Civil and Environmental

Engineering2016

Leaders in food, energy, air, and water research.

From the Chair’s Desk

Greetings alumni and friends,As I reflect on another successful year for the Department of

Civil and Environmental Engineering, I am reminded of the

values of collaboration, innovation, and transformation that drive

our program as a world leader in providing solutions to societal

grand challenges and producing quality “work-ready,

day one” graduates. In this newsletter, you’ll read about the

impact our department is having on the state, nation, and the

world around us.

Our research efforts across the department have continued to

thrive. Our research expenditures last year totaled $11.5 million

— more than double its value from just five years ago. Our faculty

continues to attract major grants to conduct preeminent research.

I hope you enjoy reading about our research in air and water

resources, sustainable infrastructure, advanced materials, natural

hazards mitigation, and smart structures in this newsletter.

Earlier this year, we dedicated our new PACCAR Environmental

Technology Building. This 96,000-square-foot building is

equipped with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and test

facilities housing WSU’s longstanding research and development

centers — all dedicated to tackling multifaceted engineering,

science, technology, and societal issues through interdisciplinary

collaboration. Several civil and environmental engineering

faculty, graduate students, and staff play major roles in these

centers and are housed in the new building. I’m happy to share

some of the exciting research that is already coming out of this

thriving and beautiful collaborative space.

With nearly 600 students, our undergraduate program is

one of the largest in the nation. We have ensured that our

class sizes are small enough for students to continue to have

the world class, face-to-face education that our institution is

known for. We continue to maintain a strong reputation with

industry for providing work-ready graduates. We’re very proud of

students like Jessica Howe, who manages to balance sports and

engineering classes, and Nathan Sparks and Jared Ribail, who

are getting real-world research experience as undergraduates.

Our graduate programs also remain strong with 130 students,

including 64 Ph.D. students. With a significant increase in our

multidisciplinary research, our Ph.D. program will continue to

grow to new heights.

We are excited about the new bachelor’s degree in construction

engineering — the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

This degree, which came about with overwhelming support

from over 150 construction and engineering contractors, will

provide graduates who will be work-ready from day one in

heavy infrastructure design, building design, and construction

technology.

As we develop our programs, alumni and donor support

remains very critical to our efforts — from PACCAR, which helped

to bring about a new building for research endeavors, to Kiewit,

which supported an upgrade to our asphalt laboratory. Indeed, it

all comes down to making a difference in our students’ lives and

passing our good fortune along to the next generation. We are

proud of our alumni like Bob Bell, featured in this issue, who was

given a chance to continue college, and who is now giving back to

future Cougars and making a difference in their lives.

There is much for you, our alumni, to be proud of at WSU.

I invite you to come visit if you are on campus. Or, please stay

in touch through our website, social media, or via email. I look

forward to hearing from you.

All the best and Go Cougs!

Balasingam Muhunthan

CONTENTS

The Civil and Environmental Engineering newsletter is published irregularly by Washington State University, PO Box 645910, Pullman, Washington, 99164-5910, for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University, Sloan Hall, Room 101, PO Box 642910, Pullman, Washington, 99164-2910. Distribution is free to CEE alumni, friends, personnel, and students. Volume 6, Issue 1. 10/16 154635

Communications Director: Tina Hilding, thilding@wsu.edu

On the Web: ce.wsu.edu

Admission to Washington State University is granted without regard to race/ethnicity, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran status, disability, or use of a service animal.

Washington State University provides access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education, and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation, contact the ADA Coordinator, Human Relations and Diversity, 509-335-8888, at least ten days in advance.

Want to Go Green and Help us Save our Green?The Civil and Environmental Engineering Newsletter is also available in electronic format. If you would like to receive e-publications from us, please send a note to Tina Hilding at thilding@wsu.edu.

ce.wsu.eduFrom the Chair’s Desk

Research PACCAR building for environmental research .................................... 2 Simpson Strong-Tie gift supports research and testing lab ................. 2 What’s happening inside PACCAR? ................................................... 3 Inland waterways emit more carbon than expected................... 3 Water forecasting for the Columbia River Basin .......................... 4 Studying pollution potential of industrial nanomaterials ............ 4 Researchers receive national prize for Yakima report .................. 5 The road ahead: Transportation research ................................... 6 Upcycling: Coal waste to environmentally friendly concrete ..... 7 EPA grant to measure Lewiston air quality .................................. 8

Students Jessica Howe: Finding the right balance ............................................ 9 Students dive into research experience............................................ 10

Alumni and Donors Given a second chance, Bell returns the favor ................................. 11 Alumnus builds civic leadership on engineering degree ................... 12

In memoriam: Elmer Robinson ........................................................ 12

Department News New WSU construction engineering degree gets underway ............ 13 Faculty news and notes ................................................................... 13

On the Cover: Civil and environmental engineering faculty, including (clockwise from

top) Von Walden, Karl Englund, and Jennifer Adam, are conducting research in the new PACCAR Environmental Technology Building.

Department Advisory Board Tom E. Baker, P.E. WSDOT, State Materials Engineer

Carol Buckingham, P.E. Structural Designs, PLLC

Dan Campbell, P.E. GeoEngineers

James H. Clark, P.E. Senior Vice President, Region Managing Director Black & Veatch, B & V Water

Ranil Dhammapala, Ph.D. Atmospheric Scientist Air Quality Program, Washington Department of Ecology

Bob Elliott, P.E. Kiewit Pacific Co.

Calvin George, P.E. Taylor Engineering, Inc.

Lars Hendron, P.E. Principal Engineer, Wastewater Management

Jeff Johnson, M.S., P.E. WATERSHED Science & Engineering

Shana Kelley, P.E., S.E. KPFF Consulting Engineers

Jim Mattison Simpson Strong-Tie Company, Inc.

Dale A. Nelson, P.E., FASCE NANA Pacific

Ted W. Pooler, P.E. Huibregtse, Louman Associates, Inc.

2 C E . W S U . E D U

PACCAR provides home for environmental research

The new PACCAR Environmental

Technology Building at Washington State

University provides a new home for WSU’s

leading, longstanding research centers in

sustainable design and construction, water

quality, and atmospheric sciences that are

tackling multifaceted environmental issues

through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Civil and environmental engineering faculty,

graduate students, and staff play major roles

in these centers and are housed in the new

building equipped with state-of-the-art

facilities.

The 96,000-sqare-foot building, designed

and built by LMN Architects and Skanska,

and dedicated earlier this year, is one of WSU’s

greenest buildings on its Pullman campus.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership

in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

certification program awarded the building its

second-highest level of certification—gold—for

sustainable and energy-efficient design. The

building, named in recognition of PACCAR’s

major donation, is constructed using renewable

materials and technologies developed at WSU,

including wood composites, recycled concrete,

and pervious pavement. It incorporates

features such as water capture and reuse, heat

recovery, individual control of air quality

factors, maximized daylighting, and optimal

siting, making it a technological showcase for

minimizing the carbon footprint of the built

environment. ❚

Simpson Strong-Tie gift supports research and testing labAn annual $100,000 donation for the next eight years from Simpson Strong-

Tie will support Washington State University construction and engineering

research in the new PACCAR Environmental Technology Building on the WSU

Pullman campus.

The donation establishes the Simpson Strong-Tie Research and Testing

Laboratory and an excellence fund that will support research in areas such

as concrete durability, repair, and retrofit; tall timber buildings; deck safety;

post-frame buildings; and seismic retrofit. The funds will support fellowships for

professors and graduate students, and equipment purchases.

WSU faculty have conducted research with Simpson Strong-Tie for more than

20 years in a number of areas, including new product testing, deck safety, and

seismic risk mitigation. WSU has conducted leading research on deck design

and helped make changes to building codes to improve safety.

“Simpson Strong-Tie is honored to support Washington State University by

establishing the new Simpson Strong-Tie Excellence Fund at the Voiland College

of Engineering and Architecture,” said CEO Karen Colonias. “We are excited

about the opportunity for increased collaboration with the University’s highly

respected engineering department on testing and engineering programs.” ❚

ReseaRch

Simpson Strong-Tie CEO Karen Colonias in the research and testing laboratory.

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Inland waterways: More carbon than expected

Inside PACCAR:

Solar-powered device takes measurements over Mississippi’s Ross Barnett Reservoir.

Heping Liu

Washington State University researchers

have found that greenhouse gas emissions

from lakes and inland waterways may be as

much as 45 percent greater than previously

thought.

Their study, published in Environmental

Research Letters, has implications for the global

carbon budget and suggests that terrestrial

ecosystems may not be as good a carbon

reservoir as scientists thought.

Similar to the way people use a budget to

manage finances, researchers are working

to understand where carbon is being spent

and saved on a global scale to better manage

resources. The scientists know that humans

are emitting about 33 billion tons of carbon

dioxide per year into the atmosphere globally

and that the emissions are changing the

climate. About half of the emissions stay in

the atmosphere, but researchers are unable to

quantify with certainty how much carbon is

taken up by land and oceans.

“People can’t figure out how to close

the budget with great confidence,” said

Heping Liu, associate professor in the WSU

Department of Civil and Environmental

Engineering. “That’s the big mystery.”

A significant part of the carbon dioxide

initially sequestered by terrestrial ecosystems

moves into inland waters and is then released

to the atmosphere. Scientists previously

have made only occasional measurements

of emissions from waterways—most often

during calm, daytime conditions—and have

used these measurements to make broad

estimates for waterways’ contribution to

regional or global emissions. They missed

nighttime emissions and periods between

field samplings.

In the study, the WSU team took a yearlong

series of continuous measurements of carbon

dioxide emissions, gathering data from

atmospheric instruments on a platform

over the water in Mississippi’s Ross Barnett

Reservoir. The researchers used a sophisticated

system that measures atmospheric eddies,

called an eddy covariance system. It was

powered by solar panels and batteries.

The WSU team found that nighttime

carbon emissions were as much as 70 percent

higher than during the day and that storms

also created emissions spikes.

“That’s pretty huge,” said Liu. “Based

on this study, the emissions from inland

waterways are much larger than previously

thought.”

The researchers surmise that during the

day, when air temperatures are warm, water

layers in the reservoir are stratified and carbon

dioxide from microbes in the lake bottom

cannot escape. Colder nighttime temperatures

allow for mixing of the water and for higher

emission rates. Wind from storms also creates

mixing and an opportunity for carbon dioxide

to escape.

Liu and his colleagues believe that the

Mississippi reservoir is not unusual and that

the higher emission rates apply to waterways

around the world. Other researchers have seen

similar higher nighttime emissions, but had

not connected the measurements to a higher

overall emissions rate in the global carbon

budget.

In addition to WSU, the research group

includes scientists from Duke University; the

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; University

of Alaska, Fairbanks; and the University of

California, Santa Barbara. The WSU team was

funded by the National Science Foundation. ❚

ReseaRch

4 C E . W S U . E D U

Researchers are going to the nanoscale

to develop new and better products for

society, but they know little about what

happens when these new materials enter

the environment.

Indranil Chowdhury, assistant professor

of civil and environmental engineering, has

received a grant to investigate how nano-

materials, materials that are built at the

nanoscale with unique optical, electronic,

and mechanical properties, degrade in the

aquatic environment. Richard Watts, pro-

fessor of civil and environmental engineer-

ing, is also involved in this project.

The Washington State University

researchers are investigating the degrada-

tion of graphene, a class of nanomaterials

that is commonly used in the electronics

and aviation industries. As a single atomic

WSU studies pollution potential of nanomaterials

Water forecasting for the Columbia River Basin

A changing climate will create overall

seasonal shifts in timing of water supply

and demand in Eastern Washington

over the next 20 years, according to a

report being prepared for the Washington

Department of Ecology’s Office of

Columbia River.

Predicted wetter springs and a shifting

of the growing season into the spring are

expected to lessen irrigation demand, said

Jennifer Adam, associate professor in the

Department of Civil and Environmental

Engineering at Washington State

University and associate director of the

State of Washington Water Research

Center, who took a leading role in the

report’s preparation.

The Columbia River Basin Long Term

Supply and Demand Forecast aims to provide

and update scientific information to help

state leaders make better decisions about

where and how to fund water supply

projects. A previous report was completed

in 2011.

By Erik Gomez, Voiland College intern

Inside PACCAR:ReseaRch

WSU graduate student Mehnaz Shams and Professor Indranil Chowdhury are working on the photodegradation of graphene oxide nanomaterials in Columbia River water.

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layer, graphene is very light as well as highly

conductive.

“But for all the good things about nano-

materials, there are some bad things, too,”

Chowdhury said.

Graphene itself is not a very dangerous

material, but it may become much more haz-

ardous when it degrades. Preliminary studies

show that graphene transforms into organic

chemicals called polynuclear aromatic

hydrocarbons, some of which are known to

be carcinogenic. The automobile, electronics,

and aviation industries widely use the carbon-

based nanomaterials and release the pol-

lutants into the surface water through their

effluent. However, these emerging pollutants

are still not regulated.

Chowdhury’s and Watts’ research will track

factors that influence graphene’s degrada-

tion, such as the influence of sunlight in the

aquatic environment. They will investigate

the transformation and degradation of

graphene nanomaterials in water from the

Columbia River and identify the mechanisms

of how the material changes under different

conditions.

Chowdhury eventually hopes to come up

with better nanomaterials for industry that

are effective and safe.

The grant comes from the United States

Geological Survey (USGS) through the State

of Washington Water Research Center. The

WSU Stormwater Center is also supporting

the effort. ❚

Shifting Supply and DemandWashington is expected to experience

increasing temperatures over the next 20 years.

The warmer temperatures are predicted to

cause a shift in precipitation, leading to wetter

winters and springs, drier summers, declining

snowpack, and earlier snowmelt, according to

the report.

Under warming temperatures, some crops

will reach maturity faster, creating a decrease

in irrigation demand later during the irrigation

season, according to the report.

Basing their predictions on expected average

temperatures for the next 20 years, Adam and

her team used sophisticated computer models

to look at water supplies and the impact on

specific crops, including dry and irrigated

crops.

The preliminary results predict an increase

of about 9 percent in annual water supplies

and a decrease in irrigation demand of about 7

percent across the basin by 2035, compared to

supply and demand around the beginning of

the twenty-first century.

“The results we got weren’t what we

expected,” said Adam. “Although there will be

an increase in water supply and a decrease in

its demand, Washington will still be vulnerable

to droughts.”

As the climate changes, droughts are

predicted to happen more frequently and

become more severe.

Yet, growers won’t be impacted as much by

the droughts as the researchers first thought,

said Adam. With the expected synchronization

between water supply and growing seasons,

the crops may already be irrigated and possibly

harvested by the time the summertime

droughts occur. The forecast does not take into

account producers double-cropping and cover

cropping. Using these adaptation methods can

leave the producers vulnerable to droughts in

the later season.

Adam and her team presented their

forecast to the public at several workshops in

Wenatchee, Spokane, and Richland earlier this

summer. It will be submitted to the legislature

later this year. ❚

A report outlining the benefits and costs of proposed water management efforts in Washington’s Yakima Basin has won a national prize from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. The Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis went to a research team that included Associate Professor Jennifer Adam and student Keyvan Malek. The project was led by Jonathan Yoder, professor in the Washington State University School of Economic Sciences and director of the State of Washington Water Research Center, and included researchers from WSU, the University of Washington, and Louisiana State University. ❚

Jennifer Adam

ReseaRch

Researchers receive national prize for Yakima report

6 C E . W S U . E D U

Inside PACCAR:

The road ahead: maximizing transportation efficiency

ReseaRch

In WSU’s Department of Civil

and Environmental Engineering,

professors Ali Hajbabaie and Leila

Hajibabai are leading efforts to

make the roads safer, more effi-

cient, and more environmentally

friendly.

Car talkAli Hajbabaie is leading a team

of WSU researchers in improving

safety and traffic efficiency by

utilizing information that indi-

vidual cars share with each other

and with transportation network

infrastructure and operators.

A device can be installed in

cars that will send out informa-

tion, such as speed, location,

and heading, about 10 times a

second. Other devices in other

cars and in stoplights pick up this

information and use it to make

instant decisions. Hajbabaie is

investigating the use of this tech-

nology to develop new methods to reduce

transportation delays, improve traffic safety,

and reduce environmental pollutants.

For example, if these devices told a

stoplight a few miles ahead that there were

10 cars approaching at a 50 miles per hour

speed, the stoplight would know when to

start the green signal and how long to keep it

green in that direction.

“This kind of information and the capa-

bility to share and analyze it can revolu-

tionize how traffic networks operate and

will improve safety and, at the same time,

efficiency,” he said.

Hajbabaie and his team are developing a

connected vehicle test bed to test their work.

Fleet managementIt rarely snows in the lowlands of Western

Washington. It does, however, snow a lot in

Eastern Washington. How many snow plows

should the Washington State Department

of Transportation keep in each region? WSU

researchers are leading efforts to help every

Department of Transportation (DOT) in the

country more efficiently manage their heavy

equipment fleets.

Leila Hajibabai is leading the project,

which is supported by a $400,000 grant

from the Transportation Research Board’s

National Cooperative Highway Research Pro-

gram. She is collaborating with the Univer-

sity of North Carolina at Charlotte, ITSNode

LLC, and My Fleet Department LLC.

There is no comprehensive system in

place to help state DOTs manage their fleets.

“Not all the state DOTs have done this in a

systematic way,” said Hajibabai.

It is extremely difficult to generate models

that help fleet managers know how to most

efficiently allocate their resources.

Hajibabai and her team are developing a

framework to minimize the costs involved in

fleet management, which encompasses every-

thing from renting equipment to retail prices

of equipment to maintenance to gas mileage.

The researchers are collecting informa-

tion from participating state DOTs through

a national survey. The model they create will

consider historical fleet usage data as well as

information like the terrain, environment,

and weather. At the end of the project, they

will provide a number of models to DOTs that

can be fine-tuned for any location to identify

the best strategy for fleet utilization manage-

ment. They expect to complete the project

next summer.

Crash predictionThose who use Google Maps have seen its

ability to tell users what the traffic is like and

change the travel time to reflect current traffic

predictions. A project in development could Part of the maintenance fleet used by the Alaska Department of Transportation

Professors Ali Hajbabaie and Leila Hajibabai, 2nd and 3rd from right, with graduate students.

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By Erik Gomez, Voiland College intern

A Washington State University

researcher is working to turn woody

biomass, or a waste product from coal-fired

power plants, into active ingredients of

environmentally friendly concrete.

Xianming Shi, associate professor in

the Department of Civil and Environmen-

tal Engineering, and his research team

recently received a grant to develop either

biomass fly ash or coal fly ash, a byproduct

of coal plants, as a cement-like binder for

pervious concrete, a type of pavement

that allows water to be filtered and to seep

into the ground naturally like a wetland or

grass strip.

“We’re not recycling just for the sake of

recycling. We are adding value to [the fly

ash], we’re ‘upcycling,’” said Shi.

Coal fly ash has been used as a cement

replacement in concrete for decades. But

the replacement is typically no more than

30% by weight, due to strength and per-

formance concerns. Less than 30 percent

of the 70 million tons of coal fly ash in the

U.S. gets used in beneficial applications,

said Shi.

The researchers found the material,

with the help of a nanomaterial, could

fully replace cement in pervious concrete.

Pervious concrete is of increasing interest

to policy makers and industry for better

stormwater management. Impervious

concrete that is ubiquitous on roads and

parking lots allows pollutants to move eas-

ily through the environment and increases

flooding problems.

With the new grant, Shi and his team

will test the durability and environmental

performance of a biomass fly ash-based

pervious concrete. They are also studying

how to improve its resistance to freeze

thaw cycling and deicing salt.

“We’re not just changing the water

quantity going through, but the water

quality too,” said Shi. “We’re killing two

birds with one stone. The goal is to create

a much ‘greener’ pervious concrete and to

give back cleaner groundwater.”

Shi’s research has been funded by the

Center of Environmentally Sustainable

Transportation in Cold Climates (CES-

TiCC) and WSU. He has filed three pro-

visional patents and one nonprovisional

patent on the related technology. ❚

ReseaRch

Upcycling: coal waste to concrete

Researchers are working to use fly ash from coal plants for environmentally friendly concrete.

Xianming Shi

soon create a similar real-time, interactive

map to show road safety.

Ali Hajbabaie is the principal investigator

on a project to make an interactive map that

will tell users how safe a road is by predicting

where crashes may occur. He and his team

at WSU and the University of Washington

are developing the algorithm for the Pacific

Northwest, but they may expand it later to

cover a larger region.

The program uses the past four years of

crash history on major roads in the region as

well as other factors, including geographic

features, visibility, and weather, to create a

dynamic model to predict potential crash

areas on major roads.

“Our aim is to let transportation system

users and operators have access to real-time

safety information in the region to plan bet-

ter,” said Hajbabaie.

Work zone predictionTravelers experience significant delays

when some lanes are closed on a freeway

facility to perform construction or

maintenance work.

“Estimating travel time and roadway

capacity is a key to appropriate planning of

roadway work zones,” said Ali Hajbabaie.

Hajbabaie has created a predictive model

that can estimate the traffic volume capac-

ity of freeway facilities in construction zones

and determine how congested the traffic will

be and if a detour is needed in order to allow

managers to plan accordingly.

He created these models by collecting

large-scale data of freeway work zones in

the United States and performing advanced

statistical analysis. His paper on this subject,

entitled “Innovative Work Zone Capacity

Models from Nationwide Field and Archival

Source,” received the Transportation Research

Board’s Work Zone Traffic Control Commit-

tee’s 2015 best paper. ❚

continued from page 6

8 C E . W S U . E D U

Inside PACCAR:ReseaRch

Researchers get EPA grant to measure Lewiston air quality

The Nez Perce Tribe and researchers at

Washington State University have received

a three year, $419,000 U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency grant to measure air

pollution in Lewiston, Idaho. The research-

ers in WSU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric

Research will use a mobile air quality labo-

ratory to measure formaldehyde and other

air pollutants and determine their sources

during approximately four weeks this sum-

mer and next.

Formaldehyde is an airborne pollut-

ant that can cause negative health effects

ranging from sore throats and coughs to

lung cancer. Formaldehyde can be directly

emitted or can form in the atmosphere from

reactions of other pollutants to light.

Several years ago, researchers measured

high summer formaldehyde concentrations

of up to 22 parts per billion in Lewiston.

Two students from Northwest Indian Col-

lege later conducted a summer research

project with WSU faculty to determine the

sources of formaldehyde in the region.

“The levels we found in Lewiston were

similar to urban areas, which was surpris-

ing because Lewiston is not really an urban

area,” said Tom Jobson, professor in WSU’s

Department of Civil and Environmental

Engineering, who is co-leading the project.

Researchers will monitor downstream

and upstream wind flow from Lewiston to

determine the pollution’s source.

“Wind flow along rivers can exacerbate

an air quality problem or can help mitigate

it,” said Shelley Pressley, associate research

professor.

Once the study is completed, the commu-

nity can develop and implement strategies

for reduction if the source of elevated pol-

lutants is determined. The WSU research-

ers, tribe, and state health division also are

working with the Idaho Department of

Environmental Quality on the project. The

$419,000 grant will also support commu-

nity outreach and education. ❚

Research Notes

Recycling carbon fiber to permeable pavement

Improving water quality through bet-

ter permeable pavement is the focus of a

research and development collaboration

between The Boeing Company, Washing-

ton State University, and the Washington

Stormwater Center. The

U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency has

identified improved

permeable pavement

as a positive step to

mitigating stormwater

issues in Washington

state. In addition, the

state requires low-impact

development wherever

feasible in western Wash-

ington, and permeable pavement is one

way to achieve that.

The researchers will recycle scrap carbon

fiber composites to strengthen and rein-

force porous pavement material, which is

used in parking lots and side roads but is

too soft to be used on heavily traveled road-

ways. The team will also examine the com-

posite material for toxicity to validate that

it does not add pollutants

to the soil or impact water

quality.

“This is a tremen-

dous waste reduction

opportunity for the

aerospace industry,” said

Karl Englund, associate

research professor in the

Department of Civil and

Environmental Engineer-

ing. “Developing new,

cost-effective uses for

scrap carbon fiber could have tremendous

environmental benefits.”

Boeing is supporting the Washington

Stormwater Center, a collaboration between

WSU and the University of Washington,

through a $212,000 research grant and

donation of cured carbon fiber composite

material. ❚

Wood science symposium

Led by Professor Dan Dolan, WSU hosted a symposium with faculty and students from Oregon and Washington to introduce students to wood science research in areas ranging from seismic design to biofuels. Another symposium is scheduled for 2017 at Oregon State University.

WSU’s mobile air quality laboratory

Karl Englund

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students

Finding the right balance

Focusing the power of her passions led

Jessica Howe to WSU.

Who: Jessica Howe

Hometown: Bothell, Washington

Major: Double majoring in civil

engineering and ecosystem and

environmental science

Sport: Rower, WSU Women’s Rowing Team

Graduation Date: May 2018

Why WSU?I grew up a Coug. My grandmother

graduated from WSU in 1965 and I grew

up watching the Apple Cup and coming

out to eastern Washington to visit her.

The first time I visited WSU I got all excited

and happy and I knew then that I was

home. I even stayed in Regents Hall my

first year, which was the same dorm my

grandmother lived in, so Pullman has

kind of always held that special connec-

tion for me.

How did you get interested in ecosystem and environmental science?

My passion to help the environment

came from my seventh grade science

teacher, John Schmied. This was my first

experience with environmental issues our

planet faces, and they really hit home with

me. I began volunteering at hiking trail

work parties and got really hooked helping

with environmental projects in my com-

munity. By my senior year in high school,

I knew I wanted to help the environment

and I wanted to find a balance between

the wants of humans and the needs of the

environment.

How did you get interested in civil engineering?

Coming to WSU I knew I wanted to do

something that would allow me to help

improve the condition of the environ-

ment, so I was considering environmental

science. My dad challenged me to try engi-

neering because he felt it would be a good

fit and easier to switch to environmental

science if I didn’t like it.

My first year was mostly civil engineer-

ing classes with a couple Honors classes

mixed in. I wanted more environmental

aspects than what my courses offered, so

the summer after my freshman year I took

Intro to Environmental Engineering with

Professor Yonge. I loved the material we

covered—I hadn’t been more enthusiastic

about an engineering class before. I finally

started to think the engineering thing

was for me, but I wanted more classes like

this to supplement my traditional civil

engineering classes. I started college with

a few extra credits, and reevaluated things

and realized that a double degree will allow

me to pursue a career in environmental

engineering—working for both the people

and the environment!

What’s it like rowing for WSU? Being part of the WSU Rowing Team

has done nothing but help me through

the last three years. Initially, it helped me

make friends and find people with similar

interests and drives as myself. I definitely

struggle when it comes to being social

and meeting new people—I tend to be shy

especially at first.

Rowing provided me with a group

of people with similar interests and an

environment where I could be myself and

slowly make friends as we competed and

trained together. Rowing has allowed me

to work through some tough times in my

life and has helped me become mentally

tough and ready to take on most any chal-

lenge that life sends my way.

The team is like a family. I love being a

part of this team and it has probably been

a highlight of my college career thus far.

How do you balance rowing with your classes?

I tend to plan out what I’m going to do

and I look at my week as a whole to deter-

mine what I need to get done and what

is possible for me to get done. A busier

schedule works better for me; it forces me

to keep on top of my work!

Rowing has also taught me how to make

the most of my time. I’ve learned to work

anytime and anywhere. Because rowing

takes a lot of time, my time for studying is

sometimes limited and so I have learned

to plan ahead, prioritize, stay on task, and

work efficiently. ❚

10 C E . W S U . E D U

students

Team approach to CLT challenge Through the Integrated Design Experience (IDX) course,

interdisciplinary student teams receive hands-on practice work-

ing on engineering and design projects. The IDX students work

collaboratively with industry professionals, students from other

disciplines, and faculty members to solve problems. This year’s

project required

student teams to

design build-

ings that would

be constructed

out of cross-

laminated timber

(CLT), a new, sus-

tainable building

material.

CLT is made by stacking timber pieces together with the

grains facing in different directions and coating the stack

in resin. The result is strong, sturdy, sustainable, and even

beautiful. It was used in the construction of the new PACCAR

Environmental Technology Building and WSU’s Brelsford

Visitor Center. For this project, the students developed plans that

used CLT originating from overgrown and unhealthy timber

stands in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, with the

aim of enhancing forest health. They addressed supply chains

and created plans to transport lumber to Seattle. Working with

consulting professional architects and engineers, the student

teams designed medium-sized office buildings, apartments, or

warehouses. The work was part of a USDA grant to research and

develop CLT as a carbon-efficient building material. ❚

Marcy named outstanding student Devin Marcy was named the 2016 Voiland College of Engi-

neering and Architecture’s outstanding junior. He is a civil engi-

neering student from Spokane,

where he was the valedictorian

of his high school class at John

R. Rogers High School. He has

served for the past two years as a

research mentor in WSU’s Office

of Undergraduate Research,

where he has mentored 50 to

100 students each year.

He also participated in the

Research Experience for Undergraduates program in the Labora-

tory for Atmospheric Research and is captain of the Concrete

Canoe Club. He is a Boeing Scholar and participated in an

internship with the company during the summer of 2016, work-

ing in their structures department on the 777X wing project. ❚

Students dive into research

While many students spent their summer working, traveling, or catching Pokémon,

Nathan Sparks and Jared Ribail, two Washington State University civil engineering

students, got a taste of the world of research through WSU’s summer research program.

Diving headlong into the high-level research, Sparks had a chance to study carbon

dioxide flux and the surface energy budget in rural and urban environments while

Ribail worked with hydrologic models.

WSU offers research experience for about 100 undergraduates every summer in

areas ranging from air and water quality to materials engineering. Working on real

research with professors is exciting—and stressful—as the students learn about and

then present their research in a few short weeks.

“It was intimidating [working so closely with professors and graduate students]. I

was going into their world, and I didn’t know anything,” said Sparks. “But I got past it.

You just have to ask for help.”

Unlike classes where there is often a right answer, the program introduces students

to the messy world of research, in which they have to ask the question themselves, and

the answers are often unclear.

“I learned what it takes to be a good grad student, how to manage working on many

projects, and staying on task,” said Ribail, who was participating in his second under-

graduate research project. “[Doing research over the summer] is a great opportunity to

see if research is for you. It exposes you to the research lifestyle.”

“The common misconception is ‘it’s too hard to do,’” he added. “It’s not too hard,

but there is a learning curve.” ❚

REU Students Nathan Sparks and Brandon Daub

C I V I L A N D E N V I R O N M E N T A L E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S L E T T E R | 2 0 1 6 11

alumni & donoRs

Given a second chance, Bell returns the favor

Given an extra hand a time or two, Bob Bell

(’66 B.S. CE) is a believer in second chances—he

is now returning the favor.

Bell first began considering his future

engineering career halfway through his senior

year in high school. A native of Ephrata, he had

spent his summers working for the Washington

State Department of Transportation on a

surveying crew in the Cascade Mountains.

While he and his crewmates hiked 15 to 20

miles a day to do the surveying work, he

noticed that the crew leader, an engineer, rode

a horse.

“I wanted to be the guy that got to ride the

horse,” said Bell. “On that basis, I picked my

major.”

Bell’s prospects were dismal, though, his

high school counselor told him.

No college was going to accept him with his

GPA, which was below 2.0. Fortunately, the

counselor had a friend in the WSU Admissions

office. Schools don’t normally count a student’s

second semester of senior year, he was told, but

if he could get his GPA above 2.0, he would be

accepted at WSU.

To raise his GPA to the minimum, Bell

would have to earn a sky high 3.6 GPA for the

semester.

“How can I do that?” he asked the counselor,

dismayed.

The counselor told him that at the

beginning of his classes, the teachers hand out

books. When he received his books, Bell would

need to open and read them.

Bell went on to earn a 3.8 that semester,

graduated with a 2.12 and was accepted into

WSU—on probation.

There he enjoyed classes from top professors

like Emmett Moore. Moore started with the

absolute basics, which, for the late-blooming

Bell, helped him succeed. Building on their

solid engineering base, Moore then led his

students through increasingly complex

concepts.

“By the time we finished, we were all

extremely proficient,” said Bell.

He also attended a required six week,

summer surveying camp that was part of the

curriculum. Engineers, who often work with

surveyors, can sometimes underestimate

surveying work on a project or not provide an

accurate description to the surveyors of what

they need, he said. The survey camp gave him

and other students the hands-on experience

that made them better engineers.

“I think that was extremely valuable,” he

said.

Still, Bell also faced another seemingly

insurmountable hurdle as he worked his way

through college. His family was too poor to

pay his tuition. He worked summers for the

highway department, and during breaks, he

also butchered animals—$12.50 for a steer and

$5 for sheep.

But, what allowed him to finish school was

a scholarship that he received from an Ephrata

couple, Irma Jean and Cliff Moe.

“That saved my bacon,” he said.

Bell went on to graduate and eventually

started Bell and Associates, an engineering

consulting firm in Alaska, with his colleague,

John Herring. He has led the firm for more

than 35 years. He also served on the Anchorage

Municipal Assembly and has written two books

of short stories on Alaska adventures.

With a lifetime of success behind him,

Bell now enjoys returning the favor for other

students through the Bell scholarship. And,

he was especially pleased to see a familiar

name when he provided a scholarship this

year to one Ephrata student. Along with his

scholarship was one from the Moes, who had

long ago supported him.

“Irma Jean was my inspiration to set up our

scholarship at WSU,” he said. ❚

If you are interested in providing student

scholarship support in the Department of Civil and

Environmental Engineering, contact Bridget Pilcher,

development director, at 509-335-0144 or

pilcher@wsu.edu, or go to ce.wsu.edu/giving/.

Bob Bell

12 C E . W S U . E D U

Elmer Robinson, a former Washington State University professor and section head of the Air Pollution Research Section of chemical engineering, passed away earlier this year.

Robinson received degrees in meteorology from University of California, Los Angeles and from Stanford. He began his career in 1968 at the Stanford Research Institute, where he was one of the first scientists to link the burning of fossil fuels to the possibility of global warming.

As a climate scientist he conducted research in Alaska, Greenland, and Antarctica involving analysis of ice cores dating back thousands of years, determining historical trends of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and measuring the hole

in Earth’s protective ozone layer.

In 1972, Robinson and his family relocated to Pullman after he accepted a job as a professor at WSU. He became a part of the Air Pollution Research Section of chemical engineering. He conducted and collaborated in various air quality related research studies throughout the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

In 1985, Robinson became director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mauna Loa Research Observatory in Hawaii. The research observatory is the world’s oldest

continuous carbon dioxide monitoring station. He retired in 1996 and later moved to Medford, Oregon in 1999. ❚

alumni & donoRsalumni & donoRs

In memoriam: Elmer Robinson

Alumnus builds civic leadership on engineering degree

The practical problem-solving Erik Larson

learned as a civil engineering student at

Washington State University is serving

him well in politics. His term as mayor

began earlier this year in Aberdeen, a small

Washington town located about an hour west

of Olympia.

“My engineering education has definitely

allowed me to be more involved in planning

and decision-making, which I believe will

reduce miscommunication and delays,”

Larson said. Specifically, he mentioned the

benefits of the engineering economics course

at WSU.

Investment, infrastructure“Aberdeen has been going through tough

economic times most of my life, and I felt

that the town was not making the right

investments in our future,” he explained.

“Eventually, I decided the best way to change

the direction the city was headed was to get

involved.”

He sees his engineering education as a

boon, allowing him to be more integral to

infrastructure planning projects.

A major flood retention and community

development project in partnership with

the neighboring city of Hoquiam is in the

initial planning stages. In the end, it will

reduce flood insurance rates, improve prop-

erty values, and improve the community’s

access to the waterfront.

“It will be an enormous first step toward

an economically healthy and sustainable

Aberdeen,” Larson said.

At WSU, Larson was a member of the

Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and was active

in the Steel Bridge Club: “Looking back, I

think I did as much learning outside of the

classroom as I did inside,” he said.

Hometown attractionHe seeks to make Aberdeen more appealing

for young adults and hopes to encourage that

demographic to return home like he did.

“It is a small community where everyone

knows each other and you just feel at home,

but not so small that you feel disconnected

from the world,” he said.

He added that Aberdeen is close to the

ocean, the Olympic National Park rainforest,

and miles of timberland, making it a good spot

for recreational activities.

“I personally love being able to hunt and

fish on the weekends and still make it home

in time to clean up and head downtown for a

beer and some Cougar football,” he said. ❚

By Michelle Fredrickson, Voiland College of Engineering & Architecture

Erik Larson

C I V I L A N D E N V I R O N M E N T A L E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S L E T T E R | 2 0 1 6 13

depaRtment news

New WSU construction engineering degree

Washington State University began offering

the first accredited bachelor of science degree

in construction engineering in the Pacific

Northwest in fall of 2016, bolstering its

efforts to meet high demand in the heavy

construction industry.

More than 150 construction and

engineering contractors in the region

supported WSU’s efforts to establish the new

program.

“Construction engineering is primarily

geared to heavy construction, so this new

major, which we are supporting with an

endowed scholarship fund, provides us with

the opportunity to focus our support towards

students who will be working for contractors

like our members,” said Dave Woods,

executive director of The Beavers, Inc., a heavy

construction industry association.

According to the American Society of Civil

Engineers, the nation’s aging infrastructure,

including bridges, roadways, and water

systems, needs $3.6 trillion in investment

by 2020. At the same time, the heavy civil

construction industry has undergone a

paradigm shift in the way that large-scale

projects are built. Design/build project delivery,

in which one entity works under a single

contract to design and build a project, requires

that onsite construction managers have a

technical engineering background as well as

knowledge of estimating scheduling, contracts,

and construction methods.

Two years ago, faculty members in the civil

engineering and construction management

programs came together to establish a

construction engineering track within the civil

engineering curriculum that allowed students

to take construction management courses. The

program has been enormously popular, and the

new degree expands and formalizes that effort,

providing training in engineering principles

along with business and management concepts

for construction professionals.

“The news of the new WSU construction

engineering degree is welcomed by not only

Kiewit but our entire industry,” said Scott

Cassels, executive vice president of Kiewit

Corporation, which is one of the largest

construction companies in the United States.

“We have had great success recruiting young

men and women from WSU because they

are prepared to join the workforce with the

experience and skills they need to succeed.

Kiewit looks for qualified people to build

increasingly complex construction projects.

The additional opportunities that will be

available as a result of this curriculum will

benefit students as they prepare for careers in

construction.”

Students who study construction

engineering will be trained in heavy

infrastructure design, building design, and

construction technology. They will take core

engineering courses as well as courses in heavy/

civil construction administration, heavy/civil

estimating, earthwork and equipment, human

factors/management, delivery systems, and

planning and scheduling. Graduates will be

able to enter the contracting industry and

obtain a professional engineer license.

“This unique combination of engineering

and management principles prepares graduates

who can excel in the modern construction

industry,” said Balasingam Muhunthan,

chair of WSU’s Department of Civil and

Environmental Engineering. ❚

Faculty News and NotesBender named as interim dean of Voiland College Don Bender has been named interim dean for the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. He replaces Candis

Claiborn, who stepped down from the position she held for a decade to return to her faculty position in the Depart-

ment of Civil and Environmental Engineering. A national search for a new dean is underway. With Washington State

University since 1997, Bender is the Weyerhaeuser distinguished professor in the Department of Civil and Environ-

mental Engineering and director of the Composite Materials and Engineering Center. ❚

Lamb named AAAS fellow Brian K. Lamb has been named fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his efforts to

advance science and/or its applications. This year, 347 members were awarded this honor. Lamb, a regents professor

in civil and environmental engineering, was named for furthering understanding of biogenic emissions in air quality,

including the Biogenic Emission Inventory System used worldwide. ❚

Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringPO Box 642910Pullman, WA 99164-2910

Paddle on: WSU has long been known for providing hands-on, real world experience outside the classroom that makes our graduates work ready on day one.