Producing materials such as steel, plastics and cement in the United States alone inflicts $79 billion a year in climate-related damage around the world, according to a new study by engineers and economists at the University of California, Davis. Accounting for these costs in market prices could encourage progress toward climate-friendly alternatives.
Improving indoor air quality is the goal of a new video series developed by experts at the University of California, Davis in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health. Aimed at building and facility managers, the videos distill the science of air quality into steps building and facility managers can take to remove pollutants, including viruses, from the place we spend most of our time -- indoors.
Assistant Prof. Michael Gardner is co-leading a team that is headed to Florida to investigate the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and to understand how we can design and build more resilient infrastructure that can handle such extreme events. Learn more about the effort below.
The UC Davis Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering is excited to welcome two new faculty to the Department this fall, Dr. Alvar Escriva-Bou and Dr. Casey De Finnda. Both bring their distinctive expertise to focus on critical water challenges at the nexus of food, energy, environment, and climate.
Production of cement is responsible for nearly 7% of global CO2 emissions. This is because concrete is the second most consumed material in the world, and the chemical reactions that occur during concrete production using traditional methods give off CO2. Concrete is used in pavements, buildings, dams, among many other uses. We urgently need ways to make concrete more climate friendly. Two UC Davis professors are helping drive the changes needed, Prof.’s John Harvey and Somayeh Nassiri.
After a high school environmental science class sparked an interest in civil and environmental engineering, graduating senior Genevieve Burye pursued her passion at UC Davis. She reflects on the people and experiences that continued to deepen her commitment to engineering a better world for all.
From building a concrete canoe to serving as ASCE president, graduating civil and environmental engineering student Freesia Finn has gained valuable experience and invaluable friendships from her time at UC Davis.
We are proud to announce that our undergraduate team, who worked tirelessly since Fall 2023, saw their hard work pay off when they took home one of the coveted awards of the competition. The annual design competition, which was held in Seattle this year in conjunction with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Annual Meeting, featured over 40 teams from around the world.
Under the leadership of Professor Kari Watkins, the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies won $1.7 million in research funding for a Climate Change and Transportation Research Center in a national competition funded by the US Department of Transportation (DOT). The Center will advance research and technologies to support the Nation’s clean energy goals, accelerate decarbonization of the transportation sector, strengthen the resilience of the Nation’s transportation infrastructure, and address environmental inequities created by the transportation system.
The UC Davis Postdoctoral Scholars Association has awarded Dr. Nitin Kumar with the 2024 Postdoctoral Excellence Award. The award recognizes the vital role that postdoctoral scholars play in supporting excellent research, mentoring, and outreach at UC Davis. Dr. Kumar focuses his research on engineering earth block construction for affordable, eco-efficient, and hazard-resistant dwellings. The recipients of the award received a certificate and cash prize and were invited to the 2024 Postdoctoral Research Symposium, which took place on April 24, 2024.
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, the University of California, Davis, College of Engineering recognizes women in engineering, their journey to and in the field, and how they promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive world.
Meet some remarkable women in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and learn how they inspire inclusion in engineering.
Laura Luna (our Ph.D. student) mentored two CEE undergrad students, Isabella Lera, and Jessica Lee, as they prepared a submission for the 2024 GeoVideo competition hosted by ASCE's GeoInstitute.
They were invited to attend GeoCongress in Vancouver to compete in the finals and were awarded top place.
We're proud of our colleague, Katerina Ziotopoulou, PhD, PE., who received the USUCGER Early Educator Award at the 2024 ASCE GeoCongress in Vancouver. This award can be awarded by the USUCGER Board, once every two years, to an affiliate of a USUCGER-member institution who has provided educational and/or professional development services to the USUCGER community.
Professor Fabian Bombardelli has received an honorific degree as Doctor Honoris Causa from the National University of La Plata (UNLP), Argentina. This is the highest academic accolade from UNLP. Prof. Bombardelli is a world-leader in hydraulic modeling and environmental fluid mechanics, and he received this honorific during a ceremony at which he presented a lecture titled "Numerical Simulation of Air Entrainment in Stepped Spillways: From Engineering to Research." You can read more about his accomplishments and the impact of his work here (in Spanish).
Dr. Ahmad Hassan was selected as the 2024 recipient of the Reidar Bjorhovde Outstanding Young Professional Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). This prestigious award provides recipients with mentorship and connects them with leaders in the steel industry that will help to foster a broad look at the world of steel. Dr. Hassan graduated with his Ph.D.
Prof. Emeritus Patricia (Pat) Mokhtarian was elected to the 2024 class of the National Academy of Engineering for her contributions to "improved transportation systems planning and practice through quantifying human behavior." Prof. Mokhtarian is a world-leading researcher on travel behavior. Her work on the impact of telecommunications technology on travel behavior long predates the huge shift that has taken place over the last few years.
Massive rainstorms. Earthquakes. Natural phenomena are constantly reshaping the world around us, sometimes with disastrous consequences. In the Rock Hardepisode of the hit public TV show Home Diagnosis Prof.'s Jason DeJong and Ross Bolanger and Dr.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has awarded the 2024 Raymond C. Reese Research Prize to Amit Kanvinde, Professor at UC Davis’s Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Aditya Jhunjhunwala, his PhD student. The Raymond C. Reese Research Prize, created in 1970, is given to authors of an article that “describes a notable achievement in research related to structural engineering and which indicates how the research can be used,” according to the ASCE website.
UC Vice President for Research & Innovation Theresa Maldonado and UC Davis Vice Chancellor for Research visited the CEE Center for Geotechnical Modeling on January 23rd, where they learned about the 45 year history of the facility and plans to maintain the CGM as the premiere facility in the US for centrifuge-based research. The CGM hosts two centrifuges, one with a smaller 1-m radius and a massive 9-m radius. The high-gravity environment created when the centrifuges spin allows for investigation of a host of important problems in geotechnical engineering using scaled models.
For decades, California has led the way to a low-carbon economy that serves all people, especially when it comes to transformation of our transportation infrastructure.
In a groundbreaking shift from the past, the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) has comprehensively addressed some of the strategies and measures that are needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb the worst effects of climate change. UC Davis Assistant Professor Alan Jenn and Professor Alissa Kendall both played significant roles in developing this comprehensive assessment.
At commencement, she congratulates every student by name — then they ask for a hug.
She spearheaded the drive to establish an undergraduate environmental engineering major at UC Davis, knowing women are drawn to the field.
And in the words of her department chair: “She cares passionately about creating opportunities for others and institutionalizing the change needed to allow women and other underrepresented persons to thrive in engineering.”
Transportation systems play a huge role in how we get around. Unfortunately, this comes with a downside: an epidemic of traffic injuries and death. To get ahead of this, Prof. Kari Watkins and collaborators at Georgia Tech and the University of Minnesota have proposed a transformative new framework for traffic safety—the Safe Systems Pyramid. The Safe Systems Pyramid emphasizes the importance of a focus on improving the systems that govern our transportation infrastructure over trying to modify individual behavior.
This year Professor Michele Barbato is being awarded with the "Jonathon Burdette Brown Education" Award from the ASCE Sacramento Chapter. The Sacramento Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers announce the outstanding individuals and remarkable projects that have earned recognition in this year's Sacramento Section ASCE Awards. These awards celebrate the dedication and hard work of those who are driving positive change in our city through civil engineering. Congratulations Michele!
Professor Ross Boulanger was named the 9th Ishihara Lecturer by the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering's (ISSMGE) Technical Committee on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering (TC203). This is a distinguished group of lecturers who have been instrumental in the geotechnical earthquake engineering field. Professor Boulanger will receive the award and give an award lecture at the 8th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering in Osaka, Japan in March 2024.
Professor Michele Barbato was selected as the UC Davis Innovator of the Year Award for his continued work with adobe as a nature-based solution for sustainable, climate-resilient earthen construction. For more information about Professor Barbato's award, read this article: Engineering Faculty Receive UC Davis Innovation Awards at 2023 Ceremony | College of Engineering. Congratulations Michele!
On May 23rd the Civil & Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Awards and Scholarships for 2023-2024 held place on Ghausi Hall.
The department chair Chris Cappa, the vice chair for undergraduate studies Colleen Bronner, and Professor Jason DeJong gave the awards to the graduating seniors in recognition of their outstanding academic achievement.
Professor Sashi Kunnath was recently honored as a distinguished member of ASCE for his contributions to civil engineering, ASCE, and mentorship. Professor Kunnath's outstanding dedication to earthquake engineering and collapse analysis has been instrumental to the advancement of the field. More information about his work and recognition by ASCE can be found on the ASCE website. Congratulations Dr. Kunnath!
Professor Geoff Schladow, Director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, appeared in the recent NPR Weekend Edition Sunday to discuss the presence of zooplankton in Lake Tahoe. He was interviewed by Ayesha Rascoe about the role of the microorganisms in the lake and their importance to the ecosystem. The interview and transcript can be found on the NPR website.
Read on to learn some words of wisdom from Ivan regarding the challenges of graduate school.
Tell us about yourself in few words?
My name is Ivan Xiao. I come from Guangzhou, China. I studied Transportation Engineering for my Bachelor's degree at Southeast University and completed my Master's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at UC Davis. Currently, I am pursuing a Ph.D. in CEE.
Congratulations to CEE Professor Sashi Kunnath for being elected as a Distinguished Member of ASCE. He is one of only 12 inductees awarded this title this year out of a total membership of 143,000. Here are more details about the honor -
Congratulations to CEE graduate Berkley Anderson on being selected to receive the American Water Works Association's Second Place 2023 Academic Achievement Award for the best Masters Thesis. AWWA is the main professional society covering drinking water treatment and this is a competitive award category. The award will be presented at the AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition in Toronto, June 11-14, 2023, during the plenary session on Monday, June 12.
Mohammad Rahman is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis working as a Graduate Student Researcher at the University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC).
In this month's Graduate Student Spotlight, we'll be learning more about Mohammad and his research at UC Davis.
Congratulations to CEE Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou on receiving the 2023 Young Researcher Award (under age 40) from the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering's (ISSMGE) Technical Committee on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering. The award was just announced, with Katerina scheduled to receive the award and give an award lecture at the 8th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering in Osaka, Japan, in March 2024.
The Bower Award is a major prize, and Deb was honored "for pioneering the advancement and application of knowledge at the intersections among infrastructure, environment, public health, and equity through groundbreaking research on transportation systems and climate-related hazards."
CEE Professor Alissa Kendall, along with graduate students Kristi Dayemo and Margaret Slattery of the Energy Graduate Group, and colleagues at Providence College and the Climate + Community Project have released a groundbreaking new report showing the lithium footprint of transport decarbonization. Decarbonization strategies rely on battery electric vehicles (EVs). This will create an unprecedented demand for critical metals such as lithium used in their batteries. Large-scale mining for metals creates numerous environmental harms and has major impacts on surrounding communities. Prof.
CEE Professor Jason DeJong has been awarded the inaugural Shamsher Prakash Award and Lecture from ASCE. This newly established ASCE award is to be given annually to a "younger" geotechnical engineer (50 years or less) for cumulative distinguished contributions.
Naturally occurring microbes could help stabilize the ground under buildings during earthquakes due to the way they reduce the water content in soils, according to new research.
One existing approach to stabilizing liquefaction-prone soils known as grouting is to inject concrete into the soil under vulnerable structures to cement the ground together.
U.S. commuters take approximately ten billion trips on public transit each year, but the industry is still recovering from the hits it took during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kari Watkins, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, was interviewed by The Conversation to discuss what cities can do to increase public transportation ridership and how people can make better use of this environmentally friendly mode of transportation.
Dr. Jay Lund was elected as a 2022 American Geophysical Union Fellow for his continued contributions and achievements in the Earth sciences. This prestigious recognition is awarded to top innovators in the field, and Fellows are selected because they embody the AGU values of equity, diversity, and integrity in the sciences. We are incredibly proud of Dr. Lund and the impact that he has in our own community and beyond. Congratulations Dr. Lund!
Dr. Michele Barbato was selected by UC Davis Graduate Studies to receive a 2022 Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Award for outstanding service in advising and mentoring graduate students at the program level. Congratulations Dr. Barbato for your vital role in mentoring the academic and professional development of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at the University of California, Davis!
Scientists at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling have compiled the most detailed experimental data yet seen on how liquefaction-induced downdrag can add to the structural load applied to a pile foundation during earthquake shaking.
Congratulation to Professor Heather Bischel for her NSF CAREER award, which was just announced yesterday! The award is titled "PFAS-BioAction: Innovative treatment of municipal solid waste organics through insect-mediated bioprocessing and sequestration of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances."
Dr. Michele Barbato was awarded the 2021 ASCE Outstanding Reviewer Award for the Journal of Composites for Construction. This award is given annually to reviewers selected by the ASCE journals’ editors for their exemplary contributions to voluntary peer review. The Outstanding Reviewer Award was established in 2009 by the Journals Division of ASCE to recognize the altruistic contributions of dedicated reviewers.
Professor Barbarto along with CEE Ph.D. Student Diogo Zignago, who co-authored the paper “Reliability-Based Calibration of New Design Procedure for Reinforced Concrete Columns under Simultaneous Confinement by Fiber-Reinforced Polymers and Steel” (https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CC.1943-5614.0001199) has been selected as Editor’s Choice for 2022’s 3rd issue of the ASCE Journal of Composites for Construction.
As an environmental science engineer, A. James “Jim” Peterson recognized the need for hands-on learning experiences to prepare individuals to handle ecological crises effectively.
Prof. Mike Kleeman is one of the authors of recent research, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, that demonstrates how switching to renewable energy like solar, wind, and water power will also reduce racial and ethnic disparities in exposure to air pollution.
The Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at UC Davis is excited to have Prof. Kari E. Watkins join our department as an Associate Professor. Prof. Watkins is a leading expert in transit, whose research contributes to the goal of expanding mobility options by improving transit, walking, bicycling, and other alternatives to driving. Her work supports societal efforts to reduce the climate impacts of transportation and improve transportation equity.
Reporter David Owen interviewed CEE Professor Jay Lund and WFCB Professor Emeritus Peter Moyle for a feature about the Sacramento River Delta and how best to protect the freshwater that millions of people depend on for drinking and agriculture. The piece covers the industrialization of the Delta, conservation issues like the Delta smelt, land subsidence, levee failures, and more. You can read the full article here.
Professor Kimberly Stillmaker was recognized with the Fresno State 2022 Provost Award for Promising New Faculty. Prof. Stillmaker graduated from UC Davis in 2013 with a master's in structural engineering and in 2016 with a Ph.D. in structural engineering. She currently teaches at Fresno State and researches the seismic performance of steel and timber structural elements. Congratulations, Prof. Stillmaker! Go Ags!
Every year, we see more electric vehicles (EVs) on the road. By 2035, all new passenger vehicles sold in California will be EVs to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful pollutants. As EVs take over, we need new approaches to deal with manufacturing EV batteries and the end-of-life challenges EV batteries face.
Professor Emeritus Wilfried Brutsaert was awarded the 2022 Stockholm Water Prize for his groundbreaking work on quantifying terrestrial evaporation and its role in the energy balance of Earth. His work has allowed for accurate estimations of evolving precipitation levels, along with new ways of understanding groundwater storage. Professor Brutsaert's work is especially important given the climate crisis.
The UC Davis ASCE Student Chapter hosted the 2022 Mid-Pacific Competition from March 31 to April 2. Student teams from the West Coast and beyond competed in a variety of activities, from constructing and racing a concrete canoe to designing, fabricating, and building a 22-foot-long steel bridge. UC Davis came in third overall out of 16 competing teams!
Civil and environmental engineering professor Sabbie Miller has received $1.5M in federal funding from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E agency to advance the methods and metrics necessary to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration in building materials.
We are proud to announce that Graduate Program Coordinator Lauren Worrell received the 2022 NACADA Region 9 Award for Excellence in Advising for her primary role as an academic advisor.
Professor Boris Jeremic and his colleagues Alain Pecker and James J. Johnson have published a book on seismic soil-structure interaction analysis in the design and assessment of nuclear interactions. His work is printed through the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency and is summarized as follows:
Zoe Kanavas, an MSc/Ph.D. candidate in Water Resources Engineering, has been honored for her outstanding work through the American Geophysical Union. She was selected to join the first cohort of AGU's Local Science Partners program, which empowers ambassador AGU members to build sustainable partnerships with their local policymakers. Ambassadors will receive skills-building workshops and have the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. to visit Congress members. Congratulations, Zoe!
The department is honored to be hosting Dr. Amit Varma as he delivers his 2021 T. R. Higgins Lecture "SpeedCore and Steel-Concrete Composite Construction: The Best of Both Worlds." This lecture will be held from 4-5 pm on March 11, 2022, in 1003 GiedtHall. There will be a reception after the event.
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced in a press release on Feb. 9 that Professor Dan Sperling has been elected as a member of the 2022 class of the NAE for leadership and outstanding entrepreneurial contributions in transportation energy, advancing alternative energy policies and promoting government-industry-university collaborations.
In a continuation of the Bischel team's work on wastewater analysis with Healthy Davis Together, Hannah Safford, Karen Shapiro, and Professor Bischel published an op-ed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The article, titled Opinion: Wastewater analysis can be a powerful public health tool—if it’s done sensibly, can be found here. Congratulations, Hannah and Professor Bischel!
Professor Alejandro Martinez is one of two recipients of the 2022 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award, with the other recipient being Professor Brett Maurer of University of Washington, Seattle.
The paper “Experimental investigation of postearthquake vertical load-carrying capacity of scoured reinforced concrete pile group bridge foundations” has been selected as Editor’s Choice for 2021’s 12th issue of the ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering. This paper was co-authored by CEE Professor Michele Barbato and is the result of an ongoing research collaboration with Tongji University. Congratulations, Professor Barbato!
CA Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed landmark legislation by State Senator Josh Becker that will make California the first state to directly target greenhouse gas emissions from cement. Senate Bill 596 also is the first bill in any California sector to focus on achieving net-zero emissions.
Fire has always been part of the Western landscape, but the fire season gets longer and more severe every year. So far this year, California has seen four of the largest wildfires in its history, and the Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history, is still burning after two months.
Fire is part of our future. What can we do to protect homes, neighborhoods and communities and make them more resilient to fire hazards? Hear from two UC Davis experts on these and related questions Sept. 30.
Congratulations Professor Amit Kanvinde for receiving the 2022 American Institute of Steel Construction T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award. This award recognizes outstanding researchers whose technical papers made outstanding contribution to the literature on fabricated structural steel.
Each year, AISC's T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award recognizes an outstanding lecturer and author whose technical paper or papers, published during the eligibility period, are considered an outstanding contribution to the engineering literature on fabricated structural steel.
Mentorship and advising are a critical component to graduate student success and this award celebrates those individuals who provide outstanding service in this area. Graduate programs nominated faculty members who displayed outstanding excellence in advising and mentoring of their graduate students. As part of the nomination process, these Graduate programs highlighted faculty for their service to the program, commitment to advising and mentoring, and positive impact on graduate students and colleagues.
The American Philosophical Society Welcomes New Members for 2021. Election to the American Philosophical Society honors extraordinary accomplishments in all fields. The APS is unusual among learned societies because its Membership is composed of top scholars from a wide variety of academic disciplines.
Professor Emeritus Deb Niemeier was selected as a member of Class 1 Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
Recently, Professor Fabian Bombardelli was elected as a fellow of the Environmental & Water Resources Institute, which is ASCE's technical source for environmental and water-related issues.
Decarbonizing California Transportation by 2045
Report to State Outlines Policy Pathways to Meet the Zero-Carbon Time Crunch
UC Davis News and Media Relations recently highlighted the research contributions of department faculty members Austin Brown, Dan Sperling, and grad group member Susan Handy for their work on the "Driving California’s Transportation Emissions to Zero" report.
Katerina Ziotopoulou, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering recipient of National Science Foundation Early Career Award. She was granted a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award of more than $500,000 for her research in soil liquefaction.
Jon Herman for received NSF CAREER award for his work on "Dynamic adaptation of water resources systems to navigate uncertain hydrologic and human stressors."
Fall spotlight on award-winning doctoral candidate and mentor
Kanotha Kamau-Devers, a doctoral candidate working with Prof. Sabbie Miller, is currently researching composites of bio-renewable polymers and natural fibers designed to offer low environmental impact alternatives to certain contemporary construction materials.
An internationally-recognized leader in the field of soil mechanics and foundation engineering, civil engineer Izzat (Ed) Idriss, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, has influenced the construction of dams, nuclear power plants, office buildings, hospitals, and bridges around the world.
From studying environmental and molecular biogeochemistry to addressing water quality issues, Jasquelin Peña looks forward to sharing her knowledge and connecting with UC Davis students this fall.
Eighty-five of the nation’s brightest early-career engineers have been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 26th annual US Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) symposium. Engineers who are performing exceptional research and technical work in a variety of disciplines will come together for the two-and-a-half day event. The participants -- from industry, academia, and government -- were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations.
Laura Hernandez-Bassal, PE, is a current structural and earthquake engineering Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis. Recently, she was awarded fellowships from the ACI Foundation and ASCE.
The ACI Foundation is a non-profit subsidiary of ACI that promotes progress, innovation, and collaboration in the concrete industry through strategic investments in research, scholarship, and ideas.
The ACI Foundation awarded Hernandez-Bassal the ACI Presidents' Fellowship.
Professor Michele Barbato has been awarded the 2020 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize for “his outstanding research in structural engineering and engineering mechanics, with emphasis on finite element response sensitivity analysis, seismic response steel-concrete composite systems, seismic pounding mitigation, performance-based hurricane engineering and hurricane hazard mitigation, nonstationary stochastic dynamics, multi-hazard performance-based engineering, and sustainable construction materials.”
Alejandro Martinez, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program, for his proposal, “Soil Penetration Through Bioinspired Stress State Manipulation.”
The grant is worth up to $500,000 over five years. Martinez studies bioinspired geotechnics, a field that looks to biological organisms for inspiration to solve problems in geotechnical engineering.
University of California, Davis, Chancellor Gary S. May announced Feb. 7 he will award the UC Davis Medal to alumnus Bruce West, chair of the UC Davis Foundation Board and a member of the Chancellor’s Board of Advisors.
The chancellor made the surprise announcement at a foundation board meeting this morning. “I’m pleased to say that the 2020 recipient of the UC Davis Medal is right here in the room,” May said as he turned to West.
Professor James Cheney passed away on Nov. 22, 2019, just before Thanksgiving. He was one of the first faculty hired in the Civil Engineering in 1962 and remained with the faculty until his retirement. Please follow the link here to read more about his life, both personal and professional.
Professor Brian Maroney speaker on panel at ASCE/SEI Symposium
Many UCD students and alumni attended the ASCE/SEI San Francisco Chapter hosted a symposium on resilience to mark the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. The speaker panel consisted of representatives from BART, Caltrans, EBMUD, City of Oakland, and the San Francisco Office of Resilience and Capital Planning. This event presented a unique opportunity to learn about the resiliency efforts of major building and infrastructure agencies in the Bay Area.
His grandfather was a UC Berkeley civil engineering graduate. But UC Davis ran in his family, too: As a little boy, Hoopes actually lived on the UC Davis campus with his family while his father pursued his Ph.D. in Russian history. After his dad’s hiring as the first professor at Eureka’s College of the Redwoods, Hoopes grew up in Humboldt County enjoying his math studies and participating in summertime survey-crew internships.
Everyone knows cigarettes are bad for you. Much research has been done and because of that, legislators have put a lot of sales restrictions and taxes on them. This is why companies are developing new products that deliver nicotine such as vapes, small cigars and cigarillos that have sugary flavors to addict a new generation of users.
These newer products have really caught on, especially with young people, who are adopting them faster than they can be researched or regulated.
Lake Tahoe, with its iconic blue waters straddling the borders of Nevada and California, continues to face a litany of threats related to climate change. But a promising new project to remove tiny invasive shrimp could be a big step toward climate-proofing its famed lake clarity.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professors Holly Oldroyd and Verónica Morales each received the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award for their research in environmental engineering.
Graduate Program Coordinator Lauren Worrell was awarded the Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award for her outstanding contributions to UC Davis and conduct which goes above and beyond in support of the university’s core values.
Trevor Carey, a doctoral candidate working with Prof. Bruce L. Kutter, won one of the two 2018-2019 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program’s (NEHRP) fellowships.
Prof. Morales’ research on Fundamental Controls of Transport Attributes from Porous Media Microstructure was granted a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award.
UC Davis’ Women in Water Research team announced it will take the plunge for the third consecutive year in the Trans Tahoe Relay, a 10-mile swim across the alpine lake — no wetsuits permitted.
The NSF-funded workshop, the product of a year and a half of planning by UC Davis civil and environmental engineering professors Alejandro Martinez and Jason DeJong, brought together 60 experts from engineering and science research, as well as industry, to foster dialogue and collaborations to better establish the field of bio-inspired geotechnics.
Professor Bassam Younis and his research team have developed a UV system that eliminates many of the problems inherent in conventional UV light water disinfection device designs.
A return to more normal weather and streamflow conditions in 2018 saw Lake Tahoe’s annual clarity value improve dramatically to 70.9 feet. This represents a 10.5-foot increase over the 2017 value. That is according to a report of Lake Tahoe clarity released by the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
CEE Distinguished Professor Levent Kavvas has been elected a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): the highest honor for an ASCE member.
The Geotechnical Graduate Student Society at UC Davis (GGSS) hosted its 12th annual Round Table and open house on March 8, drawing a record number of attendees and celebrating another year of geotechnical engineering at UC Davis.
CEE Professor Heather Bischel and graduate student Hannah Safford were chosen to receive the top $40,000 prize from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Pathogen Monitoring Prize Competition.
UC Davis professor and director of the Center for Watershed Sciences Jay Lund explains the important role UC Davis engineers will play in solving water problems that plague societies across the globe.
A small group of scientists and doctoral students from the University of California, Davis, recently returned from Antarctica, where they became the first group to collect turbulence measurements from an underwater glider beneath an ice shelf.
Professor John Harvey has been selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers to receive the 2019 Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award.
Prior to the start of fall term, the UC Davis Geotechnical Graduate Student Society (GGSS) hosted a tour of the Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM) for a group of Avenue Transfer Bridge students.
UC Davis CEE Department Chair Amit Kanvinde received the 2018 ASCE State of the Art of Civil Engineering Award for his paper, “Predicting Fracture in Civil Engineering Steel Structures: State of the Art,” published in the Journal of Structural Engineering in March 2017.
Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou received one of three 2018 Wakeham Mentoring Fellowships, an honor given to faculty and their mentees to support the exploration of mentoring best practices.
As an undergraduate physics major, Maureen Kinyua discovered her passion for science—combined with a sincere interest in helping others—could lead to a fruitful career in engineering.
Please join us in congratulating Professor Dan Sperling, who has received the Roy W. Crum Award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board (TRB).
Professor Ross Boulanger and the rest of the team at the CGM were thrilled to have UC Davis Chancellor Gary May tour the Center for Geotechnical Modeling.
Professor Emeritus at the UC Davis Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Ed Idriss received the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s (EERI) 2018 George W. Housner Medal at the 11th US National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (11NCEE) in Los Angeles last month.
Mohamed Elkashef, a postdoc working with Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor John Harvey and University of California Pavement Research Center Associate Director David Jones, recently received a 2018-2019 Mistletoe Research Fellowship.
On June 12, the UC Davis Solar Decathlon team, led by Professor Frank Loge in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the Excellence in Structural Engineering Award from the Structural Engineers Association of Central California for their work designing and building OurH2Ouse for the 2017 U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition.
CEE Master’s Student Maritza Flores Marquez was named a finalist for the 2018 Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education (JCWRE) Paper of the Year Award.
Assistant Professor Alex Forrest was one of three junior faculty members chosen from the UC Davis College of Engineering as 2017-2018 UC Davis Hellman Fellows.
Vivian Le, who is completing her fourth year and majoring in civil engineering, was honored by the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden for dedicating three years to the arboretum’s GATEways Outreach Program.
Jeffery Szytel (’98, civil and environmental engineering), is founder and CEO of Water Systems Consulting, Inc. (WSC), a full service civil and environmental engineering consulting firm that specializes in providing innovative One Water solutions to public agency clients throughout the western United States.
Alex San Pablo ’18 has found a support structure at UC Davis that sustains her in uncertain times, just like the structures she hopes to build one day as a civil engineer.
Ann Willis, a first-year Ph.D. student in civil and environmental engineering, recently achieved a milestone typically reserved for a senior researcher or faculty member: she secured a $492,000 grant through the state of California Wildlife Conservation Board for studying reconciliation ecology.
Ruwanka Purasinghe, who got his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UC Davis, was named a 2018 New Face of Civil Engineering by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Gary S. May, chancellor of the University of California, Davis, and Jay Lund, distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the university’s Center for Watershed Sciences, have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the academy announced today (Feb. 7).
A University of California, Davis research team led by civil and environmental engineering professors Geoff Schladow and Alex Forrest, along with environmental science and policy professor Steve Sadro, is launching a new project this month to test and optimize a strategy to improve water clarity in Emerald Bay and Lake Tahoe.
UC Davis research by a team including CEE’s Dr. Frank Loge connecting electricity savings and urban water conservation was spotlighted in The Los Angeles Times.
The California Energy Commission awarded the Center for Water and Energy Efficiency at UC Davis $3.1 million to pilot-test a system to help water utilities optimize their energy use and reduce operational costs while continuing to meet customers’ water needs.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Heather Bischel was recently honored by the Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland, for her research on sustainable sanitation.
The Third International Conference on Performance-based Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering (PBD-III) in Vancouver, BC, Vancouver was held from July 16-19.
John Harvey, professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the UC Pavement Research Center (UCPRC), presented the Rasmus S. Nordal keynote address to more than 400 delegates at the 10th Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields in Athens, Greece, on June 28, 2017.
Professor and UC Davis CEE Department Chair Amit Kanvinde has been chosen to be part of a group of 83 young engineers taking part in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 23rd Annual US Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) Symposium.
Professor Brian Maroney, chief Bay Bridge engineer for Caltrans, was interviewed by The San Francisco Chronicle on the demolition of the last of the Bay Bridge.
Please join us in congratulating Amit Kanvinde for being honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) with a Special Achievement Award.
Two engineering professors at the University of California, Davis, Deb Niemeier and Ross Boulanger, have been elected as members of the National Academy of Engineering, among the highest honors in the profession.
