CEE Magazine Summer 2011

CEEDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering

University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignSummer 2011

The Yeh Student Center is completeMore concrete canoe historyAlumni news and features

Accomplished

CEE is published twice a year for alumni and friends of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Those alumni who donate annually to CEE at Illinois receive every issue.

Amr S. ElnashaiProfessor and Head

John E. KelleyDirector of Advancement and Alumni Relations

Celeste BragorgosDirector of Communications

Breanne ErtmerExternal Relations Coordinator

Letters, comments and editorial submissions: CEE MagazineDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign1117 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250205 North Mathews AvenueUrbana, Illinois 61801(217) [email protected]

Advertising inquiries: Celeste Bragorgos(217) [email protected]

Front cover: Photo of the new M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center, completed in June. Photo: Erich Adickes

Follow CEE at Illinois:facebook.com/ceeatillinoistwitter.com/ceeatillinoisyoutube.com/ceeatillinois

CEEExcellence.Flexibility.

Illinois.

CEE at Illinois Online

cee.illinois.edu/ceeonline

Professional Development Hours, CertificatesYou can register as a non-degree student for a single course or pursue a 3-course certificate as a non-degree student. Afterwards, you can apply for the M.S. program and transfer up to 12 hours (3 courses) to be used toward your 36-hour M.S. degree program requirement.

• Earn your master’s degree entirely online.• Work with our top-ranked faculty.• Take the same classes as resident students.• Interact with other students through projects and

assignments.• Earn the same M.S. degree with the same degree

requirements as on-campus students.• Access lectures and course materials online.• Work toward professional development hours and

certificates.• Enjoy the flexibility and convenience of an online

program.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2011 3

Research thrusts for changing the world/Amr S. Elnashai

The long wait is over/Lawrence P. Jaworski (BS 72, MS 73)

Yeh Student Center opens

Big California dig offers lessons in urban excavation

Environmental lab students begin water projects in Africa

Class studies China’s environmental challenges

Illinois highway research: Paving the way for more than 100 years

Mentor program gives freshmen a smoother start

New research projects focus on high-speed rail

Concrete canoe team heads to nationals

Concrete canoe alumni reminisce

Bridge team has good showing at regionals

Study estimates land available for biofuel crops

Department news

Student awards

Alumni news

Old masters: Richard Engelbrecht

In memoriam

Chicago alumni dinner

Alumni awards

Roof in bloom

4

7

8

10

11

12

14

18

19

20

21

23

24

25

32

34

38

39

40

41

42

CEE Summer 2011

13

8

20

11

4 Visit CEE on the web at http://cee.illinois.edu

Research Thrusts for Changing the Worldby Amr S. ElnAShAi, ProfESSor And hEAd

WilliAm J. And ElAinE f. hAll EndoWEd ProfESSor in Civil And EnvironmEntAl EnginEEring

Was Nathan M. Newmark a structural engineer, a geotechnical engineer,

a mechanician, a geophysicist, a com-puter scientist or a mathematician? Well, he was all of the above, and more. If we were sufficiently fortunate to be hiring the next Nathan Newmark now, in which ”area” of the Civil and Environmental En-gineering department at Illinois would he fit best? Probably none—and all. Perhaps one person’s lack of fit is another person’s exciting opportunity.

Have times changed so much that the body of knowledge requires everyone to be compartmentalized within a sub-dis-cipline of an engineering sub-discipline, namely Civil and Environmental Engi-neering? I submit to the judgment of our alumni, friends, community of students, faculty and staff the proposition that at all times throughout history there have been options of disciplinary and interdis-ciplinary inquiry. During medieval times, churches in Europe held to a broad-based education under unfavorable conditions by teaching the seven strands of knowl-edge grouped into two interdisciplinary packages, the Trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric), and the Quadrivium (arith-metic, geometry, music, and astronomy). These multidisciplinary clusters formed the basis of education more than 10 cen-turies ago. We need not all be polymaths, and perhaps we need not all focus on one single aspect of science, engineer-ing and technology for a lifetime either. We need, however, to have a framework, a direction, aspirational and practical, ex-citing and empowering. Our department excels when it is adventurous, when it peers beyond the horizon, when it leaps into space, while maintaining firm con-tact with the ground of rigor and core

competence. During a visit to Harvard in 2007, National Academy of Engineering President Charles M. Vest said, “Making universities and engineering schools ex-citing, creative, adventurous, rigorous, demanding, and empowering milieus is more important than specifying curricu-lar details.” This philosophy counter-bal-ances concerns about enriching curricula with experiences, project-based learning and hands-on discovery at the cost of

extensive treatment of core material. In the winter issue of our CEE Magazine, I wrote about ”Engineering Education for a Changing World.” I follow up in this article with a view of the broad-based leader-ship of our department on ”research for changing the world” that is consistent with our view on education.

Wealth creation, through industrial, commercial and residential develop-ments, leads to pressure on our environ-ment and ecology. We at Illinois see our-selves as the stewards of balancing wealth creation and environmental protection and recovery. This balance is no more evi-dent than at the nexus of water, energy and the environment, which is one of our emerging research thrusts. Underpin-

ning all rural and urban development and wealth creation is an efficient and reliable infrastructure system. After a period of historically-unprecedented infrastructure development in the United States, in the ‘50s through the ‘80s, the very core of our prosperity is threatened by a crumbling infrastructure system that has managed only a grade of D when assessed by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Thus, another of our research thrusts is provid-ing innovative solutions to infrastructure renewal. While protecting and enhanc-ing the environment and our ecological system, it is imperative that we protect the wealth we are creating. The “wealth protection” objective leads naturally to one more of our research thrusts, namely management of risk to society. The foun-dation of accomplishments in the above-highlighted troika of thrusts is a deep un-derstanding and mastery of tools for de-sign, construction, simulation and opera-tion of complex civil and environmental systems. There are ongoing discussions and vibrant debate in our department on these issues; hence the thoughts below are a work-in-progress, based on our cur-rent and ever-evolving thinking. We invite debate and embrace it. We welcome dis-agreement, not conflict. An organization without disagreement is not harmonious, it is apathetic, and if two or more individ-uals agree on everything, all of them but one are redundant.

The Water-Energy-Environment NexusThe water-energy-environment nexus

is the greatest challenge of all, and the world’s foremost test of not just prosper-ity, but survival. Energy and water are at the heart of the economy and way of life, critical for and affecting national de-

If we were hiring the next Nathan Newmark now, in which ”area” of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Illinois would he fit best? Probably none—and all.


fense, food production, human health, manufacturing, recreation, tourism, and the daily functioning of basic societal units. Energy production requires a reli-able, abundant, and predictable source of water, a resource that is already in short supply around the world. Electricity pro-duction from nuclear energy and fossil fuels accounts for about 40 percent of all freshwater withdrawal in the U.S., thus depriving the world of just under half of its water resources, which would other-wise have been available for a hugely-en-hanced quality of life. On the other hand, energy required for treatment and deliv-ery of water accounts for as much as 80 percent of its cost. An insufficient supply of affordable energy will have a negative impact on the price and availability of wa-ter. While the interrelationship of water and energy is a critical aspect of the nex-us, there are also potentially devastating environmental impacts at all stages of en-ergy production and water development. Limited water leads to conflicts among energy, agriculture, and the environment, and even leads to political instability and ultimately war. There are documented cases of water use restrictions for power consumption in order to protect fish and other aquatic organisms. Climate change and the shift to renewable energy sourc-es, especially biofuels, lead to new com-plex issues and further requirements for rationalizing water development and use. None of the three strands of water, en-ergy and environmental impact can be addressed in isolation from the two oth-ers. Civil and environmental engineers are ideally suited to lead the world’s in-terdisciplinary response to the above-dis-cussed challenge, in cooperation with the physical and socio-economic sciences.

Renewal of the InfrastructureRenewal of the infrastructure is criti-

cal for a stable and prosperous future. In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engi-neers gave the U.S. infrastructure systems a grade of D and estimated that $2.2 tril-lion is needed to repair, maintain or up-grade the systems that support economic progress and societal safety. Conspicu-ous by their exceptionally poor state are systems for drinking water, inland water-ways, levees, roads and wastewater, all scoring D-. Two years later, with relatively no remedial action taken, it is reasonable to expect that the grade card that would be given to our infrastructure has slipped further toward an F. Crumbling infrastruc-ture has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the nation’s infrastructure crisis is endangering our future prosperity, as stated by ASCE. Transportation systems of all modes, util-ity networks and supporting facilities, wastewater treatment plants, waterways, levees, dams, and energy distribution grids are under severe stress from nor-mal use, and from natural and malicious hazards. Viewing the infrastructure as a live and interacting system-of-systems is not just a more efficient framework for design, construction, operation and maintenance; it is truly the only way to understand the interdependencies of the constituent systems, and their inter-action with natural and socio-economic systems. The most robust water network, for example, will be disabled if no elec-tricity reaches its facilities and pumping stations. The challenges are colossal. And who is better suited than the CEE com-munity of researchers and practitioners whose training and focus is interdisciplin-ary, and whose enhanced understanding continued on page 6

of the synergy of sciences, technology and the humanities provides the only fea-sible framework to address the colossal challenges?

Managing Risk to SocietyManaging risk to society protects our

investment in the present and future. Natural and malicious disasters and acci-dents around the world have persistently revealed the lack of a holistic approach towards the four components of disaster management, i.e., assessment, mitiga-tion, response and recovery. Examples abound, amongst which are Hurricane Katrina, Tohoku earthquakes and tsu-nami, Christchurch earthquakes, Georgia severe weather and many other incidents where lives and livelihoods were in jeop-ardy due to weaknesses in assessing risk, mitigating against it before the incident, effectively responding to it, and recov-ering back to normality after the event. The annual losses from natural disasters are about $50 billion-$60 billion, and ex-pected to rise to more than $180 billion by the end of the century, as reported by the World Bank and the United Nations, with approximately 80,000 people killed and millions made homeless on a yearly basis. It is therefore of utmost importance to build aspects of risk management into all investments and to draw comprehen-sive plans for assessing and mitigating risk, where necessary. It is very important to note that mitigating the anticipated consequences of risk pays back at a ratio of more than 1:5, according to the World Bank; for every dollar spent, more than $5 is saved, not including human suffering that is alleviated by mitigation. Effective

“Making universities and engineering schools exciting, creative, adventurous, rigorous, demanding, and empowering milieus is more important than specifying curricular details.” —Charles M. Vest


CEEAA Board of Directors

PresidentLawrence P. Jaworski, P.E., (BS 72, MS 73)Brown and CaldwellBeltsville, Maryland

Vice PresidentTracy K. Lundin, P.E., (BS 80, MS 82)FermilabBatavia, Illinois

Second Vice PresidentAllen J. Staron, P.E., (BS 74)Clark Dietz Inc.Chicago

Past PresidentKenneth M. Floody, P.E., S.E. (BS 83)Ingenii LLCOak Park, Illinois

SecretaryJames M. LaFave (BS 86, MS 87)Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois

DirectorsDaniel F. Burke (BS 92, MS 93)City of Chicago Department of TransportationChicago

David Byrd (BS 01, MS 06)EFI Global Inc.Addison, Illinois

Lynne E. Chicoine (BS 78, MS 80)CH2M HILLPortland, Oregon

Stanley M. Herrin, P.E., (BS 74, MS 78)Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc.Springfield, Illinois

Alan J. Hollenbeck, P.E., (BS 75, MS 77)RJN Group Inc.Wheaton, Illinois

Deron G. Huck, P.E., (BS 90)CH2M HILLKansas City, Missouri

John P. Kos, P.E., (BS 77)DuPage County

Wilbur C. Milhouse, P.E., (BS 94, MS 95)Milhouse Engineering & Construction Inc.Chicago

Paula C. Pienton (BS 85)AECOMChicago

Frank Powers (BS 82, MS 83)H.W. Lochner Inc.Chicago

Colleen E. Quinn, P.E., (BS 84)Ricondo & Associates Inc.Chicago

Julian C. Rueda (BS 80, MS 82)Geo Services Inc.Naperville, Illinois

C. Wayne Swafford (BS 78, MS 82)Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.Oakland, California

Scott Trotter (BS 90)Trotter and Associates Inc.Saint Charles, Illinois

Continued from page 5

development of the four components of disaster management requires a great breadth of expertise that includes several disciplines and sub-disciplines, such as systems analysis, structural, geotechni-cal and environmental engineering, con-struction management, urban planning, chemical, nuclear and transportation engineering, analytical simulation, data mining and management, amongst many others. Civil and environmental engineers understand both the quantitative and the qualitative sides, and are the community best suited to act as integrators of physi-cal, natural and social sciences towards understanding and managing risk posed to society and our current and future in-vestment.

Civil and Environmental SystemsCivil and environmental systems is the

foundation thrust and necessary platform of all developments. A systems approach is essential; it is both intellectual and practical. Our ever-more complex world depends on its civil and environmental systems to function effectively, and this will be increasingly so in the future. This foundation thrust builds on and extends the traditional view of civil and environ-mental engineering and integrates it with other engineering sub-disciplines, and the physical, natural and social sciences. The thrust emphasizes how different components and sub-systems are inte-grated and monitored as a system-of-sys-tems that serves a community’s needs in the context of uncertainty, multiple and competing objectives, interdependen-cies, and the oft-conflicting requirements of different constituencies. The issues are spatial, interconnected and dynamic, and encompass natural, built, social and economic interacting systems. The tech-nical aspects of civil and environmental systems are addressed in the context of long-term social, economic, political, and cultural issues that include design and construction of green civil and environ-mental infrastructure, construction, mon-itoring, maintenance, operations, preser-vation, systems warrantee, performance

in extreme events, decommissioning and rebuilding to meet new requirements. The thrust is a toolkit for the three thrusts of water-energy-environment, infrastruc-ture renewal, and societal risk manage-ment. It is inherently interdisciplinary, and requires detailed conversations with a multitude of other communities to devel-op new approaches of integrated design-construction-operation-maintenance to serve the mission of wealth creation and protection. The CEE Systems thrust is both a foundation and an interface. Its foundation role is explained above; its in-terface role is exemplified by the required expertise from other engineering sub-disciplines, and from the physical, natural and social sciences.

The above construct provides a clear pathway towards developing research objectives as well as implementation, assessment and resource redeployment plans. I will address the implications of embracing this construct on our research direction in future articles and map the consequences of adopting it on our edu-cational programs. We are already imple-menting a comprehensive plan for ener-gizing the department along the above lines. Our plans include curricular devel-opments and retuning, hiring across-ar-eas faculty who are acting as intellectual foci around whom to build interdisciplin-ary teams, providing interdisciplinary management structures, linking bud-gets to our new education and research goals, providing incentives to accelerate broadening our perspectives, emphasiz-ing positive urgency for change and per-meating our approach in all constituen-cies: alumni, friends, colleagues, national and international organizations, through our networks and communications me-dia. While being steadfast in our march forward, we maintain channels of com-munications with all stakeholders, heed constructive criticism, adjust the path as necessary and engage with support and opposition openly and sincerely. Dogma has no place in our department. Solid de-termination to render CEE at Illinois the most rigorous and interdisciplinary acad-emy for learning, discovery and service is our central mission. i

The long wait is over

We work to

continue to

draw the best

and brightest,

while they face

the challenge of

increasing tuition.

Scholarships and

fellowships help

us to keep those

kids coming in

the door.


by lAWrEnCE P. JAWorSki, P.E., (bS 72, mS 73)PrESidEnt, CEE Alumni ASSoCiAtion boArd of dirECtorS

Are you interested in serving on the CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors?

Application available online at cee.illinois.edu/alumni. For more information, con-tact John Kelley, Director of Advancement, [email protected], (217) 333-5120.

When I was working on my B.S. and master’s degrees a very loooong time ago, we always

wondered why there was that empty space at the northeast corner of Newmark Laboratory (then still called the Civil Engineering Building). Well now we know and indeed are about to dedicate the brand new M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center.

This is a facility that is long overdue and will finally provide some desperately needed class-room space, conference rooms and general com-mon areas for CEE students. Students will no lon-ger need to wander around various buildings on the engineering campus looking for a place to study or hold a meeting. The new facility is truly wonderful. The CEEAA Board toured the facil-ity and was impressed even in the early stages of construction. The Yeh Student Center has six classrooms and 20,500 square feet of space. Ad-ditional features include a conference room, two work/study rooms where project teams can meet or TAs can work with students, student group storage areas, and common areas where the stu-dents will be able to relax, study and socialize.

The Yeh Center will also serve as a living labo-ratory with links to the physical structure where displays fed by wireless sensors will show long-span vibrations, energy consumption, and other unique features of the building directly appli-cable to the students’ learning experience. The addition meets the standards for a silver certifica-tion through LEED, Leadership in Energy and En-vironmental Design, a program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council.

To all of you who pledged funds to make this long-awaited vision finally come true—a HUGE thanks. Of course this could not have been pos-sible without the generous “challenge donation” of Geoffrey Yeh (BS 53), who promised a $4 mil-lion naming gift if fellow CEE alumni would con-tribute $3 million in additional funds. Thank you, Geoffrey!

The dedication of the Yeh Center and related events are scheduled for Sept. 23-24. We will have a CEEAA Board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 22, at the start of the festivities. The actual dedication is set for Friday at 3 p.m., followed by a reception and self-guided tours of the center. Several of the board members are planning to stay over Satur-

day to cheer on the Illini as they take on Western Michigan in the recently renovated Memorial Sta-dium. There will be a CEE Pre-Game Party start-ing at 9:30 a.m. in the Activities and Recreation Center (formerly the IM Building). We hope you can join us for all the activities. I expect you might find some of us at Murphy’s as well!

Your last message was about helping “moth-er.” Now that the focus of our fundraising efforts the last few years, the student center, is complete, it is time to turn our attentions to supporting the people and programs in the department. We have the largest number of students ever in the department, and we work to continue to draw the best and brightest, while they face the chal-lenge of increasing tuition. Scholarships and fel-lowships help us to keep those kids coming in the door. One of the key reasons we hold a No. 1 ranking is our outstanding faculty. We continue to recruit new teachers and researchers to edu-cate those students and work on groundbreaking advances in the fields of civil and environmental engineering. Faculty award support allows us to retain those excellent minds.

With the launch of the online M.S. program, more people will have access to an Engineering at Illinois education, and the ranks of our alumni will swell, further strengthening our position as the top program in the country. People can par-ticipate in the program themselves or promote it within their companies.

Finally, we now have a few items of CEE merchandise. People can order to support the department and student organizations, all while they get to “fly the colors.” i


Introducing the Yeh Student Center

When CEE students return to cam-pus in August, they will be greet-

ed by the sight of the brand new M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center, which was completed in June. The Yeh Center is a 20,500-square-foot addition to Newmark Lab that is entirely student-focused, pro-viding new classrooms and meeting spac-es for students in the department. It was funded entirely by gifts from CEE alumni and friends, including a $4 million naming gift from CEE alumnus M.T. Geoffrey Yeh (BS 53) and gifts from other alumni and friends totaling approximately $3 million.

Dedication events will take place on Friday, September 23, with a ceremony, tours and a reception, and Saturday, Sep-tember 24, with a home football game against Western Michigan University and a CEE tailgate. To register, visit https://my.cee.illinois.edu/yeh.

Chicago-area firm Teng & Associates Inc. designed the addition, which features new classrooms—including a large, tiered classroom—a conference room, meeting rooms for student groups, and spacious study areas. The lobby features a glass wall installation designed around a civil and environmental engineering theme by local design firm McKenzie Wagner Inc. The Yeh Center meets the standards for a silver certification through LEED, Leader-ship in Energy and Environmental Design, a program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, thanks to environmen-tally friendly features like the green roof. i

Newmark Lab’s new classroom addition is complete, and dedication events are planned for September

Phot

os: E

rich

Adi

ckes

At top, the entrance to the Yeh Center on the east side of Newmark Lab. Above, the Yeh Center’s second largest classroom, which seats 87. The largest classroom, not pictured, seats 138. Inset: chairs have bookbag storage underneath. Bottom: the lobby features seating and a glass wall instal-lation designed around a civil and environmental engineer-ing theme. At right, a view of the second floor study area taken from the third-floor.


Dedication details

Friday, September 23Dedication ceremony, tours, reception

Saturday, September 24Home football gameCEE tailgate

Registrationhttps://my.cee.illinois.edu/yeh

Underground construction projects in heavily built areas are necessary

for continued and sustainable urban life, but they present distinct challenges. CEE Professor Youssef Hashash has long been at the forefront of the development of advanced computational and monitoring tools that help construction professionals avoid damage to surrounding structures during urban digs. Now an extensive proj-ect in downtown San Francisco has pre-sented a unique opportunity for a team of researchers led by Hashash and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study an urban excavation of unprec-edented scale.

The NSF this month announced a grant of nearly $780,000 to fund Ha-shash’s project, “GOALI: Performance of deep and wide excavations in congested urban areas.” The NSF’s GOALI program, Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry, promotes university-in-dustry partnerships. Hashash, along with Professor Michael Riemer of the Univer-sity of California at Berkeley and industry partner Dr. Nick O’Riordan of ARUP North America Ltd., will study the excavations for the Transbay Transit Center (TTC), a massive dig in the soft soils of San Fran-cisco Bay area. Over a three-year period, they will instrument the site, gather data, conduct field and laboratory soil tests, and develop new computational models for large-scale urban digs. This has been made possible through close collabora-tion with the Transbay Joint Powers Au-thority, which is the authority responsible for the project.

During excavations in urban areas, care must be taken to keep disruption of local activity to a minimum and avoid damage to surrounding structures. This can be complicated by adverse soil con-

The five-level Transit Center will serve both bus and rail and will include a 5.4-acre rooftop park. (Large photo: Transbay Joint Powers Author-ity. Inset photo: Business Wire)

ditions. Construction professionals use advanced computational tools to predict ground response and sophisticated sen-sor systems to monitor excavations, but the reliability of predictive models is lim-ited by the available performance data from construction projects. The massive TTC excavation will offer researchers an opportunity to employ extensive instru-mentation to collect data that can be used to create models of exceptional ac-curacy for large-scale projects in urban areas.

“A suitable analogy for this project is the equivalent of conducting open-heart surgery on a patient running a marathon,” Hashash says.

The TTC is a nearly $2 billion public works project designed to replace the existing Transbay terminal in downtown San Francisco with a modern regional transit hub that will connect 11 transit systems and be the terminus point for the high speed rail line from Los Angeles. The construction of the TTC includes an open cut excavation that is about 200 feet wide, 60 feet deep, and more than 1,500 feet long in relatively soft soils. The exca-vation is adjacent to several high-rise and low-rise buildings including one of the tallest buildings in San Francisco. The TTC will have to be constructed with minimal disruption to infrastructure and econom-ic activity in the area.

Field instrumentation will include bracing strain gages, extensometers,

Big California dig offers lessons in urban excavation

and the first development and use in the U.S. of flushable piezometers to measure potential negative pore pressures in the unloaded clays. Data from the laboratory testing and field monitoring programs will be used in inverse analyses to gener-ate new soil constitutive models and to update predictions of excavation perfor-mance. Analyses will also be conducted to better understand the impact of long-term unloading on the seismic response of the underground structures.

The project leverages the more than $10 million in public investments in the geotechnical aspects of the project to ac-quire unique data on excavation and soil-response beyond what is currently avail-able in current empirical databases and numerical models, Hashash says.

“It will significantly advance state-of-the-art excavation modeling techniques,” he says.

The knowledge gained during the TTC dig is expected to inform future un-derground projects being planned in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Miami.

“Our ability to achieve urban sustain-able living is critically dependent on de-velopment of underground space in ever-challenging environments at an unprec-edented scale,” Hashash says. “Through knowledge gained on this project, we will develop the expertise and technical tools to confidently construct these types of structures with minimal disruption to the urban environment.” i

Professor Benito Mariñas has broad-ened the scope of his popular envi-

ronmental lab course to include student design projects related to water treat-ment in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to ongoing work in Mexico, Mariñas added class projects in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Three student teams traveled to their designated project sites this spring to gather information and water samples and collaborate with college students at universities local to the various projects.

“The places that really need this, where most people are dying because of lack of access to clean water and lack of access to sanitation, are in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Mariñas, the Ivan Racheff Pro-fessor of Environmental Engineering.

Mariñas’ course teaches labora-tory methods to senior undergraduates through real-world design projects in an international setting. Mariñas collabo-rates with local universities—the Univer-sidad de Las Americas–Puebla (UDLAP) in Mexico; Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia; and the University of Nairobi in Kenya. The local universities help iden-tify projects, provide laboratory space, and offer critical site-specific technical, socio-economic and cultural informa-tion. Students work in teams to address real-world problems of water purification,

into africacollaborating with the students at the local universities. The projects are addressed by mul-tiple classes in stages; the African projects are just now beginning, while the Mexico project is more advanced.

All Illinois team members are invited to participate in one trip to a project site, each one-week long and provided at no cost to students, thanks to sponsorship by CEE at Illinois, the College of Engineering’s International Programs in Engineering office, and the National Sci-ence Foundation-sponsored Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems (WaterCAMPWS). The trips enable joint design sessions with college students from the collabo-rating international universities and field trips to target communities.

Bringing students to Africa poses greater challenges than travel to Mexico, but Mariñas sees educational value in ex-posing students to an area that presents one of the world’s most pressing water-related engineering challenges.

Students today have a strong desire to work internationally and use their engi-neering degrees to make a real difference in the world, Mariñas said. i

Photos, top to bottom: Kenyan children draw water from Lake Victoria, where livestock also go to drink. CEE student Abdul Hassaballah collects a sample from a drinking water source near Bondo, Kenya. CEE student Matt Sokolows-ki (left, green t-shirt) and partner student Patri-cio Roa Garduno from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology talk to children at a Kenyan primary school. CEE student Dana Al-Qadi surveys rural women about their water needs and priorities.


real world problems have the breadth and richness necessary to adequately prepare students. (Students) also need to understand how to address sustainability in different cultures.”

Early in the semester, Minsker intro-duced her students to the environmental costs of intensive farming through lec-tures, videos, and guest speakers in the Upper Embarras River Basin in Illinois.

Then, in China, students experienced in person the problems facing farmers and others living in the Shiyang River Basin’s arid climate.

“Being able to see what we are study-ing gave me a much deeper perspective than I could gain by reading about them,” said CEE undergraduate student Chuan Li. “The challenges became much more real and personal because I got an idea of what the farmers could have felt.”

by dAn mAlSom

Thirteen CEE students and their profes-sor traveled to China over spring break

in March to get a first-hand look at envi-ronmental challenges in the country’s Shiyang River Basin. The trip was part of a class project in Professor Barbara Min-sker’s newly redesigned Environmental Systems II course, for which she is collabo-rating with Tsinghua University Professor Jianshi Zhao, who is teaching a parallel class in China.

Minsker redesigned the course this year as part of the department’s initiative to give students more international and multi-disciplinary educational experienc-es. According to Minsker, in order to fully comprehend environmental problems, “there are two elements. One is that to understand sustainability in general, you need to study real world problems. Only

Students toured reservoirs and engi-neered water structures in the watershed and also had the opportunity to inter-view local farmers and the river basin’s water management committee. They also viewed some different mechanisms protecting farmland against desertifica-tion—the process by which desert land spreads and renders farmland unus-able—and learned about the mix of infra-structure development and public poli-cies enacted in the region to help combat it and support the population.

“You can see that this project is not only about engineering, but deeply con-nected with the social sciences,” said Tristan Wietsma, CEE graduate student.

It had been 10 years since Minsker had taught the Environmental Systems course because of other teaching and leadership commitments. The return to environmen-tal systems gave her a chance to teach the class in a new way that was inspired by her leadership in the campus-wide sustainability initiative, particularly the Prairie Project sustainability curriculum program that she created this year. Pro-fessor Ximing Cai, who also participated in the Prairie Project, introduced her to Zhao, who had spent his sabbatical at Illi-nois several years ago. Minsker and Zhao share lecture materials and case study in-formation, and make many lectures avail-able online to all students involved. When Minsker taught the course in 2001, she began the semester by teaching students the different methods of environmental

Environmental systems students study China’s challenges first-hand

Students from both universities pose with professors Minsker (front row, green coat) and Zhou (to the right of Minsker).

Above (left to right): Professor Zhou, a water management official, and CEE undergraduate Chuan Li visit a farm site that no longer has groundwater access. Right: The group visits an observation site in the three-kilometer band of drought-resistant plants used to combat desertification around Minqin.

Engineering in person

by dAn mAlSom

Thirteen CEE graduate students and their professor traveled to China over

spring break in March to get a first-hand look at environmental challenges in the country’s Shiyang River Basin. The trip was part of a class project in Professor Barbara Minsker’s newly redesigned En-vironmental Systems II course, taught in collaboration with Tsinghua University Professor Jianshi Zhao, who is teaching a parallel class in China.

Minsker redesigned the course this year as part of the department’s initiative to give students more international and multi-disciplinary educational experienc-es. According to Minsker, in order to fully comprehend environmental problems, “there are two elements. One is that to understand sustainability in general, you need to study real world problems. Only real world problems have the breadth and richness necessary to adequately prepare students. (Students) also need to understand how to address sustainability in different cultures.”

Early in the semester, Minsker intro-duced her students to the environmental costs of intensive farming through lec-tures, videos, and guest speakers. Then, in China, students experienced in person the problems facing farmers and others living in the Shiyang river basin’s arid cli-mate.

“Being able to see what we are study-ing gave me a much deeper perspective than I could gain by reading about them,” said CEE graduate student Chuan Li. “The challenges became much more real and personal because I got an idea of what the farmers could have felt.”

Students on the trip toured reservoirs


“I thought, naively, that I had a good understanding of the population size and the pace of industrialization. … But the human brain is just not very good at dealing with large numbers.”

systems analysis. The course would then culminate in an environmental case study and final project. Today, the opposite is true.

“I decided to turn [the course] upside down: teach the problems and then the methods,” Minsker said.

The China trip introduced students to a scope of environmental issues, and now they must work back in class to find pos-sible solutions.

“On one hand, we went to the west of China, and saw the harsh natural and liv-ing environment, especially the desert,” said Wenzhao Xu, a graduate student at Tsinghua. “On the other hand, we learned lots of engineering methods and regula-tions to solve this problem of conflicts between societal development and eco-system sustainability. Field study is nec-essary if you want to learn it more.”

Li sees the trip influencing decisions he will have to make in the future.

“I have been for a long time inter-ested in water resources and its related challenges around the world,” he said. “I think the experience from this trip will keep that interest in me for a very long time. It will definitely be an influence to my career.”

When it comes to China’s fast-paced growth, population boom, and accompa-nying massive environmental problems, Minsker said, “you really have to see it to understand the immensity of it.”

“The trip really opened my eyes to the scale of development going on,” Wietsma said. “I thought, naively, that I had a good understanding of the population size

and the pace of industrialization. … But the human brain is just not very good at dealing with large numbers. For example, if you ask someone how many pennies can fit in a room, typically their answer is off by several orders of magnitude. It re-ally took getting my feet on the ground before everything I had read and heard started to sink in.”

The trip was paid for primarily by the students, with financial aid provided by the CEE Department, the Graduate Col-lege, and the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies to defray the cost for those who couldn’t pay in full. For the Illinois students, the cost per person was about $2,100. Minsker is seeking funding that would enable her to offer the trip to stu-dents each time the course is offered.

While the river basin case study took up most of the time on the trip, Minsker and her students also had a chance to do some sightseeing. Tour stops included the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, among other places of interest.

According to Minsker, the trip and hands-on case study has proven invalu-able to the group as a whole.

“Just spending a week together in those close quarters, we’re so much clos-er as a class now,” she said. “I’ve noticed throughout the semester that the stu-dents seem so much more motivated and interested as compared to when I used to teach the class. The students were really engaged this time, so we are hoping that we can do trips like this as a regular part of our curriculum every year.”

Zhao said he hopes that Illinois and Ts-inghua will continue to collaborate.

“Of course we are planning to set up a long-term collaborative course,” he said. “And my department head is asking me if it is possible to establish collaboration on more courses between the Depart-ment of Hydraulic Engineering of Tsin-ghua and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering [at Illinois].” i

Left: CEE grad student Yun Tang pictured at the channel in Minqin. Right: Students visited the Great Wall.Ph

otos

: Tris

tan

Wie

tsm

a

by lESliE myriCk

The University of Illinois’ pavement engineering program dates back to

1906, when Carroll C. Wiley (BS 1904, MS 1910), a department alumnus and Illinois faculty member from 1906-1952, pio-neered highway engineering at Illinois. Wiley’s successors joked that he “came with the automobile.”

During the past 100 years, as roads have changed from dirt, to gravel, to as-phalt and concrete, engineers at Illinois have made lasting contributions to the world’s roadways. Among pavement engineers, some of the most commonly referenced research is that done at Illi-nois. Today’s faculty, students, and the Illinois Center for Transportation build on the Illinois pavement program’s rich history and have firmly established it as the most well-respected in the world.

While completing his doctorate at Illinois, Harald Westergaard developed the first theoretical basis for the design of concrete pavements. Westergaard, an alumnus of Mechanical Engineering (1916) who served on the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics faculty from 1916-1936, developed mechanistic models that have been used around the world to improve concrete analysis and design. His major consulting proj-ects included the Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal.

Illinois was home to several early

Illinois Highway ResearchPaving the way for more than 100 years

road tests, including the Bates Road Test and the AASHTO Road Test in Ottawa, the results of which led to great advances in concrete and flexible pavements, be-cause for the first time, trucks of different weights and axle spacings were taken into account. The road tests introduced such concepts as the load equivalency factor, and roughness and performance measures. Professor Moreland Herrin, fac-ulty member from 1958-1987, now emeri-tus, pioneered asphalt research at the University of Illinois and worked as the Assistant Materials Engineer for the AAS-HTO Road Test.

In the late 1950s, the University of Illinois established the Highway Engi-neering Technician Training Program, a first-of-its-kind summer program in the nation. The program was led by Professor Ellis Danner (BS 30, MS 49), who served on the faculty from 1946-1973. Run similar to a boot camp, the program trained fu-ture highway engineers, and many of the participants helped build the segment of Interstate 74 that runs east of Champaign to Danville.

Professors Ernest Barenberg (PhD 65), a faculty member from 1960-1996, and Marshall Thompson (BS 60, MS 62, PhD 64), a faculty member from 1965-1996, were integral in developing the mech-anistic-empirical design frameworks for pavements, which merged sophisticated modeling with prediction of performance

after 20 years of traffic and weathering. This work is reflected in the Eisenhower Interstate System and in many agencies’ guidelines for the design and construc-tion of flexible pavement systems. Baren-berg and Thompson also conducted rev-olutionary work to stabilize clay soils with lime. The University’s worldwide impact became apparent when other countries began translating the lime stabilization work into their own languages.

Revolutionary work in testing asphalt mixes during the 1970s to quantify their limits and optimal thickness, led by Pro-fessor Sam Carpenter, now emeritus, gave transportation agencies a better under-standing of their own mixes and how to achieve ideal thickness, which resulted in fewer construction needs.

Outstanding and innovative labora-tory facilities have contributed to Illinois’ continued success in pavement and ma-terials research. In 1993, Professor Barry Dempsey (BS 60, MS 66, PhD 69), who served on the faculty from 1969-1999, fa-cilitated the transportation group’s labo-ratory relocation to the Advanced Trans-portation Research and Engineering Lab-oratory (ATREL), which occupies 47 acres of the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, 15 miles north of the Illinois campus. The lab includes 67,000 square feet of space for pavements, materials,

Continued on page 16.

Carroll C. Wiley joins the Uni-versity as the first professor of highway engi-neering.

19061914Wiley establishes the first High-way Engineering Conference in the U.S. It exists today as the Traffic and Highway Engineer-ing Conference, with more than 1,000 attendees annually.

Harald Westergaard develops the first theoreti-cal basis for the design of concrete pavements.

1916


1923–1965Edward E. Bauer, faculty member from 1923-1965, developed some of the earliest national specifi-cations and test-ing procedures for soils, asphalt, and concrete, and authored one of the first textbooks on con-crete. He also directed the bitu-minous, concrete, and soil labs.

ICT work to support national sustainable pavements program

The University of Illinois signs the first official agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation to collaborate on transportation research. (Previously the university had served as contractor.)

Early paving operations of the 1910–1930 era, including (top) equipment pulled by mules.

1952

The U of I establishes the Highway Engineer-ing Technician Train-ing Program, led by Ellis Danner, the first of its kind in the nation.

Late 1950s


The Univer-sity’s work is reflected in the Eisenhower Interstate System and in many agencies’ guidelines for the design and construc-tion of flexible pavement systems.

1960s

Pavement experts at the Illinois Cen-ter for Transportation, led by Direc-

tor Imad Al-Qadi, will assist the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as it de-velops a national sustainable pavements program. The team includes CEE alumnus Kurt Smith (BS 84, MS 85) of APTech as a program manager.

The project, to begin during summer 2011, will identify sustainability challeng-es with regard to pavements. The FHWA will use the information to help develop its sustainable pavements program to consider asphalt, concrete, granular, and other recyclable materials.

The desired outcome is to increase the awareness, visibility, and the body of knowledge of sustainability consider-ations in the design, construction, main-tenance, and rehabilitation of pavement systems.

Other organizations that are part of this team, in addition to APTech and Illinois, include the University of California Pave-ment Research Center at UC Davis, Uni-versity of Washington, Virginia Tech, Uni-versity of New Hampshire, The Right Envi-ronment, and CH2M Hill. i

and transportation operations testing and research. Dempsey served as ATREL’s first director and used it as a catalyst for the University to reach new levels in transportation research.

Illinois is also well known for its work on airfield pavements. In 1995, Dempsey established the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology (CEAT), first spon-sored by the Federal Aviation Adminis-tration (FAA). This safety and pavement research center has trained numerous students who have moved on to jobs in airport engineering. Even as director of CEAT and ATREL, Dempsey continued developing useful products to solve pavement problems, such as the inter-layer stress absorbing composite (ISAC) material that carries U.S. and foreign patents and has been used in numerous airport and highway pavement projects. Dempsey also pioneered the develop-ment of the Integrated Climate Model (ICM) that has been used extensively in research and design procedures.

Professor Michael Darter, faculty member from 1973-2003, has also been at the center of many developments, including the widely used Pavement Condition Index (PCI) system, which was one of the first tools used to assess the condition of an airport pavement or roadway for future maintenance plan-ning. His work led to the introduction of pavement management systems, which agencies use to inventory, main-

tain, and repair their pavement systems. He was also the lead investigator on the AASHTO M-E design guide for concrete pavements.

In 2001, Illinois faculty designed a loading system to conduct full-scale pavement testing for trucks, planes, and railcars. The Advanced Transportation Loading Assembly (ATLAS), now housed on the ATREL grounds, offers unique test-ing capabilities. The machine can apply up to 6,000 repetitions per day and simu-late up to 20 years of wear on pavement in just a few weeks.

In 2004, Professor Imad Al-Qadi joined the faculty, expanding ac-tivities at ATREL with the founding of the Illinois Center for Transporta-tion (ICT), established with primary funding from the Illinois Department of Transpor-tation. Since its inception, ICT has grown to become one of the leading transpor-tation centers in the nation. The center

started with 12 projects, nine of which were pavement projects, and all the investigators were from the Illinois transportation group. Today, ICT has more than 145 approved projects involving more than 90 investigators from

12 universities, representing true diversity in transportation research. Other current faculty specializing in pavements include professors William Buttlar, Jeff Roesler (BS 92, MS 94, PhD 98), and Erol Tutumluer. Their contributions continue to improve pavements worldwide. The ICT research of the past five years has helped support more than 135 graduate students, in ad-dition to many undergraduate students, and these numbers are always increasing.

The work of the transportation area is supported by the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Ad-ministration, the Transportation Research Board, the National Science Foundation, the National Cooperative Highway Re-search Program, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration, industry, and many other sponsors.

The Illinois pavement program has long attracted and educated the best students in the world, who then take jobs around the world, further spread-ing the University’s influence and rep-utation. Building on the rich history of the Illinois pavement engineering program, ICT will continue to conduct groundbreaking transportation research to serve the state of Illinois, the na-tion, and the world. i

Continued from page 14.

The transportation faculty in 1979: (standing, left to right) Sam Carpenter, Ernie Barenberg (sit-ting, left to right) Michael Darter, David Boyce, Moreland Herrin, Marshall Thompson, Barry Dempsey, Lufti Raad.

The Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Labo-ratory is established in Rantoul, Ill., on the former Chanute Air Force Base.

1992

Faculty help procure the largest moveable full-scale pave-ment testing facility in the coun-try, the Advanced Transportation Loading ASsembly (ATLAS).

2001The Center of Excellence for Airport Technology is established.

1995


Imad Al-Qadi

Researchers at the Illinois Center for Transpor-tation (ICT) have been selected to lead a $1.2

million Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) project to model and validate the use and effects of wide-base tires as an alternative to the conventional dual-tire system on semi-truck trailers. Wide-base tires have the potential to provide numerous ben-efits to the environment and the trucking industry.

This project, “The Impact of Wide-Base Tires on Pavements–A National Study,” will build on ICT’s and its team members’ existing knowledge and international leadership on this subject to quantify the impact of vehicle-tire interaction on pavement damage. The team will use advanced theoretical modeling that will be validated by testing sensored full-scale pavements to determine the relationship between the tire characteristics, including width, aspect ratio, loading, tire inflation pressure, actual tread width, and pavement damage. The team will develop a tool and methodology that allows engi-neers and agencies to assess the impact of wide-base tires on the pavement network and analyze the economic, safety, and environmental effects of using wide-base tires relative to the impact on pavement performance.

As part of previous research, the ICT team showed the environmental advantages of wide-base tire implementation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Smartway Transport Project promotes the use of wide-base tires as a way to improve fuel economy by reducing weight, aerody-namic drag, and rolling resistance. Other potential benefits they cite include reduced drive-by noise and improved stability.

Along with the administration of the project, full-scale testing will be conducted at the Ad-vanced Transportation Engineering and Research Lab. The project is set to begin during summer 2011 and has a three-year timeline. i

A wide-base tire rolls over a test pavement at ATREL.

From 18 wheels to 10? ICT awarded $1.2M to study wide-base tires

Paving, 1910–1930. (Top) An early concrete “paving train.” Note the tracks alongside the concrete mixer. (Middle) Grading a gravel road the old-fashioned way. (Bottom) Checking a truck for over-loading. Note the single tire on the rear axle.

2005The Illinois Center for Transportation is established with primary funding from the Illinois Department of Transportation. Since its inception, ICT has grown to become one of the leading transporta-tion centers in the nation.


2011First online pavement course is taught by Illinois faculty when the department be-gins offering master’s level courses online.

The best advice about the CEE curricu-lum that CEE junior Michael Rogge-

man ever got, he says, was the result of a chance encounter. While waiting in line at a career fair, Roggeman struck up a conversation with a CEE upperclassman and ended up with some sound advice about which classes would make him more competitive for summer internships earlier in his college career.

Armed with the belief that the sharing of helpful information among students shouldn’t be left to chance, Roggeman signed up as a mentor with the depart-ment’s new Freshman Mentor Program.

Roggeman was paired with incoming CEE freshman James Krist. Because he at-tended a large high school, Krist was not intimidated by the size of the U of I, he says, but he has found the mentor pro-gram beneficial for orientation and meet-ing fellow civil engineering students.

The two met informally a couple of times a month throughout the year. They discuss classes, internships, career plans, and whatever else is on their minds, Krist says. His experience has been so good, that he hopes to remain with the pro-gram in coming years as a mentor for other students.

The mentor program is a key initiative of the CEE Student Committee, estab-lished in fall 2010. The committee of six to eight CEE students, led by Academic Adviser Becky Stillwell, meets weekly to brainstorm and plan events designed to increase engagement among freshmen and sophomores and generally enhance the student experience in the depart-

ment. Since engineering students don’t start

taking classes in their majors until junior year, freshmen and sophomores often are unfamiliar with the department and all the opportunities available to them, like CEE student organizations, Roggeman says. Student Committee events and ini-tiatives like the mentoring program “get the freshmen integrated into the pro-gram earlier,” he says.

“There are so many good things that happen here that I just stumbled upon later. I wish I had known about them as a freshman,” Roggeman says.

Events have included the CEE Fall Kick-Off in September, a pizza dinner and par-ty which was attended by professors and upperclassmen as well; a mentor/men-tee picnic in October; a scavenger hunt around campus with combined teams of mentors and mentees in November; the CEE Career Fair Pregame, an event held the night before the fall job fair that brought in alumni to give advice; and reg-istration assistance in April.

About 40-50 students participated in the mentor program this academic year, Stillwell says, and the committee is hop-ing for even greater participation next year. Their goal is to ensure that future classes of incoming freshman feel wel-comed and engaged in CEE from their first days on campus. i

For more information about the CEE Student Committee or any of its programs or events, contact Becky Stillwell, [email protected].

Freshman James Krist, left, with his CEE mentor, junior Michael Roggeman.

Mentors give freshmen a smooth start

Full speed aheadAs high-speed rail comes to the U.S., CEE is conducting research essential to its success

A $3.3 million study of high-speed rail (HSR) track components will

be led by researchers in CEE’s Rail Transportation and Engineering Cen-ter (RailTEC). The research to improve concrete crossties and fastening sys-tems, sponsored by the Federal Rail-road Administration (FRA), represents the largest study of its kind in North America, as well as the largest railroad engineering research project awarded to the University of Illinois to date ac-cording to Professor Chris Barkan, Di-rector of RailTEC.

“The magnitude of this project reflects the importance of improved concrete crosstie design for both freight and passenger railroads in the U.S.,” Barkan said.

Concrete crossties, referred to as sleepers elsewhere in the world, are an essential component of the kind of necessary for high-speed rail opera-tions in the U.S.

“These track systems allow railways to maintain the tight geometric toler-ances, such as track gauge, that are required for high-speed train opera-tion,” said railroad engineering lecturer and CEE alumnus J. Riley Edwards (MS 06), who is leading the study. “Many of the proposed HSR lines in the U.S. will require high-speed passenger trains to share the same tracks with heavy-axle-load (HAL) freight trains. These joint


A high-speed train in Taiwan. Photo courtesy of Professor T.C. Kao.

corridors present unique challenges in terms of the design and maintenance of infrastructure. This research proj-ect is aimed at improving the current concrete tie and fastener design in order to lower their life cycle cost and increase safety and reliability.”

During the two-and-a-half-year study, researchers will conduct labo-ratory and field testing to improve understanding of the tie and fasten-ing system, leading to performance-based recommendations for concrete ties and fastening system design in the U.S., specifically those used in joint passenger-freight railway infra-structure. They will also develop a centralized knowledge and document depository of concrete ties and fasten-ing systems to be housed at U of I.

In addition to Edwards, the re-search team includes experts in ma-terials and structures: CEE profes-sors Bassem O. Andrawes, Daniel A. Kuchma, and David A. Lange, and Research Engineer Marcus S. Dersch (BS 09, MS 10), a CEE alumnus.

“Our approach brings together strong rail ‘domain knowledge,’ ma-terials expertise, and structural engi-neering capability,” Lange said. “We have a complete team, and we are looking forward to working with our industry and government partners.”

The University’s preeminence in railroad engineering education and research makes it a natural choice for HSR and HAL research, Barkan said.

“Illinois houses a full-scale con-crete tie and fastening system load-ing frame, and we are conducting

research related to what the railroad industry considers to be one of the most detrimental failure mecha-nisms of concrete crossties, rail seat deterioration,” Dersch said. “Through the funding provided by the FRA it is our goal to develop the premier con-crete crosstie and fastening system research program.”

The research represents a collab-oration between academia and in-dustry, with seven industry partners providing cost sharing contributions. The industry partners involved in the project are: Amtrak; BNSF Railway; GIC Ingenieria y Construccion S.A. de C.V.; Hanson Professional Services Inc.; LB Foster Company, CXT Con-crete Ties; Union Pacific Railway; and Unit Rail Inc. /Amsted Rail Inc.

The University of Illinois has been a leader in rail education and research for more than a century. The railroad engineering program at the Univer-sity of Illinois has the most extensive curriculum in railroad engineering of any university in North America, complemented by an extensive re-search program in rail engineering and transportation through RailTEC. Graduates of the program are work-ing for all the major U.S. railroads, as well as numerous rail engineer-ing design and construction firms. The University has been an Associa-tion of American Railroads (AAR) Af-filiated Laboratory for almost three decades, and in this role conducts research on new and emerging tech-nologies with the potential to ben-efit rail transportation. i

On June 2, Governor Pat Quinn announced a partnership between the University of

Illinois, the Illinois Department of Transporta-tion and a special advisory group to study the feasibility of 220-mph passenger rail service between Chicago, Urbana-Champaign and be-yond. The study will complement the ongoing construction of a regional 110-mph network that will connect Chicago to 40 cities in the Mid-west, while supporting Governor Quinn‘s vision to create jobs, enhance regional mobility and improve the environment by expanding pas-senger rail in Illinois.

“Illinois is leading the nation with our work to expand high-speed and passenger rail,” said Governor Quinn. “This study will provide great-er insight into how we can make 220-mph rail service a reality. An expanded and improved rail network will boost our position in the global economy and create thousands of jobs.”

The study will explore the costs and ben-efits of establishing 220-mph service between O’Hare International Airport, downtown Chica-go, McCormick Place, and Champaign-Urbana. It will also look at extending the corridor in the region to cities south of Champaign-Urbana, in-cluding St. Louis and Indianapolis.

Leading the study will be CEE Professor Christopher P.L. Barkan, director of the railroad engineering program and one of the nation’s top rail scholars. Contributing will be Univer-sity of Illinois at Chicago Urban Transportation Center director Stephen Schlickman, former executive director of the Regional Transporta-tion Authority. Their findings, made possible through a $1.25 million contribution from the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program, are expected to be complete and presented to the governor in late 2012.

“I’m delighted that the University of Illinois can lend its vast expertise to this crucial study, and I’m grateful to the governor and other lead-ers in the state for their support of this impor-tant work,” said U of I President Michael Hogan. “High-speed rail is transformational in its effect on economic development, personal mobility and on our society in general. It’s an idea that is well worth a hard look. The benefits to the Uni-versity of Illinois alone cannot be overstated.” iFull story at http://cee.illinois.edu/hsr_june_2011

Feasibility study to explore high-speed rail line between Champaign and Chicago

Save the dateRailroad Environmental Conference October 25-26, 2011. Registration will open in August. ict.illinois.edu/railroad/RREC/overview.asp

SM



The co-ed sprint race at regionals (front to back): Justin Helpingstine, Jeni Fornek, Arielle Malinowski, and Ben Sexton.

by dAvid nAuhEimEr And JACob thEdE

Co-CAPtAinS

This year marks the 40th anniversary of intercollegiate concrete canoeing.

We can trace the start of the competition all the way to 1971, when Purdue chal-lenged the University of Illinois to a series of races. On May 16, 1971, the teams both journeyed to Kickapoo State Park for the races. After four races, the teams were tied, and during the fifth race Purdue lost when their paddlers capsized their canoe. Illinois clinched the victory to become the first world champions. The University of Il-linois concrete canoe team, the Boneyard Yacht Club, began its 40-year tradition of excellence that day. The team takes its name from the Boneyard Creek which weaves through the Bardeen Quad.

This season, to celebrate the anniver-sary of concrete canoeing, the team built THE CEMENTERY, a vessel honoring the history of the club. It is one of Illinois’

Canoe team 2nd at regionals, off to nationals

strongest entries to date. It consists of graveyard motifs with bone inlays and the logo of the team at the center of the canoe. At the front is an LED-powered, illuminated skull. The team put more than 2,550 person-hours of work into the design, testing, and construction of the canoe, and the effort has paid off. The team finished second overall behind the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the regional competition and qualified for na-tionals June 16-18 in Evansville, Ind. This is the first time the team has attended the national competition since 2007.

Significant changes were made this year to the mold construction. Since the design of the hull shape had already been

given, mold construction started imme-diately once the rules were released. This year, the largest innovation was develop-ing a new type of mold that could actual-ly adjust to accommodate shrinkage and expansion of the concrete mix. It con-sisted of four independent sections that were mounted to rollers and three gaps that served as release joints. This mitigat-ed shrinkage cracking in the canoe, and also allowed the team to stay within the dimensional tolerances.

A lot of innovation went into this

The 2010-2011 Concrete Canoe Team poses on race day with its canoe, The Cementery, at the regional competition in Madison, Wis.

Continued on page 22


Benjamin Birch (BS 04, MS 07)This [early concrete canoe t-shirt] is framed and on a wall in my house. I got it from my dad, Wayne Birch (BS 72). He worked in the concrete lab when he was a student and helped with the team who made the first canoe and was at the first races. Maybe that makes me one of the first second generation concrete canoers, I don’t know. I had grown up hearing bits here and there about the competition, and when I changed

majors to civil engi-neering I immediately joined the team. The canoe on the wall [in the Newmark Lab crane bay] called “Il-liniwake” is the one I was captain for with Amanda Bordelon (BS 05, MS 07).

George Hendricks (BS 71) I saw the pictures of the 40th anniversary

of the concrete canoe races. This brought back a lot of memories, because my room-mate, Dale Hinkle (BS 71), was a member of Dr. Kesler’s class and an active participant in the design and construction of the first concrete canoe. ... I enjoyed your article and, in fact, called Dale (a very successful geotechnical en-gineer who now lives in Montana) to tell him that I had seen his picture in your magazine.

The picture that is missing is the one of the maiden voyage of this vessel. [See photo at top right.] This occurred in Crystal Lake Park. Being a civil engineering student and know-ing of their project, I took great interest in their progress. I joined the class in transport-ing the canoe to Urbana to help them “see if it would float.” When no one stepped forward to get in, Dale and I volunteered and proceed-ed to paddle out into Crystal Lake. We were

joined by our dog, Ben, (actu-ally our roommate’s dog).

I can attest to the weight of this vessel since it took all of us to get it from the truck to the water. This first foray onto water is documented by a picture which appears on the website concretecano-epictures.com.

I am not sure about the actual timing of this “maiden voyage,” but it had to be some-time in the fall of 1970 since we both gradu-ated in January of 1971 and left Champaign. The canoe was later relocated to a small lake near Oakwood, Ill., where it was housed until being put into play in the first race.

The picture of Dale and me in the canoe and Ben paddling alongside, I think, was fea-tured in some civil engineering magazines at the time which circulated around the world (at least that’s what I was told). In the picture, Dale is in the rear with the fancy hat and I am in the front.Editor’s note: The website concretecanoepic-tures.com was created by CEE graduate student Armen Amirkhanian, adviser for the Boneyard Yacht Club and concrete canoe historian.

Mark A. Lawrence (BS 81, MS 82, PhD 86)I enjoyed reading your article about con-

crete canoes. I heard an additional anecdote about that first race when I took the Prop-erties of Concrete course from Professor Young (by the way, it’s J. Francis, not Francis J.) back in 1980. He told us that Professor Kes-ler tweaked the noses of the Boilermakers by showing up at a conference shortly after that race in a t-shirt proclaiming Illinois the world concrete canoe champions. I believe that’s the shirt he’s wearing in the photo that went with your article.Editor’s note: You’re right about that, Mark. See page 22.

Tom Palansky (BS 82)I was the captain of the

Boneyard Yacht Club in 1979 and 1980. In fact, I can lay claim to co-originating the name Boneyard Yacht Club one after-noon at Murphy’s after a long Saturday morning working on our craft. The other creative CE was Art [last name unknown]. Art drew up the first Boneyard YC t-shirt design. I still have two shirts! One correction: Dick Shipley was not a professor (but should have been). Great guy; the best teacher. He ran the CE concrete lab.

Canoe team alumni remember...

Steve Wegman (BS 74)I helped build and raced one of the early

concrete canoes. I remember that we trow-eled fiber reinforced Portland cement paste with vermiculite or some other very light, fine aggregate onto a wire mesh frame and creat-ed a monster that weighed a lot—hundreds of pounds. I remember that the keel wasn’t per-fectly straight, sort of a banana right, which worked out OK because both paddlers were right-handed and we could just paddle on the right side to go straight. I think we did a test run at Crystal Lake in Urbana. I remember that we went to South Bend, Ind., and raced on a lake at Notre Dame. We placed second in the first heat and advanced to the semi-finals or finals, where we did not place. I remember the top edge of the canoe was rough and cut our hands if we dragged them across it while we were paddling—something we should have realized and cleaned up before putting it in the water. You’ll notice in the photo that paste appears to be smeared over part of the name; I think that was a last-minute response to the damage done to knuckles on the first run.

There was a canoe from Iowa, probably Iowa State, there that had an inverted prow. That is, instead of tapering back from a point at the top of the front in traditional canoe shape its point was at the bottom and tapered back as it went up. I think they had the idea that it would work as a battering ram. It worked fine until they started paddling hard, at which time the taper caused the front end to dive, and it sank. I think the race was won that year by a canoe from Montreal that weighed about 75 pounds.

Our canoe sat outside the Civil Engineer-ing Building (now Newmark Lab) the rest of the school year after the race and was offered to any of us who wanted to take it home. No one did, and it was demolished.

Someone took the attached black and white photo, I think at Notre Dame. That’s me, with a lot more hair, stepping into the back of the canoe.

Dale Hinkle (back of canoe) and George Hendricks take the first concrete canoe on its maiden voyage, accompanied by their room-mate’s dog, Ben.

At left, an early canoe race. Alumnus Steve Weg-man is stepping into the back of the canoe.



Canoe team the topic of BTN video

This spring the Big Ten Network (BTN) began taping a two-minute video about the Boneyard Yacht Club and the 40th anniversary of inter-collegiate concrete

canoe racing. BTN videographers Kevin Southworth and Caitlin Dixon followed the team from the last stages of construction through regionals and traveled with the team to the national competition. The video will be shown on the Big Ten Network and on the department’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/ceeatillinois.

year’s mix design. A 1,300 psi concrete mix was developed that was 95 percent sustainable by volume. The principle aggregates were Poraver, an expanded glass, and crushed cement kiln brick, which was collected and crushed by the team. The main cementitious material that was used was VCAS, a vitrified cal-cium aluminosilicate. VCAS gave the mix many desirable qualities such as high sus-tainability and lower weight. White Type I Portland cement was also used within the mix. Kevlar-carbon fiber, fiberglass mesh, and recycled polypropylene fibers were used as reinforcement to provide THE CEMENTERY with increased strength and rigidity. Admixtures such as air entrain-ment, shrinkage reducer, and retarder were also used in the final mix.

A new emphasis was placed on pad-dling this year. Throughout the first se-mester there were bi-weekly paddling sessions. More than a dozen people be-came highly proficient paddlers. Practice continued into November, and tryouts were held. Paddling training started again in the spring, and very talented men and women raced in the regional competition. However, because of the fierce competition at nationals, the team is continuing to practice into the summer.

This year also saw a lot of success in re-cruiting new members. The team current-ly consists of 30 members from all class standings. New members devoted a lot of time to the canoe and demonstrated strong potential leadership. The team is looking forward to conducting minor re-pairs on the canoe and competing in the national competition. The team learned a lot and had fun all year.

A special thank you must be sent out to Armen Amirkhanian, CEE grad student and canoe team adviser, and Jason Mote, P.E., CEE Ph.D. student. Without their help and motivation the team would not be where it is today. We would also like to thank our sponsors, without whom this year would not be possible.

Anyone interested in joining the team or financially contributing may contact next year’s captains, Raphael Stern ([email protected]) and Arielle Malinowski ([email protected]). iFollow us on Facebook to hear about the canoe team’s performance at nationals in June: face-book.com/ceeatillinois.

Retro canoe shirts available at the CEE online storeWe loved Clyde Kesler’s World Champs t-shirt so much, we decided to replicate it in honor of the 40th anniver-sary of concrete canoe racing. The design, Illini orange on heathered gray, is a bit weathered, as though you were there at the very first race (except that you look way too young to have been in college back then.) Just $12 each. Proceeds benefit the canoe team. Order your very own, plus other CEE merchandise, at https://my.cee.illinois.edu/buy/. Wear it with Illini pride.


by SCott EArnESt And JoSEPh riddlE, CAPtAinS, And oAnA tomA

The Illinois Steel Bridge team had an-other successful season this year and

performed well at the Great Lakes Con-ference regional competition. Sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engi-neers and the American Institute of Steel Construction, the regional competition was held at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on April 2. Twelve teams from the Great Lakes region competed.

The competition involves three main components: construction speed, bridge deflection, and bridge weight. In previ-ous years, we had designed the bridge to be very stiff, usually resulting in slower construction speeds and higher bridge weight. This year, we decided to design the bridge, named Chief of Paign, to be lighter and quicker to assemble, while possibly sacrificing some stiffness. The season as a whole went pretty well; we encountered several obstacles through-out fabrication but overcame each one through long hours in the shop and lots of dedication from the whole team. These obstacles definitely taught us a lot as the season progressed. We finished manu-facturing the bridge in mid-March, leav-ing us only eight available days of prac-tice before the competition (which was almost a whole month earlier this year than in past years). After eight intense practices with a very dedicated construc-tion team, we managed to get our con-struction time down considerably, as we had hoped to do from the beginning.

At regionals, we performed very well during construction; we matched our quickest construction time from practice with minimal penalties. We even had some unforeseen technical difficulties, in-cluding an impact gun bit actually shear-ing during the competition. Our ability to improvise demonstrated our knowledge of the bridge and quality of preparation. Excited about our construction time, we moved on to the load test. During the lateral load test, the bridge was only al-lowed to deflect 0.5”. Prior to practicing,

we had conducted a full load test, and the bridge passed. After practicing, we be-lieve some of the connections were loos-ened and possibly plastically deformed, so when we laterally load tested at com-petition, the deflection exceeded 0.5” so we were not allowed, for safety reasons, to complete the load test. After a tough year of fabrication, long nights at New-mark, and lots of construction practice, it was very disheartening to see the bridge fail the lateral load test.

However, with the strict limits on de-flection, many other schools also failed in a similar fashion, and we still ended up placing third in construction speed and economy and fifth overall. Although we will not be at-tending Nationals in Texas, we did learn a lot this year, despite ending the season on a negative note. We feel very good about our chances next year, as there

Bridge team happy with speed, let down in load test at regionals

will be eight returning members who will be very motivated to do well and will have as many as three years of steel bridge ex-perience to build on. i

At the banquet following the competition are team members (l to r) Brian Cunningham, Stephen Ozols, Tom Dehlin, Scott Earnest, Joe Riddle, Jared Thoele, Oana Toma, Brett Mattas, Kirk Atwater.

Top: James Triezenberg, Scott Earnest and Joe Riddle begin timed construction. Bottom: With timed construction nearly over, (l to r) Joe Riddle, Scott Earnest, James Triezenberg, Tom Dehlin and Stephen Ozols work to complete the bridge in 9 minutes. Inset: the completed bridge, named Chief of Paign.


by liz AhlbErg

Using detailed land analysis, Illinois researchers have found that biofuel

crops cultivated on available land could produce up to half of the world’s current fuel consumption—without affecting food crops or pastureland.

Published in the journal Environmen-tal Science and Technology, the study led by civil and environmental engineer-ing professor Ximing Cai identified land around the globe available to produce grass crops for biofuels, with minimal im-pact on agriculture or the environment.

Many studies on biofuel crop viability focus on biomass yield, or how produc-tive a crop can be regionally. There has been relatively little research on land availability, one of the key constraints of biofuel development. Of special concern is whether the world could even produce enough biofuel to meet demand without compromising food production.

“The questions we’re trying to address are, what kind of land could be used for biofuel crops? If we have land, where is it, and what is the current land cover?” Cai said.

Cai’s team assessed land availability from a physical perspective—focusing on soil properties, soil quality, land slope, and regional climate. The researchers col-lected data on soil, topography, climate and current land use from some of the best data sources available, including re-mote sensing maps.

The critical concept of the Illinois study was that only marginal land would be considered for biofuel crops. Marginal land refers to land with low inherent pro-ductivity, that has been abandoned or degraded, or is of low quality for agricul-tural uses. In focusing on marginal land,

At left: Associate Profes-sor Ximing Cai, left, and graduate student Xiao Zhang performed a global analysis of mar-ginal land that could produce biofuel crops. Photo: L. Brian StaufferAbove: Miscanthus. Pho-to: istockphoto.com

the researchers rule out current crop land, pasture land, and forests. They also assume that any biofuel crops would be watered by rainfall and not irrigation, so no water would have to be diverted from agricultural land.

Using fuzzy logic modeling, a tech-nique to address uncertainty and ambi-guity in analysis, the researchers consid-ered multiple scenarios for land availabil-ity. First, they considered only idle land and vegetation land with marginal pro-ductivity; for the second scenario, they added degraded or low-quality cropland. For the second scenario, they estimated 702 million hectares of land available for second-generation biofuel crops, such as switchgrass or miscanthus.

The researchers then expanded their sights to marginal grassland. A class of biofuel crops called low-impact high-diversity (LIHD) perennial grasses could produce bioenergy while maintaining grassland. While they have a lower etha-nol yield than grasses such as miscanthus or switchgrass, LIHD grasses have mini-mal environmental impact and are similar to grassland’s natural land cover.

Adding LIHD crops grown on mar-ginal grassland to the marginal cropland estimate from earlier scenarios nearly doubled the estimated land area to 1,107

million hectares globally, even after sub-tracting possible pasture land. This area would produce 26 to 56 percent of the world’s current liquid fuel consumption.

Next, the team plans to study the pos-sible effect of climate change on land use and availability.

“Based on the historical data, we now have an estimation for current land use, but climate may change in the near future as a result of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which will have effect on the land availability,” said graduate student Xiao Zhang, a co-author of the paper. For-mer postdoctoral fellow Dingbao Wang (MS 05, PhD 09), now at the University of Central Florida, also co-wrote the paper.

“We hope this will provide a physical basis for future research,” Cai said. “For example, agricultural economists could use the dataset to do some research with the impact of institutions, community ac-ceptance and so on, or some impact on the market. We want to provide a start so others can use our research data.”

The Energy Biosciences Institute at U. of I and the National Science Foundation supported the study.

The paper, “Land Availabil-ity for Biofuel Production,” is avail-able online at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es103338e. i

Study estimates land available for biofuel crops


Department News


CEE at Illinois announces the new offering of the master of science

degree program online, beginning in fall 2011.

“The program allows students who can’t come to campus to have the same high-quality educational experience as resident students,” says Professor Wil-liam G. Buttlar, Director of Online Pro-grams.

Online students will view the same lectures as on-campus students, de-livered by the same CEE at Illinois pro-fessors, but they will access them on-line. Lectures will be available within 24 hours after they are delivered on campus. Homework and projects will be submitted electronically, and stu-dents must take ex-ams with a proctor. Course information will be available on the course website, and students will be able to contact their professors via email or phone. Some courses will also allow students to connect through chat rooms, online office hours, Skype meetings, and group projects and pre-sentations. The degree requirements are the same as for the on-campus non-thesis M.S. program—36 hours of course work—and the degree awarded to online students is the same degree awarded to resident students. Online students have five years to complete the program.

The M.S. degree in Civil Engineer-ing offered online is currently avail-able for specialization in Construction Management and Transportation En-gineering. Students can also develop

MS degree, classes now offered online

cross-disciplinary programs in con-sultation with their advisers. Courses are available online in the following areas of concentration to complement

the student’s area of specialty: Con-struction Materials, Environmental En-gineering and Sci-ence, Environmental

Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Information Technology and Structural Engineer-ing. Among classes being offered this fall is a course in high-speed rail, taught by professors Christopher Barkan, di-rector of Illinois’ railroad engineering program, RailTEC, and T.C. Kao, Direc-tor of the Railway Technology Research Center in the Civil Engineering Depart-ment at National Taiwan University.

Students may try online classes before applying to a degree program, Buttlar says. Courses count for profes-sional development hours and may be combined for a certificate.

For more information, visit cee.illi-nois.edu/ceeonline. i


Michael Alvarez, a CEE senior, won the Engineering Council Outstanding Student Contribu-tion Scholarship. Alvarez was an active member of the Engineering Employment EXPO Committee of Engineering Council. He also participated in Engineering Open House, NAESC Conference Com-mittee, Engineering Information

Bureau, and Illinois Leadership Programs. He was an instruc-tor for the Engineering 100 program. He was named a 2011 Knight of St. Patrick, one of the highest honors given by the College of Engineering.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter has received the Most Improved Society of the Year award from the Engineering Council Executive Board and Awards Selection Committee for the 2010-2011 academic year. This award goes to a society that has gone out of its way not only to excel, but also to improve upon past performances. Over the past year, ASCE has vastly improved the society by increasing both its activities and its membership.

CEE Ph.D. student John D. Atkinson (MS 09) was selected as a Mavis Future Faculty Fellow. This program in the College of Engineering is to facilitate the training of the next genera-tion of great engineering professors to become proficient in research, teaching and mentoring.

Three CEE faculty members were named 2011 Engineering Council Outstanding Advisers: Instructor J. Riley Edwards (MS 06), Associate Professor Liang Liu and Research Assis-tant Professor Arthur Schmidt (BS 83, MS 84, PhD 02).

CEE graduate student Laura Fierce received an Outstanding Student Paper award from the American Geophysical Union for her presentation at the 2010 fall meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Fierce’s presentation was titled, “Exploring the sensitiv-ity of black carbon aging time scales with particle-resolved aerosol model simulation.” Her advisers are CEE Associate Professor Tami Bond and Assistant Professor Nicole Riemer from Atmospheric Sciences.

CEE graduate student Ciaran Harman has won the Ross J. Martin Award from the College of Engineering. The award is given in recognition of outstanding research achievement. Harman’s research combines field work and investigative modeling to understand how climatic variability interacts

Among classes being offered this fall is a course in high-speed rail

Alvarez


Department News

Bassem Andrawes, assistant professor

of structures, has won a National Science Foun-dation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Develop-ment (CAREER) Award. Andrawes will receive $400,000 over the next five years to develop and study a new tech-nology that uses smart materials to reinforce lifeline concrete structures with the aim of mitigating damage from strong earthquakes.

“The seismic design philosophy which is accepted all over the world is based on protecting the structures from experiencing sudden collapse during earthquakes by designing

Shape-memory alloys in seismic design focus of research

Bassem Andrawes

them to behave in a duc-tile manner,” Andrawes says. “But this ductility is often linked with signifi-cant and permanent dam-age to critical structural components, which jeop-ardizes the safety of the structure and reduces its ability to withstand strong seismic aftershocks.”

Andrawes will study the use of an innovative type of trans-verse reinforcement made of Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs)—materials that “remember” their original shape and re-turn to it after deformation—to apply active confinement at the most critical lo-cations in the structure. He will utilize the shape-memory feature of these smart

materials to mitigate the level of dam-age in the structure while still main-taining the desired level of ductility and energy dissipation. He will study the new technology under earthquake scenarios that depict a strong seismic main shock followed by smaller after-shocks—a critical, yet overlooked, per-spective, he says.

“In many cases, aftershocks cause more damage to the structure than the first shock.” Andrawes says.

CAREER awards are the NSF’s most prestigious form of support and recog-nition for junior faculty who “exempli-fy the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent educa-tion and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.” i

A student team advised by CEE Pro-fessor Charlie Werth has won a

$75,000 grant from the Environmen-tal Protection Agency (EPA) to take their design for a sustainable water filtration system to the next level. The award was given at the National Sustainable Design Expo, April 16-17 in Washington, D.C., part of the EPA’s 2011 Earth Day celebration, in the People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) award competition.

The team is working on the “Oglala Lakota Water Project,” for which it is designing a water filtration device that uses bone char as a filtration material to remove arsenic and uranium from groundwater at the Pine Ridge Reser-

Students win $75,000 EPA grant for South Dakota water project

Team members Jacob Becraft and Emily Van Dam at the National Sustainable Design Expo.

vation in South Dakota. Illinois students first began

working on the project in the summer of 2009, when Oglala Lakota College, with whom the students are collaborat-ing, requested assistance from the University of Illinois-based WaterCAMPWS, the Center of Advanced Materials for the Pu-rification of Water with Systems. Two trips to the reservation that year confirmed the pres-ence of arsenic and uranium in the drinking water. The group designed a preliminary point-of-use filter device for use under the kitchen sink, he said. In the next year, they will standardize a filter

design for implementation at the res-ervation in a sustainable and environ-mentally friendly manner. iFull story at http://cee.illinois.edu/p3_2011.


Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Winter 2011 PB


with the spatial structure of land-scapes, and how these interactions shape the landscape over time. As a synthesis of concepts and theories drawn from ecology, geo-morphology, pedology, climatology and hydrology, his work has been recognized as highly original and transformative.

Professor Praveen Kumar will be appointed as an Associ-ate of the Center for Advanced Studies during the academic year 2011-2012. The appointment will allow him to further advance his research agenda on the broad theme of Hydro-complexity. He will advance theory, inference system and simulation tools for identifying, modeling and predicting how climate and human-induced changes in the hydrologic cycle impact the network of interaction of ecologic and hydro-logic processes. He will explore how and when these changes impart dramatic changes (tipping points) in related systems by crossing resilience thresholds. Kumar was also named the Colonel Harry F. and Frankie M. Lovell Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Professor David Lange has been given the Stanley H. Pierce Award from the College of Engineering. The award is given in recognition of his efforts to develop empathetic student-fac-ulty cooperation. Lange was cited for advancing the structure and quality of the undergradu-ate programs in CEE to enhance recruiting and retention of out-standing students. He has applied a strong focus to underrepre-sented groups within engineering. He has built strong connections with leading recruitment firms, improving career opportunities for new graduates, and has headed several initiatives to benefit stu-dents, including creating a new staff position for undergraduate advising, securing funding to create an Internet-enabled student lounge in Newmark Lab, and leading plans for classrooms and amenities in the new Yeh Student Center.

Jon Liebman, Professor Emeritus, was honored by the Art Al-liance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) for his years of service to the AACG as a board and advisory board member, past presi-dent (1999-2001) and first and only webmaster.

CEE graduate student Sheng-Lin Lin was awarded the Best Presentation Award at the 8th International Conference on


Former governor Edgar speaks to CEE audience

Former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar spoke to an audience of CEE students, faculty and staff on April 14 at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. The talk, “A Chat with Gov-ernor Jim Edgar,” was presented by the department as its annual Ethics Seminar for faculty and students. In this photo, Edgar (third from left) chats with CEE professors (left to right) Dan Abrams, David Lange, Arif Masud, Marshall Thompson, Barbara Minsker and Tim Stark.

Harman

Lange

Hashash part of Japan quake team

As part of an engineering recon-naissance mission to Japan April

9-15, Professor Youssef Hashash got a first-hand view of the aftermath of the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated the country in March.

The purpose of the trip was to gather data about the response of the country’s infrastructure, said Hashash, the John Burkitt Webb Endowed Fac-ulty Scholar. Experts in structural en-gineering, geotechnical engineering, and tsunamis made up the team. Ha-shash’s specific focus was examining the performance of the country’s geo-technical structures.

The Magnitude-9.0 undersea earthquake, one of the five strongest recorded, struck off the shore of Japan on March 11 and triggered a tsunami.

“The magnitude of the tsunami was like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” Hashash said.

The full story and a link to the pre-liminary report are online at: cee.illinois.edu/ hashash_japan_2011.

Above, Hashash examines liquefaction-induced lateral spreading near Shin-Urayasu, Tokyo. Below, a tsunami-dam-aged city block in Kesennuma.


Department News

Urban Earthquake Engineering, held March 7-8 in Tokyo. His paper, “An Integrated Earthquake Impact Assessment Sys-tem,” was co-authored with professors Amr S. Elnashai and Billie F. Spencer Jr.

Professor Liang Liu received the University’s Undergraduate Advising Award at the Celebration of Teaching Excellence April 26 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center.

CEE graduate student Matthew Porter received the first place Esmilla Writing Award, awarded by the Environmental faculty, for his research proposal, “Biodegradation of meth-ylmercury at wetland sites through conjugation of native bacteria with a broad-spectrum methylmercury resistance plasmid.”



New primary, secondaries mean more multi-disciplinary optionsby dAn mAlSom

Undergraduate students in CEE now have a new primary area of

study and three new secondary con-centrations to choose from, thanks to a recent change in the curriculum. The new courses of study are part of an on-going process to revise the curriculum to ensure that students receive a multi-disciplinary education.

The primary concentration in Sus-tainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems and secondary concentrations in Sustainability, in CEE Multidisci-plinary, and in Global Context will ac-company the seven primary areas and seven secondary areas already avail-able to students.

The department has approved cus-tom secondary areas in the past simi-lar to the new options, says Liang Liu, CEE associate head and director of un-dergraduate studies. The new areas of study add already-designed secondary areas to those previous custom degree requests and make them more easily attainable for any interested CEE stu-dents.

“These new additions to the CEE curriculum carry the innovative spirit and progressive attitude of faculty, stu-dents, and administrators in preparing our undergraduates to become lead-ers in the future,” Liu said.

The new areas of study allow stu-dents to take advanced classes out-side CEE as part of the area’s advanced technical course requirements with-out having to request approval, a de-partmental first. Classes offered in the schools of Architecture, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Econom-

ics, and Atmospheric Science comprise part of the new curricula.

The new areas of study reflect the future of engineering and how the engineering profession has changed, said Professor and head Amr Elnashai.

“In today’s world, societal prob-lems are not solved by structural engi-neers, nor by environmental engineers either. It takes a systems approach by a whole group of engineers,” he said.

The new areas of study draw large-ly upon classes already present in the CEE curriculum, but with two new classes that will begin in 2012: Engi-neering for the Global Environment, and Sustainable and Resilient Infra-structure Systems.

Professor Barbara Minsker played a key role in leading discussions that made the new programs a reality. Min-sker headed a committee tasked with creating the new curriculum and met with industry leaders to make sure the new curriculum met both student and workplace needs, all while ensuring the satisfaction of accreditation re-quirements.

These new areas of study serve as a reflection of how the CEE department wishes to adapt in the coming years, El-nashai says. While Illinois CEE students have advanced core competency and engineering problem-solving skills, he says, they need to understand better how to integrate what they know from a systems perspective. The new sys-tems primary, specifically, “is intended to be the focus of how we want to train our students in the future.” i

Full story at cee.illinois.edu/multidisciplinary

Students representing the University of Il-linois took third place in the international Earthquake Engineering Research Insti-tute Undergraduate Design Competition in San Diego, Calif., Feb. 9-12. The com-petition challenged students to design a multi-story commercial office building and predict its seismic load resistance capacity. Scale models made from balsa wood were fitted with weights and tested against three seismic events. Above, some of the team (l to r): Jeanine Genchanok, Michael Morun, Quinton Champer, Jon LaScala, and Daniel Biernat. Videos of the models’ performance under loading can be seen on the department’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/ceeatillinois.

Shaking the competition


New catalyst-making process holds promise by liz AhlbErg

University of Illinois researchers have demonstrated a simpler

method of adding iron to tiny carbon spheres to create catalytic materials that have the potential to remove con-taminants from gas or liquid.

Professor Mark Rood, CEE graduate student John Atkinson (MS 09), and their team described their technique in the journal Carbon.

Carbon structures can be a support base for catalysts, such as iron and other metals. Iron is a readily available, low-cost catalyst with possible catalyt-ic applications for fuel cells and envi-ronmental applications for adsorbing harmful chemicals, such as arsenic or carbon monoxide. Researchers pro-duce a carbon matrix that has many pores or tunnels, like a sponge. The large surface area created by the pores provides sites to disperse tiny iron par-ticles throughout the matrix.

A common source of carbon is coal.

Professor Mark Rood and CEE graduate student John Atkinson.

Typically, scientists modify coal-based materials into highly porous activated carbon and then add a catalyst. The multi-step process takes time and enormous amounts of energy. In addition, materials made with coal are plagued by ash, which can contain traces of other metals that in-terfere with the reactivity of the carbon-based catalyst.

The Illinois team’s ash-free, inexpen-sive process takes its carbon from sugar rather than coal. In one continuous pro-cess, it produces tiny, micrometer-sized spheres of porous, spongy carbon em-bedded with iron nanoparticles—all in the span of a few seconds.

Rood and Atkinson have received grants from the National Science Founda-

tion (NSF) to develop the carbon-iron spheres to remove nitric oxide, mer-cury, and dioxin from gas streams—bioaccumulating pollutants that have caused concern as emissions from combustion sources.

The Electric Power Research Insti-tute, the NSF, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Air and Waste Manage-ment Association, and the U of I sup-ported this work. Co-authors includ-ed U of I Chemistry Professor Kenneth Suslick, graduate student Maria Fortu-nato, and researchers from the Illinois State Geological Survey. i

Full story online at cee.illinois.edu/rood_catalysts.

A number of new agreements be-tween CEE at Illinois and overseas

universities will increase the depart-ment’s global engagement, facilitating student exchange and collaborations in research and education.

Agreements have been signed in the past year with Dalian University of Technology, Tongji University, Tsing-hua University, the University of Hong Kong and Zhejiang University in China; Abu Dhabi University in the United Arab Emirates; and Istanbul Technical University in Turkey.

The new “3 + 2” programs will al-

low international students to spend their senior years at Illinois, obtain bachelor of science degrees from their home institutions, and con-tinue their education to earn master of science degrees from CEE at Illinois.

Professor Erol Tutumluer has been named the de-partment’s first Director of International Programs, responsible for directing the expansion of the department’s global activities. He will deal with all aspects of international engagement, including ed-

International programs increase global engagement, collaborationucation, research and societal service.

The objectives of forging strong inter-national ties include attracting the world’s brightest students to graduate school at Il-linois and promoting institution-to-institu-

tion collaborations that foster faculty and student exchange and global en-gagement in teaching and research.

For more information, visit cee.il-linois.edu/international. i

L. B

rian

Stau

ffer

Erol Tutumluer


Department NewsContinued from page 28

Professor Timothy D. Stark and CEE alumnus Manzoor Hussain (MS 07, PhD 10) have received the Richard S. Ladd Standards Development Award from ASTM International’s Committee D18 on Soil and Rock. Stark and Hussain were recognized for their work in preparing ASTM Standard Desig-nation D7608 “Standard Test Method for Torsional Ring Shear Test to Determine Drained Fully Softened Shear Strength and Nonlinear Strength Envelope of Cohesive Soils (Using Nor-mally Consolidated Specimen) for Slopes with No Preexisting Shear Surfaces.”

Associate Professor Timothy J. Strathmann is serving as a visiting professor in the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is working together with his host, Professor Tamar Kohn, on a project ex-amining the processes that control the fate and persistence of pharmaceutical contaminants and their metabolites released in wastewater effluent into Lake Geneva (Lac Léman). As part of this project, they are working with a larger team of EPFL researchers to deploy Russian Mir submersible submarines to characterize the 3-dimensional distribution and degradation of contaminants moving throughout the lake, which is also used as a source of drinking water for local communities.

Professor Albert J. Valocchi has been named an Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering. The Bliss Professorships are the re-sult of a bequest from the late Helen Eva Bliss in memory of her father, Abel Bliss Jr.

A paper by Professor Charles J. Werth “Pore-Scale Study of Transverse Mixing Induced CaCO3 Precipitation and Per-meability Reduction in a Model Subsurface Sedimentary System” was selected for an Editor’s Choice Award as one of Environmental Science and Technologies Best Papers of 2010, 2nd runner up in the category of Technology. The paper was co-authored with former student Changyong Zhang (MS 01, PhD 06), CEE Professor Albert Valocchi, Professor Bruce Fouke (Geology), and several collaborators from the Depart-ment of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Professor Charles J. Werth was selected as a Wiley Research Fellow by the Department of Energy’s William R. Wiley En-vironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) in rec-ognition of his strong contributions to the user facility. The program recognizes scientists who make significant contri-butions to EMSL outside of their individual research efforts. Fellows are scientists who actively participate in developing plans and strategies to guide EMSL’s instrument and capabil-ity investments, science themes and user activities.

Hundreds of CEE students turned out Feb. 25 for the annual spring job fair to meet with recruiters from more than 60 companies. The event has been so popular over the years with students and companies alike that the department has planned a second annual event for the fall.

This year’s Fall Job Fair will be held on Thursday, September 29. For more information, visit https://my.cee.illinois.edu/jobfair.

CEE Job Fair Successful; Fall Fair Planned

SponsorsThe department extends a special thanks to the following company spon-sors of the 2011 Spring Job Fair:

Silver LevelBrown and CaldwellCiviltech Engineering Inc.The Walsh GroupWiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc.

Bronze LevelBowman, Barrett & AssociatesShannon and Wilson Inc.


Students “knighted” in engineering honor traditionFour CEE students were named 2011

Knights of St. Patrick. The honorary organization for engineering students inducts a select group of students each year who represent leadership, and excellence of character, and who have made an exceptional contribu-tion to the College of Engineering and its students. This year’s knights are Michael Alvarez, Jose Garcia, Kimberly Parker, and Christopher Walton.

The Knights of St. Patrick got its start at the University of Missouri-Rol-la more than 100 years ago when the legend of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland captured the imagina-tions of some book-weary engineer-ing students on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day in 1903. The students reasoned that such a feat could have been ac-complished only by an engineer and declared that if St. Patrick was in fact a fellow engineer, they deserved a break on his feast day. They celebrated by cutting classes. Over the years, the tradition of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on engineering campuses grew and evolved into what is known today as one of the highest honors an engi-neering student can receive.

In a nod to the anti-authority ori-gins of the group, new knights play pranks on the administration. Among

other things, this year’s knights pranked the administrative offices in Engineering Hall in a nighttime operation that includ-ed freezing all the staplers into a bowl of ice. They also built a castle in the build-ing’s main hallway.

In total, there are 11 new knights this year from throughout the College of En-gineering.

Michael Alvarez (BS 11) was a CEE se-nior with a primary concentration in Geo-technical Engineering and a secondary that he customized to satisfy his interest in industrial engineering. While at Illinois,

Alvarez has been active with Engineer-ing Council, Engineering Employment EXPO, Engineering Open House, En-gineering 100 Program, the National Association of Engineering Student Councils, and the Engineering Infor-mation Bureau.

Jose Garcia (BS 11) was a CEE senior with a primary concentration in Envi-ronmental Engineering and a second-ary in Environmental Hydrology. He was heavily involved in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and currently serves as president. His ac-tivities included high school outreach, community service in the Hispanic community, mentoring underclass-men, and working with committees. He has been involved with Engineer-ing Council, serving on the Student Introduction to Engineering and Com-munity Service committees.

Kimberly Parker (BS 11) was a CEE senior with a primary in Environmen-tal Engineering, a secondary in Envi-ronmental Hydrology, and a minor in chemistry. As an undergraduate, she did research with Professor Timothy Strathmann under the WaterCAMPWS, the Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems. Parker led the Engineers Without Bor-ders Guatemala Water Project, ad-vised by Professor Helen Nguyen, and helped found the Oglala Lakota Water Project in Pine Ridge, SD, which is ad-vised by Professor Charles Werth.

Christopher Walton (BS 11) was a CEE senior concentrating in Envi-ronmental Engineering with a sec-ondary in Environmental Hydrol-ogy. He is involved with the Engi-neering Council, the Engineering Open House Central Committee, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and Alternative Spring Break. i

The four new Knights of St. Patrick from CEE pose with a castle they built with other new members in Engineering Hall as part of their initiation. Left to right: Michael Alvarez, Jose Garcia, Christopher Walton, and Kimberly Parker.

Assistant Dean Michael C. Hirschi, left, aka St. Patrick, poses with CEE senior Chris Walton. Hirs-chi formally knighted the honored students at a ball in March. For some knights, he used a non-traditional object for knighting—in Walton’s case, a lightsaber.


2011 CEE Student AwardsA. Epstein Award in Civil Engineering Kimberly Parker

Alvord, Burdick & Howson Award Alex M. Beugelsdijk

Anna Lee and James T.P. Yao Scholarship Andrew A. Smiles

ASCE Outstanding Instructor Award Robert H. Dodds Jr.

ASCE Outstanding Student Award Christopher R. Walton

Bates and Rogers Scholarship Ronald M. HalickeGilberto Chaidez

Bechtel Engineering Diversity Program ScholarshipUgwem EneyoMaria Warnock

Bob Zieba Memorial Scholarship Samantha Bryant

Bowman, Barrett & Associates Outstanding Scholar AwardSteven U. Gresk

Caterpillar Foundation Engineering Merit ScholarshipCarrie Desmond

Caterpillar Scholars Scholarship Kevin Wolz John P. Gage

Central Illinois Section American Society of Civil EngineersChris Walton

CH2M Hill Transportation Endowed Scholarship Christine M. Rhoades

Chicago Outer Belt Contractors Association ScholarshipKathryn M. Born Carrie D. Desmond

Chester P. Siess Award Young Joo Lee Joshua S. Steelman

Civil Engineering Class of 1943 Undergraduate Leadership AwardTimothy W. Veldman

Clement C. Lee Outstanding Scholar AwardElizabeth A. Rehwoldt

Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Award Elizabeth M. Tewolde

CRSI Education and Research Foundation ScholarshipRaphael Stern

Delores Wade Huber Scholarship Denglin Wu Sheng Tao Huang

DFI Educational Trust Berkel & Company Contractors Inc. ScholarshipDeborah J. GaskinsStephanie M. Tong Maria C. Warnock

Doris I. and James L. Willmer Endowed Scholarship in Civil and Environmental EngineeringMegan E. Wallace

Earle J. Wheeler Scholarship Jonathan Chiu Vincent J. Kania

Eli W. Cohen – Thornton Tomasetti Foundation ScholarshipDavid M. Nauheimer

Ernest L. Doctor Memorial Award (IAPA) Salman Hakimzadeh

George L. Farnsworth Jr. Scholarship Andrew V. Rehn

Glenn E. and Helen L. Stout Water Resources Research AwardNam Jeong ChoiEsther Eke

Thierno I. Kane, left, received the Klein & Hoffman Inc. Scholarship from company representative Mark Calvino (BS 83, MS 84).

Joseph P. Zeller, left, received the Law-rence J. Fritz Undergraduate Scholar-ship from presenter Laura Schmitt, Champaign.

Jason D. Fifarek, left, received the Wal-ter E. Hanson Graduate Study Award from presenter Daniel J. Whalen (BS 84, MS 85) of Hanson Professional Services Inc.

Vyoma Patel, right, of the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), pre-sented the ASCE Outstanding Instructor Award to Professor Robert H. Dodds Jr. (BS 73, MS 75, PhD 78).


Golf Course Builders Association of America Foundation ScholarshipAndrzej R. Tatkowski

Grant W. Shaw Memorial Scholarship Saranya R. Konala Ryan R. Smith

Harold R. Sandberg Scholarship Vincent J. Kania

Harry R. Hanley Memorial Scholarship (IAPA) Shohei Kurokawa

Henry T. Heald Award Lauren D. Valentino

Illinois Association of County Engineers Award Joseph K. Riddle Oana A. Toma Emily J. Van Dam Mary K. Ward

Industry Advancement Foundation of Central Ilinois Builders of the AGC ScholarshipDaniel P. McCarthy

Ira O. Baker Prize - First Prize Kimberly Parker

Ira O. Baker Prize - Second Prize Chuan Li

Ira O. Baker Memorial Scholarships Andrew R. Bishop Rajarshi N. Bhakta

Klein and Hoffman Inc. Scholarship Thierno I. Kane

Koch Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering Ted R. Bluver

Lawrence J. Fritz Undergraduate Scholarship Joseph P. Zeller

Leigh F. J. Zerbee Scholarship Civil Engineering Hong R. KimErich W. MaxheimerPatrick Zacher

Loreta and Silvio Corsetti Memorial ScholarshipKaitlyn L. Fleming

Maude E. Eide Memorial ScholarshipJeanine GenchanokZachary D. Sasnow

Max Whitman APWA Memorial ScholarshipLaura L. DeHaan

Melih T. Dural Undergraduate Research PrizeYunfei Yang

Moreland Herrin ScholarshipAlexander NgJames E. Pforr

Norman Carlson ScholarshipSamuel L. Sogin

PPG Engineering Diversity Program ScholarshipJustine Brennan

RJN Foundation Civil Engineering ScholarshipMegan E. Wallace

Samuel C. Roberts Award in Civil EngineeringJohn P. Sarsfield

Walker Parking Consultants Undergraduate ScholarshipAmna Mahmud

Walter and Carole A. Crowley ScholarshipLauren D. Valentino

Walter E. Hanson Graduate Study AwardJason D. Fifarek

Wayne C. Teng ScholarshipJustine A. BrennanIlan L. CohnBethany L. MyelleThomas J. Thoren

William C. Ackermann Sr. Civil Engineering ScholarshipJenna M. DiestelmeierDouglas M. HouserKevin Law

William E. O’Neil AwardMoatassem Abdallah

William John MacKay AwardRichael K. YoungOana A. Toma

Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai, right, presented the Ira O. Baker Prize, second

place, to Chuan Li. Kimberly Parker, winner of the first place Ira O. Baker Prize, was not

able to attend the awards ceremony.

Alex M. Beugelsdijk, right, received the Alvord, Burdick & Howson Scholarship from

company representative Donald Eckmann (BS 56).

Above: Megan E. Wallace, left, received the Doris I. and James L. Willmer Endowed Scholarship in Civil and En-vironmental Engineering from Lauren Stromberg (BS 08, MS 10), the 2006 recipient of the award. Below: Christine M. Rhoades, right, accepted the CH2M Hill Transportation Endowed Scholar-ship from company representative Joshua Cantone (MS 07, PhD 10).

Alumni News


2010sManish Kumar (MS 00, PhD 10) received a first place Aca-demic Achievement Award for 2011 from the American Water Works Association in recognition of the contributions of his doctoral dissertation to the water supply industry. His thesis was titled “Biomimetic Membranes as New Materials for Ap-plications in Environmental Engineering and Biology.” Kumar will be starting as an assistant professor at the Pennsylvania State University in the fall.

Tze Ling Ng (MS 03, PhD 10), a Postdoctoral Research Asso-ciate in the department, is the 2010 Engelbrecht Fellowship recipient. Ng recently accepted a faculty position at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her research fo-cuses on the use of mathematical modeling and optimization tools, integrated with economics, for environmental planning and management.

Matt Sugihara (BS 08, MS 10) is an environmental engineer for Exxon-Mobil. He received the second place Esmilla Writ-ing Award, awarded by the Environmental faculty, for his re-search proposal, “Enhancing biodegradability of pharmaceu-tically active compounds by advanced chemical treatment.”

2000sEdward W. East (MS 91, PhD 05) received the 2010 Institute Member Award from the National Institute of Building Sci-ences. A senior project manager at the Construction Engi-neering Research Laboratory in Champaign, East was cited for his strong advocacy for research in design and construction management, development of national and international building information modeling exchange, and integration of these advanced tools for use by the design and construction industry and facility owners.

Robert Holmes Jr. (PhD 03) has been named Southeastern Illinois College’s 2011 Distinguished Alumnus. Holmes is the National Flood Specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Rolla, Mo., and serves as an adjunct professor of civil engineer-ing in the department. In his current position, Holmes serves as the lead flood scientist for USGS flood, operational and scientific endeavors nationwide. He is a technical expert and consul-tant in complex flood investigations and studies

nationwide, and also advises the USGS Associate Directors for Water and Hazards.

Lanhua Hu (MS 06), a current CEE PhD student, was awarded the 2010-2011 Engelbrecht Fellowship by the Environmental Engineering and Science faculty. The award is given annually to a student near graduation who shows outstanding prom-

ise for success in environmental engineering. Hu’s research focuses on developing advanced oxidation technologies for the treatment of emerging chemical contaminants and viral pathogens.

Matthew J. Moffitt (BS 06), P.E., has earned his professional engineering license in Illinois. Moffitt is a civil engineer with Foth Infrastructure & Environment, Champaign, with exper-tise in transportation and storm water design and construc-tion for municipal and state agencies.

Chad M. Osterbur (BS 00) has been licensed as a professional land surveyor in Illinois. He is employed by MSA Professional Services, a civil engineering consulting firm in Champaign.

Christopher J. Stritzel (BS 01), Senior Engineer with Craw-ford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. consulting engineers, has recently been named 2010 Young Engineer of the Year by the Capital Chapter of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers.

Scott A. Winter (MS 06) joined Winter Construction of Free-port, Ill., as Vice President of Design/Build Services. Winter is a licensed architect and the President and Principal Architect for Winter Design Inc., an architectural planning and design firm and wholly owned subsidiary of Winter Construction.

1990sJason M. Bretz (BS 95), P.E., has joined Tarlton Corp., a St. Louis-based general contracting/construction management firm, as project executive for federal government work.

Francis K. Humay (BS 92) is a structural engineer living in Oahu, Hawaii.

Bryan P. Loewen (BS 94) has joined Newmark Knight Frank in Dallas, Texas, as Senior Managing Director of its Global Cor-porate Services group.

Rick Manner (MS 92) is executive director of the Urbana and Champaign Sanitary District. Manner was formerly the as-sistant general manager of the Fox River Water Reclamation District in Elgin, Ill.

Richard K. Murphy (MS 90), a Captain in the U.S. Coast Guard, recently assumed command of the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Md. He is the 40th commanding officer in the 111-year history of the shipyard, the Coast Guard’s only ship-building and ship repair facility.

John M. Peisker (BS 84, MS 94) has been elected first vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Illinois.

1980sTerry Barnett, (BS 79, MS 81) P.E., S.E., recently celebrated 30 years of service at Hanson Professional Services Inc. He serves as a senior structural engineer for Hanson’s govern-ment market.

James R. Harris (MS 75, PhD 80), principal of J.R. Harris & Co., Structural Engineers, Denver, Colo., was elected to the Ameri-can Concrete Institure Board of Direction.

Cynthia K. Tuck (BS 82, MS 84), P.E., joined the Association of California Water Agencies as its state legislative director. Tuck has served as undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency since 2007. Continued on page 36.

Professor Emeritus William J. Hall (MS 51, PhD 54), left, with CEE alumnus William F. Baker (MS 80), Partner-in-Charge at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Chicago. Baker won a College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service “for his leadership in the develop-ment of innovative structural systems for high-rise build-ings, both nationally and internationally, including the world’s tallest building.”

Baker wins College of Engineering alumni award


Khachaturian joins CEE as adjunct professor

Jon Khachaturian joins CEE as a visiting adjunct professor

What do you do when a tunnel that provides half the water supply to

New York City is leaking? How do you increase sustainability in a concrete jungle with 8.2 million people?

CEE alumna Kathryn Mallon, P.E., (BS 88) answered these questions and more during her keynote address,

“Really Cool Engineering Challenges Working for the Largest City in the U.S.,” delivered April 1 at the Envi-ronmental Engineering and Science Spring Symposium.

Mallon works for the New York City Department of Environmental Protec-tion (DEP) in the Bureau of Engineer-

Alumna speaks on New York City’s cool engineering challengesing Design and Construction. As Deputy Commissioner of the agency’s capital delivery program, she manages more than 400 staff focused on the design and construction of $10 billion in water and wastewater capital work. She joined the DEP in 2008, a move that has afforded her “the opportunity to be involved in sev-eral lifetimes worth of ‘once-in-a-lifetime projects’,” she said.

Among the projects Mallon discussed was New York City’s Green Infrastructure Plan. The city is piloting the use of sus-tainable technologies to slow storm wa-ter runoff after heavy rainfall and reduce combined sewer overflow—a unique challenge in a city so heavily built and paved that it is 75 percent impervious. Pilot projects include porous pavements, planting areas in right-of-ways, green roofs and blue roofs, which feature grav-el-filled, perforated trays, which capture and slowly release rain water.

Mallon also discussed the planned re-pair of a leak in the Rondout-West Branch Tunnel, which brings water to the city from the Delaware Watershed upstate. It currently provides half of the water used in New York City. Near the town of Roseton on the Hudson River, the tunnel is leak-ing at a rate of 15-35 million gallons a day. Mallon detailed the process of diagnos-

ing the leak, which included the use of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, a self-propelled and navigated torpedo, to pinpoint the leakage areas. She dis-cussed the agency’s process of evaluat-ing solutions to the problem, weighing risks, benefits and cost, and arriving at the decision to construct a bypass tunnel. Completing the repair will re-quire a 6- to 15-month interruption in service during which the agency must secure alternative water supplies. i

Full story at cee.illinois.edu/mallon_ees

Green infrastructure in NYC (clockwise from top left) streetside bioswale, blue roof, po-rous pavement, and green roof.

Kathryn Mallon, left, with Professor Charles Werth, chair of the Environmental Engineer-ing and Science program.

Dep

artm

ent o

f Env

ironm

enta

l Pro

tect

ion

Jon E. Khachaturian (BS 78) has joined CEE as a visiting adjunct pro-

fessor. As the CEO of Versabar Inc. of Houston, Texas, he directs a group of six companies with more than 650 employees engaged in heavy lift engi-neering and field operations both on-shore and offshore.

Khachaturian holds more than 50 patents and has been a leader in heavy lift technology in the Gulf of Mexico for more than 30 years. In 2010, Kha-chaturian was named to the National Academy of Engineering “for develop-

ing innovative, safe, reusable, and eco-nomical heavy lifting systems to advance the international marine industry.” His honors have included numerous awards for technical innovation. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the depart-ment in 2006.

“Our family has been affiliated with the civil engineering department starting in 1945 with my Dad, Professor Narbey Khachaturian; myself from 1973-1977; and finally my son Matthew, who graduated in 2007,” he said. “I am excited to contin-ue this affiliation with my recent appoint-

ment as an adjunct professor.”

K h a c h a t u r i a n would like to offer several engineer-ing seminars each year to faculty and students to discuss engineering applications in the heavy lift industry and provide industry per-spective that complements the course curriculum, he said.

“Of course, if the timing of these seminars coincides with an Illini home game, then so much the better!” i

Alumni News


Two CEE alumni were among 68 new members elected to the Na-

tional Academy of Engineering for 2011. They are William F. Baker Jr. (MS 80), partner-in-charge at Skid-more, Owings & Merrill LLP, Chica-go, and Armen Der Kiureghian (PhD 76), Taisei Chair of Civil Engineering, University of Cali-

fornia, Berkeley.Baker was cited, “For leadership in

the development of innovative struc-tures for high-rise buildings world-wide.”

Baker is known for structural in-novation, most notably in the design of tall buildings. He developed the “buttressed core” structural system for the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest manmade structure. In conjunction with sophisticated wind engineering,

1970sChristine F. Andersen (BS 73), P.E., director of public works for the City of Santa Barbara, was recently elected an at-large director of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Thomas E. Havenar (BS 79), P.E., S.E., recently celebrated 30 years of service at Hanson Professional Services Inc. He is a senior structural engineer in Hanson’s infrastructure market.

Herbert R. Hribar (MS 77) was appointed Chief Executive Officer of CENX Inc., operator of the world’s first and most con-nected Carrier Ethernet exchanges with more than 15 million Ethernet Service Locations.

Larry Jaworski (BS 72, MS 73), P.E., current president of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association, recently earned the status of Board Certified Environmental Engineer from the American Academy of Environmental En-gineers.

Mark H. Kroenig (BS 73, MS 74), P.E., has joined the Risk As-sessment and Management (RAM) Group of Gannett Fleming as a principal consulting engineer. The RAM Group provides environmental consulting services and specializes in cost-effective management of contaminated sites.

William Martinez (BS 77) has been confirmed as a Colorado-based federal judge. Martinez is a partner at Denver law firm McNamara, Roseman, Martinez & Kazmierski LLP.

George P. Meister (BS 72) retired as county engineer and highway superintendent for Marshal and Putnam counties in Illinois.

Jack B. Norman (MS 71) was inducted into the Burlington-Edison High School Hall of Fame in Mount Vernon, Wash.

1960sRichard J. Erickson (BS 69), CEO of O’Neil Industries Inc., was named the spring 2011 Chapter Honor Member of Chi Epsilon Alpha Chapter.

Harry West (PhD 67), professor emeritus of civil and envi-ronmental engineering at Penn State University, was hon-ored by Penn State’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering with an endowment in his name to advance the state of the practice of civil engineering education. The en-dowment will allow the department to inaugurate the Harry West Teaching Award, establish a seminar series, and fund educational research.

Continued from page 34.

Baker, Der Kiureghian elected to NAE

Baker

the buttressed core system makes it possible to con-struct skyscrapers of extreme eleva-tion.

Der Kiureghian was cited, “For contributions to risk and reliabil-

ity and earthquake engineering to advance the practice of civil and struc-tural engineering.”

He has served on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, since 1978 and has an outstanding record of research publications in engineering mechanics, earthquake engineering, structural reliability, stochastic me-chanics, and risk analysis.

After the devastating earthquake of 1988 in Armenia, Der Kiureghian was instrumental in establishing the American University of Armenia (AUA) in Yerevan as an affiliate of the Univer-sity of California. i

Der Kiureghian

Lanyon retires from MWRD

Richard Lanyon (BS 60, MS 61) retired from his position as Executive Di-

rector of the Metropolitan Water Rec-lamation District (MWRD) of Greater Chicago in late 2010. His career at the MWRD spanned nearly 48 years.

As Executive Director, he direct-ed the day-to-day operations of the MWRD, which included 2,100 employ-ees and an annual budget of approxi-mately $1 billion.

Lanyon’s most recent awards in-clude the Edward J. Cleary Award from the American Academy of En-

vironmental Engi-neers and the Dis-tinguished Service Award from the National Associa-tion of Clean Water Agencies. He was a Distinguished Alumnus of the Depart-ment of CEE at Illinois in 2003.

He and his wife, Marsha, live in Evanston, and he continues to be an advocate for sensible and sustainable water management in the urban environment. i


scheduling classrooms, maintaining a campus space inventory, planning minor campus remodeling, assigning and reas-signing space to departments, and over-seeing the development of the campus capital budget. He retired from the posi-tion and the University in fall of 1987.

After retirement, Stallman did some consulting work and became an active

CEE alumnus and long-time Univer-sity of Illinois employee William

E. Stallman (BS 50) and his wife, Mar-garite, have established a scholarship fund in the department. The William E. Stallman scholarship will be awarded annually to an undergraduate student from southern Illinois.

After graduation from the depart-ment, Stallman worked for the Illinois Division of Highways (now the Illinois Department of Transportation) for 16 years. He worked in the bureaus of De-sign, Materials, Construction and Traf-fic, ultimately being appointed head of the Bureau of Traffic.

In 1966, Stallman returned to the University of Illinois to work on his master’s degree and teach in the De-partment of General Engineering. During this time, he was offered a po-sition working for the University in the newly created Office of Space Utiliza-tion. The office was responsible for

volunteer for Champaign Unit 4 School District and the Urbana Campus Chap-ter of the State Universities Annuitants Association.

The Stallmans will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in 2011. Margarite, or “Mike” as she prefers to be known, taught in several school systems but primarily the Champaign school district. Mike is also a gradu-ate of the University of Illinois; she received her B.S. in 1950 and her M.S. in 1971 from the College of Educa-tion. The couple has two daughters, Diane Wiss, and Karen Stallman. A son, Andrew (BS 85), also a depart-ment alumnus, passed away in 1992 at age 29. Karen’s son, Casey Lewis, the Stallman’s only grandchild, is a 2009 graduate of the U of I College of Engi-neering, having majored in Bioengi-neering. He is currently enrolled in the College of Law at Washington Univer-sity in St. Louis. i

Stallman gift will benefit southern Illinois students

Margarite and William Stallman

CEE at Illinois Corporate Partners Program

cee.illinois.edu/cpp

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering gratefully acknowledges the following companies who contribute to CEE at Illinois as Corporate Partners.


Engineering giants of the department’s history

Richard S. Engelbrecht1927-1996Educator, researcher, pioneering leader in environmental pollution control

Old Masters

by ProfESSorS EmErituS WilliAm J. hAll, vErnon l. SnoEyink, And John d. hAltiWAngEr

Richard S. Engelbrecht was born on March 11, 1926, in Ft. Wayne, Ind. He

received an A.B. degree in Zoology from Indiana University-Bloomington in 1948, after which he pursued graduate studies in microbiology and biochemistry at the same institution. Subsequently he re-ceived M.S. and Sc.D. degrees in Sanitary Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1952 and 1954.

Engelbrecht joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1954 as an Assistant Professor and held the rank of Professor of Environmental Engineer-ing from 1959 until he retired in 1992, when he became Professor Emeritus of Environmental Engineering. From 1987-89 he held the Ivan Racheff Professor-ship of Environmen-tal Engineering, and during 1979-1991 he was Director of the U of I Advanced Environmental Con-trol Technology Re-search Center. For a period of time in 1973, he was Visiting Professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.

Englebrecht’s forte was public service. He served on numerous national and in-ternational committees, commissions, and boards of governmental agencies and professional societies. For example, he was a member of the Ohio River Valley

Water Sanitation Commission from 1976 until his death. He served on numerous commit-tees, panels and boards of the National Research Council. He also served as a consultant to the U.S. Environmental Pro-tection Agency, the World Health Organization, the Na-tional Science Foundation, and many other governmen-tal and private agencies.

His contributions to the solution of societal problems led to an immense number of professional awards. Among these were the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal for noteworthy Research (1966) and the Arthur Sidney Bedell Award (1973), both from the Water Pollution

Control Federa-tion; the George W. Fuller Award (1974) and the Publication Award (1975), both from the American Water Works As-sociation; and the Eric H. Vick Award (1979) from the In-

stitution of Public Health Engineers (U.K.). Engelbrecht was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 1976, and to Honorary Membership in Abwassertechnische Vereiningung (West Germany) in 1978. In 1974 he received the Radebaugh Award, and in 1985 the George J. Schroepfer Award from the Central States Water Pollution Control As-

sociation. The Benjamin Garver Lamme Award of the American Society of Engi-neering Education was bestowed upon him in 1985.

In 1986 he was elected to Honorary Membership in the Water Environment Federation, and was awarded the Gordon Maskew Fair Medal by the same organiza-tion in 1987. He was elected to Honorary Membership in the International Asso-ciation on Water Pollution Research and Control in 1990. In 1992 he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Japan Sewage Works Agency, and because of his long involvement with many environ-mental projects and his help to Japanese graduate students at the University of Il-linois, he received a national decoration from the Emperor of Japan in 1993, name-ly the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. The Association of Environmental Engineering Professors honored him in 1993 with its Founders’

He was an institution nationally as well as internationally and in the National Research Council was known as “Mr. Water.”


1970sRoy M. Armstrong (MS 72) died Dec. 31, 2010. He was a civil engineer with Engineering Associates in Champaign. He served in the U.S. Army in the Engineering Department in Fort Hood, Texas, from 1968-1970.

1960sAllen F. Dill (PhD 63) died Dec. 24, 2010. He was 87. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserves, having earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. He also taught civil engineering at Northern Arizona University.

James C. Moese (BS 61) died Dec. 16, 2010. He was 72. Moese served in the Army Corps of Engineers for two years following his graduation from the University of Illinois. He worked for the state of California for 37 years, first in bridge design and then in retaining structures.

Louis G. Petro (PhD 63) died March 25. He was 86. Petro served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army, 11th Armored Division, during WWII. He was awarded the Bronze Star. His career in-cluded working as a consulting engineer for several firms in New York State before joining academia. He served first as head of the Civil Engineering department at Jamestown Com-munity College and then as Chairman of the Civil Engineering department at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Ind. He also served the city of Fort Wayne as Director of the Housing Authority.

Henry E. Severson (BS 61) died March 19. He spent his career at Boeing.

James H. Withers (MS 53, PhD 64) died Feb. 18. He retired as a Colonel from the U.S. Air Force in 1973, having served in World War II and Vietnam. For five years, he worked as a Project Director for C.F. Braun & Co. in Alhambra, Calif., after which he taught engineering at California Polytechnic State University, retiring in 1990 as a full professor.

1950sRobert A. Beesley (BS 55) died Feb. 13. He was 77. He served in the U.S. Navy with the Construction Battalion in Japan. He worked for HB and A from 1957-1985, then for the Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority until his retire-ment in 2008.

James D. Bergstrom (BS 55) died Feb. 17. He was president of Ragnar Benson Inc., a general contractor in Park Ridge, Ill., for more than 20 years.

Donald W. Reilly (BS 51) died Nov. 16, 2009.

Richard L. Siegle (BS 56) died Nov. 29, 2010. He was 76. Siegle retired a Commander from the U.S. Navy after 21 years in the Civil Engineer Corps. He later served as Deputy Director of General Administration for the State of Washington, Direc-tor of Facilities Services at the Smithsonian Institution and Di-rector of Facilities at the Washington State Historical Society.

William G. Weber (BS 50) died Jan. 18 in Ft. Myers, Fla. He was 86. During his career, he worked for several major en-gineering and construction companies in the water industry and the mining and metallurgical industry and as a city en-gineer in Florida.

1940sRichard H. Faber (BS 48) died March 6, 2010, in Chicago. He was 85. Faber served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was vice president of Drywall Associates.

George B. Lyon (BS 40) died Dec. 13, 2010. He was 93. Lyon’s career included serving in WWII in the South Pacific as a mem-ber of the Army Corps of Engineers. He taught civil engineer-ing for nearly 40 years at Cornell University.

Boyd C. Paulson (BS 45) died Nov. 9, 2010. He had a long ca-reer constructing dams, tunnels and mining sites around the world with Utah International. A high point of his career was managing projects for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme in New South Wales, Australia, where he fulfilled his dream to build a concrete dam using Hoover Dam construc-tion techniques, drilled a 13.5-mile tunnel from two ends, and broke the world record for distance tunneled for 52 weeks in a row.

David H. Yazell (BS 47) died Nov. 27 1020. He served in the Marine Corps for 10 years, then worked for the Santa Fe Railroad as a civil engineer, and for Mutual of New York as an agent and trainer.


In Memoriam

Send us your newsPlease send news and photos to:[email protected], CEE magazine1117 Newmark Lab, MC-250205 N. Mathews Ave.Urbana, IL 61801

Award for sustained and outstanding contributions to environmental engi-neering education. A month prior to his death he had been awarded the Warren A. Hall Medal from the Univer-sities Council on Water Resources.

Engelbrecht was the author or co-author of more than 122 articles, proceedings papers and chapters in books. Among the many professional organizations in which he was active were the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Ameri-can Society for Microbiology, the American Water Works Association, The Water Environment Federation, formerly the Water Pollution Control Federation (President, 1977), and the International Association on Water Quality, formerly the International As-sociation on Water Pollution Research and Control (President 1980-1986).

Engelbrecht was an “early to bed, early to rise” man, accomplishing much of his most creative work in the early morning hours. Consistent with this mode of operation, he frequently faded in early evening, but at intimate social gatherings quite often humor-ously wore a large badge which read, “I am awake and having fun.”

Engelbrecht’s death left a large void in the profession. He provided strong, well-directed leadership and served as a role model for others, who through similar professional services worked for the betterment of society. He will long be remembered by his friends and associates worldwide. He was an institution nationally as well as internationally and in the National Research Council was known as “Mr. Water.”

Professor Engelbrecht died on Sep-tember 1, 1996 in Urbana, Ill. i

CEE at Illinois Alumni Dinner in Chicago

Chicago-area alumni, CEE faculty, students and friends of the department gathered

February 9 at the Union League Club in Chi-cago for the annual CEE at Illinois Alumni Din-ner in Chicago. The event included a cocktail reception, dinner, the presentation of the CEE Alumni Association awards, and a department update by Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai.

For the CEE students who signed up to at-tend the dinner, the day also included a tour of the project to improve Lower Wacker Drive. The department thanks the following individ-uals and their teams for hosting the tour and making presentations to the students: Daniel Burke, P.E., S.E., (BS 92, MS 93), Chief Bridge Engineer, Chicago Department of Transpor-tation; Courtney Johnson (BS 10), Assistant Project Manager, Aldridge Electric; Andrew Keaschall, P.E., S.E., (BS 04, MS 05), Project En-gineer, Benesch; and John Sadler, P.E., Manag-ing Resident Engineer, Chicago Department of Transportation.

With gratitude, CEE acknowledges the fol-lowing sponsors of the alumni dinner:

Gold LevelPatrick Engineering Inc. Trotter and Associates Inc.

Silver LevelBenesch Bowman, Barrett & AssociatesGreeley and HansenMilhouse Engineering & ConstructionRJN GroupTranSystemsWiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc.

Bronze LevelAECOM Clark Dietz Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. Donohue & Associates Inc. EFI Global Inc. Epstein F. H. Paschen John FrauenhofferHanson Professional Services Inc.

HDR Inc. Ingenii LLC Larry JaworskiKudrna & Associates Ltd.MWH Global Sargent & LundyRicondo & AssociatesSidney Epstein FoundationSkidmore, Owings & Merrill LLPW. E. O’Neil Construction

The 2011 winners of the CEE Alumni Assocation Distinguished Alumnus awards pose at the alumni dinner. From left: Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai, James A.Hanlon (BS 72), Joseph M. Kaiser (BS 70, MS 71), Ilker R. Adiguzel (PhD 83), David R. Maidment (MS 74, PhD 76), and Law-rence P. Jaworski, P.E., (BS 72, MS 73), President of the CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Left to right: professors Marcelo García and Ximing Cai; CEE award winner David Maidment; and professors Albert Valocchi and Murugesu Sivapalan.

Left to right: CEE students Bo Mu, Dareen Salama, Xiaojia Zhang, and Maryam Eidini-Nezhad.

Left to right: Adam J. Backhaus (BS 08) and Joseph F. Sanfilippo (BS 08).


2011 CEE Alumni Awards

Scott D. Reed (BS 99)Civil/Environmental Engineer, Black & Veatch Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio

For technical expertise in wastewater collection, treatment and biosolids manage-ment, including presentations at regional and national conferences.

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association is pleased to announce the 2011 recipients of its Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award and Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement Award. The Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award recognizes professional accomplishments or unique contributions to society by alumni of the department. The Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement Award recognizes a recent graduate who has achieved distinction in his or her field and reached a level of accomplishment significantly greater than that of other recent graduates. The honorees were recognized at the Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting in February. For more information about the winners, visit cee.illinois.edu/alumni_awards_2011.

Ilker R. Adiguzel (PhD 83) Director, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Champaign

For leadership and innovation in directing engineering research and development for sustainable mili-tary installations that support the national defense; for a commitment to encouraging and mentoring stu-dents who are under-represented in the engineering community; and for fostering collaboration and lasting relationships with academia.

Joseph M. Kaiser, P.E.,(BS 70, MS 71)Executive Vice President, BSI Constructors Inc., St. Louis, Mo.

For superior technical and ad-ministrative leadership demonstrat-ed in the management of construc-tion projects in the St. Louis area, in-cluding technically complex facilities, significant architectural structures and major renovations and restora-tions.

For leadership in the develop-ment and implementation of pro-grams associated with protecting and enhancing the nation’s drinking water and wastewater systems and consequently improving the quality of life and public health for residents across the country.

David R. Maidment (MS 74, PhD 76)Hussein M. Alharthy Centennial Chair in Civil Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, Texas

For significant and lasting impact on teaching, research and practice in the fields of hydrology and water resource engineering, including the pioneering of geographic information systems applica-tions in hydrology and technologies that have been adopted by national and inter-national institutions.

Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award

Young Alumnus/Alumna Award Nominations invited: CEE alumni awards

If you know of a deserving colleague who graduated from CEE at Illinois, consider nominating him or her for a CEE Alumni Association award. The Distin-guished Alumnus/Alumna Award and the Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement Award recognize those who have distin-guished themselves in the field at differ-ent career stages. The next deadline is Aug. 1, 2011. For more information, please visit our alumni awards page of the CEE website at cee.illinois.edu/CEEAAawards.


James A. Hanlon, P.E., (BS 72)Director, Office of Wastewater Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.

Roof in bloomThe green roof on the newly completed M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory was in bloom in May. The flowers are allium schoenoprasum forescate, a variety of onion. The roof will bloom throughout the summer and into fall, as the different varieties of plants flower. For more pictures of the Yeh Center, see pages 8-9 of this issue.

The Old Masters article appears on page 38.


Yeh Center

my.cee.illinois.edu/buy

Join us for the dedication of the new M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center.

• September 23, 3 p.m., dedication, tours and reception (free, but registration required)

• September 24, pre-game party (hour and a half prior to kickoff) at the Activities and Recreation Center and football game vs. Western Michigan (see registration site for costs)

All attendees are asked to register.

https://my.cee.illinois.edu/yeh

Shop online at the CEE store and show your CEE pride. New items are being added all the time.

Get your CEE on!

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. POSTAGE PAID

Permit No. 75Champaign, IL 61820

Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignNewmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250205 North Mathews AvenueUrbana, Illinois 61801

Documents

CEE Magazine Summer 2011