Civil engineering student Audrey Quilala rolls into her sophomore year with new skills, invaluable connections and a better idea of where her engineering journey could lead after an internship of hands-on projects and eye-opening site visits with the Sacramento County Department of Transportation.
Before coming to UC Davis, Keira Folkers saw environmental engineering as a way to turn research into solutions that address climate issues and help protect ecosystems. Now, she sees it as a necessary piece in a much larger restoration and conservation puzzle.
Engineering is both a rigorous discipline and an art form to Natalia Wilson, an outgoing civil engineering student at UC Davis. “Throughout my time here, I’ve come to understand that our engineering education is really about teaching a way to think,” she said.
After months of studying, fourth-year civil engineering major Clifton Heatlie completed and passed his Fundamentals of Engineering exam. He reflects on the steps he took to prepare and other aspects of engineering at UC Davis that supported him along the way.
The Project Scientist makes significant and creative contributions to a research or creative project in their academic discipline. The appointee possesses the subject matter expertise and the creative energy necessary to function at a high level of competence. The appointee will participate in activities to increase, improve, or upgrade competency.
The Project Scientist makes significant and creative contributions to a research or creative project in their academic discipline. The appointee possesses the subject matter expertise and the creative energy necessary to function at a high level of competence. The appointee will participate in activities to increase, improve, or upgrade competency.
When it comes to resilience, Andrea Solis Olguin clearly embodies it. As a recent UC Davis graduate with a B.S. in civil engineering and a minor in sustainability in the built environment, Solis carries the weight and strength of various identities: she was a reentry student, an international student, and a transfer student. She is also an engineer, a photographer, a storyteller, and a mosaic of lived experiences.
The CEE Department recently celebrated our amazing undergraduate and graduate students with student scholarship and fellowship awards. Congratulations to all our awardees!
Undergraduate Awards:
Department Citation 2024-25
Given to graduating seniors in recognition of their outstanding academic achievement. This year we have ten recipients:
We spoke with the environmental engineering major to learn more about how her dad's background in electrical engineering sparked her interest in engineering, the value of independent research and where she sees herself after graduation.
We spoke with the civil engineering major to learn more about his interest in geotechnical engineering, advice he would give to incoming first-years and what he aims to accomplish as an incoming master's student at UC Davis.
Picnic Day 2025 brought excitement, innovation, and hands-on learning to Ghausi Hall, where students, faculty, and visitors gathered to celebrate engineering in action. The day featured a series of engaging exhibits and interactive experiences both inside and outside the hall.
The festivities kicked off at 9:00 AM outside the front of Ghausi Hall, where guests enjoyed morning activities, student showcases, and refreshments in a relaxed, social atmosphere.
Lei Zhou is a PhD candidate at UC Davis specializing in performance-based multi-hazard engineering with a focus on structural aging and climate change. Under the mentorship of Dr. Michele Barbato, Lei is dedicated to advancing research and education in structural engineering. His work integrates innovative methodologies to address critical challenges in building resilience and sustainability.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Third International Conference on Performance-based Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering (PBD-III) in Vancouver, BC, Vancouver was held from July 16-19.
