Announcements

MSCE student Anneka LaBelle will present her MS thesis work entitled "Thornthwaite-Mather Soil-Water Balance Method to Estimate Current and Future Recharge Trends near Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota" on  Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 2:00 PM in CB 204W

CEE graduate student seminar series: we meet 4-5 pm in EP 253, starting at September 14th. The campus and Rapid City communities are welcome to attend any or all of these seminars. The schedule below will be updated as necessary on the http://cee.sdsmt.edu webpage. For more information, contact Dr. Scott Kenner at scott.kenner@sdsmt.edu.

10/12/11: Dr. Marc Robinson will present recent results from his composites research.

10/26/11: MSCE student Emily Fisher will present her thesis work entitled, "The evaluation of current best management practices (BMPs) for controlling non-point source pollution within an urban setting."

11/09/11: MSCE student Paul Kraft will present his FHWA funded thesis work entitled, "Development of full-depth reclamation laboratory tests: dynamic modulus and repeated load triaxial testing."

The CEE Department wishes to announce another new arrival.  A five-meter hydraulic flume [pictured below] was discovered on the front porch (aka the south side overhead door) two weeks ago with a note pinned to its overflow weir saying 'please take care of Flo'. Dr. Scott Kenner suggested we take it in and make it a part of the CEE family. He stated no other group could make it feel as important and useful as the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. Its gender is indeterminate but several felt it was feminine. Flo' flowed a healthy 0.75 cubic meters of water per minute and was pronounced in good health.

Lady Hardrocker Volleyball's outside hitter and BSCE senior, Madisen Lane, helped break the BHSU Yellowjackets 9-year winning streak with a 25-20 victory for the Lady Hardrockers on Saturday, Oct. 1st. Madisen scored three of the Hardrockers final five points in the fourth game and scored 13 kills. Earlier in the day, the Lady Hardrockers won 4 games over Sioux Falls, yielding eight straight wins overall for the day. For more information about the Lady Hardrockers, see http://athletics.sdsmt.edu/lady/.

Dr. James Stone presented at the recent U2011 uranium symposium and tradeshow http://www.u2011.org/  in Casper WY.  His talk was titled "Sediment pore-water equilibria interactions associated with arsenic and uranium transport within a historical uranium mining-impacted watershed in South Dakota." During the conference and post-conference field trips, he met many SDSM&T alumni working within various phases of the uranium industry (geologists, chemical engineers, civil and environmental engineers). Dr. Stone also attended a hydraulic fracturing workshop at the University of Wyoming, and he met several other SDSM&T alumni working within the oil and gas industry. 

Dr. Stone [above] is standing near a uranium yellow-cake filter press at the Uranium One Willow Creek uranium processing facility located in the Powder River Basin of WY.

Dr. V. Ramakrishanan is a member of the organizing committee for the International Conference on Sustainability Challenges and Advances in Concrete Technology, which will be held May 2-4, 2012 at the PSG College of Technology in Comimbatore, India.

Faculty advisor Dr. MR Hansen accompanied the ASCE student chapter to Pierre for the Dakota Cup on September 17th. They had a great time racing their concrete canoe against the SDSU student chapter, attending a cook out with alumni, and touring the Oahe Dam. What is the mass, in grams, of a 1/2" diameter steel ball bearing? The first person to email the correct answer to mr.hansen@sdsmt.edu will win $10.00. 

More M Week highlights: Dr. MR Hansen and Alumni Association director Tim Vottero accompanied BSCE students Ryan Pierce, Caitlin Taggart and Cole Bedford [photo below] as they installed the 2011 plaque on M-Hill during M- week.

Students, faculty, and staff enjoyed a picnic at Fish Park before M-Week concluded with the traditional M-Hill climb and whitewashing of the "M" on Friday, September 23, 2011. In addition, members of the ASCE student chapter and Dr. MR Hansen plotted out a new 2-mile trail in the hills next to campus. The trail will provide great views of campus and additional recreational opportunities. Stay tuned for information about the inaugural hike!

Brian Wenig (BS GeolE 81), Technical service manager at Cloud Peak Energy in Gillette, Wyoming, gave a guest lecture on the surfacing coal mining industry and the role of environmental engineers at Cloud Peak to the Introduction to Environmental Engineering course, CEE 326, on Tuesday, September 27th. Brian was here recruiting engineers for their Cordero Rojo Mine site.

Leah Novicki - All Around 2011 (BSCE 96) was inducted into the 2011 Hardrocker Hall of Fame on Saturday, September 24, 2011. Leah Novicki was a standout two-sport athlete for the Lady Hardrockers. An SDIC All-Conference performer in both volleyball and basketball, Leah was a determined, hard working athlete that helped her teams to success. She finished her basketball career with 1,004 points (currently 22nd all-time) and 12th in all-time rebounding with 690. She holds the school record for rebounds in a game with 31, a number that may never be broken. Leah was also a paddler when our ASCE students won the national championship concrete canoe competition in 1995 that was held in Washington DC.