2011 CEE Annual Report

www.ce.gatech.edu

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering 2010 2011

Annu a l R ep or t

People are our priority. The world is our laboratory.

School Administration Joseph B. Hughes, PhD, PE, DEE Karen and John Huff School Chair and Professor Reginald DesRoches, PhD Associate Chair and Professor Kenneth M. Will, PhD Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and Associate Professor Don Webster, PhD Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies and Professor Paul Work, PhD Associate Chair, Georgia Tech Savannah and Associate Professor Laurie Somerville Director of Development Ruth Gregory Communications Officer Jessica Hunt Designer

CEE Annual Report 2010-2011

The CEE annual report is published by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. For additional information about the School and its programs, please contact: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 790 Atlantic Drive N.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0355 Phone: 404.894.2201 Fax: 404.894.2278 www.ce.gatech.edu communications@ce.gatech.edu

1,200

Students

No. No.

CEE Quick Facts Size As of fall 2010, the School had nearly 1,200 students enrolled, making it one of the largest civil and environmental engineering programs in the nation.

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Civil Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Quality U.S. News & World Report ranks the School’s undergraduate and graduate programs in Civil Engineering No. 3 in the nation, and its Environmental Engineering programs are ranked No. 5.

7

Degrees

29% Female

undergraduate student body

Breadth CEE awards 7 degrees, offering educational and research activities that span the breadth of the specialties within the field of civil and environmental engineering.

Diversity CEE’s undergraduate student body is approximately 29% female.

15% of its undergraduate population is underrepresented minorities (as of Fall 2010). The School’s faculty and staff are also diverse in ethnicity, gender, and areas of expertise.

$21,000,000 450,000 Ft $25,000,000

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Sponsored Research CEE faculty members received more than 110 new research awards in FY2010, totaling more than $21M in sponsored research funding.

Facilities CEE facilities are located on 2 campuses and include 7 buildings with more than 450,000 ft2 of laboratory and office space.

Development Since 2005, CEE has raised more

than $25M including a $4M international travel fund for students, three new endowed chairs, a $2.5M school chair, 2 new professorships, and a $1M External Advisory Board endowment fund.

Dr. Hermann Fritz observes the dramatic deforestation along the south coast of Haiti between Anse-à -Pitres and Belle Anse during an earthquake reconnaissance in 2010. Charcoal is Haiti’s primary source of fuel, making it a popular but destructuve source of income.

More than twenty million trees are cut down every year to meet demand which has led to a situation of environmental catastrophe.

Table of Contents 3 4 8 10 15 28 32 34 36 38

Welcome From the Chair Overview of the School Our Students Mundy Scholars: The Joe S. Mundy Global Learning Experience Faculty Research Our People Awards & Recognitions Development Our Donors CEE External Advisory Board

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Welcome from the Chair One of the most enjoyable parts of being chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology is the opportunity to share my passion for civil and environmental engineering. This broad engineering discipline works on many facets of improving the human condition. Longstanding examples include clean drinking water, designing and implementing efficient and safe transportation systems, constructing buildings and bridges to survive seismic activity, and building dams for hydropower and flood control. Today, our professors are working on problems that go far beyond these traditional areas to provide growing populations with innovative solutions which are necessary to survive in a global society.

The CEE annual report is a new initiative created to emphasize the signature work ethics of Georgia Tech students, faculty, staff, and alumni. This publication is based on our fiscal year and provides a comprehensive overview of the School, emphasizing the people, programs, communities, and culture that continue to set us apart. I am excited for this opportunity to share some of the School’s highlights during FY 2010-11 in terms of research, innovation, and leadership.

The need for civil and environmental engineers will only increase in future decades as society tries to cope with expanding urbanization, decaying infrastructures, global climate change, and an increase in the human population. CEE is at the forefront of innovative education and research to meet this global demand.

I invite you to explore this publication and learn more about our efforts. It is an exciting time to be in this field and I know you will be inspired by our stories.

People are our priority and the world is our laboratory.

Joseph B. Hughes, Ph.D., P.E. Karen and John Huff School Chair and Professor

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Overview of the School Mission, Vision, and Strategic Goals

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National Academy of Engineering Members

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National Science Foundation Early CAREER Awardees

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Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers Awardees

School Vision People are our priority. The world is our laboratory.

School Mission The mission of the School is three-fold: (1) to provide comprehensive educational programs; (2) to conduct internationally recognized scholarly research; and (3) to engage in service to the profession, the State of Georgia, the nation, and the world.

Core Values • Rigor • Entrepreneurial spirit • Diversity Strategic Goals • Prepare students to excel in engineering careers within a global marketplace.

• Increase the scope, scale, and impact of research programs.

• Become leaders in the implementation of Georgia Tech and the College of Engineering initiatives.

• Improve the School’s visibility within the academic, professional, and alumni communities.

Below and left, environmental engineering student Stephanie Chinnapongse conducts photoluminescence testing of antimicrobial upconversion phosphor samples using custom laser equipment. Below and right, Dr. Armistead G. Russell is the Georgia Power Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering. In 2011, he was named co-director of the Southeastern Center for Air Pollution and Epidemiology (SCAPE), a partnership between GT and Emory University and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency to address the public health impacts of air pollution.

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CEE’s facilities (from left): Daniel Laboratory, Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building, Georgia Tech Savannah Campus, Mason Building, Structures Laboratory, and Lamar Allen Sustainable Education Building (SEB).

61 tenure-track

Faculty

838

Undergraduate students

331 Graduate students

154

CEE offers courses and conducts research across six disciplines of civil engineering, with its faculty organized into six corresponding affinity research groups. Each affinity group concentrates on its own respective core discipline while collaborating with other groups within the School, other colleges and schools across campus, the U.S. and abroad. This interdisciplinary approach to research allows faculty and students to address complex problems from multiple angles in order to form a new method for understanding the subject.

CEE affinity groups include: Construction Engineering Environmental Engineering Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources Geo-systems Engineering Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials Transportation Systems Engineering Established in 1896, the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology is one of nine schools within the Institute’s College of Engineering. CEE directs three academic programs including civil engineering, environmental engineering, and engineering science and mechanics. Within these programs, the School awards seven degrees: Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering (BSEnvE) Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE) Master of Science in Environmental Engineering (MSEnvE) Master of Science in Engineering Science and Mechanics (MSESM) Master of Science (undesignated) (MS) Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degrees conferred spring 2010

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Overview of School Research Centers and Consortia CEE faculty members seek sponsorship to conduct research that is significant on a local, national, and global scale. The School’s academic and research programs span multiple disciplines within the field including construction engineering, environmental engineering, environmental fluid mechanics and water resources, geosystems engineering, structural engineering, and transportation systems engineering. Researchers collaborate with industry and universities throughout the world. This multidisciplinary approach to research prepares students to thrive in a diverse global environment. As a result, private industry and state and federal agencies continue to support the research efforts within the School.

With increasing research demands, sponsors look at the range of applicability of research proposals. Those committed to interdisciplinary research have the greatest likelihood of receiving funding. The School has many centers that reflect success in research partnerships, such as: • The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) enhances Georgia Tech’s research, education, service missions, and campus operations through leadership, communications, development, and decision making inspired and defined by the principles of sustainability. Programs and projects initiated or supported by the BBISS lie at the intersections of these themes.

• The Computer Aided Structural Engineering Center (CASE/GTSTRUDL) is one of the most widely used Structural Design & Analysis software programs for Architectural - Engineering - Construction, CAE/CAD, utilities, offshore, industrial, nuclear and civil works. GT STRUDL is a fully integrated general-purpose structural information processing system capable of supplying an engineer with accurate and complete technical data for design decision-making.

• The Commute Atlanta Study is sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation, and Georgia Tech. The Commute Atlanta Study collects data to provide better information on where, when, and under what conditions people drive in Atlanta.

• The Georgia Transportation Institute (GTI) is a consortium of Georgia universities active in transportation research and education. GTI is headquartered at Georgia Tech and assists researchers at Georgia State University, the University of Georgia, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia Southern University, Southern Polytechnic State University, Albany State University, and Mercer University.

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• The GEOtechnical EarthQUAKE Engineering and Geophysics Group (GEOQUAKE) combines earthquake engineering, seismology, and geophysics to develop efficient and cost-effective hazard mitigation methodologies while advancing the understanding of geophysical processes in the near-surface.

• The Georgia Water Resources Institute (GWRI) at Georgia Tech was authorized by US Congress through the Water Resources Research Act of 1964 (P.L. 101-397). The GWRI mission is to foster the creation of partnerships, resources, and knowledge base necessary to address current water resources challenges in the state of Georgia, the U.S., and the world.

• The In-situ Research Group involves the field testing and geotechnical site characterization of soils and other geomaterials using direct push technology methods, including cone penetromenters, piezocones, seismic cones, flat dilatometers, and special true-interval downhole geophysics methods.

• The Multimedia Environmental Simulations Laboratory (MESL) was established in 1993 to provide scientific and technical expertise to government, educational, and private organizations, in the area of environmental simulation and analysis.

• The Southeastern Center for Air Pollution and Epidemiology (SCAPE) is one of four Clean Air Research Centers funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study the cumulative effects of air pollutant mixtures and the impact on human health.

The research center is a collaborative effort between Georgia Tech and Emory University’s School of Public Health.

To the right, Dr. Hermann Fritz, a reknowned expert in tsunami research, surveys the north tip of Tonga’s Niuatoputapu Island. Broken branches and scars on the bark of the tree indicate a 9.4m flow depth above the terrain which is located 6m above sea level and 200m from the beach.

Note the scour of more than 2m at the tree roots and the coral boulders. Field surveys in the immediate aftermath of major disasters focus on perishable data used to improve understanding of the causes, consequences and prevention of natural disasters.

Below from the top, Dr. Leroy Emkin uses the patented GTSTRUDL software to analyze structural engineering results; Graduate student Becky Wong researches in CEE’s hydrology lab; Dr. Laurie Garrow and graduate students discuss transportation research.

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Our Students The undergraduate and graduate programs offered by CEE are among the largest and highest-ranked programs of their kind in the country. While other universities have similar programs, CEE’s combination of size and quality at both the undergraduate and graduate level is rare, particularly for a state-supported institution. In the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings, the School’s civil engineering program ranked No. 3 in both undergraduate and graduate rankings, while its environmental engineering program ranked No. 5 in undergraduate and graduate rankings. Recognizing its special role as the only state-supported civil and environmental engineering program in the state of Georgia, CEE serves a broad range of constituents through undergraduate, graduate, professional development, and K-12 programs. These programs are offered at the Atlanta campus, Georgia Tech-Savannah, and via remote delivery through Georgia Tech’s Distance Learning and Professional Education program.

Graduate Program The School offers multiple master’s degree programs and two doctoral degree programs. It also participates in an interdisciplinary graduate program in bioengineering and a joint degree program with the School of City and Regional Planning in Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture. CEE graduate degrees are offered at both the Atlanta and Savannah campuses.

The School’s masters’ degrees include: Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE), Master of Science in Engineering Science and Mechanics (MSESM), Master of Science in Environmental Engineering (MSEnvE), Master of Science (MS).

Thesis and non-thesis options are available with each master’s degree offered by the School. Students are required to declare

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one of the following major areas of specialization: Construction Engineering; Environmental Engineering; Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources; Geosystems Engineering; Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials; or Transportation Systems Engineering. Students are required to satisfy course work requirements within their major area of specialization.

The MSCE degree is awarded to students with an undergraduate degree in CEE or its equivalent. The MSESM degree is awarded to students with an undergraduate degree in engineering or the physical sciences and who have an interest in mechanics. The MSEnvE degree is awarded to those students who have an engineering undergraduate degree. The MS degree is awarded to students who do not meet the undergraduate degree requirements but satisfy all the other requirements for the MS degree within their area of specialization.

CEE offers a doctor of philosophy in civil and environmental engineering, and engineering, science and mechanics. Doctoral students in CEE are expected to declare a primary area of specialization from one of the six research affinity groups within the School. CEE doctoral students tailor a highly individualized program of study and are expected to make an important contribution to their designated area of research.

Candidates for the PhD degree must pass a comprehensive examination, a dissertation proposal examination, and a final thesis examination. The comprehensive exam is administered by the individual area of specialization within CEE and must include both written and oral examinations. The specific format and procedures used for the comprehensive exam vary by affinity group with students informed of the format and procedures for the examination by the group. The dissertation proposal examination was added to the PhD requirements in 2008.

2010-2011 CEE Student Awards

The PhD dissertation proposal provides an opportunity to evaluate the merits and feasibility of the student’s proposed research topic and to provide guidance to help assure successful completion of the student’s PhD dissertation.

In all, CEE offers between 55-65 graduate courses per academic year in the six areas of specialization. The majority of courses are taught at the Atlanta campus and offered live to the Savannah campus, based on demand. The Savannah campus offers 5-10 graduate courses per year, which are also offered live to the Atlanta campus.

Undergraduate Program The School offers three undergraduate degree programs, operated and administered jointly: Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE), Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering (BSEnvE), and Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering – Regional Engineering Program (GTREP).

The School’s BSCE program consists of a flexible curriculum with options broadly distributed over the field of civil engineering. The BSEnvE program began in Fall 2006. It affords students the opportunity to emphasize basic sciences and obtain a specialty focus in the environmental area. The degree requirements for the BSCE Regional Engineering Program, based at the Georgia Tech Savannah campus, are identical requirements to the Atlanta program. Each of the School’s undergraduate programs is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, Inc. Extracurricular involvement plays a key role in student enrichment. Below from left, the annual ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition, Engineers Without Borders (in Cameroon), environmental engineering students in Yellowstone National Park, and civil engineering student Maggie Smith working with the Acropolis Restoration project in Greece summer semester, 2011.

2011 Buck Stith Outstanding Junior Award:

Zachary Hoffman 2011 Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship:

Thomas Wall, Gregory Macfarlane 2011 Eno Transportation Foundation Fellowship:

Donny Katz, Brittany Luken 2011 Hydro Research Foundation Fellowship:

lker Telci 2011 NSBE Golden Torch Award:

Jacob Tzegaegbe 2011 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship:

Brittany Bruder, Josephine Kressner, Susan Hotle,

Laura Schultz, Stephanie Smallegan 2011 Outstanding Sophomore Award:

Timothy Robnett 2010/2011 Sam Nunn Fellowship:

Karthik Ramanathan 2011 School Chair Outstanding Senior Award:

Tomás León 2011 Simon Karecki Award:

Wen Zhang 2011 Simpson Strong-Tie Scholarship:

Benjamin Cohen 2011 WTS President’s Legacy Scholarship:

Josephine Kressner 2010 American Concrete Institute’s Presidents Fellowship:

Chris Shearer 2010 American Institute of Steel Construction Scholarship:

Roger Mock 2010 Buck Stith Outstanding Junior Award:

Roger Mock 2010 Geosynthetic Institute Fellowship:

Tamay Karademir 2010 Outstanding Sophomore Award:

Nathan Jankovsky 2010 School Chair Outstanding Senior Award:

Brandon Strellis 2010 U.S. Dept. of Energy Graduate Fellowship:

Sarah Miracle, Chris Shearer

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Joe S. Mundy

Global Learning Experience Endowment Fund

One of the many unique programs within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is the Joe S. Mundy Global Learning Experience endowment fund. This generous $4M gift to the School was established by Mrs. Marion Mundy in honor of her late husband who was a Georgia Tech civil engineering alumnus.

The Mundy fund supports selected students in the School the opportunity to participate in an international experience during their enrollment. The objective is to encourage students to pursue educational and cultural experiences outside of the U.S. These experiences provide learning that increases the potential for students to be leaders in a global community. International experiences also add value to a student’s degree.

Funding is awarded based on the student’s application and essay, travel plans, educational and learning goals, and expected outcomes of travel. Undergraduate students are given priority in decisions to support travel. However, there may be reason to support travel of eligible graduate students and faculty, particularly when accompanying undergraduates within the School.

CEE students have the opportunity to apply for funding throughout the academic year. The program covers travel expenses, fees, and living expenses per semester and includes travel related to study abroad programs, educational conferences, and undergraduate research. It has been a tremendous success since its inception, and the students in CEE are certainly making the most of it! Join Brandon, Zakiya, Tomás, and Bailey as they share their travel experiences made possible by the Mundy fund.

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Brandon Strellis Mundy Scholar in Norway A senior in CEE, Brandon Strellis engaged in an extended research internship overseas. After working for two semesters with Dr. Thorsten Stoesser, he flew to Norway in January, 2010 to continue his research with Dr. Nils Ruther at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Dr. Ruther is a frequent collaborator with Dr. Stoesser, and this was his first experience with an international undergraduate research assistant. All parties were excited to see how things played out.

After a long wait for Dr. Ruther at a -30°C bus stop, (from which the professor waited a mere half a kilometer away!), Brandon began a long-awaited collaboration with the professor. Brandon was involved in multiple projects, including simulations of hydropower peaking in the River Nidelva and scour beneath a pipe as well as an analysis of the code for a migrating trench. He was lucky enough to experience some of the peculiarities of fieldwork during a Norwegian winter. For example, he learned that no matter how many layers of fleece and down you wear, after you have spent time edging

the Arctic Circle, you will be unable to feel your hands or your feet, and you will have the strange sensation of walking around on not one, but two peg-legs. Where you once sensed your extremities, you will feel nothing more than a dull tingling which gradually transforms into an aching pain.

At this point, it is wise to reach for your trusty thermos of hot coffee or tea (an essential for fieldwork) and warm yourself from the belly out. At one point, having waded chest-deep into the river with his GPS device to record the geometry of the bed, Brandon watched a flock of ducks fly through swirling snow and disappear into the whiteness of the sky over frozen hills, and it occurred to him that Norway is a long way from Atlanta.

Towards the end of Brandon’s time in Norway, the volcano in Iceland decided to start having fits, and for a moment it was questionable as to whether he would ever return to warmer climes. Thankfully, the volcano fussed itself out, enabling Brandon to attend a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his research group before he returned home in May.

Brandon captures the beauty of Norway’s countryside.

Above, equipment Brandon uses in his research and below, Brandon and Dr. Ruther conduct research at a field site.

Brandon explores the Norwegian landscape via snowshoe.

Joe S. Mundy

Global Learning Experience Endowment Fund

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Zakiya Seymour With the help of the Mundy fund, Zakiya Seymour attended the International Water Association Congress (IWAC) in Mexico City. Zakiya is a doctoral student in the environmental engineering program who is examining decision support tools for sustainable sanitation systems in developing regions. The IWAC conference entitled “Water and Sanitation Services: What Works in Developing Countries” allowed Zakiya to enhance her graduate education and explore the cultural aspects of this major international city.

Insufficient sanitation can lead to poor water quality, public health concerns, and gender disparity. Drinking water sources contaminated with human excreta jeopardize the quality of the source. In 2000, the World Health Organization estimated that 2.2 million people die annually from diarrheal diseases that could be prevented by providing supplies for clean water and adequate sanitation.

At the conference, Zakiya’s primary objectives were to gain insight during the

Mundy Scholar in Mexico

developmental phases of her research, to visit treatment sites and understand design constraints, and to network with peers in the field. She states, “Overall, I felt like the conference made several important strides in advancing the dialogue about water and sanitation management in developing countries. Over the course of three days, undeniable synergy was felt by everyone involved.

The individuals attending the conference represented non-governmental organizations, regulatory agencies, international organizations, consulting firms, and research institutions.”

Specifically, topics dealing with international policy, urban sanitation, and financing options were among her favorite. While the desire to provide universal access to water was clear, it was evident that the pathway is not. Impressive debates were held regarding the applicability of the sanitation ladder.

Above, Zakiya stops for a photo at the Tlachihualtepetl Pyramid Ruins.

Above, a bullfight in Plaza de Toros, Mexico City. Below, Zakiya snaps a photo of vendors on Lake Xochimilco.

Zakiya earned her B.S. in civil engineering from Tennessee State University and her M.S. in civil engineering from University of California-Berkeley.

Left, Zakiya takes a cool drink of freshly treated water from the Cutzalama water treatment plant.

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Tomás León

Mundy Scholar in Australia

Tomás León is an undergraduate environmental engineering major in CEE. In spring 2010, he studied abroad with Tech’s Pacific Program in New Zealand and Australia. He spent six weeks in each country, taking classes that directly correlated with the regions he was living in.

In New Zealand, Tomás studied Environmental Ethics and Environmental Politics, classes that provided him with a different perspective of the issues he works on in his major. He explored the country on class trips and weekend getaways, including Lake Taupo, Tongariro National Park, the Taputeranga Marine Reserve, and the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. He also visitied New Zealand’s Parliament and met with the U.S. Ambassador. In fact, local government conservation officials served as guest lecturers, teaching environmental public policy and lawmaking. On the weekends, Tomás traveled extensively.

“New Zealand’s wealth lies in its natural beauty, and we explored a lot of different areas with unique topographies, flora, and fauna. Its government and citizen groups go to great lengths to conserve and protect the country’s natural environments”.

Tomás’ next stop was Sydney, and he found Australia incredibly different than New Zealand. His classes included Biomedicine & Culture, as well as History, Technology, & the Modern World.

The curriculae of these classes perfectly complemented the museums and historical sites he visited around Sydney and Brisbane. He says, “The classes really opened up my mind to a lot of new ideas, and the Australian setting was perfect for challenging and rethinking some of what I had taken for granted in the U.S.” His classes included visits to environmentally significant locations, including the Blue Mountains, Lamington National Park and the Australia Zoo, to learn about Australia’s flora and fauna and how their ecosystems function. Weekend trips included the Jenolan Caves, Noosa Head, the Outback (including Alice Springs and the Larapinta Trail), and Heron Island.

Tomás makes friends with a “roo” at the Australia Zoo.

Above, students take an Australian walk-about hike. Below, Tomás endeavors Standley Chasm, located in the Outback.

Tomás says that this unique opportunity taught him so much in terms of global environmental issues and concerns, and it will certainly be one of the most memorable experiences of his college career.

Tomás (front row, second from right) and friends take a boat ride through Milford Sound at Fiordland National Park.

Joe S. Mundy

Global Learning Experience Endowment Fund

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Bailey Wright CEE undergraduate Bailey Wright used Mundy funds to travel outside of the U.S. for the first time in her life. In 2010, Bailey travelled to Chennai, India with a fellow GT undergraduate to attend the Environmental & Water Resources Institute’s (EWRI) developing nations conference. The conference entitled “International Perspective on Current & Future State of Water Resources & the Environment” was held at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras; participants included engineers, scientists, planners, economists, and legal professionals from all over the globe.

Bailey’s academic interests focus on air pollution and its effects on climate change, so the EWRI conference was the perfect opportunity to learn more about the environment. It began with a formal introduction ceremony where the hosts lit candles and sang Indian songs. It was a unique cultural experience in more ways than one. Bailey and her friend quickly realized that they were the youngest people in attendance. “Everyone was shocked and impressed that we were undergraduates. In fact, so many people approached

Mundy Scholar in India us with questions about why and how we were there. We responded with just as many questions about their research and their jobs.” One of the conference highlights for Bailey was a keynote speech by Dr. Slobodon Simonovic from the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Simonovic spoke about the impacts of climate change on water resources, and Bailey was captivated by his speech.

Bailey described the IIT campus as a jungle. She stated, “I have never seen so many animals and the campus was beautiful! We were exploring the labs in the environmental building when we heard something knock against the window. There were five monkeys outside playing with each other.

I had never seen a monkey before and we must have stood there at least half an hour, taking pictures and laughing.”

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, one of the film sites for the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

Above, Bailey and friends pose at the Shore Temple in Mamalapuram, and below, explore a temple in Mumbai.

Bailey’s experience abroad was one she will never forget. “It provided me with a fresh sense of motivation because I was able to see how engineering can impact the world.

I saw and did things that will forever shape who I am as a person and how I feel about the world.”

Bailey (left) stops for a photo with locals in Mumbai.

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Joe S. Mundy

Global Learning Experience Endowment Fund

Faculty Research Civil and environmental engineering is a broad and diverse engineering discipline that works on many facets of improving the human condition. Our 6 affinity groups span the technical research and instructional interests of the School. Diversity of function is key to the operation of the School. Faculty members are expected to make high-quality contributions in areas that match their interests and abilities. The following pages highlight some of the research activities of CEE’s recent hires.

These young faculty are working on problems that go far beyond the traditional areas of the field in order to provide growing populations with innovative solutions necessary to survive in a global society.

Construction Engineering

page 17

Jochen Teizer, ‘SmartHat’ Technologies in Construction

Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources

page 19

Thorsten Stoesser, The Deepwater Horizon Blowout

Environmental Engineering

page 21

Kostas Konstantinidis, Huge Potential in Earth’s Smallest Organisms

Geosystems Engineering

page 23

Dominic Assimaki, Pile Foundations on Soft Soils

Structural Engineering, Mechanics, and Materials

page 25

Yang Wang, Wireless, Battery-free Strain/Crack Sensors

Transportation Systems Engineering

page 27

Laurie Garrow, Transportation Systems & Climate Change CEE @ GT

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FACULTY RESEARCH

Dr. Jochen Teizer displays the electronic components of a SmartHat.

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‘SmartHat’ Technologies in Construction Dr. Jochen Teizer

Improving Safety, Education, and Overall Operations on the Jobsite The U.S. construction industry experiences one of the highest fatality rates among the nation’s industrial sectors. However, there is very little research in terms of factors involved and potential control mechanisms.

In fact, planning and operations within building construction and infrastructure lack any type of automated communications and a system to distribute key information among project stakeholders.

That’s where Dr. Jochen Teizer comes in.

Dr. Teizer heads the Real-time Automated Project Information and Decision Systems (RAPIDS) laboratory in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The RAPIDS lab is a unique facility dedicated to the development and application of innovative technologies and methods for construction, mining, transportation, and infrastructure. Specifically, researchers at RAPIDS concentrate on real-time, proactive safety warnings and alert technologies, equipment blind spot measurement, operator visibility tracking, wireless resource location tracking, 4D information modeling and processing, site layout management, and an inference management framework for real-time safety, health, and work activity monitoring and sampling.

Tracking the location and status of site resources in real-time, understanding the spatial environment, and monitoring, analyzing, and recording site activities and conditions are a few of the conditions that become increasingly important in order to base decision-making on reliable information content. Dr. Teizer’s team designs new prototypes and validates commerciallyexisting data sensing and processing technologies to improve performance and education on the work site.

A recent example of such technology is the “SmartHat.” Designed by Dr. Teizer and Dr. Matt Reynolds of Duke University, the SmartHat contains a tiny microprocessor

and a beeper that sounds a warning when dangerous equipment comes into close proximity to its wearer. What’s unique about the SmartHat is that its beeper and processor operate on such a small amount of power, it is harvested from radio waves in the air. That’s correct, no batteries required. The radio waves are emitted from wireless network transmitters that are installed on backhoes and bulldozers to track their locations. The microprocessor in the hardhat monitors the direction and strength of the radio signal coming from the construction equipment to determine whether the worker is too close. If so, the alarm sounds.

Dr. Teizer also works with local authorities to monitor and track life safety personnel in real-time. The sensing equipment uses emerging radio frequency, remote sensing and actuating technologies to record the physical location of emergency responders as rescue operations unfold. This type of critical information enables police, firefighters, and other critical response workers to monitor the exact location of team members at all times.

Dr. Teizer states, “To tackle some of these critical issues, our research efforts focus on integrating these kinds of emerging technologies into the decision-making process.

We identify and measure data accurately, process the data in a useful flow of information, and provide decision-makers with relevant and timely information values that make a substantial difference.”

Current field research presents findings with the potential to dramatically improve safety, training, efficiency, and overall operations within a wide variety of industrial sectors.

For additional information, visit: http://www.rapids.gatech.edu.

From the top, the wireless resource location tracking software used to monitor safety personnel responding to a collapsed parking deck.

A photograph of the deck during the rescue operation follows. Last, data collected at construction sites is used to advance safety warnings and alert technologies as well as monitor and sample work activity.

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FACULTY RESEARCH

Wildlife coated in petroleum, a result of the Deepwater Horizon blowout.

Photo Credit: BP America

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The Deepwater Horizon Blowout

Dr. Thorsten Stoesser

Assessment and Mitigation of the Disaster’s Impact on the Environment The accidental blowout of the Deepwater Horizon (DH) drilling platform off the Gulf coast of Mexico is an unprecedented event that resulted in 83 days of uncontrolled well flow from the Macondo MC252 formation, approximately 4.1-4.4 million barrels of crude oil released, 2.5 x 108 standard m3 of natural gas, and 430 miles of oiled wetland coastline.

Although the full aftermath of this disaster is not yet clear, it will certainly have far reaching environmental and economic impacts.

The incident itself emphasizes the critical need for an adaptive spill response system, one that can observe and predict the fate and transport of petroleum fluids in real-time and guide decisions on response and mitigation.

CEE’s Dr. Thorsten Stoesser specializes in computational fluid dynamics, openchannel hydraulics, and environmental fluid mechanics. He is currently working with colleagues at Texas A&M to develop an integrated response system for oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. This specialized team of researchers, called Gulf Integrated Spill Response Consortium (GISR), is developing nested numerical models that are linked to a multi-faceted observation system to facilitate observation, prediction, and the decisionmaking sequence during a spill. Through this effort, GISR will address how oil and gas from such spills are transported and how these compounds evolve over time and space within the ocean and coastal environments.

The research has the potential to dramatically improve the response, forcasting, and risk assessment of future drilling in the Gulf.

When a blowout occurs, the separating seawater can contain a significant mass of dissolved natural gas and oil. It can also carry a large fraction of liquid oil in the form of small oil droplets. Crossflow-dominated plumes and stratification-dominated plumes are very limiting in terms of the separation that occurs. Scale analysis indicates that the DH plume is stratification-dominated, and

observed locations of hydrocarbon intrusion (A) layers agree with the experimentally derived empirical scaling laws. (Texas A&M) The team’s laboratory experiments of multiphase plumes in stratification and crossflow have increased understanding of the physical mechanisms leading to separation among the buoyant dispersed phases (oil and gas) and the entrained and dissolved constituents in the continuous phase. Stationary fluid is set into motion by reaction forces acted by the bubbles, leading to the presence of unsteady vortices and thereby causing oscillations in the rising plume. Figure A shows the position of bubbles with vertical velocity contours. Streamlines of the instantaneous and time-averaged flow field are also plotted.

The simulation of multi-phase plumes in (B) uniform crossflow replicates the dispersed liquid (oil) phase in the plume with uniform crossflow. Figure B shows isosurfaces of oil concentration with contours of fluid flow field in the background. The spread of the rising oil plume due to crossflow is clearly visible in this illustration.

Spill management options must balance methods to reduce shoreline impact with the possibility of generating hypoxic regions in deep waters. This balance requires an ability to predict shoreward transport, subsurface fractionation, and biodegradation of spilled oil and gas, both for planning purposes and more urgently for real-time decision support during an oil spill. The GISR team’s research will serve as a guide for necessary infrastructure to observe oil behavior in an ocean environment, forcast the fate and transport of petroleum fluids, determine accurate response strategies for future spills, quantify the human health risk to such spills, test the efficacy of mitigation strategies, and risk assessment of drilling activities in the Gulf.

Additional information: http://cfd.ce.gatech.edu/index_files/research.htm.

Above, laboratory simulation experiments of multiphase plumes in crossflow, indicating (A) stratified plume, and (B) strong crossflow.

Streamlines and vectors showing the (L-R) instantaneous; time-averaged flow field in the bubble column; and position of bubbles, along with vertical velocity contours.

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FACULTY RESEARCH

Dr. Konstantinidis and a student review microbial research data.

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Huge Potential in Earth’s Smallest Organisms

Dr. Kostas Konstantinidis

New Research into How Microorganisms Adapt, Respond to Environmental Changes It is well recognized that the smallest organisms, the bacteria and archaea, constitute the largest biomass on Earth and are also the most diverse among all living organisms. Whether in soils, waters, deep subsurface environments, or in the atmosphere, the bacteria are affecting, if not controlling, all the biogeochemical cycles that sustain life. Yet, little informatin is know about how microbes perform their activities. For instance, we know that bacteria are often the basis for disease, but we know little about pathogen ecology.

We know that each gram of soil or liter of seawater carries more than 3,000 distinct bacterial species, each carrying up to 5,000 genes, but we understand too little about what this immense genetic diversity means or how useful it may be. One of the primary reasons for this is attributed, in part, to the fact that the great majority of microorganisms resists cultivation in the laboratory and thus, cannot be studied efficiently. However, Dr. Kostas Konstantinidis, assistant professor of environmental engineering, is leading a program to develop novel culture-independent, or metagenomics, and bioinformatics approaches to study microbial communities in-situ, both engineered (e.g., bioremediation and wastewater treatment reactors) and natural (e.g., terrestrial or marine) systems. He also works with biotechnological applications of microbial biodiversity.

Dr. Konstantinidis has already made important contributions in these areas of research. In 2007, he launched the Environmental Microbial Genomics Laboratory, known as Enve-omics Lab: a state-ofthe-art computational and wet laboratory that focuses on the smallest organisms on the planet. His scientific interests are at the interface of microbial ecology, engineering, and computational biology.

Dr. Konstantinidis’ research group has developed pioneering culture-independent

approaches (metagenomics) to study natural microbial communities. In metagenomics, genomics techniques such as DNA cloning and sequencing are applied directly to environmental samples, bypassing the need for isolation and cultivation of individual species.

Using culture-independent techniques, the researchers have provided new insights into how life adapts to the deep and cold oceans, the largest biome on the planet.

Their work revealed, for instance, that the deep-sea microbial communities at 4,000m depth are enriched in genes conferring rapid evolution and metabolic versatility to cope with the scarce but diverse food resources available in-situ.

The discoveries have also opened up new biotechnological opportunities, including designing enzymes that are functional under high-pressure and low temperature (the temperature of the deep sea is invariably ~40 C). With support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Dr. Konstantinidis’s team is also extending the metagenomic approaches to study underground microbial communities in Alaskan soils and other temperate regions. This investigation focuses on how these communities respond to the predicted effects of climate change such as increased atmospheric CO2 and temperature, especially with respect to whether the communities release or sequestrate soil carbon.

emerging field of microbial fuel cells for electricity generation. The group has been able to link the phenotype of each Shewanella organism to specific genes in the genome (genotype) using a series of physiological, transcriptomic and proteomic experiments. They have also identified the genes responsible for metal reduction. Insights currently emerging from this work will enable the identification of the most effective Shewanella strain for cleaning up specific contaminants within a given environment. The group also found that the Shewanella genus is more genomically and phenotypically diverse than previously anticipated and that the Shewanella organisms frequently exchange large parts of their genome in order to cope with fluctuating environmental conditions, such as sexual adaptation. These findings are, in fact, revolutionary as bacteria have been viewed as being primarily asexual organisms by the scientific community. The findings will also have important implications for microbial source tracking and indentifying bacterial species concepts: an unsettled issue with major practical consequences for reliable diagnosis of infectious disease agents, intellectual property rights, bioterrorism agent oversight, and quarantine.

Additional information: http://enve-omics.gatech.edu/

Dr. Konstantinidis and his team are also applying cutting-edge “omics” technologies to evaluate microorganisms isolated in the laboratory. The goal is to provide a system-level understanding of bacterial species. In a recent example of this work, researchers applied these technologies to a study of 10 closely related strains of Shewanella, an important family of bacteria.

The Shewanella are key players not only in cleaning up toxic heavy metal contaminants in the environment, but also in the

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FACULTY RESEARCH

Oceanic windmills largely rely on pile foundations.

Photo Credit: Vattenfall Energy Company; Stockholm, Sweden

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Pile Foundations on Soft Soils Dr. Dominic Assimaki

Bridging the Gap Between Empirical Models and Numerical Simulations Dr. Dominic Assimaki works with numerical methods in earthquake engineering and geophysics, including forward simulations of dynamic nonlinear soil response, soil-structure interaction and scattering phenomena in heterogeneous media, as well as inverse problems. She serves as an assistant professor of geosystems engineering in the School.

Defining the Problem Pile foundations are primarily used for structures, piers and platforms constructed on loose or soft soils prone to liquefaction and lateral spreading during strong earthquakes. In the approach most widely employed in practice for the design of pile foundations in liquefiable soils, the pile stiffness estimated for stiff, non-liquefiable sites is uniformly scaled via empirical factors that account for the reduction of soil resistance during earthquakes due to liquefaction. As a result, the predicted response of piles in loose, saturated soils is a scaled replica of the response of piles in stiff soils. However, field and laboratory experimental data clearly show that there are significant differences between the two, and that the existing models lack fundamental aspects of pile behavior in liquefiable soils.

A Unique Approach To bridge the gap between widely employed empirical models and computationally expensive numerical simulations, Dr. Assimaki’s research group developed a macroelement for dynamic analyses of piles in liquefiable soils. This macroelement captures the fundamental physics of saturated granular soil response to dynamic loading, such as dilation and seepage, while retaining the efficiency of simplified approaches for the analysis of dynamic foundation problems. The macroelement components were developed using three-dimensional fully coupled finite element (FE) analyses and validated via centrifuge and field experimental

data. The FE simulations used for the parametric investigation and calibration of the macroelement were first validated using field data of blast-induced liquefaction experiments. In addition, the novel mechanical element has been integrated in the open source finite element platform, OPENSEES, used extensively by the international earthquake engineering communities. It has also been used in an NSF-funded project of seismic hazard assessment and mitigation of liquefaction in port waterfront structures.

Huge Impact Potential Dr. Assimaki’s pile macroelement is advancing the state-of-the-art by efficiently providing realistic predictions of pile displacement in liquefiable soils.

It will enable credible and cost-effective design solutions for critical infrastructure projects such as bridge foundations, waterfront structures, and highrise buildings. Currently, Dr. Assimaki’s team is using the macroelement as a building block for novel soil-structure interaction mechanical models of fixed offshore wind turbine foundations. Offshore wind-generated electricity is foreseen as a major contributor to the U.S. energy supply. However, commercialization is extremely cost-prohibitive due to the expense of wind turbine foundations. The foundations alone can account for up to 25% of the total cost of a wind farm. To date, the U.S. has no standards for the design of foundations in the offshore wind industry, but Dr. Assimaki is working to change that. She and her team of researchers envision that the macroelements for offshore wind turbine foundations will lead to cost-effective design solutions in a renewable energy market.

Her pending European partnerships will provide the performance and operational data for calibration and validation of the models, giving her research enormous potential to make that vision a reality.

Above, Dr. Assimaki identifies research experiments and findings.

Above, pile supported wharf damage due to liquefaction and lateral spreading during the M8.8 2010 Maule Earthquake in Chile.

Photo credit: Geer Association.

Detailed progressive deformation around a pile in cohesionless fully saturated soil. The bottom right deformation reveals the settlement in the vicinity of the foundation due to pile-induced liquefaction.

Additional information: http://www.geoquake.gatech.edu/

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FACULTY RESEARCH

Spanning 1.7 miles and weighing 887,000 tons, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge requires consistent structural health monitoring.

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Wireless, Battery-free Strain/Crack Sensors Dr. Yang Wang

A Low-cost Solution to Monitor and Protect Metallic Structures Dr. Yang Wang is an assistant professor in CEE who specializes in structural health monitoring and damage detection, optimal decentralized structural control, smart materials and structures, and wireless sensor networks. His work concentrates on structural sensors used to monitor and record the various structural components of buildings and bridges in order to track movement, functionality, and safety.

In one of Dr. Wang’s current projects, he and a team of researchers are investigating an ultra low-cost solution for wireless, batteryless sensors that monitor stress concentration and crack formation on metallic (e.g. steel or aluminum) structures. The sensors operate on radio frequency identification (RFID) principles, and the strain sensor is not only wireless but does not require battery power. In an RFID system, the reader beams electromagnetic energy to the tag, which receives the energy and reflects an electromagnetic signal back to the reader. When the RFID tag is under strain/deformation, the tag antenna shape changes and causes its electromagnetic resonance frequency to shift. This shift in resonance frequency can be measured by the reader, and then used to derive the strain experienced by the RFID tag.

Next, a passive (batteryless) RFID tag is designed and manufactured for wireless strain sensing. The wireless strain sensor (i.e. RFID tag) contains only a piece of copper patch antenna, and a small, lowcost RFID chip. No other electronic components are required at the wireless sensor side. The resonance frequency extracted by an RFID wireless reader shows strong linearity with respect to small strain increments. The slope of the linear regression shows that 1με strain causes -761 Hz shift in the tag’s resonance frequency. The performance of the wireless sensor has also been successfully tested for large strain levels over 20,000 με.

The preliminary results of this research have been very promising. In fact, the team is using the initial data to make the following modifications: (1) Evaluate the sensor performance for detecting crack formation. Since high sensitivity to small strain has been observed in current prototypes, it is expected that crack formation will cause large resonance frequency shift that is relatively easy to capture by the reader.

(2) Reduce the sensor dimension from 2.5 in. by 2.5 in. to below 0.5 in. by 0.5 in. The objective will be achieved by increasing the operation frequency from 900 MHz to over 5 GHz. The size factor of the sensor is proportional to the wavelength of the electromagnetic signal, and thus, inversely proportional to the operation frequency.

(3) Investigate the performance of simultaneous measurements from multiple passive wireless sensors. Using frequency division techniques, explore the distinguishing responses from various sensors.

(4) Increase the wireless interrogation range from currently achieved 2 ft to over 10 ft. Approaches include further optimizing the antenna shape and exploiting simple photovoltaic or vibration energy harvesting techniques.

Above, Dr. Yang Wang displays a prototype strain sensor. (a)

(b)

Due to the simplicity and promising performance of this research, the proposed technology holds great potential for the future, allowing mass production of lowcost, wireless strain/crack sensors used to monitor, analyze, and evaluate the performance of metallic structures.

Additional information: http://people.ce.gatech.edu/~ywang/ research.htm

Above: (a) power transmission and backscattering in a passive RFID tag-reader system; (b) tensile testing results showing the resonance frequency shift of the RFID tag versus strain.

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FACULTY RESEARCH

Climate change frequently affects both natural and built environments.

Photo Credit: Photographer Punchup via Flickr

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Transportation Systems & Climate Change Dr. Laurie Garrow

How Does a National System Adapt?

Climate change has received increasing attention worldwide as potentially one of the greatest challenges facing modern society. This attention has focused on two issues: (1) reducing the production of greenhouse gases in order to decrease the rate of climate change, or mitigation; and (2) preparing a future world for changing climatic conditions, or adaptation.

Although these issues have taken some time to take hold in the United States, an increasing number of state and local officials have started to examine how activities in their jurisdiction could be affected by changing environmental conditions.

In almost all of these efforts, transportation systems have been identified as one of the most important sectors that could be affected by significant impacts.

The vulnerability of the nation’s transportation systems should be of great concern to transportation officials. This includes the road network to long-term changes in local climate conditions as well as changes in weather in the shorter term. The basic premise of road design is that the physical form and materials specifications associated with the design itself must reflect the environmental conditions where the facility is constructed. However, infrastructure built today could face very different environmental conditions 30 to 50 years from now.

Operational and maintenance strategies will also be affected by changing conditions. The highway project development process will have to take into consideration likely impacts on environmental resources too, which are also likely change.

In fact, there are a multitude of reasons such as these that the transportation community, and in particular those responsible for planning and providing for the system, fully understand the potential impacts. Essentially, all processes used in planning, designing and monitoring these systems must incorporate an adap-

tive system management perspective that will allow transportation agencies to respond appropriately to changing environmental conditions.

Dr. Michael D. Meyer, the Frederick R. Dickerson Chair in CEE and director of the Georgia Transportation Institute, has been conducting nationally significant research on climate change and transportation system adaptation. He is the principal investigator on a project for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program that is developing an approach for identifying vulnerable transportation assets and developing a risk-based methodology for allocating resources to minimize damage to transportation infrastructure. He is deputy project director on a project for the U.S. Department of Transportation that is examining the engineering implications associated with the implementation of an adaptation strategy for Mobile, Alabama. The intent of this study is to identify the costs associated with protecting transportation systems in a metropolitan area, and in this case, the area is subject to hurricanes and storm surges. In addition, Dr. Meyer serves as a member of an international scan team that will visit several countries in September to learn more about the development and implementation of such adaptation plans around the world.

Dr. Meyer and Dr. Laurie Garrow, assistant professor in CEE’s transportation systems engineering program, recently completed an analysis examining the national costs associated with bridge reconstruction and the associated economic costs due to increased bridge scour from future changes in precipitation intensity. Their study shows that under a likely climate scenario, economic costs will increase by more than 15% of the current base case.

Based on the nature of the work, civil engineers must take into account environmental conditions for all infrastructure and services provided based on the project’s location. It seems likely that environmental conditions will change in the future, and in some cases, change significantly. The research conducted

by Drs. Meyer and Garrow is providing an important foundation to help professionals within the transportation industry meet this challenge head on.

Additional information: http://garrowlab.ce.gatech.edu/

Dr. Michael Meyer works with graduate students Josephine Kressner and Greg Macfarlane assessing climate change.

(L-R:) Dr. Michael Meyer and Dr. Laurie Garrow assess risk-based methodology for minimizing damage to transportation infrastructure.

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Our People

CEE Faculty Georgia Tech is already the national leader in the production of women and minorities in engineering, and faculty diversity continues to be a priority. As a premiere school in the nation’s largest college of engineering, CEE’s faculty is comprised of three (3) African American, four (4) Hispanic, and eight (8) female faculty members.

Dr. Adjo Amekudzi

Dr. Rafael L. Bras

Dr. Reginald DesRoches

Dr. Mustafa M. Aral

Dr. Ioannis Brilakis

Dr. Bruce R. Ellingwood

Dr. Dominic Assimaki

Dr. Susan E. Burns

Dr. Leroy Z. Emkin

Dr. Nelson C. Baker

Dr. Yongsheng Chen

Dr. Francesco Fedele

Dr. Michael H. Bergin

Dr. John Crittenden

Dr. Hermann M. Fritz

Associate Professor Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, Carnegie Mellon University

Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology

Assistant Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Vice Provost and Associate Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, Carnegie Mellon University

Associate Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, Carnegie Mellon University

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Provost & Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs, K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources. ScD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Assistant Professor Construction Engineering, Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology

Associate Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, Nankai University

Director, Brook Byers Institute of Sustainable Systems, Hightower Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. Environmental Engineering. PhD, University of Michigan

Associate Chair and Dean’s Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials. PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Raymond Allen Jones Chair Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Assistant Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, University of Vermont

Associate Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Dr. J. David Frost

Dr. Joseph B. Hughes

Dr. Laurie A. Garrow

Dr. Michal P. Hunter

Assistant Professor Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, Northwestern University

Associate Professor Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, University of Texas, Austin

Dr. Jian Luo

Dr. Aris P. Georgakakos

Dr. Laurence J. Jacobs Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, CoE and Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, Columbia University

Dr. Paul W. Mayne

Director, Georgia Water Resources Institute and Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources; PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Leonid Germanovich

Dr. Lawrence E. Kahn Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, University of Michigan

Dr. Michael D. Meyer

Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, Moscow State Mining University

Dr. Barry J. Goodno

Dr. Jaehong Kim

Dr. Rafi L. Muhanna

Dr. Randall L. Guensler

Dr. Kostas Konstantinidis Assistant Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, Michigan State University

Dr. James A. Mulholland

Professor Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, University of California, Davis

Dr. Kevin A. Haas

Dr. Kimberly E. Kurtis

Dr. Spyros G. Pavlostathis

Associate Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, University of Delaware

Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Rami M. Haj-Ali

Dr. Jorge A. Laval

Dr. Glenn J. Rix

Dr. Ching-Hua Huang

Dr. Roberto T. Leon

Dr. Phillip J.W. Roberts

Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, University of Texas, Austin

Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, California Institute of Technology

Dr. Haiying Huang

Dr. John D. Leonard

Dr. Lisa G. Rosenstein

Director of Georgia Tech Savannah and Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, Purdue University

Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, Stanford University

Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Associate Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, John Hopkins University

Assistant Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, University of Minnesota

Karen & John Huff School Chair and Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, University of Iowa

Carlton S. Wilder Associate Chair Environmental Engineering PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Assistant Professor Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Associate Dean, CoE Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, University of California, Irvine

Dr. Stanley D. Lindsey Professor of the Practice Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, Vanderbilt University

Assistant Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, Stanford University

Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, CornellUniversity

Director of GTI, Frederick R. Dickerson Chair Transportation Systems Engineering.

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Director of Center for Reliable Engineering Computing & Associate Chair; Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials. PhD, Higher Institute for Structure and Architecture, Bulgaria

Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, Cornell University

Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, University of Texas, Austin

Senior Academic Professional Engineering Communications PhD, Emory University

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CEE Faculty (Continued)

Dr. Armistead G. Russell

Dr. Terry W. Sturm

Dr. Kenneth M. Will

Dr. J. Carlos Santamarina

Dr. Jochen Tiezer

Dr. Paul Work

Dr. David W. Scott

Dr. Yi- Chang James Tsai

Associate Professor Geosystems Engineering, Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology

Assistant Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, California Institute of Technology

Dr. Jim C. Spain

Dr. Yang Wang

Assistant Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, StanfordUniversity

Dr. Sotira Yiacoumi

Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, University of Texas, Arlington

Dr. Marc Stieglitz

Dr. Donald R. Webster

Dr. Abdul-Hamid Zureick

Georgia Power Distinguished Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, California Institute of Technology

Goizueta Foundation Faculty Chair and Professor Geosystems Engineering PhD, Purdue University

Associate Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology

Associate Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, Columbia University

Dr. Thorsten Stoesser Assistant Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, University of Bristol, UK

Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, The University of Iowa

Assistant Professor Construction Engineering, Transportation Systems Engineering PhD, University of Texas, Austin

Associate Chair for Undergraduate Programs and Professor Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources. PhD, University of California, Berekeley

Dr. Donald W. White Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, Cornell University

Research Engineers and Scientists Robert S. Abernathy Julian Diaz-Ospina Jiabao Guan Angshuman Guin Shirley Fumiye Nishino

Mehmet T. Odman Michael O. Rodgers Frank Southworth Stacy V. Stringer Michael H. Swanger

Adjunct Faculty John E. Abraham John D. Edwards Maohong Fan John Z. Luh Jae Suk Ryou

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Madan Tandukar Huaming Yao Hamid Zand Guangxuan Zhu

Associate Professor & Associate Chair for Graduate Programs Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials PhD, University of Texas, Austin Associate Chair, Associate Director, Georgia Tech Savannah, and Associate Professor; Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources PhD, University of Florida

Dr. Arash Yavari

Professor Environmental Engineering PhD, Syracuse University

Professor Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials. PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

CEE Staff Erin D. Adams

Joan M. Incrocci

Susan Sumners

Mike Anderson

Kenneth Irwin

Therese Talbot

Marjorie Jorgenson

Denise Taylor

Administrative Professional Senior

Administrative Professional Senior

Jennifer Balachandran

Carol Maddox

John Temple

Tanya M. Blackwell

J.J. Martino

Human Resources Coordinator

Information Technology Support Professional Manager

Earl L. Babbitt III

Academic Advising Manager

Journal Assistant

Grants Administrator

Research Operations Program Manager

Admissions Coordinator III

Administrative Professional Senior

Information Technology Support Professional Senior

Administrative Professional Senior

Financial Administrator III

Information Technology Support Professional II

Andrew Udell

Facilities Manager Senior

Jenny Eaton

Ella Denise Rhodes

Joshua Vance

Mary E. George

Denis Satria

Mary Kate Varnau

Ruth H. Gregory

Melisa Singley

Zachariah A. Worley

Gary L. Hoilman

Laurie Somerville

Administrative Professional Senior

Academic Advisor I

Communications Officer I

Assistant Director, Financial Operations

C Robert Hudgins

Academic Advising Manager

Financial Administrator II

Computer Services Specialist II

Financial Administrator II

Financial Administrator III

Journal Assistant

Building Coordinator I

Director of Development

Structure

Michael R. Sorenson

CEE’s administrative structure provides well-defined support services in such areas as academic advising, business operations, human resources, accounting, research administration, marketing and communications, facilities management, computer support, and development.

Mechanical Specialist

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Awards & Recognitions National and International Awards Aral

J. James R. Croes Medal, 2011; Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2010.

Assimaki

2009 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development award, ASCE, GeoInstitute, 2010.

Bras

J. Drexel Exceptional Achievement award, Drexel University, 2010; National Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico, 2009.

Garrow

National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, 2009; Council of University Transportation Centers-American Road & Transportation Builders Association (CUTC-ARTBA) New Faculty Member award, 2009.

Hughes

Engineer of the Year in Education, Georgia Engineering Alliance, 2011.

Huang (Haiying)

NSF CAREER Award, 2010; ASCE Associate Editor award, 2009.

NSF CAREER award, 2011; Doctoral New Investigator Grant, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, 2009-2011.

DesRoches

Kim

Brilakis

2010 Subaru Professor of Excellence award; National Academy of Engineering, 1st China-America Frontiers of Engineering, Session Organizer and Chair, 2009.

Ellingwood

Distinguished (Honorary) Member of ASCE, 2010; IASSAR Senior Research Prize, International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability, 2009.

Emkin

Engineer of the Year in Education, Georgia Engineering Alliance, 2010; Engineer of the Year in Education, Georgia Society of Professional Engineers, 2009.

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Leon

American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Special Achievement award, 2011.

Meyer

Fellow, ASCE, April 2010; Engineer of the Year in Education, Georgia Engineering Alliance, 2009; W.N. Carey Jr. award, Transportation Research Board, 2009.

Pavlostathis

Fellow, Water Environment Federation, 2011; Fellow, International Water Association, 2010.

Roberts

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Excellence in Review award, Environmental Science & Technology, 2009; Paul L. Busch award, Water Environment Research Foundation, 2009.

Teizer

Konstantinidis

Tsai

International Skerman award for Microbial Taxonomy, The World Federation for Culture Collections, 2010.

Kurtis

Fellow, American Ceramics Society, 2011; Fellow, American Concrete Institute, 2010.

Laval

NSF CAREER award, 2011.

FIATECH Celebrate Engineering and Technology Innovations Outstanding Early Career Researcher, 2010.

Chinese Chang Jiang Scholar, 2009.

White

Raymond C. Reese Research Prize, ASCE, 2010; American Iron and Steel Institute and American Society of State Highway and Transportation Officials Steel Structures Committee; T. R. Higgins Lectureship award, AISC, 2009.

Yavari

Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program award, 2010.

School Awards

Institute Awards

DesRoches

Burns

CEE Appreciation award, 2010.

Kim

Bill Schultz Sabbatical award, 2010; CEE Excellence in Research award, 2009; Carlton S. Wilder Endowed Professorship, 2009.

Mulholland

CEE Appreciation award, May 2009.

Stoesser

Bill Schultz Junior Faculty Teaching award, 2010.

Teizer

Bill Schultz Junior Faculty Teaching award, 2009.

Yavari

CEE Excellence in Research award, 2010.

Staff Awards GT Outstanding Staff Award: 2011 Andrea Be

CEE Outstanding Staff Award: 2010 Gary Hoilman 2009 Laurie Somerville

Class of 1969 Teaching Scholar, 2009-2010.

DesRoches

Dean’s Professor of the College of Engineering award, 2011; Georgia Tech Dean James E. Dull Faculty Member of the Year award, 2010; Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor award, 2010.

Garrow

Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning/BP Americas (CETL/BP) Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence award, 2009.

Meyer

Georgia Tech ANAK award, 2009; Class of 1940 Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher award, 2009; Civil Engineering Teacher of the Year, Southeast Section, Chi Epsilon, 2009; Sigma Xi Masters Thesis Advisor award, 2009.

College of Engineering (CoE) Alumni Awards CEE congratulates the following civil and environmental engineering alumni recognized at the 2011 CoE Awards Induction Ceremony: Engineering Hall of Fame G. Wayne Clough CE ‘63, MSCE ‘65 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award Jack E. Buffington MSCE ‘68 Research Professor (Retired), University of Arkansas Jose L. Barzuna BSCE ‘82, MSCE ‘83 Arquitectura e Ingeniería S.A. Robert D. Bernstein BSCE ‘76. Consulting Transportation Engineer, Robert Bernstein Inc. P.S. (Deceased)

rigor

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Development The School hired a full-time development officer in October of 2005. Mrs. Laurie Somerville has worked with the school chair and other faculty leadership to advance the school’s development activities as well as overall engagement with alumni, volunteer leadership and other partners of the school.

The School has been successful in raising over $25 million since Mrs. Somerville’s arrival. Highlights include a $4 million international travel endowment for students, 4 new endowed chairs, including a $2.5 million chair for the School leader; 2 new professorships and a $1 million External Advisory Board Endowment fund.

The School hosts several major events annually including a homecoming celebration, several high visibility lectures and an alumni weekend held in a different U.S. location each year and organized by the School’s External Advisory Board.

These events collectively gather thousands of alumni, corporate collaborators, government officials, academic partners and other friends, all of whom assist in strengthening the overall commitment to the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech.

ENDOWMENTS: TOTAL MARKET VALUE OF PRINCIPAL

$ millions

$18,829,208

$18M

$16,574,246

$16M $15,666,571

$14M $12M

$15,701,864

$12,185,708

$10M $8,695,365

$8M $6M

(including scholarships)

CEE’s School Endowment fund has tripled from 2004-10, despite the economic downturn.

$4M $2M

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$6,667,737

$0

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010 Fiscal Year

FUNDS RAISED: BY USE $ millions $16M

Endowment

$14M $12M Current Operations

$10M $8M $6M

Increase in CEE Funding

by Use from 2006-10

$4M

Facilities

$2M $0

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010 Fiscal Year

TOTAL DOLLARS RAISED $ millions $30M

$26,447423

$25M $21,305,406

$20M $15M

$16,742,330 $14,749834

$10M $9,035,472

Total Dollars Raised in CEE from 2006-2010

$5M

$0

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010 Fiscal Year

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Our Donors Philanthropic support provides the vital resources required to lead new initiatives, weather cyclical changes in government support, and make long-term investments in the School’s programs and technologies. Combined with the engagement of our stakeholders—alumni, friends, corporations, and foundations—this support is the key to turning dreams into reality, to improving quality of life, and to changing the world.

Organizations AECOM Technology Applied Biosystems Inc. ARCS Foundation, Inc. Baker Hughes Incorporated Baskerville-Donovan, Inc. Bentley Systems, Incorporated Blount Construction Company Bovis Lend Lease Inc. BP America Brasfield & Gorrie Brown and Caldwell Campbell Applied Physics Carollo Engineers CH2M HILL Companies, Ltd. Chemtron Supply Corp Chevron Clark Construction Group, LLC ConeTec, Inc. Crowder Construction Company Inc. Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Eaton Corporation Emmeskay, Inc. Environmental Protection Agency Exxon Mobil Corporation The Fluor Foundation Georgia Assoc. of Water Professionals, Inc. Georgia Section ITE, Inc. Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. Golder Associates, Inc. GS Engineering & Construction Hodges & Hicks General Contractors Hwaseung R&A

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Inst. of Transportation Engineers, GT Chapter J. Ray McDermott, Inc. Jensen Civil Construction Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. Lehigh Hanson, Inc. Manitowoc Materials Technologies Corp McDonough Bolyard Peck Inc. Nelson Stud Welding, Inc. The Parsons Corporation PBSJ Foundation, Inc. R2T Inc. Racetrac Petroleum, Inc. Reid Engineering Company, Inc. Schlumberger Skanska Oy Skanska USA Building, Inc. Southern Company Services, Inc. Speedwell Foundation Suzhou Litree Ultra-Filtrt Mmbr Tech Co, Ltd Synergy Earth Systems, LLC Thiele Kaolin Co. Toto USA, Inc. Universitat Stuttgart Uzun & Case Engineers Water Research Foundation Williams Industries, Inc. Winter Construction Company Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Inc. World Fiber Technologies, Inc.

Individuals Mr. Rajeevan Amirtharajah Mrs. Alice Davis Bachman Mrs. Bonnie M. Barksdale Mr. M. Daniel Berman Mrs. Joyce L. Bowen Dr. Susan E. Burns & Mr. Kenneth E. Lemons Ms. Glory Class Dr. John Crittenden Mrs. Linda R. DiPietro Dr. & Mrs. Reginald DesRoches Dr. Leroy Z. Emkin Dr. Aris P. Georgakakos & Mrs. Leslie Blythe Mr. Edmund C. Glover Mrs. Janet Goossens Mr. Robert G Graham, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Peter F. Gregg Dr. Frank L. Hampton Ms. Lauren R. Hildebrand, PE Dr. Ching-Hua Huang Dr. Haiying Huang Mr. C. Robert Hudgins Mr. & Mrs. Joseph B. Hughes Mr. James W. Hurt Mr. Kenneth E. Hyatt Mr. Stephen F. Jensen Mr. and Mrs. Eric Johansen Dr. Virginia V. Jory Dr. Marie G. Jureit-Beamish Mr. T. Michael Kaney Mr. Jaehong Kim Dr. John H. Koon Mr. & Mrs. Roberto T. Leon Dr. Huda Lillard

Mr. Guy J. Lookabaugh BG Charles A. Machemehl, Jr. USAF (RET) Mrs. Jeanette Maulding Mr. Michael G. Messner Mrs. Margaret L. Mitchell Mrs. Michelle L. Novotni Mr. Joseph P. Palladi, PE Mr. Blake V. Peck Mr. Wilbur F. Peck, Jr. Mr. Don M. Rhodes Mr. and Mrs. Marc S. Rosenshein Mr. & Mrs. Armistead G. Russell Mr. Mark A. Russell Mr. & Mrs. Blake Somerville Mr. Jim Spain Mrs. Susan H. Stone Mr. Stacy V. Stringer Mrs. Dorothy L. Sutton Mrs. Nancy W. Sutton Mr. William D. Swart Mrs. Martha S. Todd Mr. and Mrs. Billy G. Turner Mr. G. Ben Turnipseed Mr. Thomas A. Tye Mr. Marvine R. Wanamaker Mrs. Elaine W. Wang Mr. Donald W. Wittschiebe Ms. Janice N. Wittschiebe Mr. Frank E. Wyatt Mr. & Mrs. John & Carolyn Wylder CEE proudly recognizes its donors during FY 2011 and thanks all of the individuals and organizations who play a critical role in the School’s continued success and the success of our students.

entrepreneurial spirit

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CEE External Advisory Board The CEE External Advisory Board (EAB) is a vital component of the School. Its members work in both the public and private sectors and provide an important, outside perspective that is essential to maintaining the relevancy of CEE programs to industry. The EAB plays a significant role in vetting programs designed for students, alumni, and corporate constituencies to ensure the highest quality standards in curriculum, practice, and outreach.

Mr. William R. Calhoun Jr. (BSCE ‘81) Executive Vice President Clark Construction Group, Inc.

Ms. Selma A. (Sally) Jabaley (BSCE ‘74) Project Assurance Manager Shell International

Mr. Blake Van Leer Peck (MSCE ‘78) President and Chief Operating Officer McDonough Bolyard Peck Inc.

Mr. Scott Emmons, PE (BSCE ‘81) Chief Engineer Newton County Water & Sewer Authority

Mr. Birdel F. Jackson III (MSCE ‘74) President and CEO B&E Jackson & Associates, Inc.

Mr. Andy Phelps (BSCE ‘76) Principal Vice President Bechtel Corporation

Mrs. Sharon Just (BSCE ‘89) President Just Engineering & Associates, Inc.

Mr. S. Brent Reid (BSCE ‘82) President/CEO Winter Construction

Mr. Greg Koch (BSCE ‘90, MSCE ‘92) Managing Director, Global Water Stewardship, Environment & Water Resources The Coca-Cola Company

Mr. Ron Stuff (BSCE ‘82) Assistant General Counsel Fluor Corporation

Mr. Thomas D. Gambino (BSCE ‘79) President Prime Engineering, Inc. Mr. Edmund C. Glover (BSCE ‘60) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Batson-Cook Company Mr. Ulysses Grady, Jr. (BSCE ‘79, MSCE ‘81) Chief Civil Engineer City of Atlanta Mr. Robert G. Graham (BSCE ‘76) President Cone & Graham, Inc. Mr. John A. Grant III, PE (BSCE ‘74) Owner Grant Engineering Company Mr. Jim Hamilton (BSCE ‘77) President & Owner Southern Civil Engineers, Inc. Ms. Lauren Hildebrand, PE (BSIE ‘82) Director of Utilities, Department of Public Works, Public Utilities Division City of Charlottesville, Virginia

Mr. Ray Lawing (MSCE ‘77) Senior Associate AMEC Earth & Environmental, Inc. Mr. James Maughon (BSCE ‘68) President Hayes James & Associates

Mr. Richard C. Tucker Sr. (BSCE ‘64, MSCE ‘65) Chair, External Advisory Board; President/CEO (Retired) Environmental Resources Management, Inc.

Mr. Michael G. Messner (BSCE ‘76) Partner Seminole Capital Partners

Mr. Emilio Venegas, BSCE ‘77 President Venegas Construction Corporation

Mr. J. Paul Oxer, PE, DEE (BSCE ‘73) Managing Director McDaniell, Hunter & Prince, Inc.

Mr. Frank E. Williams III (BSCE ‘81) President/CEO Williams Industries, Inc.

Mr. Joseph P. Palladi, PE (BSCE ‘74) (Retired) Office of Planning Georgia Department of Transportation

Mr. Frank E. Wyatt (BSCE ‘76) President Pinnacle Homes

Mr. Douglas R. Hooker (BSME ‘78, MS ‘85) Vice President and District Director Southern Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Inc. Mr. Charles H. Huling (BSCE ‘74) (Retired) VP, Environmental Affairs Georgia Power Company

CEE External Advisory Board members during a fall meeting at the Georgia Tech Hotel.

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Mr. Rick Toole (BSCE ‘79, MSCE ‘80) Founder and President W R Toole Engineers, Inc.

diversity

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School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 790 Atlantic Drive N.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0355 Phone: 404.894.2201 | Fax: 404.894.2278 www.ce.gatech.edu | communications@ce.gatech.edu