majid Talebi, Ph.D. ‘16 was the paper’s lead author and coauthors included Daniel Cacciola, MCE ‘13 and graduate student Matthew Becker. Others at UD involved on the project included Michael Davidson and Gary Wenczel.

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RESEARCH // ENVIRONMENTAL

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Reducing the Relics of War The Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) was established in 1911 as a field artillery firing and field training site. Over the next several decades, MMR, which occupies 34 square miles on upper Cape Cod, was used for a variety of military operations.

No one guessed — in 1911 or even years later during the Cold War — that those activities would contaminate an aquifer which, as of the early 1980s, provided drinking water to some 200,000 year-round and an additional 300,000 seasonal residents of the four towns surrounding MMR.

rate at which these materials degrade.

The project, “Natural and Enhanced Rate and Capacity of Abiotic Reduction of Munition Constituents,” is the third SERDP-funded research grant for the group over the past 14 years.

In the first project, led by Herbert E. Allen, who is now emeritus professor, the researchers developed computational models to predict how rapidly munition constituents move through the environment, a process that varies depending on whether the material binds to soils or remains soluble.

the contribution and impact of abiotic transformation on contaminant fate under both natural and engineered conditions. The basic idea is to use the reactive iron and carbon compounds naturally occurring in soil and groundwater to help break down contaminants.

Dominic Di Toro, the Edward C. Davis

“The models developed under the previous grants will provide a theoretical framework for the new research,” says Chiu. “At the same time, the findings of our current work will be fed back into the model to improve its predictive capabilities.”

grants will

Di Toro says that a calibrated and validated predictive model will permit practitioners to develop designs for more cost-effective long-term remediation.

framework for

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, led the second project, which provided a method to predict environmental properties from molecular structure only.

By the late 20th century, it had become clear that munitions constituents — which include explosives, propellants and metals — posed an environmental hazard not only on Cape Cod but at sites across the U.S., giving rise to significant federal support for research to address the problem.

They used a quantum chemical program developed by Stanley I. Sandler, H.B. DuPont Chair of Chemical Engineering, to provide the “data” from which the properties were modeled. The method can aid the development of new munitions with less environmentally damaging properties.

A team of civil and environmental engineering faculty at UD recently received a four-year, $1.75 million grant from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) to measure and predict the

The new research, led by professor Pei Chiu, and including Allen and Di Toro, is part of an overall effort to develop more cost-effective approaches to long-term site management.

The team will develop ways to estimate

The researchers will also determine how abiotic transformation can be enhanced to accelerate degradation of munitions constituents in place, so that the munitions don’t need to be excavated.

The models developed under the previous provide a theoretical the new research.

“The results of the proposed research will help confirm that enhanced abiotic attenuation can be a viable longterm remedial option,” he adds.

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RESEARCH // COASTAL

Munitions Mysteries Hidden dangers on America’s beaches include not only much-publicized shark attacks and rip currents but also unexploded ordnance, a term used to describe undetonated explosives including bombs, shells, grenades and mines.

Artifacts of war, these devices still pose a risk of detonation decades after being used or discarded.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has identified more than 400 locations within formerly used defense sites that contain unexploded ordnance in underwater environments, and munitions have been found on beaches from Assateague Island, Maryland, to Hapuna Beach, Hawaii.

A major problem is that no one knows when or where munitions may wash ashore or what happens if they do.

Associate professor Jack Puleo has received a $1 million grant from the Department of Defense (DOD) to help figure that out.

The objective of the four-year project, which is funded through the DOD’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), is to quantify the small-scale processes on the beach face responsible for munitions mobility, including transport, burial and excavation.

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Puleo explains that the beach face is the region of the beach that is dominated by swash-zone processes and is alternately covered and uncovered by successive waves. The swash zone is a narrow but important region where sediment is exchanged between land and sea.

“Studies on the beach face are critical because munition migration rates are expected to be higher there than elsewhere in the nearshore, and migration may occur into areas that had been previously cleared,” he says.

Puleo and his team will deploy a suite of solid surrogate munitions – objects that look and feel like real munitions but have no explosive capacity – at field sites under low- and high-energy conditions and on shallow and steep sloping beaches in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Through a collaboration with the U.S. Army, they will also be able to test actual inert munitions in an outdoor wave flume at the Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland.

Using an array of instruments, they will quantify forcing processes and munitions mobility in real time, enabling them to test their hypothesis that munitions mobility and transport on the beach face can be surmised from the hydrodynamic forcing conditions and munition characteristics.

“We hope that the research will provide stakeholders focused on site remediation and management with a better understanding of the transport of munitions as they near and/or reach the beach face,” Puleo says.

Studies on the beach face are critical because munition migration rates are expected to be higher there than elsewhere in the nearshore, and migration may occur into areas that had been previously cleared.

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FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS

In Memoriam Dennis Mertz Dennis R. Mertz, professor of civil engineering

and director of UD’s Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering, died Aug. 12, 2016.

Mertz was born in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania.

He earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at Lehigh University, where he conducted research under the advisement of John Fisher. The results of his work greatly impacted today’s design and evaluation procedures with regard to fatigue of steel connections.

After completing his Ph.D., Mertz went to work for Modjeski and Masters, a major bridge design firm, where he contributed to the design and rehabilitation of numerous important bridges.

While at Modjeski and Masters, together with John Kulicki, Mertz was the coprincipal investigator of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 12-33, “Development of a Comprehensive Bridge Specification and Commentary,” which led to development of the current AASHTO LRDF Bridge Design Specifications, the guidelines by which virtually all bridges in the U.S. are designed.

Mertz accepted a position at UD as an

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associate professor in 1992. He founded the University’s Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering, and he was the founding editor of ASCE’s Journal of Bridge Engineering.

He published extensively in the field of bridge engineering and helped numerous states and foreign countries to develop and revise their bridge design specifications.

Mertz won numerous awards for his work, including most recently the 2016 John A. Roebling Award, presented for lifetime achievement in bridge engineering.

A beloved teacher, Mertz was an avid wine enthusiast and pet lover. He and his wife, Madelyn, enjoyed spending time at their second home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. In addition to his wife, Mertz is survived by his brother, Richard, and sisterin-law, Ann of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

CONTRIBUTIONS IN MEMORY OF PROF. MERTZ CAN BE SENT TO:

University of Delaware, Gifts Processing, 83 E. Main St, 3rd Fl., Newark, DE 19716. Checks should be made payable to the “University of Delaware” or visit this website. Please include Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering/Dennis Mertz when making your contribution.

Seminal paper on sediment-water interaction wins national award

Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), in effect putting the huge body of water — along with the region’s streams, creeks and rivers — on a “pollution diet.”

Chin-Pao Huang, Donald C. Philips Professor and

Francis Alison Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Asian American Engineer of the Year Award in February.

Like a food diet that specifies reductions in fat, protein, and carbohydrate intake to promote weight loss, a TMDL details the reductions in such pollution sources as nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment needed to meet water quality standards.

Huang has more than 300 publications, including one Citation Classic and three best paper awards, with a current h-index of 70 and 27,500 total citations (Google Scholar). He has mentored 14 postdoctoral researchers and supervised the thesis research of more than 100 graduate students.

Effective development and implementation of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL would not have been possible a generation ago — in the days when water quality modelers considered bodies of water and the sediment that lies at the bottom of them as separate entities.

Huang’s previous honors and awards include the Gordon Maskew Fair Medal from the Water Environment Federation for worthy accomplishments in the training and development of future engineers (1999) and the Gordon Maskew Fair Award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers for substantial contributions to the status of the engineering profession, the quality of the world’s environment, and the Academy (2012).

But a paper published in 1990 in the Journal of Environmental Engineering by Dominic Di Toro, Edward C. Davis Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, brought about a major change in the field of modeling sediment-water interactions.

The paper, “Sediment Oxygen Demand Model: Methane and Ammonia Oxidation,” won the 2016 Outstanding Publication Award from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) at the 89th Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC 2016) in New Orleans on Sept. 26, 2016.

READ MORE > http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2016/

september/national-environmental-award/

Huang has been honored in two special journal issues in the Journal of Environmental Engineering and the Journal of Separation and Purification Technology.

The Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society honored him in 2014 with a special symposium commemorating his lifetime achievements and contributions to environmental chemistry research.

READ MORE > http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2017/ march/huang-lifetime-achievement-award/

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FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS

McNeil elected distinguished member of ASCE

Davidson appointed associate dean for diversity

In recognition of her “pioneering contributions to the redevelopment of brownfield sites, for infrastructure management education and research, and for efforts to strengthen diversity in the civil engineering profession,” Sue McNeil has been elected a distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Rachel Davidson has been appointed associate dean

The oldest engineering society in the United States, with members in 174 countries, ASCE has bestowed distinguished membership on only 650 people in its 163-year history.

Founding chair of the ASCE’s civil infrastructure systems committee, McNeil works with the National Academies’ Transportation Research Board, helps run a graduate student research conference, and edits the Journal of Infrastructure Systems. She also works with the Delaware Department of Transportation, studying the quality of the data used to decide whether to repave or fix potholes and pavements.

Concern for social impact extends to her ongoing work to encourage women to pursue civil engineering, driven by her own experience as one of very few women in her field when she was in school. She’s been involved with initiatives aimed at everyone from high school girls to professional women engineers, as well as general initiatives to help students build networks and improve recruitment and mentoring.

READ MORE > http://www1.udel.edu/udaily/2015/ may/asce-mcneil-051115.html

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for diversity in the College of Engineering.

Davidson has appointed working groups for the various constituencies within the college, as well as a committee with representatives from all seven academic departments in the college. As the diversity advocate for the college, Davidson also works with Carol Henderson, UD’s vice provost for diversity.

Davidson emphasizes that she is working on the strong foundation built by others in the college who have worked on diversity issues over the past decade, including Pam Cook, who leads UD’s ADVANCE Institute, and Michael Vaughan, who manages the college’s academic and educational infrastructure and supports processes to foster successful student outcomes, particularly through the RISE Program.

“Engineering as a profession is better if we have more perspectives and broader talent,” she says. “But in the larger scheme, if we can make our own little community more harmonious, then that’s good for society too.”

READ MORE > http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2016/ september/engineering-associate-dean-diversity/

Jayne wins Excellence in Teaching award Allen Jayne received UD’s Excellence in Teaching

Awards at the May 2, 2016 meeting of the Faculty Senate.

The Excellence in Teaching Awards are based primarily on nominations from current and past students. The student and faculty honors committee selected the winners from nearly 700 nominations for the awards in three different categories. Awardees receive $5,000, have their portraits hung in Morris Library for five years and have bricks inscribed with their names installed in Mentors’ Circle between Hullihen Hall and the Morris Library.

Kaliakin publishes soil mechanics textbook Victor Kaliakin recently published his second

book, Soil Mechanics: Calculations, Principles, and Methods. The book covers soil compaction and field applications, hydraulic conductivity and seepage, soil compressibility and field application, and shear strength and field application.

PUBLICATION DETAILS:

Kaliakin, V. N., Soil Mechanics: Calculations, Principles, and Methods, UK: ButterworthHeinemann (2017) (ISBN-10: 0128044918; ISBN-13: 978-0128044919), 462 pages.

Lee receives UD Police award Rusty Lee received the University of Delaware Police Department “Foundation” award

in Feb. 2016. The Foundation award brick “symbolizes the foundation of support, effort and commitment from people affiliated with the department, who have exhibited hard work and dedication to help us to fulfill our mission and our overall success.” Lee was recognized for working collaboratively with the department’s Community Resources Unit to come up with innovative ideas and capital to facilitate ideas such as the “Walk Safe Bike Safe” program. The recognition went on to say, “He has proven himself to be an asset to the University of Delaware Police Department and the University community as a whole.”

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STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS // ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS

A well for Mphero EWB-UD finishes implementation phase in Malawi project The UD chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-UD) traveled to the village of Mphero in Malawi during the summer of 2016 to complete the final phase of a project begun by EWB-UD in 2015. Working with the local firm Rodu Drilling and Civil Engineering and community organization Villages in Partnership, the group installed Mphero’s first successful borehole well with a depth of more than 37 meters.

Before installing the well, members of EWB-UD spent the 2015-16 academic year deciding what type of technology would provide the best solution for Mphero’s needs, and they determined that drilling a borehole would be best for the community because it would provide the most water for the community for the longest amount of time.

On site, the team began by drilling two test wells, and the test well with the most promising geology and pump test results was chosen for completion. Before completing the well and installing an AfriDev hand pump, the students took groundwater samples to ensure that the groundwater was safe for consumption.

During the summer of 2017, another EWB-UD team will return to complete any needed repairs and to monitor and evaluate the success of the project. The chapter will also use this opportunity to begin their next project in a nearby village of the Sakata region.

UD’s Engineers Without Borders chapter also maintains an active project in the Philippines. For more details on the Malawi implementation or other projects, visit the EWB-UD website.

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EWB

by the numbers 35% of EWB-UD members are civil and environmental engineering majors 10-16 hours per week – amount of time students spend doing work for the club 10 students new to EWB this semester

Art meets engineering Collaboration showcases EWB projects EWB-UD and the EWB Delaware Professional Chapter recently partnered with UD’s Department of Art and Design to co-host “Water: A Medium for Life,” an art show where paintings, woodcuts, photographs, and paper cuts all told the story of EWB’s work to provide clean water to communities in Malawi, the Philippines, and Kenya.

5 students work on the Malawi project 4 students work on the Philippines project 3 students work on club financials and management

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STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS // COMPETITIONS The Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge The goal of the concrete canoe team is to design a canoe made from concrete and other supporting materials, while the steel bridge team designs and fabricates a functional steel bridge.

UD’s concrete canoe passed the submersion test and then was raced in the endurance, sprint, and coed races. The canoe was one of few that did not get any major cracks or holes throughout the races.

Both teams participate in the regional ASCE competition, which was held at Drexel University in 2016.

Entries in the steel bridge competition are entirely student built, with the project requiring months of planning and labor. Team members design

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bridges using advanced software and vie to have their designs selected by the team. Once the team’s design has been chosen, materials are ordered and the components are fabricated in the student design shop. After construction is complete, the bridge is disassembled so that the team can practice rebuilding it against the clock. UD’s steel bridge team came in fifth out of 11 teams that competed.

Geowall

Traffic Bowl

Civil engineering majors Marc Toussaint, Michael Giordano, Steven Nickel, and Aaron Policow represented UD in the 2016 Geowall challenge in Phoenix, Arizona. The group was mentored/advised by Ph.D. student Will Baker.

Undergraduate student Andrew Major; graduate student Zach Nerwinski; Ph.D. student Ben Fisher; and Jim Clem, MCE ‘16 won the 2016 Mid-Colonial District of the Institute of Transportation Engineers Traffic Bowl, beating out Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Morgan State University, and Villanova University.

The GeoWall competition challenges civil engineers to design and fabricate a model mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall using paper reinforcement taped to a poster board wall facing. As stated by ASCE, “The design objective is to use the least amount of reinforcement needed to support the retained soil plus vertical surcharge loading.” The model MSE retaining wall and the testing box (“the sandbox”) are entirely student-built and the project requires months of planning and labor. Team members progress through several iterations of designs before a final model is selected and constructed.

The Traffic Bowl is a Jeopardy-style competition among student Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) chapters from the U.S. and Canada and involves questions in transportation engineering and planning.

The UD chapter of ITE competed in Anaheim, California, as part of the Grand Championship on Aug. 15. This was the team’s third appearance at the national finals in the seven years of the event. The team had won their slot in the nationals by winning the Mid-Colonial District Competition in April. The UD team faced challengers from Morgan State University, Penn State University, Villanova University and the University of Pittsburgh and emerged undefeated.

Nine teams from the ITE Districts competed in Anaheim. The UD team faced the University of South Florida and Purdue University in the first round and was defeated by the eventual champion, Purdue University.

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STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Sarah Hartman named a 2016 Truman Scholar Sarah Hartman, an environmental engineering major with

minors in French and political science, has been named a 2016 Truman Scholar. The federal scholarship provides $30,000 for graduate study and is awarded to juniors based on their records of leadership, public service, and academic achievement.

The 20th Truman Scholar in the University’s history, Hartman intends to pursue a master’s degree in water and environmental policy, with a focus on drinking water and sanitation in developing countries. She plans to use the technical knowledge gained from her engineering education to effect policy change that will bring clean water for agriculture, industry, and residential use to people across the world.

Winning the Truman award has given Hartman much to think about as she nears the end of her UD career. She assumed the presidency of EWB-UD for the 2016-17 academic year and, during the summer of 2017, she will join other Truman Scholars in completing an internship in Washington, D.C. After graduate school, Hartman hopes to begin her career working for an international organization such as Water Aid, the United Nations Environmental Program, or United Nations Water, where she can gain exposure to the complexity of water issues, such as the application of solutions in a social and cultural context and how to optimize results.

READ MORE > http://www1.udel.edu/udaily/2016/ apr/truman-scholar-042116.html

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Pitch:90 results Doctoral student wins research ‘elevator pitch’ contest While few “elevator pitches” actually take place in elevators, there are numerous situations in which the ability to explain your research clearly, concisely and passionately will be important to your success. That’s what the Pitch:90 competition aims to do. Sponsored by UD’s Delaware Environmental Institute and designed as an entertaining, fast-paced event, it provides students a chance to develop their communication and presentation skills while showcasing their research.

Hadi Al-Khateeb, PhD ‘16 was awarded third place at UD’s

first-ever Pitch:90 competition in 2014, and he returned in 2015 to win first place. His talk offered a compelling look into the topic of bridge engineering and safety.

SEE HADI AL-KHATEEB’S WINNING PITCH:90 VIDEO FROM 2015:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y9Am2F5JC8

Andi Slane wins CAA women’s golf title When Andi Slane, BCE ‘16 committed to the University of Delaware, the Blue Hen women’s golf program had yet to compete in a tournament. By the end of her fifth year as a redshirt senior majoring in civil engineering, she was leading the Blue Hens to a conference title and a berth in the NCAA Regionals. The program’s dramatic ascent was led by Slane, the school’s career leader in stroke average and the winner of each of the last two CAA individual titles.

She finished first or second on the team in stroke average during all five of her years at UD, earning three UD Women’s Golf Team MVP awards, and garnering All-CAA accolades during each of her final two seasons. She capped her outstanding campaign with a recordsetting performance at the CAA Championship, winning the individual title by a league record eight shots. She successfully defended her conference title in April, becoming the first women’s golfer in CAA history to win back-to-back individual championships.

She capped her tremendous career by finishing in 53rd place among the best golfers in the nation at the NCAA’s Bryan, Tex. Regional. Her 76.94 career average is the lowest in Blue Hen history, and she is the first women’s golfer to earn the UD Outstanding Female Athlete award.

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING | 23

ALUMNI NEWS

24 | UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

2016 Alumni Awards Outstanding Alumni Award

Citation for Outstanding Achievement

Michael Carragher, President and CEO of VHB

Jason Hastings, Bridge Design Engineer for the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT)

Since joining VHB 18 years ago, Michael Carragher, BCE ‘84 has taken on strategic leadership roles focused on the company’s growth and success. He founded and helped build the firm’s transit and rail practice, led the company’s transportation practice, and led VHB’s emergence as a premier integrated services consultant in Florida. He also has worked on some of the nation’s most complex transit and rail systems — Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., Orlando, and the only high speed rail system in the country, Acela Express.

Carragher is active in numerous professional associations including the Design-Build Institute of America, American Public Transportation Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Women’s Transportation Seminar, the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association, and the American Council of Engineering Companies. He also served as chairman of the advisory council for UD’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Carragher said that his interest in engineering became a passion at UD. “Under both Prof. Kerr and Prof. Kukuchi, I learned to meet tough challenges head on,” he said. “The curriculum was very practical at UD — it was great experience. I’d also like to thank the department for allowing me to serve on the EAC. I’ve worked with and met some wonderful people and learned about their experience in engineering.”

As bridge design engineer for DelDOT, Jason Hastings, BCE ‘00, MCE ‘02 manages the Bridge Preservation Program, a $50 million annual capital program to rehabilitate or reconstruct bridges in the state of Delaware. He also serves on several AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) subcommittees, and he teaches at Delaware Technical Community College as an adjunct instructor.

A registered professional engineer in the state of Delaware, Hastings is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Concrete Institute. In 2012, he was selected as Delaware’s Young Engineer of the Year.

“We are extremely proud of Jason and his accomplishments,” said department chair Tripp Shenton in presenting Hastings with his award.

“He consistently gives back as a mentor to our students, most recently as a panelist for the Philly Chapter of SEI College Night.”

Hastings said, “I’m always happy to come back to UD. My education has served me well and I like to share my experience with the students. My wife, Shante, has also been an inspiration, and as many of you know she won the same award a few years ago. I’m going to hang my plaque a little higher than hers to compete since she won hers first.”

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING | 25

ALUMNI NEWS

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2017 REUNIONS AT UD VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED

If you’re interested in volunteering time to help make your reunion celebration extra special, please contact Alex Hoffmaster at arhoff@udel.edu or 302-831-6340.

ALUMNI & FRIENDS

We wish to thank the many CEE friends and alumni who have made generous contributions over the past year. Your gifts are used for many worthwhile purposes, including support of our research and educational programs.

ALUMNI WEEKEND SAVE THE DATE June 2–4, 2017 udel.edu/alumniweekend

26 | UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, VISIT www.engr.udel.edu/alumni

MAKE A GIFT TO MAKE YOUR GIFT TODAY, PLEASE CONTACT Barbara Maylath College of Engineering Director of Development 302-831-7273 bmaylath@udel.edu

YOU MAY ALSO FORWARD YOUR GIFT TO: Development & Alumni Relations Office 83 East Main Street, 3rd floor Newark, DE 19716 Attn: Gifts Processing

Civil & Environmental Engineering Alumni & Friends 9th Annual

GOLF OUTING

In conjunction with UD Alumni Weekend

FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2017 7:30 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Deerfield Golf Club | 507 Thompson Station Rd. | Newark, DE 19711

Registration opens at 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.

CEE Alumni Reception to follow 4:30–6pm | 301 Du Pont Hall COST: $50 - Alumni (2013 - 2017 graduate) $100 - Alumni (2012 or earlier graduate) $100 - Friends

TO REGISTER, PLEASE VISIT: ce.udel.edu/alumni/golfouting

REGISTER BY MAY 12, 2017 This year’s outing will be capped at 100 players so get your registrations in early!

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING | 27

College of Engineering DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

ce.udel.edu