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Civil and Environmental Engineering e-News


 
Oct. 21, 2011
In This Issue
Message from the dept. head
Announcements
Curriculum notes
Department news
Alumni news
Opportunities for students
 

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Message from the CEE Department Head

Dr. Molly Gribb

 

The air is crisp, and the weather is fabulous. I love the Black Hills in the fall... 

  

Take advantage of the great weather and join us for the inaugural hike up the Turbine Trail on Oct. 25th in honor of Campus Sustainability Day. For more information on the Sustainability Day activities click here.

 

And then, of course, there's
Halloween! We'll have ghoulish treats and interesting characters to greet you - stop by and say hello! 
 

 

Visit us on the web: http://cee.sdsmt.edu
 

 

 

Join us for Halloween treats in the CEE Office on October 31st from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM!  

Announcements

  

CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY DAY, OCT. 26th. For more details, click here.

 

ASCE Hike-a-thon and Turbine Trail Inaugural Walk - Come support ASCE and take part in the Turbine Trail Inaugural Walk Tuesday, October 25th at 11:00 am. Meet at the east end of the stadium parking lot. Q&A session on turbines will be provided by Dr. Damon Fick.

 

Students - looking for an opportunity to network with employers in the Rapid City area? The October South Dakota Engineering Society (SDES) meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 25th from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM at RESPEC, 3824 Jet Drive in Rapid City. Dr. Sookie Bang, Chemical and Biological Engineering Department and Dr. Sangchul Bang, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department will present "Remediation of Cracks in Natural and Manmade Structures." Lunch will be from Pauly's Subs. The cost is $10 (Please RSVP with Allan Schreier at [email protected]).

 

CEE graduate student seminar series: we meet 4-5 pm in EP 253. 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 [email protected].

 

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."

 

Curriculum notes
 

Sophomore BSCE students: your CEE faculty would like to remind you that it's important to choose your schedule for your junior and senior years carefully. For example, CEE 336 should be taken in your junior year, as CEE 336L (Hydraulics lab) and CEE 464 (Senior design) conflict. Questions? See your advisor!

EnvE students: Separate sections of EM 331 and EM 328 will no longer be offered. EnvE students who planned to take EM 328 should take EM 331, which will be offered spring 2012 M,W,F at noon. 

 

New flowchart available for BSCE students: Our suggested sequence of courses has been updated and is now available at http://cee.sdsmt.edu

 

Updates for Spring 2012 semester: As you may recall, Dr. Fazio who taught the transportation class, is no longer at Mines. As we search for a replacement this year, students may take CEE 325 (Introduction to Sustainable Design) in lieu of CEE 368 (Introduction to Transportation Engineering). CEE 325 will be offered in spring 2012, T,Th at 1-2:50 pm. For more information about the course, contact Dr. Jennifer Benning.

 

We have simplified the list of CE Department Approved Electives:

  • Any CEE or ENVE 300 or 400 level courses not applied to another CEE graduation requirement.
  • Up to 6 credit hours of CEE 498 (Undergraduate Research/Scholarship), CEE 491 (Independent Study) or CP 497 (Cooperative Education); not more than 3 credits may be CEE 491 or CP 497. Note that students can earn 3 credits of CEE 498 for design of the ASCE concrete canoe or steel bridge (available spring semesters to coincide with the regional competition).
  • Up to 6 credit hours of 300 or 400 level courses in engineering, science, math or computer science not applied to another CEE graduation requirement.

All degree requirements are spelled out in the SDSM&T catalog, available here: http://catalog.sdsmt.edu/.

 

The department encourages all students to become familiar with the "degree progress" tool within WebAdvisor that can be used to track your completion of degree requirements. Questions? See your academic advisor or Professor Arneson-Meyer. 

 

Department news

 

The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Seven Seals Award is presented to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions towards its mission. The ESGR is a Department of Defense volunteer agency that seeks to promote a culture in which all-American employers support and value the military service of their employees. The ESGR recognizes outstanding support, increases awareness of the law, and resolves conflicts through informal mediation. A presentation of the Seven Seals award will be made on Nov. 14th, 2011 to the School of Mines for making it possible for Dr. Scott Amos to dedicate time toward its mission. Since joining ESGR in January 2010, Dr. Amos has volunteered more than 710 hours working with employers who share their most precious asset, their employees, with the Department of Defense. Since 2005, ESGR has presented only seven Seven Seals awards.

Dr. Sookie S. Bang, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Dr. Sangchul Bang, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, made a technical presentation at the 2011 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on Oct. 15, 2011 in Chang-won, Korea. They presented their research results and plan on how to minimize the spread of deserts around the world by reducing the sand erosion caused by wind using bio-cement technology. The conference attendees included approximately 3,000 delegates from 139 countries around the world. The research work is currently sponsored by Lotte Engineering & Construction of Korea which has a significant presence in Mongolia. Wade Lien and Josh Anderson, MES PhD students, have participated in this research. Dr. Enebish Ninjgarav, Associate Professor and Vice Director of School of Civil Engineering and Architecture at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST), is their collaborator who is expected to lead the full-scale field test in Mongolia during the third year of the study (2013-2014).

Congratulations to Kevin Barry, freshman BSCE student, who won $10 by being the first person to correctly answer the quiz question from the last newsletter!

Alumni news

 

Kyle Kurth (BSCE10), of Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. made a presentation to the ASCE student chapter on October 17th, 2011 about career opportunities in Kiewit. Tanner Friesen, senior BSCE student, also talked about his summer internship with Kiewit. Thanks, Kyle and Tanner!

 "Engineers Make Great Entrepreneurs" hosted its eighth class of future leaders.  A group of entrepreneurial-minded students from the School of Mines attended the 8th annual Engineers Make Great Entrepreneurs Speaker Series and Scholarship Competition recently. The program, targeted at students with an interest in possibly starting their own businesses someday, is primarily funded by alumnus and Dallas, TX-based venture capitalist Terry Rock (BSME70).  This year's event also included several panelists, including alumni Mat Peabody (BSChE72), Larry Schmaltz (BSCE79), and Ron Van Horssen (BSChE73).  Throughout the eight years of the program, several business leaders/alumni have provided candid, real-world discussions with more than one hundred Mines' students regarding starting and succeeding at business in South Dakota and worldwide.  Students participating in EMGE also are encouraged to participate in the Governor's Giant Vision business plan competition (See www.southdakotagiantvision.com).  Many thanks go to these and other industrious and innovative alumni for sharing their experience and vision with our future leaders in engineering and science. This newsletter's quiz question: What is the modulus of elasticity of steel, in psi? First correct answer submitted to Dr. MR Hansen wins a $10 prize: [email protected].

 

Opportunities for Students

 

Highlands Engineering & Surveying, PLLC of Dickinson, ND is now hiring Civil EITs. Highlands offers competitive compensation and a complete benefits package which includes medical coverage, 401(K) and profit sharing plan, life insurance, and vacation & holiday paid time off. Please send a cover letter, resume, and references to [email protected]  

 

The National Physical Science Consortium is taking applications for their 2012 programs. NPSC offers a two-phase, six-year fellowship program. With this program, initial support is for two or three years. If progress is satisfactory and the conditions of the award are maintained, support may continue for a total of up to six years. Students typically apply while seniors in college. NPSC also offers a dissertation support program. Students apply in the year prior to the one in which they intend to start their Ph.D. dissertation research. Funding begins in the year in which the research begins and, if the conditions of the award are maintained, may continue to the Ph.D. To learn more and to apply online, go to www.npsc.org. Students may apply in late August; the process closes in early November (see website for exact dates).

 

Bolton & Menk, Inc., a Consulting Engineers & Surveyors firm, is now hiring positions in water resources. Bolton & Menk is a well-established, highly competitive firm based in Mankato, MN. Additional information about the company is at their website at http://www.bolton-menk.com. Interested applicants should send resumes to Bill Douglass at [email protected]

 

Burns & MacDonald is taking applications for 2012 internships. Burns & Mac has an extremely strong internship program; this year alone they had 108 interns. In addition, they are looking for full-time hires in all areas including engineering, construction, GIS, and computer science. They have hired around 240 full-time employees this year and plan to hire another 100 or so by year end. Interested candidates can submit an application by following the link below. For more info see: http://www.burnsmcd.com/Careers/Internships-Co-ops.