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2016 CME News

Professor Boyce's Gift Promotes Transportation Planning David Boyce, PhD, has dedicated his career to confronting urban transportation challenges through his research. And now he is dedicating funds through an annual gift to support UIC doctoral students who also conduct research in the transportation engineering and planning field. Boyce is emeritus professor of transportation and regional science in UIC’s Department of Civil & Materials Engineering. As a result of his gift to UIC, eight graduate students in transportation planning have received support over the last two years. Recipient Ramin Shabanpour Anbarani, who studies the role of autonomous vehicles in transportation planning models, says “being recognized with this award boosts my confidence and trust in my ability to achieve my goals—and my ultimate goal is to run my own consultancy.” Read more.
Notice: Course Change Please note course change: CME 497, Capstone Design, does not count toward the graduate level degree course requirements. This class was originally CME 397, Senior Design II. The change has appeared in the University catalog.
Professors McNallan and Mahamid Receive COE Seed Funding Awards Two faculty members in the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering (CME) have received “2016 COE Seed Funding Awards.” Only 14 proposals were chosen from among 36 submitted proposals after a review by UIC’s College of Engineering (COE) Executive Board members and the COE Administrative Council members. Professors Michael McNallan and Mustafa Mahamid were awarded for the proposal “Effectiveness of Damaged Fire Proofing and Corrosion Issues of Steel Beams Due to Such Damage.” The review criteria is based on leveraging, significance, approach, and feasibility. Funds are for the support of exploratory research to be accomplished by the investigator(s) in one year.
CME Department Rises in U.S. News and World Report Rankings The Department of Civil and Materials Engineering at UIC has moved up in the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings of graduate Civil Engineering programs. CME moved up substantially in the rankings to 62nd overall, which is the 39th percentile. The new ranking shows CME racing nine spots higher than its 2014 ranking. “The hard work and dedication of the faculty is what helped us progressively move up in the USNWR Civil Engineering rankings as our raw score improved from 2.1 to 2.5,” said Karl Rockne, Interim Department Head and Professor. “With two NSF CAREER award winners in the department this year and continued great productivity from our faculty, I am confident our reputation will continue to grow.” The latest ranking has UIC tied with Civil Engineering programs at Auburn, Michigan Tech, Louisiana State, University of Nebraska, Oklahoma and the University of Tennessee. Each school's score reflects its average rating on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding), based on a survey of academics at peer institutions.
Farhad Ansari Awarded Federal Highway Administration Grant Distinguished Professor Farhad Ansari has been awarded a grant for $312,995 from the Federal Highway Administration for the project entitled "Implementation of Existing BWIM Technology." Ansari is the sole PI for the grant that is slated to last 18 months. This project pertains to the implementation of the existing Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (BWIM) technology developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The BWIM technology is based on monitoring the shear response of the bridge girders near the abutments of the bridge. The system was developed based on the use of fiber optic rosettes sensors. Previous research on the shear based fiber optic sensor based system revealed encouraging results on limited number of bridges. In contrast to the existing flexural-based BWIM systems that are limited to short spans (maximum 45 feet) and narrow bridges, the shear based BWIM system has demonstrated potential for applications to a wider range of bridge spans and types. The primary objective of this project is to instrument two bridges with the shear based fiber optic BWIM system. The plan includes instrumentation of bridges in Oregon and Wisconsin. Learn more.
CME Alumni Newsletter - Spring 2016 Good news from Interim Department Head Karl Rockne, faculty highlights, 2016 NSF CAREER Award winners, Researching the Great Lakes, ASCE at compete at the Great Lakes Student Conference, the return of Engineers Without Borders, and the Student Sanapshot. Read more.
ASCE Members Compete at Great Lakes Student Conference UIC placed in the top half of the highly competitive Great Lakes Student Conference on April 14-16 at IIT in Chicago. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) members competed against 18 universities during the annual conference, which is made up of schools from southern Wisconsin, northern and central Illinois, and Indiana, and it is one of the largest regions based on number of schools. The schools competed in a set of Civil Engineering-based competitions. At a regional level, eight competitions are typically hosted. Read more.
Students Restart Organization to Help Those in Need The UIC community is encouraged to be leaders and facilitate positive social change through service. Now, all engineering students have a new opportunity to help others through the re-established Engineers Without Borders USA at UIC (EWB-USA at UIC). Read more.
CME Student Snapshot: John Mulrow is a Man on a Mission John Mulrow is going to change the world for the better! He is about to complete his Master’s Degree in Civil and Materials Engineering with a focus on Environmental Engineering. With two additional years of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, you would think the 29-year-old would be eager to start working on his Ph.D. Instead, the new CME alumnus is getting ready to report for basic training with the U.S. Army. Read more.
Q&A with CME’s New Faculty Member Joseph Schulenberg How did you become interested in engineering? I’ve always been able to do math and science work, so a profession in engineering seemed to make sense. I would have to say that it may have begun playing in the sand as a child building sand castles. You learn that your structure will be stable until it dries, walls can only be built so high. Later this makes sense based on your understanding of surface tension and capillary pressure, but as a kid you just observe. Read more.
Q&A with CME’s New Faculty Member Sean Vitousek How did you become interested in engineering? I became interested in engineering in College. I had a fantastic Civil Engineering professor (David Billington) who taught how works of engineering can transcend simple infrastructure and become art. Not art only in the sense that works of civil engineering are visually impressive, but art in the sense that they are a thoughtful convergence of form and function. Read more.
Professor Krishna Reddy Awarded $77,150 Supplement Grant Professor Krishna Reddy received a $77,150 supplement grant to his National Science Foundation (NSF) project entitled "Modeling Coupled Dynamic Processes in Landfills: Holistic Long-Tern Performance Management to Improve Sustainability." In September, Reddy was been awarded a three-year $280,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a model to transform dry-tomb landfills into efficient waste treatment systems. The award amount with this amendment totals $356,431 and ends August 31, 2018. Read more at Reddy Grant.
Professor Sheng-Wei Chi Awarded New $149,302 Grant CME Assistant Professor Sheng-Wei Chi has been awarded a new $149,302 grant entitled "Meshfree Modeling of Munitions Penetration in Soils" from the Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). Associate Professor Craig Foster is co-PI on the grant, which runs from Feb. 26, 2016 to Feb. 26, 2017. Learn more at Chi Grant.
Examining Pollution in Great Lakes Sediment An Li and Karl Rockne have been working together for more than five years to monitor and measure environmental pollutants in Great Lakes sediment. Through the Great Lakes Sediment Surveillance Program, Li, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health, and Rockne, professor and interim head of civil and materials engineering in the UIC College of Engineering, have collected more than 1,000 sediment samples in the lakes. Learn more at Examining Pollution.
Professor Burke inducted into the National Academy of Construction CME’s Professor of Practice Christopher Burke, PhD, PE, D.WRE. Dist.M.ASCE has been inducted into the National Academy of Construction. Chris is a leading expert in stormwater management, and an excellent instructor and innovative educator for his teaching hydraulics, hydrology and our senior capstone design class. This is the one of many awards Burke has received in recent years. Additional awards include the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Edmund Friedman Professional Recognition Award — where he is one of only five Distinguished Fellows in the Chicago area — the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Purdue Engineering Alumni Association, the Charles Ellet Award from the Western Society of Engineers, the Corporate Philanthropic Award from the West Suburban Philanthropic Network, and an American Public Works Association (APWA) Top Ten Leader of the Year Award. Burke is the founder and President of Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. Based in Rosemont, Ill He also is an active member of CME’s Civil Engineering Professional Advisory Council (CEPAC), which was established in 2000 to enhance undergraduate education at UIC and consists of civil engineering faculty members and professional practitioners. Learn more about Professor Burke at Burke Profile.
Professor Ozevin Receives $500,000 NSF CAREER Award Assistant Professor Didem Ozevin received the $500,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for her project entitled “CAREER: Engineered Spatially Periodic Structure Design Integrated with Damage Detection Philosophy.” This project is from June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2021. Read more.
Professor Derrible Receives $500,000 NSF CAREER Award Assistant Professor Sybil Derrible received the $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for his project entitled “CAREER: Understanding the Fundamental Principles Driving Household Energy and Resource Consumption for Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Communities.” This project is from August 15, 2016 through July 31, 2021. Read more.
Information, Application for Langelier Scholarship The Wilfred F. & Ruth Davison Langelier Scholarships in Sanitary/Environmental Engineering will be made available to undergraduate students majoring in Civil Engineering and/or whose main field of study is Sanitary/Environmental Engineering, principally concerned with the area of water and waste water treatment and environmental water quality management and control. Apply at Langelier Scholarship.
Wetland doubles as classroom, research lab In addition to performing as a nutrient management practice, the constructed wetland at Thacker Farms in Bureau County also is being used as a laboratory and classroom. Karl Rockne, professor and interim department head of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and UIC doctoral student Mahsa Izadmehr were on hand to talk about the issue of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff. Read more »
Humanitarian efforts in Nepal by Civil Engineering PHD student Nabin Kafle Read more »
Congratulations to the 2015 winners of the Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke poster competition! Erin Yargicoglu (top left) took first place with, "Evaluation of biochar-amended landfill covers for methane mitigation: Biotic and Physical Factors Affecting Long-Term Performance." Saeed Karim Baba Najad Mamaghani (top right) won second place with, "Reference Free Dynamic Distributed Monitoring of Damage in Bridges" and Ahmadreza Talebian won third place with "Integrated Modeling of High Performance Passenger and Freight Train Operation Planning on Shared Use Corridors."
CME is proud to recognize our department's four winners of the David Boyce Graduate Awards: Mehran Fasihozaman, Ramin Shabanpour, Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee and Mahmoud Javanmardi (not pictured). The annual David Boyce Awards competition was established to honor the accomplishments of CME Professor Emeritus of Transportation and Regional Science, Dr. David Boyce—a legend in transportation planning and engineering research. The competition is open to all Ph.D. or Master’s students who are studying transportation at UIC, and the award represents a distinct honor for the recipients who have demonstrated significant achievements in their studies and great potential in transportation research. Congratulations, once again, to these talented graduate students!
Congratulations to CME Professor Craig Foster for being named a 2015-16 US Fulbright Scholar! Professor Foster's work is to study Earthen Buildings in India. Earthen buildings are an old technology experiencing renewed interest, both in developing and developed countries, for economic and environmental reasons. Dr. Foster's winning proposal focuses on creating material models that can be used to examine mechanical behavior, predict safe use, and improve performance. This research will examine the interaction of the constituent particles and the addition of natural fibers for ductility, and then the mathematical models will be validated and improved by experiments at the host institution, building a collaboration between experimentalists and modelers.

Professor Boyce's Gift Promotes Transportation Planning
David Boyce, PhD, has dedicated his career to confronting urban transportation challenges through his research. And now he is dedicating funds through an annual gift to support UIC doctoral students who also conduct research in the transportation engineering and planning field.
Boyce is emeritus professor of transportation and regional science in UIC’s Department of Civil & Materials Engineering. As a result of his gift to UIC, eight graduate students in transportation planning have received support over the last two years. Recipient Ramin Shabanpour Anbarani, who studies the role of autonomous vehicles in transportation planning models, says “being recognized with this award boosts my confidence and trust in my ability to achieve my goals—and my ultimate goal is to run my own consultancy.” Read more.

Notice: Course Change
Please note course change: CME 497, Capstone Design, does not count toward the graduate level degree course requirements. This class was originally CME 397, Senior Design II. The change has appeared in the University catalog.

Professors McNallan and Mahamid Receive COE Seed Funding Awards
Two faculty members in the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering (CME) have received “2016 COE Seed Funding Awards.” Only 14 proposals were chosen from among 36 submitted proposals after a review by UIC’s College of Engineering (COE) Executive Board members and the COE Administrative Council members.
Professors Michael McNallan and Mustafa Mahamid were awarded for the proposal “Effectiveness of Damaged Fire Proofing and Corrosion Issues of Steel Beams Due to Such Damage.”
The review criteria is based on leveraging, significance, approach, and feasibility. Funds are for the support of exploratory research to be accomplished by the investigator(s) in one year.

CME Department Rises in U.S. News and World Report Rankings
The Department of Civil and Materials Engineering at UIC has moved up in the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings of graduate Civil Engineering programs. CME moved up substantially in the rankings to 62nd overall, which is the 39th percentile. The new ranking shows CME racing nine spots higher than its 2014 ranking.
“The hard work and dedication of the faculty is what helped us progressively move up in the USNWR Civil Engineering rankings as our raw score improved from 2.1 to 2.5,” said Karl Rockne, Interim Department Head and Professor. “With two NSF CAREER award winners in the department this year and continued great productivity from our faculty, I am confident our reputation will continue to grow.”
The latest ranking has UIC tied with Civil Engineering programs at Auburn, Michigan Tech, Louisiana State, University of Nebraska, Oklahoma and the University of Tennessee. Each school's score reflects its average rating on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding), based on a survey of academics at peer institutions.

Farhad Ansari Awarded Federal Highway Administration Grant
Distinguished Professor Farhad Ansari has been awarded a grant for $312,995 from the Federal Highway Administration for the project entitled "Implementation of Existing BWIM Technology." Ansari is the sole PI for the grant that is slated to last 18 months.
This project pertains to the implementation of the existing Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (BWIM) technology developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The BWIM technology is based on monitoring the shear response of the bridge girders near the abutments of the bridge. The system was developed based on the use of fiber optic rosettes sensors. Previous research on the shear based fiber optic sensor based system revealed encouraging results on limited number of bridges. In contrast to the existing flexural-based BWIM systems that are limited to short spans (maximum 45 feet) and narrow bridges, the shear based BWIM system has demonstrated potential for applications to a wider range of bridge spans and types. The primary objective of this project is to instrument two bridges with the shear based fiber optic BWIM system. The plan includes instrumentation of bridges in Oregon and Wisconsin.
Learn more.

CME Alumni Newsletter - Spring 2016
Good news from Interim Department Head Karl Rockne, faculty highlights, 2016 NSF CAREER Award winners, Researching the Great Lakes, ASCE at compete at the Great Lakes Student Conference, the return of Engineers Without Borders, and the Student Sanapshot.
Read more.

ASCE Members Compete at Great Lakes Student Conference
UIC placed in the top half of the highly competitive Great Lakes Student Conference on April 14-16 at IIT in Chicago. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) members competed against 18 universities during the annual conference, which is made up of schools from southern Wisconsin, northern and central Illinois, and Indiana, and it is one of the largest regions based on number of schools. The schools competed in a set of Civil Engineering-based competitions. At a regional level, eight competitions are typically hosted.
Read more.

Students Restart Organization to Help Those in Need
The UIC community is encouraged to be leaders and facilitate positive social change through service. Now, all engineering students have a new opportunity to help others through the re-established Engineers Without Borders USA at UIC (EWB-USA at UIC).
Read more.

CME Student Snapshot: John Mulrow is a Man on a Mission
John Mulrow is going to change the world for the better! He is about to complete his Master’s Degree in Civil and Materials Engineering with a focus on Environmental Engineering. With two additional years of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, you would think the 29-year-old would be eager to start working on his Ph.D. Instead, the new CME alumnus is getting ready to report for basic training with the U.S. Army.
Read more.

Q&A with CME’s New Faculty Member Joseph Schulenberg
*How did you become interested in engineering?*
I’ve always been able to do math and science work, so a profession in engineering seemed to make sense. I would have to say that it may have begun playing in the sand as a child building sand castles. You learn that your structure will be stable until it dries, walls can only be built so high. Later this makes sense based on your understanding of surface tension and capillary pressure, but as a kid you just observe.
Read more.

Q&A with CME’s New Faculty Member Sean Vitousek
*How did you become interested in engineering?*
I became interested in engineering in College. I had a fantastic Civil Engineering professor (David Billington) who taught how works of engineering can transcend simple infrastructure and become art. Not art only in the sense that works of civil engineering are visually impressive, but art in the sense that they are a thoughtful convergence of form and function.
Read more.

Professor Krishna Reddy Awarded $77,150 Supplement Grant
Professor Krishna Reddy received a $77,150 supplement grant to his National Science Foundation (NSF) project entitled "Modeling Coupled Dynamic Processes in Landfills: Holistic Long-Tern Performance Management to Improve Sustainability." In September, Reddy was been awarded a three-year $280,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a model to transform dry-tomb landfills into efficient waste treatment systems. The award amount with this amendment totals $356,431 and ends August 31, 2018.
Read more at Reddy Grant.

Professor Sheng-Wei Chi Awarded New $149,302 Grant
CME Assistant Professor Sheng-Wei Chi has been awarded a new $149,302 grant entitled "Meshfree Modeling of Munitions Penetration in Soils" from the Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). Associate Professor Craig Foster is co-PI on the grant, which runs from Feb. 26, 2016 to Feb. 26, 2017.
Learn more at Chi Grant.

Examining Pollution in Great Lakes Sediment
An Li and Karl Rockne have been working together for more than five years to monitor and measure environmental pollutants in Great Lakes sediment. Through the Great Lakes Sediment Surveillance Program, Li, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health, and Rockne, professor and interim head of civil and materials engineering in the UIC College of Engineering, have collected more than 1,000 sediment samples in the lakes.
Learn more at Examining Pollution.

Professor Burke inducted into the National Academy of Construction
CME’s Professor of Practice Christopher Burke, PhD, PE, D.WRE. Dist.M.ASCE has been inducted into the National Academy of Construction. Chris is a leading expert in stormwater management, and an excellent instructor and innovative educator for his teaching hydraulics, hydrology and our senior capstone design class. This is the one of many awards Burke has received in recent years. Additional awards include the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Edmund Friedman Professional Recognition Award — where he is one of only five Distinguished Fellows in the Chicago area — the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Purdue Engineering Alumni Association, the Charles Ellet Award from the Western Society of Engineers, the Corporate Philanthropic Award from the West Suburban Philanthropic Network, and an American Public Works Association (APWA) Top Ten Leader of the Year Award. Burke is the founder and President of Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. Based in Rosemont, Ill He also is an active member of CME’s Civil Engineering Professional Advisory Council (CEPAC), which was established in 2000 to enhance undergraduate education at UIC and consists of civil engineering faculty members and professional practitioners. Learn more about Professor Burke at Burke Profile.

Professor Ozevin Receives $500,000 NSF CAREER Award
Assistant Professor Didem Ozevin received the $500,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for her project entitled “CAREER: Engineered Spatially Periodic Structure Design Integrated with Damage Detection Philosophy.” This project is from June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2021. Read more.

Professor Derrible Receives $500,000 NSF CAREER Award
Assistant Professor Sybil Derrible received the $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for his project entitled “CAREER: Understanding the Fundamental Principles Driving Household Energy and Resource Consumption for Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Communities.” This project is from August 15, 2016 through July 31, 2021. Read more.

Information, Application for Langelier Scholarship
The Wilfred F. & Ruth Davison Langelier Scholarships in Sanitary/Environmental Engineering will be made available to undergraduate students majoring in Civil Engineering and/or whose main field of study is Sanitary/Environmental Engineering, principally concerned with the area of water and waste water treatment and environmental water quality management and control.
Apply at Langelier Scholarship.

Wetland doubles as classroom, research lab
In addition to performing as a nutrient management practice, the constructed wetland at Thacker Farms in Bureau County also is being used as a laboratory and classroom.

Karl Rockne, professor and interim department head of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and UIC doctoral student Mahsa Izadmehr were on hand to talk about the issue of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff. Read more »

Humanitarian efforts in Nepal by Civil Engineering PHD student Nabin Kafle Read more »

Congratulations to the 2015 winners of the Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke poster competition! Erin Yargicoglu (top left) took first place with, "Evaluation of biochar-amended landfill covers for methane mitigation: Biotic and Physical Factors Affecting Long-Term Performance." Saeed Karim Baba Najad Mamaghani (top right) won second place with, "Reference Free Dynamic Distributed Monitoring of Damage in Bridges" and Ahmadreza Talebian won third place with "Integrated Modeling of High Performance Passenger and Freight Train Operation Planning on Shared Use Corridors."

CME is proud to recognize our department's four winners of the David Boyce Graduate Awards: Mehran Fasihozaman, Ramin Shabanpour, Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee and Mahmoud Javanmardi (not pictured). The annual David Boyce Awards competition was established to honor the accomplishments of CME Professor Emeritus of Transportation and Regional Science, Dr. David Boyce—a legend in transportation planning and engineering research. The competition is open to all Ph.D. or Master’s students who are studying transportation at UIC, and the award represents a distinct honor for the recipients who have demonstrated significant achievements in their studies and great potential in transportation research. Congratulations, once again, to these talented graduate students!

Congratulations to CME Professor Craig Foster for being named a 2015-16 US Fulbright Scholar! Professor Foster's work is to study Earthen Buildings in India. Earthen buildings are an old technology experiencing renewed interest, both in developing and developed countries, for economic and environmental reasons. Dr. Foster's winning proposal focuses on creating material models that can be used to examine mechanical behavior, predict safe use, and improve performance. This research will examine the interaction of the constituent particles and the addition of natural fibers for ductility, and then the mathematical models will be validated and improved by experiments at the host institution, building a collaboration between experimentalists and modelers.

2015 CME News

CEPAC Scholarship Reception and Awards Dinner Lives were changed on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, as UIC’s Civil Engineering Professional Advisory Council met with CME’s undergraduate students for the Scholarship Reception and Awards Dinner at UIC. Through the generosity of donors and partners, CME awarded scholarships to 39 students. The support helps UIC in our mission to continue to provide access to excellence and success for our students. Board members added warmth to the introductions as they detailed the scholarship requirements and the interests and accomplishments of the donors. At the event, students received a certificate, and, in many cases, they were able to meet the donor of their scholarship or a corporate representative as they networked during dinner and after the scholarships were awarded. More pictures of scholarship donors and winners are online at CEPAC Scholarship.
Fall 2015 Alumni Newsletter In this issue: Message from the Interim Department Head—Dr. Karl Rockne, Faculty Highlights, CEPAC Scholarship Reception and Awards Dinner, Wetlands Serves as classroom and Lab, Freshman Snapshot, Freshman Succeeding, Landing Scholarships, Students Win EPA Award and Present at WEFTEC 2015. Read more.
Designing landfills that clean themselves UIC Professor Krishna Reddy, in the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, is designing landfills that clean themselves. Read more.
ABC 7 Calls on CME Distinguished Professor for Expert Viewpoint UIC Distinguished Professor Farhad Ansari was interviewed by ABC 7 News about the wind effects on high rise buildings during a recent High Wind Warning in Chicago. Watch the story here.
Dr. Farhad Ansari Named Distinguised Professor Congratulations to Dr. Farhad Ansari, of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, on being named a UIC Distinguished Professor. Dr. Ansari was recommended by a review panel of UIC Distinguished Professors, and the prestigious designation was bestowed upon him by the University Board of Trustees for his outstanding contributions to research and leadership.
UIC Engineering Students Presenting Award-Winning Project at WEFTEC 2015 In April, a group of UIC students won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Campus RainWorks Challenge, which is a national competition the EPA holds for university student groups to design green storm water infrastructure on their campus. Now, the UIC team is bringing the project to McCormick Place in Chicago for one of the largest water quality conferences in the world. Read more.
CME Professor Bo Zou's recent research on shared-use rail corridor planning is called "Coordinating Share Rail Corridors" and is featured in Mass Transit magazine. Read more »
Congratulations to Associate Professor Jane Lin on receiving new NSF grant Congratulations to Associate Professor Jane Lin on receiving a new three-year collaborative NSF grant entitled “Smart CROwdsourced Urban Delivery (CROUD) System.” The project will build on collaboration between a CROUD-based technology firm, Zipments, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University. The total funding for the project is $1,000,000, with $320,000 coming to UIC over three years. Abstract The thesis of the CROUD is the ability, enabled by recent advances in communication and ubiquitous mobile computing, to match highly fragmented transport capacities with vastly diverse demand for urban deliveries, temporally, spatially and in real-time. The project will build on collaboration between a CROUD-based technology firm, Zipments, and two research universities, Northwestern University (NU) and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), to develop intelligence necessary to integrate the CROUD technology into a human-centered smart urban delivery service system. The proposed partnership will assemble a team that consists of Zipments’ technical group (including its CEO and co-founders) and five researchers of diverse expertise. The envisioned smart CROUD system will integrate four subsystems that encapsulate, respectively, pricing/matching mechanisms, consumer/courier management strategies, collaborative delivery/routing algorithms and real-time data collection and analysis tools. Prototypes of the new system will be implemented and evaluated based on the CROUD platform currently operated by Zipments. Read more
Professor Reddy Awarded Three Year Grant Congratulations to Professor Krishna Reddy for his new three year grant from the National Science Foundation entitled “Modeling Coupled Dynamic Processes in Landfills: Holistic Long-Term Performance Management to Improve Sustainability.” The grant is for $279,281, and this is Professor Reddy’s second active NSF grant in this area. Abstract This project will develop a new coupled mathematical tool to enable the design and operation of stable, effective and sustainable engineered landfills, thereby minimizing long-term risks to the surrounding environment and public. The tool will enable practitioners and regulators to predict the highly complex landfill stabilization period, and allow for the planning of beneficial reuse of landfill space, such as recreational facilities, by accurately accounting for a differential settlement and stabilization period. With controlled, predictable, rapid municipal solid waste decomposition and a reduced stabilization period: (a) non-degradable municipal solid waste may be mined and processed, reducing the amount of landfill mass encapsulated within a landfill; (b) post-closure monitoring can be shortened and associated expenditures considerably reduced; and (c) concerns about the long-term performance of geosynthetic liners and related environmental risks can be addressed. This research involves multiple disciplines, including geoenvironmental engineering, sustainable engineering, biology, and computational mechanics. Read more
CME is ‘Going Deep’ in the Great Lakes CME’s Interim Department Head Karl Rockne and environmental chemist An Li are featured in Chemical and Engineering News for his contributions to the Great Lakes Sediment Surveillance Program. Read more »

CEPAC Scholarship Reception and Awards Dinner
Lives were changed on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, as UIC’s Civil Engineering Professional Advisory Council met with CME’s undergraduate students for the Scholarship Reception and Awards Dinner at UIC. Through the generosity of donors and partners, CME awarded scholarships to 39 students. The support helps UIC in our mission to continue to provide access to excellence and success for our students. Board members added warmth to the introductions as they detailed the scholarship requirements and the interests and accomplishments of the donors. At the event, students received a certificate, and, in many cases, they were able to meet the donor of their scholarship or a corporate representative as they networked during dinner and after the scholarships were awarded. More pictures of scholarship donors and winners are online at CEPAC Scholarship.

Fall 2015 Alumni Newsletter
In this issue: Message from the Interim Department Head—Dr. Karl Rockne, Faculty Highlights, CEPAC Scholarship Reception and Awards Dinner, Wetlands Serves as classroom and Lab, Freshman Snapshot, Freshman Succeeding, Landing Scholarships, Students Win EPA Award and Present at WEFTEC 2015. Read more.

Designing landfills that clean themselves
UIC Professor Krishna Reddy, in the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, is designing landfills that clean themselves. Read more.

ABC 7 Calls on CME Distinguished Professor for Expert Viewpoint
UIC Distinguished Professor Farhad Ansari was interviewed by ABC 7 News about the wind effects on high rise buildings during a recent High Wind Warning in Chicago. Watch the story here.

Dr. Farhad Ansari Named Distinguised Professor
Congratulations to Dr. Farhad Ansari, of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, on being named a UIC Distinguished Professor. Dr. Ansari was recommended by a review panel of UIC Distinguished Professors, and the prestigious designation was bestowed upon him by the University Board of Trustees for his outstanding contributions to research and leadership.

UIC Engineering Students Presenting Award-Winning Project at WEFTEC 2015

In April, a group of UIC students won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Campus RainWorks Challenge, which is a national competition the EPA holds for university student groups to design green storm water infrastructure on their campus.
Now, the UIC team is bringing the project to McCormick Place in Chicago for one of the largest water quality conferences in the world. Read more.

CME Professor Bo Zou's recent research on shared-use rail corridor planning is called "Coordinating Share Rail Corridors" and is featured in Mass Transit magazine. Read more »

Congratulations to Associate Professor Jane Lin on receiving new NSF grant

Congratulations to Associate Professor Jane Lin on receiving a new three-year collaborative NSF grant entitled “Smart CROwdsourced Urban Delivery (CROUD) System.” The project will build on collaboration between a CROUD-based technology firm, Zipments, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University. The total funding for the project is $1,000,000, with $320,000 coming to UIC over three years.

Abstract
The thesis of the CROUD is the ability, enabled by recent advances in communication and ubiquitous mobile computing, to match highly fragmented transport capacities with vastly diverse demand for urban deliveries, temporally, spatially and in real-time. The project will build on collaboration between a CROUD-based technology firm, Zipments, and two research universities, Northwestern University (NU) and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), to develop intelligence necessary to integrate the CROUD technology into a human-centered smart urban delivery service system. The proposed partnership will assemble a team that consists of Zipments’ technical group (including its CEO and co-founders) and five researchers of diverse expertise. The envisioned smart CROUD system will integrate four subsystems that encapsulate, respectively, pricing/matching mechanisms, consumer/courier management strategies, collaborative delivery/routing algorithms and real-time data collection and analysis tools. Prototypes of the new system will be implemented and evaluated based on the CROUD platform currently operated by Zipments. Read more

Professor Reddy Awarded Three Year Grant

Congratulations to Professor Krishna Reddy for his new three year grant from the National Science Foundation entitled “Modeling Coupled Dynamic Processes in Landfills: Holistic Long-Term Performance Management to Improve Sustainability.” The grant is for $279,281, and this is Professor Reddy’s second active NSF grant in this area.

Abstract
This project will develop a new coupled mathematical tool to enable the design and operation of stable, effective and sustainable engineered landfills, thereby minimizing long-term risks to the surrounding environment and public. The tool will enable practitioners and regulators to predict the highly complex landfill stabilization period, and allow for the planning of beneficial reuse of landfill space, such as recreational facilities, by accurately accounting for a differential settlement and stabilization period. With controlled, predictable, rapid municipal solid waste decomposition and a reduced stabilization period: (a) non-degradable municipal solid waste may be mined and processed, reducing the amount of landfill mass encapsulated within a landfill; (b) post-closure monitoring can be shortened and associated expenditures considerably reduced; and (c) concerns about the long-term performance of geosynthetic liners and related environmental risks can be addressed. This research involves multiple disciplines, including geoenvironmental engineering, sustainable engineering, biology, and computational mechanics. Read more

CME is ‘Going Deep’ in the Great Lakes
CME’s Interim Department Head Karl Rockne and environmental chemist An Li are featured in Chemical and Engineering News for his contributions to the Great Lakes Sediment Surveillance Program. Read more »

2014 CME News

Congratulations to CME's Professor Krishna Reddy, Ph.D., named 2014 Distinguised Researcher of the Year! This award, presented by the UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, recognizes Dr. Reddy's excellence in using research as a tool to improve society and promote environmental stewardship. His research focuses on solving a number of emerging environmental challenges in waste management using innovative approaches, like phytoremediation—a green technology that utilizes plants to mitigate environmental problems without having to excavate contaminant material and dispose of it elsewhere. In contrast to traditional remediation, Dr. Reddy's research takes a holistic approach that strives to maximize the environmental, social, and economic benefits of a project. He developed a new Social Sustainability Evaluation Matrix to assess socio-economic considerations in selecting remedial technologies based on site-specific conditions. This uniquely addresses the challenging issue of social acceptance and equity in remedial decisions. In addition to National Science Foundation support, Dr. Reddy has collaborated with the Chicago Park District and Argonne National Laboratory on multiple projects, including a field-scale demonstration of phytoremediation at a heavily impacted wetland site in southwest Chicago. This provides value to both the research community and neighborhood, as the restored wetland will eventually serve as a nature reserve and recreational area for local residents.
Elevating Excellence at CME's 2014 CEPAC Awards. Read more »
Meet Students Who Participated in the Inaugural College of Engineering's Guaranteed Paid Internship Program »
Local news ABC7 Chicago interviewed CME Assistant Professor Bo Zou after the incident on Friday at O'Hare Airport where vital operations equipment was damaged—grounding more than 400 flights to the international airport. Zou, who is already working with the Federal Aviation Administration on a grant-funded project, spoke to ABC7 Chicago the same day, explaining some of the issues involved in the getting air traffic back to normal. Watch the video and read the interview now. Read More »
Congratulations to CME's Ph.D. candiate Sk Nasir Ahmad on winning the 2014-15 Institute for Environmental Science and Policy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Ahmad's main goal is to better understand how energy and environmental resources are being consumed in the world, using concepts from the novel science of complexity. Ahmad, advised by Professor Sybil Derrible, began work on his research project “Water Consumption Networks in the United States” in 2013 and is now formalizing and applying the network methodology to multiple datasets in the world—including the World Bank’s 1,300 indicators. The paper for this project, "Evolution of Water Consumption in the USA: A Network Approach," is pending publication. In addition to his IESP fellowship, Ahmad also won a fellowship in February 2014 to attend a week long workshop on "Introduction to Complexity & Complexity Science" at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Congratulations to Soheil Hosseini on winning the 2014-15 Institute for Environmental Policy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Hosseini, a third year Environmental Engineering Ph.D. student advised by Interim Department Head, Professor Karl Rockne, initially worked on the Great Lakes Sediment Surveillance Program (GLSSP) funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), doing in-depth field research, while mentoring and training undergraduate interns in the lab to perform multi-stage analysis on tight deadlines. With his award-winning research project, "Controls on the Accumulation and Transformation of Semi-Volatile Halogenated Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic Compounds in the Great Lakes," Hosseini seeks to better understand processes affecting both the sources and fate of persistent bioaccumulative toxic compounds (PBTs) in the Great Lakes sediment, so that he can contribute to the improvement of pollution control and resource management for the Great Lakes.
ABC7 Interviews CME Department Head Farhad Ansari about glass cracks in the Willis Tower Skydeck Ledge. Watch video.
UIC ASCE Students Win Big at Great Lakes Regional Conference; Head to Nationals. Read more.
Are potholes inevitable, or can we prevent winter misery? Professor Mohsen Issa offers the best solution to our pothole problem in this Daily Herald article.
CME researchers develop new ways to monitor bridge safety. Watch video.

Congratulations to CME's Professor Krishna Reddy, Ph.D., named 2014 Distinguised Researcher of the Year! This award, presented by the UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, recognizes Dr. Reddy's excellence in using research as a tool to improve society and promote environmental stewardship. His research focuses on solving a number of emerging environmental challenges in waste management using innovative approaches, like phytoremediation—a green technology that utilizes plants to mitigate environmental problems without having to excavate contaminant material and dispose of it elsewhere. In contrast to traditional remediation, Dr. Reddy's research takes a holistic approach that strives to maximize the environmental, social, and economic benefits of a project. He developed a new Social Sustainability Evaluation Matrix to assess socio-economic considerations in selecting remedial technologies based on site-specific conditions. This uniquely addresses the challenging issue of social acceptance and equity in remedial decisions. In addition to National Science Foundation support, Dr. Reddy has collaborated with the Chicago Park District and Argonne National Laboratory on multiple projects, including a field-scale demonstration of phytoremediation at a heavily impacted wetland site in southwest Chicago. This provides value to both the research community and neighborhood, as the restored wetland will eventually serve as a nature reserve and recreational area for local residents.

Elevating Excellence at CME's 2014 CEPAC Awards. Read more »

Meet Students Who Participated in the Inaugural College of Engineering's Guaranteed Paid Internship Program »

Local news ABC7 Chicago interviewed CME Assistant Professor Bo Zou after the incident on Friday at O'Hare Airport where vital operations equipment was damaged—grounding more than 400 flights to the international airport. Zou, who is already working with the Federal Aviation Administration on a grant-funded project, spoke to ABC7 Chicago the same day, explaining some of the issues involved in the getting air traffic back to normal. Watch the video and read the interview now. Read More »

Congratulations to CME's Ph.D. candiate Sk Nasir Ahmad on winning the 2014-15 Institute for Environmental Science and Policy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Ahmad's main goal is to better understand how energy and environmental resources are being consumed in the world, using concepts from the novel science of complexity. Ahmad, advised by Professor Sybil Derrible, began work on his research project “Water Consumption Networks in the United States” in 2013 and is now formalizing and applying the network methodology to multiple datasets in the world—including the World Bank’s 1,300 indicators. The paper for this project, "Evolution of Water Consumption in the USA: A Network Approach," is pending publication. In addition to his IESP fellowship, Ahmad also won a fellowship in February 2014 to attend a week long workshop on "Introduction to Complexity & Complexity Science" at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Congratulations to Soheil Hosseini on winning the 2014-15 Institute for Environmental Policy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Hosseini, a third year Environmental Engineering Ph.D. student advised by Interim Department Head, Professor Karl Rockne, initially worked on the Great Lakes Sediment Surveillance Program (GLSSP) funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), doing in-depth field research, while mentoring and training undergraduate interns in the lab to perform multi-stage analysis on tight deadlines. With his award-winning research project, "Controls on the Accumulation and Transformation of Semi-Volatile Halogenated Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic Compounds in the Great Lakes," Hosseini seeks to better understand processes affecting both the sources and fate of persistent bioaccumulative toxic compounds (PBTs) in the Great Lakes sediment, so that he can contribute to the improvement of pollution control and resource management for the Great Lakes.

ABC7 Interviews CME Department Head Farhad Ansari about glass cracks in the Willis Tower Skydeck Ledge. Watch video.

UIC ASCE Students Win Big at Great Lakes Regional Conference; Head to Nationals. Read more.

Are potholes inevitable, or can we prevent winter misery?

Professor Mohsen Issa offers the best solution to our pothole problem in this Daily Herald article.

CME researchers develop new ways to monitor bridge safety. Watch video.

2013 CME News

CME student Zahra Heidary receives the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Award.
CME assistant professor, Bo Zou, appears on WTTW's Chicago Tonight to talk about the pros and cons of the new runways opening at O'Hare airport.
CME Department Head & Professor Farhad Ansari was interviewed on ABC channel 7 News on the topic of bridge safety and how his sensors are monitoring bridges around the world.
ASME 2013 congress in San Diego California There will be a special symposium honoring professor Alexander Chudnovsky during the ASME 2013 congress. To submit your abstract go to the ASME Congress 2013 web site http://www.asmeconferences.org/Congress2013/, then to the Track Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids and open #10-24 Symposium on Fracture and Lifetime of Materials. If the website is asking you for a member ID number that means you have participated in an ASME event before. If you do not have this number handy please contact Customer Care at customercare@asme.org to obtain your member ID. Deadline extended to February 14.
CME student Suriya Vallamsundar receives the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Award.
Are you interested in emerging technologies in environmental remediation? Are you looking for a place where you can discuss sustainable remediation practices with your peers, network with professionals in the environmental industry, and contribute your own ideas to the growing field of green and sustainable remediation? Consider joining UIC’s student chapter of SURF – the Sustainable Remediation Forum! Click here for complete info.

CME student Zahra Heidary receives the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Award.

UIC College of Engineering Civil and Materials Engineering Bo Zou O'Hare runways

CME assistant professor, Bo Zou, appears on WTTW's Chicago Tonight to talk about the pros and cons of the new runways opening at O'Hare airport.

CME Department Head & Professor Farhad Ansari was interviewed on ABC channel 7 News on the topic of bridge safety and how his sensors are monitoring bridges around the world.

ASME 2013 congress in San Diego California
There will be a special symposium honoring professor Alexander Chudnovsky during the ASME 2013 congress. To submit your abstract go to the ASME Congress 2013 web site http://www.asmeconferences.org/Congress2013/, then to the Track Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids and open #10-24 Symposium on Fracture and Lifetime of Materials. If the website is asking you for a member ID number that means you have participated in an ASME event before. If you do not have this number handy please contact Customer Care at customercare@asme.org to obtain your member ID. Deadline extended to February 14.

CME student Suriya Vallamsundar receives the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Award.

Are you interested in emerging technologies in environmental remediation? Are you looking for a place where you can discuss sustainable remediation practices with your peers, network with professionals in the environmental industry, and contribute your own ideas to the growing field of green and sustainable remediation?

Consider joining UIC’s student chapter of SURF – the Sustainable Remediation Forum!
Click here for complete info.

2012 CME News

CME Professor Reddy receives a $350,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation to test Biochar for use on landfills. Biochar is charcoal made from biomass, such as wood and crop waste. Read More.
Are you interested in emerging technologies in environmental remediation? Are you looking for a place where you can discuss sustainable remediation practices with your peers, network with professionals in the environmental industry, and contribute your own ideas to the growing field of green and sustainable remediation? Consider joining UIC’s student chapter of SURF – the Sustainable Remediation Forum! Click here for complete info.
Sustainability and the Rebound Effect Seminar. Dr. Harry Saunders, Managing Director, Decision processes, Inc. Monday, October 29, 2012, 3:30pm-5:00pm. Click here for complete info.
To begin the new Fall2012 semester we have three seminars given by reputed international geotechnical engineering experts during our first week of classes; August 28th, 29th and 30th. The seminars are open to public.
Professor Mohammadian and CME student Joshua Auld win the Ryuichi Kitamura Paper Award for the best paper authored by a student – mentor combination. Awarded annually by the Travel Analysis Methods Section of the Transportation Research Board.
This year two CME students receive the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Award.

CME Professor Reddy receives a $350,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation to test Biochar for use on landfills. Biochar is charcoal made from biomass, such as wood and crop waste. Read More.

Sustainability and the Rebound Effect Seminar.
Dr. Harry Saunders,
Managing Director, Decision processes, Inc.
Monday, October 29, 2012,
3:30pm-5:00pm.
Click here for complete info.

To begin the new Fall2012 semester we have three seminars given by reputed international geotechnical engineering experts during our first week of classes; August 28th, 29th and 30th. The seminars are open to public.

Professor Mohammadian and CME student Joshua Auld win the Ryuichi Kitamura Paper Award for the best paper authored by a student – mentor combination. Awarded annually by the Travel Analysis Methods Section of the Transportation Research Board.

This year two CME students receive the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Award.

2011 CME News

CME Professor Jane Lin featured in a "PI Spotlight" article in the ICT, Illinois Center for Transportation Newsletter.

CME Professor Jane Lin featured in a "PI Spotlight" article in the ICT, Illinois Center for Transportation Newsletter.

Civil & Materials Engineering department head and professor Farhad Ansari featured in ABC & CBS News.

	ASCE Student Chapter for The University of Illinois at Chicago received 1st place overall at the ASCE Great Lakes Student Conference.
	Professor Khodadoust has been selected by his peers to receive a 2010-2011 Teaching Recognition award. His teaching is an example of the high quality of instruction that characterizes the best of UIC.
	UIC Institute for Environmental Science and Policy 2011-2012 Predoctoral Fellowship Competition Each fellowship carries with it a $15,000 award. Applications are due Monday May 2, 2011, 3PM.
	CME Alumnus, Georgette Hlepas, Ph.D., P.E., featured in Engineers Week New Faces of Engineering 2011
	Professor Krishna Reddy has been chosen as the recipient of the 2011 Hogentogler Award.

2010 CME News

During the November CEPAC meeting, CME undergraduate students received Scholarships.

	Reception Honoring Alfred Benesch & Company and Mr. Harold Sandberg, Chairman Emeritus.
	CME Professor and Department Head, Farhad Ansari and his students are featured in a Chicago Tribune article, "High-tech sensors help spot potentially fatal problems with bridges".
	Shelie Miller, CME alumna, receives the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
	CME’s Professor of Practice, Chris Burke, wins the 2010 ASCE Edmund Friedman Professional Recognition Award.
	CME Alumnus, Professor Dov Leshchinsky, wins the 2010 ASCE Martin S. Kapp Award
	Computer Modeling to Build Better Mud Bricks
	Dr. Karpov New NSF Grant
	CME students form partnerships for international research, education and gain cultural experiences.
	In Memoriam Robert Bryant, CME professor
	CME Library Dedication to Dr. Robert Bryant
	CME Professor Emeritus Thomas C. T. Ting, receives the Daniel C. Drucker Medal from ASME. For more information please visit the ASME webpage
	Download your copy of the CME NEWS today!
	CME Head & Professor named president of ISHMII, International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure.

Topic revision: r33 - 2016-07-05 - 16:54:00 - Main.davidst

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