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 Department e-Newsletter |
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CEE NEWS IN REVIEW
New CEE Faculty and Promotions
 Jasper Vrugt Ph.D., joins
UC Irvine from Los Alamos National Laboratories, and began at The Henry Samueli
School of Engineering in January 2010 as a civil and environmental engineering assistant
professor. He is the first hire at UC Irvine for the new Environmental
Institute initiative.
Vrugt
specializes in environmental systems modeling, and develops optimization and uncertainty
analysis methods that analyze the discrepancy between model predictions and
actual observations to improve the theory, understanding, and predictability of
environmental systems. Much of his work is within the context of surface
hydrology and soil physics, but also spans the fields of ecology,
hydrogeophysics, hydrometeorology, and geophysics. Vrugt earned M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees (cum laude, 1999 and 2004, respectively) from the University of Amsterdam.
 Brett Sanders, Ph.D., and Lizhi Sun, Ph.D., were each promoted
to full professors of civil and environmental engineering in July 2009. Sanders
conducts research on water quality and quantity problems found in urban coastal
waterways. Specific topics include flood mitigation in urbanized watersheds and
the pollutant flushing properties of urban estuaries.
 Sun's
main area of research interest is the micro/nano-mechanics of heterogeneous
materials with various applications, including multiscale modeling and
simulation of nanocomposites, development of smart materials for sensors and
actuators, mechanical performance of semiconductor thin films, CT/MRI-based
elastography and optical imaging for cancer diagnosis, and elastodynamic
biomarkers for heart diseases.
Recap of CEE Affiliates Fall Quarterly Meeting
The UC
Irvine CEE Affiliates held its fall quarterly meeting at the UC Irvine
University Club on October 23, 2009, with the program theme, "Advances in
3-Dimensional Design - Demystifying the Fourth and Fifth
Dimensions." Three associated presenters included Doug Eberhard,
senior director of infrastructure, autodesk, Tom Lazear, consultant to Bentley
Systems, Inc., and Larry Serafini, deputy airport director facilities, John Wayne Airport.
Successful CEE Student Field Trip to John Wayne Airport
 Last October, a group of civil and environmental engineering students visited Orange County's John Wayne Airport to view the ongoing construction of the new Terminal C, Parking Structure C, and Central Plant. The event was organized by Sam Ali, the CEE affiliates chair of student affairs.
Larry Serafini, deputy airport director facilities, hosted the students during the field trip. He presented the expansion drawings and progress in grading the site, digging the foundation, and drilling the concrete piles in addition to other construction activities.
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U.S. News & World Report
Ranks UC Irvine Among Top 50 Universities Nationwide
UC Irvine
maintained its status among the nation's top 50 colleges and universities in
the U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges"
ranking released last fall. The annual report ranks 262 public and private
universities based on 15 academic and financial criteria. UC Irvine ranked 46th
among all universities and 14th among public universities. Undergraduate
research opportunities at UC Irvine were lauded as worth watching, and the
campus was cited in the "Best Values" section. The Henry Samueli School of Engineering's
undergraduate engineering program jumped into the country's top 50 this year,
ranking 45th.
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
The E-Waste Dilemma - UCI Researchers Shed Light on the Toxic Implications of
Discarded Electronics
As America's
reliance on cell phones, computers and digital cameras grows, so too do
concerns that toxic metals in these devices could create significant
environmental and health problems after they are thrown away.
An estimated 2.3 million tons of discarded electronic products, or e-waste, are
sent to U.S.
landfills and incinerators annually, contaminating groundwater and air with
compounds like mercury, lead, zinc and cadmium that can cause birth defects,
illnesses and death. And the e-waste dilemma is only getting worse - not just
in this country but worldwide.
As Kermit the Frog says, "It's not easy being green," but UC Irvine
researchers, including Jean-Daniel Saphores, Ph.D., associate professor of
civil and environmental engineering, are working with engineers, manufacturers
and public health officials to find solutions.
Read More>>
Story: Tom Vasich,
University Communications
Photo: Steve Zylius, University Communications
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Watching over the Water System - UCI Engineers Design Sensors to Monitor Pipes After Earthquakes and Other Disasters
 After a big earthquake, it's key to keep the water
system afloat. Water is necessary for life, and it fights the fires
that often accompany such disasters.
UC Irvine engineers plan to
outfit the local water system with sensors that will alert officials
when and where pipes crack or break, hastening repair - thanks to
nearly $5.7 million over three years from the National Institute of
Standards & Technology and several local water groups.
"When an earthquake occurs and infrastructure systems fail, continued service of the water network is most critical," says Masanobu Shinozuka, Ph.D., lead project investigator and civil and environmental engineering distinguished professor and chair.
Read More>>
Story: Jennifer Fitzenberger, University Communications
Photo: Daniel A. Anderson, University Communications
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Water Watching
 The Center for Hydrologic Modeling, which was awarded $2.4 million by the University of California (UC) Office of the President, links researchers at eight UC campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories. As the state confronts ongoing drought and water supply problems, the center will use satellites and field research to more accurately determine how much water exists in California and where it's located. The results will be shared with water agencies throughout the state to help them develop their policies and allocation plans.
"There's been too large of a gap between decision-makers and scientists over the water situation in California," said Jay Famiglietti, Ph.D., director of the center and professor of earth system science and civil and environmental engineering at UC Irvine.
Read More>>
Story: Andy Evangelista, University of California Office of the President's Integrated Communications
UC Teams Attack Urgent State Issues
 The UC Office of the President awarded $68 million in competitive grants to 37 Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives - innovative collaborations that, over the next five years, will assemble statewide teams of UC experts from a broad range of fields to focus their efforts around specific research areas important to California.
One of
the initiatives will team UC researchers from more than 30 disciplines on six
UC campuses to work on reducing congestion, oil use, air pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions.
"Transportation is central to economic and social life in California," said Stephen Ritchie, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC
Irvine and co-director of the new sustainable transportation research program,
which was awarded $6.25 million over five years.
Read More>>
Story: Andy
Evangelista, University
of California Office of
the President's Integrated Communications
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FACULTY NOTES
ITS
Researchers Win Pyke Johnson Outstanding Paper Award
A team of
Institute of Transportation Studies researchers has
won the prestigious Pyke Johnson Outstanding Paper Award from the U.S.
Transportation Research Board (TRB). The award is given annually for the best
paper presented at the TRB annual meeting in the area of planning and
environment, and is subsequently published in the TRB Transportation Research
Record. The 2009 winning paper was "Environmental Impacts of a Major
Freight Corridor: A Study of I-710 in California," co-authored by Gunwoo
Lee, Soyoung (Iris) You, Stephen Ritchie, Jean-Daniel Saphores, Mana Sangkapichai and R. Jayakrishnan. The award was presented at the TRB 89th Annual Meeting in
Washington, D.C., in January.
Professor William Cooper Recognized for Contributions to Education
 William Cooper, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Urban Water Research Center at UC Irvine, received the Outstanding Contributions to Education Award from the Orange County Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools. Cooper was nominated for his work on the Water Innovation Now (WIN) project, which charged Orange County school children to come up with innovative ways to solve water use and availability concerns. Winning entries were presented by students to international delegates at the UCI-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) water conference, "Water Unifies," on December 3, 2008. WIN is also supported by the Orange County Department of Education, UNESCO, the Ocean Institute, Disney's Environmentality Challenge, the Wyland Foundation, and Inside the Outdoors.
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California Governor Appoints CEE Professor to Western States Water Council
 Betty H. Olson, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering, was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve on the Western States Water Council, an organization designed to advance the cooperation of regional water resource management and conservation policies of 18 western states. Olson is also a member of the Santa Margarita Water District board of directors.
The Western States Water Council was established in 1965 to foster cooperation among western states in the conservation, management and development of water resources. California currently has six members on the council.
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CEE Professor Appointed Honorary Professor at Misr University of Science in Technology
 Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Ayman Mosallam, Ph.D., was appointed an honorary professor at the Misr University of Science in Technology (MUST) in recognition for his research and academic accomplishments in the field of advanced composites and green construction. MUST is a well-recognized university focusing on science and technology in Egypt.
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CEE Distinguished Professor and Chair Shinozuka Honored for Career Accomplishments
 Masanobu Shinozuka, Ph.D., civil and environmental engineering distinguished professor and chair, was prominently featured in The Times of India, a major newspaper in India, in the August 19, 2009 edition, and was also invited to speak at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taipei, Taiwan, presenting "A Sensor Network for Real-Time Damage Location and Assessment," last October. Shinozuka, who is also the executive vice president of the International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability, was one of the three coordinators for the International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR 2009) held in Osaka, Japan, last September. He also presented a keynote lecture on performance reliability of port facilities.
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Three exceptional civil and environmental engineering undergraduate students are the recipients of prestigious CEE 2009-10 Emeriti Scholarships:
Hassan Ahmed, CEE sophomore, Jan Scherfig Scholarship ($2,000)
Henry Tong, CEE senior, Robin Shepherd Scholarship ($2,000)
Eric Walker, CEE junior, Gary Guymon Scholarship ($2,000)
In addition, the 2009-10 Thomas Miles Memorial Scholarship ($2,500) was given to CEE senior Chris Cobb.
The
Orange County Engineering Council selected Mohamed Salama, a Ph.D.
student under the advisement of Ayman Mosallam, Ph.D., to receive the
Outstanding Student Award for developing an innovative diagnostic/prognostic
system for smart military bridges.
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ALUMNI NOTES
Hun-Kyun
Bae, who graduated from civil and environmental engineering with a Ph.D. in
2007, under the supervision of Soroosh Sorooshian,
Ph.D., distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Kuo-lin Hsu, Ph.D., associate adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering,
and the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS), as well as a
postdoctoral researcher under Betty H. Olsen, Ph.D.,
was appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental
Conservation at Keimyung University (KMU), South Korea.
Ali
Behrangi, who graduated from civil and environmental engineering with a Ph.D.
in 2009 under the supervision of Soroosh
Sorooshian, Ph.D., distinguished professor of civil and environmental
engineering, and Kuo-lin Hsu, Ph.D.,
associate adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering, and the Center for Hydrometeorology
and Remote Sensing (CHRS), became a Caltech postdoctoral researcher at the
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. ______________________________________________________________________________________
Wei Chu,
who graduated from civil and environmental engineering with a Ph.D. in 2009
under the supervision of Soroosh Sorooshian,
Ph.D., distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Xiaogang Gao, Ph.D., adjunct professor of civil and
environmental engineering, and the Center
for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS), recently became a postdoctoral
researcher at the CHRS.
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Gi-hyeon Park, who graduated from civil and
environmental engineering with a Ph.D. in 2006 under the supervision of Soroosh
Sorooshian, Ph.D. and Xiaogang Gao, Ph.D., adjunct professor in civil
and environmental engineering, and the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS), was appointed an assistant professor
in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at Wyoming State
University.
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Samit
Ray Chaudhuri, Ph.D.,
a postdoctoral scholar working under the advisement of Masanobu Shinozuka, Ph.D., has been appointed an assistant professor of civil
engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur, India,
beginning last fall. Chaudhuri received a Ph.D. degree from UC Irvine in
December 2005 under the supervision of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor Emeritus Roberto Villaverde, Ph.D. ___________________________________________________________________
Serdar
Soyoz, who
graduated from civil and environmental engineering with a Ph.D. in 2008 under
the supervision of Maria Feng, Ph.D., became an assistant
professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Bogazici University.
Bogazici University
is one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey.
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CONTACT US
University of California, Irvine
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
E4130 Engineering Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697-2175
Phone: (949) 824-5333
Fax: (949) 824-2117
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