CEE Magazine Summer 2018

CEE

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Summer 2018

Almost there

Floor plans and funding opportunities Alumni news and features

CEE

CEE is published twice a year for alumni and friends of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign.

Benito MariĂąas Professor and Head Celeste Arbogast Senior Director of Advancement Operations Kristina Shidlauski Assistant Director of Communications Nishant Makhijani Assistant Director of Advancement

The future is coming.

Will you help build it?

Planned giving is an often overlooked option for supporting causes important to you. Making a decision now to bestow a gift later can have an enormous impact on future generations. There are many options including bequests, retirement accounts, life insurance policies or other gifts that allow you to provide for your family today and the institution you love tomorrow. We can assist you with language to use in your will, trust and other beneficiary forms to ensure your wishes are carried out.

Let us help you establish your legacy: Nishant Makhijani, Assistant Director of Advancement (217) 265-0407 or nishantm@illinois.edu Ekaterina Trubitsyna, Strategic Data Manager (217) 300-0194 or katia@illinois.edu

Keely K. Ashman Coordinator of Alumni and Corporate Relations Sheree Eyestone Office Support Specialist CEE Magazine Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign 1201 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250 205 North Mathews Avenue Urbana, Illinois 61801 (217) 333-6955 celeste@illinois.edu Cover: The design and furniture plan for the smart bridge, by KSID Interiors and Reifsteck Reid. cee.illinois.edu

CEE

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Modernizing for a CEE renaissance/Benito MariĂąas

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Leaving your mark/Colleen E. Quinn, P.E., (BS 84)

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Almost there, but not quite: Floor plans and funding opportunities

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Curriculum changes on the way as part of Modernization

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Ouyang invested as first Krambles professor

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Three CEE professors receive CAREER awards

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CEE celebrates Fazlur Khan, honored in concert for 150th

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Puerto Rico trip offers students real-world design experience

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Disaster relief course takes students to Puerto Rico for spring break

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Women of CEE part two

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New book highlights Illinois women in engineering

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National steel bridge competition comes to Illinois

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What are you working on?/Steve Stowe (MS 70)

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Department news

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Alumni speakers series

32

Alumni news

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In Memoriam

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CEE student awards

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CEEAA alumni awards

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Farewell, water tower

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27 Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 3

Modernizing for the CEE renaissance

By Benito MariĂąas Ivan Racheff Professor of Environmental Engineering and Head Dear CEE at Illinois Alumni and Friends,

I

recently participated in the National Meeting of Civil Engineering Department Heads and Chairs in Philadelphia.

To my surprise, I found a somewhat pessimistic atmosphere, mainly because of a national trend within the past few years showing that the number of students choosing the civil and environmental engineering discipline in most universities is decreasing while the group of those going into several other engineering fields (especially relating to aerospace, computer, electrical and mechanical engineering) is growing. I believe that a key reason for this trend is that the undergraduate curricula of most civil and environmental engineering programs are somewhat stagnated and behind in embracing modern technologies.

This situation is a bit perplexing, but perhaps the educational system of our profession is undergoing a transitional lag phase before a technology-driven renaissance of the field of civil and environmental engineering that we are called to embrace, promote and lead. We are facing unprecedented global grand challenges such as decaying infrastructure in the U.S. and many other developed countries, environmental deterioration in fast-growing emerging economies, and pervasive economic stagnation in the developing world. Nationwide, civil and environmental engineering programs need to modernize to attract once again the best and brightest students, as our flagship CEE at Illinois department still does, to become the professional engineers that will develop sustainable solutions to these global grand challenges. This new cadre of modern technology-savvy civil 4

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We are facing unprecedented global grand challenges such as decaying infrastructure in the U.S. and many other developed countries, environmental deterioration in fastgrowing emerging economies, and pervasive economic stagnation in the developing world.

and environmental engineers will envision revolutionary smart autonomous transportation systems giving efficient mobility to the public and commerce and connectivity to a modern infrastructure in novel three-dimensional configurations (underground, surface and air) that would eradicate once and for all the gridlock of urban and regional traffic congestion.

They will create sustainable and efficient infrastructure lifecycle management and energy resource exploitation approaches compatible with a pristine environment.

They will answer a call to develop sustainable solutions based on income-generating resource recovery approaches so that the approximately 2.5 billion people lacking safe sanitation and 1.8 billion people

drinking contaminated water gain access to these basic human needs while at the same time experience food and energy security.

We are entering a truly exciting era of the civil and environmental engineering profession. With our unique experience of excellence for more than 150 years, the CEE at Illinois family has a call to continue in our historic leadership role.

As we have been describing in recent issues of the CEE Magazine, and as we present in more detail in the present edition, your CEE at Illinois department is engaged in developing a plan for modernizing our curriculum and facilities. This plan will allow us to continue educating the leaders of the civil and environmental engineering profession that will join you in envisioning and realizing the upcoming infrastructure renaissance era. I am deeply grateful to the CEE alumni and friends who have already contributed generously to our facilities Modernization Plan because these gifts have allowed us to anchor the project and move forward with it. However, we need more help to fully implement our plan.

So far, fewer than one percent of the approximately 15,000 CEE at Illinois alumni have contributed to the CEE Modernization Plan. I know that many more of you are excited and inclined to support this historic project but have not acted yet. So, I would like to end this

I feel a deep optimism about the future of our profession.

message by urging you to do so. As you read through this issue of the CEE Magazine, please consider which aspect of this project resonates with you. We welcome support at any level. If you act now you will make history with us by maintaining the second-to-none excellence of CEE at Illinois that will continue to attract top engineering talent and educate them to become professionals who will continue to lead the field of Civil and Environmental Engineering – and many other non-traditional CEE careers – for decades to come.

You will also make history by adding your name to the permanent main recognition plaque located in the Robert H. Dodds Commons area, and possibly also one of the additional plaques placed by several named spaces honoring impactful faculty or alumni, or providing student collaboration space, classrooms or hands-on laboratories that still need support.

Contrary to the pessimism I witnessed from some of my fellow civil and environmental engineering department heads and chairs from other schools, I feel a deep optimism about the future of our profession. Perhaps this is because I am surrounded by bright minds with innovative ideas for solving society’s challenges.

Perhaps it is because I have met so many of you in my time as department head and have learned about the great impact you are having on our world. Perhaps it is because I have confidence in the excellence and continued leadership of CEE at Illinois – faculty, students, alumni and friends alike. I invite you to share that optimism and become a part of our Modernization Plan by making your gift today.

Go Illini!

What’s in a name?

Naming gifts are major gifts that allow an individual or company to name a portion of the new building, for example a laboratory, classroom, office area or collaborative space. Named spaces both honor those whom they commemorate and provide constant reminders for future generations of students about the individuals and industry partners who have forged our department’s history.

Opportunities for naming gifts in the Phase II Modernization project range from $20,000 for graduate student workstations to $16 million to name the entire new Hydrosystems Lab addition.

Specific spaces for which we hope to secure funding and the gift levels required for naming include: • Transportation Faculty Classroom ($2 million) • Resource Recovery Laboratory ($1 million) • The Ben Chie Yen Library ($250,000) • The Ven Te Chow Fluid Mechanics Laboratory ($2 million) • Materials Laboratory ($1 million) • Sedimentation Laboratory ($1 million) • First-floor entryway/lobby ($250,000) • Faculty offices, 15 total planned, each sponsored at $100,000 • Senior faculty office suites, two planned, each sponsored at $200,000 • Graduate student workstations, 77 remaining to fund, each $20,000 • Alumni Accomplishments Showcase in first-floor hallway (four spaces, $250,000 each) Spaces that are already established for which additional funding will allow us to implement the full design: • Geotechnical Laboratory • The William J. Hall Classroom • The Vernon L. Snoeyink Water Chemistry Laboratory • The Judith S. Liebman Gallery, named for the first • woman to be appointed to the tenure-track faculty in CEE. • The Robert H. Dodds Jr. Commons • The Rashod R. Johnson Civil Space • The CEE Alumni of ExxonMobil conference room • The CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors student collaboration space All gifts can be made by pledging to pay the full amount over several years, up to five. The first payment of a multi-year pledge can be made as late as December 2019.

To discuss a naming opportunity, please contact Benito Mariñas, marinas@illinois.edu, (217) 333-6961.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 5

much water is being u How consumed and how much energy is needed to collect and treat wastewater in U.S. urban areas? CEE researchers have created a first-of-its kind, publicly-accessible database to answer these questions.

CEEAA Board of Directors President Colleen E. Quinn, P.E., (BS 84) Ricondo & Associates Inc. Chicago Vice President John P. Kos, P.E., (BS 77) H.W. Lochner Inc. Chicago Second Vice President and Secretary Paula C. Pienton, P.E., S.E., (BS 85) T.Y. Lin International Group Chicago

Check out these and other stories at

uCEE.ILLINOIS.EDU/NEWS

Past President Allen J. Staron, P.E., (BS 74) Clark Dietz Inc. Chicago Directors Daniel F. Burke (BS 92, MS 93) City of Chicago DOT Chicago Nicholas L. Canellis (BS 94) AVA Consultants LLC Continental Painting and Decorating Chicago

Center for Applied u The Collaboration on Human Environments will study the complex chemistry of what happens in wood just before it bursts into flames, thanks to a $600,000 National Science Foundation grant.

John E. Conroyd, P.E., S.E., (BS 83, MS 85) Tishman Realty & Construction Co. Corp.

Chicago James M. Daum, P.E., (BS 77) Bowman, Barrett & Associates Chicago

Rubber duckies u Study: can harbor harmful bacteria and fungi.

students won first place in the U.S. u Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s national collegiate competition to design innovative solutions for stormwater pollution.

James K. Klein, P.E., S.E., (BS 78) Illinois Department of Transportation Springfield Justin R. Lewis, P.E. (BS 07, MS 08) Hayward Baker Inc. Roselle, Illinois Dana B. Mehlman, P.E., (BS 99, MS 01) Vedder Price Chicago Katherine Pripusich-Sienkiewicz (BS 03, MS 13) Fermilab Batavia, Ill. Robert Risser (BS 87, MS89) Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Chicago Julian Rueda, P.E., (BS 80, MS 82) Geo Services Inc. Naperville, Illinois David A. Schoenwolf, P.E., (BS 77, MS 78) Haley & Aldrich Inc. McLean, Virginia Richard Sieracki (BS 74) The Kenrich Group LLC Chicago

u

Study: Trade leads countries to use less water to grow crops, but does not impact the amount of water used in industry.

R. Scott Trotter, P.E., (BS 90) Trotter and Associates Inc. Saint Charles, Illinois Michael Vitale, P.E., (BS 82, MS 84) Mott MacDonald Cleveland, Ohio Daniel J. Whalen, P.E., (BS 84, MS 85) Hanson Professional Services Inc. Springfield

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Leaving your mark

By Colleen E. Quinn, P.E., (BS 84) President, CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors

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he next time you return to campus, you have a good chance of seeing initial work on the second phase of the Modernization Plan, with demolition to accommodate the Hydrosystems Lab expansion and renovation starting this fall. This groundbreaking is another sign of the enhancement of the engineering campus and the enrichment of the student environment.

Although significant work is still to come, it is exciting to see the Modernization Plan emerge.

What is now relatively quiet and static space in the Hydro Lab will be transformed into engaging and energized spaces – ones that will bring to life engineering and design principles and will provide not only new laboratory and classroom spaces but also student collaboration areas. These are spaces that will strengthen educational interactions and relationships as students occupy and animate them. Hydro Lab will be a place for gathering, discussing, exploring, partnering, comparing, challenging – many of the crucial elements of learning.

Much like the Geoffrey Yeh Student Center, the Hydro Lab renovation and expansion, including the Smart Bridge, will be transformative for the students and faculty that will learn and teach in it. As is often the case, transformation is challenging. The CEE complex mirrors our national infrastructure; renewal is critical to continuing to meet the department’s mission – educating the best among civil and environmental engineers.

Funding is a challenge that never seems to get easier, particularly in the phased implementation of a comprehensive modernization plan.

Supporting the Hydro Lab phase of the Modernization Plan is a way for alumni and friends to leave a lasting and meaningful mark on the engineering infrastructure, the CEE department and the students. Every contributor, regardless of gift size, will be named in the new space. If you have contemplated tangibly cementing your link to the university and the department, perhaps this is the time. Over the years, contributors (and friends and family) will be able to return to campus and see the footprints of their gifts in both the expanded and updated facility and in the wall identifying all donors.

Recognizing that there are numerous orga-

nizations and causes competing for your support and attention, please weigh making a gift (or supplementing a greatly appreciated gift) to sustain this phase of the Modernization Plan.

There are to-be-named spaces that have yet to sponsored, as well as established, named spaces that have been anchored by a leadership gift but that are not yet fully funded. Some of these leaderships gifts have been made by or in honor of names that are likely familiar to many of you. Named spaces tend to personalize a building, linking it to us beyond our time spent there. These often bring back memories of related experiences – perhaps experiences not in the (soon-to-be-new) physical space but with the staff, faculty, fellow students and equipment that were there when we were. As Frank Lloyd Wright said, “The space within becomes the reality of the building.” The Hydro Lab will evolve from a building where some of us only went to class/lab into a space that attracts, energizes and inspires CEE students – our material commitment to “spaces” within will bring a new energy to the learning that takes place there.

Perhaps this is one of the best and most lasting marks we can leave in our wake as part of the CEE community.

While my commitment to CEE remains strong, this is my final message as President of the CEEAA Board. It has been a very meaningful engagement over the last two years, due in equal parts to fellow Board members, the department, the students, the alumni and the opportunity to give something back to the department and the university over this time.

Those of us who earned our CEE degree(s) from the University of Illinois recognize that there truly is no better civil and environmental department, no matter the metric used to measure or the organization making the evaluation. I want to express my appreciation for those that have helped and contributed to the Board over this time and to challenge fellow alumni in continuing to support the department, the faculty and the students. Please consider getting involved and leaving your mark in different ways. Your impact will be lasting and valued well into the future.

Go Illini!

As Frank Lloyd Wright said, “The space within becomes the reality of the building.”

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 7

Almost there

but not quite

Fundraising for Phase II of the CEE Modernization Plan has been very successful, but opportunities still exist for alumni and friends to help make CEE history with this major transformation of our facilities.

On these pages, we unveil the floor plans and invite everyone to consider being part of this historic initiative.

All donors will be acknowledged on the donor installation within the building and in spaces where naming gifts have been made.

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The Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge: a new campus landmark The Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge

Floor Plan Key Green: fully funded Yellow: Naming established; more funding needed Orange: Planned but not yet funded

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he Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge will be a highlight of the new construction and a new campus landmark.

The bridge will be a living laboratory featuring the latest innovations in infrastructure sensing, a showcase for sustainable energy and environmental design options, and an instructional tool to teach students about the effects of dynamic forces on the built environment.

The bridge was made possible by a gift from Kavita and Lalit Bahl. Lalit is an alumnus of Illinois’ Electrical and Computer

Engineering department who earned his master’s degree in 1966 and his Ph.D. in 1969. Kavita’s late first husband, Ravindar K. Kinra, earned his Ph.D. in 1968 from CEE at Illinois. Gratitude for their education and the research assistantships the two men received during that time motivates Lalit and Kavita’s continued philanthropy to this day.

“We have been supporters of the university for many years,” the couple wrote. “We have endowed fellowships in both the CEE and ECE departments. We

Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge Funding Opportunities

Smart Bridge Collaboration Spaces $250,000 each Floor Plan Key Green: fully funded Yellow: Naming established; more funding needed Orange: Planned but not yet funded

The floor plans on the following pages show the many opportunities that still exist for giving to the CEE Modernization Plan. For more information, please contact:

Lalit and Kavita Kinra

also contributed to the building fund for the new ECE building. So supporting the Smart Bridge project is a part of our efforts to pay back the university, to a small extent, for the great education and benefits we received from the University of Illinois.”

Ideas for instrumenting the bridge and adjacent portions of the new building are being planned by a faculty committee, with input from all of the department’s areas of study. The committee is investigating such wired and wireless instrumentation possibilities as strain gauges; accelerometers; inclinometers; pressure sensors; fiber optic cables; and environmental sensors for relative hu-

Benito Mariñas Professor and Head (217) 333-6961 marinas@illinois.edu

or

midity, temperature and wind. In addition to this monitoring of the bridge structure and its foundation, the committee is also looking into instrumenting the indoor areas of the bridge and adjacent spaces with respect to sensing for occupancy, energy consumption, ventilation and indoor air quality; monitoring pedestrian traffic flow; and perhaps even developing the street beneath the bridge as an autonomous transit testbed. Data from all the sensors will be displayed on a screen on the bridge. The department hopes to establish an endowment fund to support future updates to the bridge instrumen-

Katya Trubitsyna Strategic Data Manager (217) 300-0194 katia@illinois.edu

tation, so that its technology will always represent the latest innovations in infrastructure sensing.

When asked what impact they hope the Smart Bridge will have, the Bahls responded with an answer to which every Urbana-Champaign alum can relate.

“Well, for one thing it will protect the faculty and students from the miserable winter weather in Urbana when they need to go from one building to the other,” they wrote. “But more seriously, we hope that the research and teaching activity connected with the bridge will be of significant value to CEE faculty and students.” i cee.illinois.edu/give—Summer 2018 9

First floor funding opportunities Vernon L. Snoeyink Water Chemistry Laboratory

William J. Hall Classroom

Alumni Accomplishments Showcase $250,000 each Robert H. Dodds Jr. Commons

Rashod R. Johnson Civil Space

Key Yellow: Naming established with a leadership gift; more funding needed Orange: Planned but not yet funded

Classroom to be named for William J. Hall

Top photo: Mickey and Janice Kupperman. Bottom photo: Professor Emeritus William J. Hall posing before the Alaska Pipeline, one of the projects on which he worked.

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elvin “Mickey” Kupperman (BS 57, MS 58) and his wife, Janice, have made a leadership gift to the CEE Modernization Fund to name a classroom after Professor Emeritus William J. Hall.

“I came from a family of modest means,” Kupperman wrote. “I believe I came to the U of I with an equally modest intellect. Bill was both a professor of mine in the undergraduate Civil Engineering program and my graduate school adviser.

He made an average student believe he could reach some above average goals.

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He was somebody who cared about his students inside the classroom and beyond. While I am grateful for the education I received at the University of Illinois that experience is distilled for me into one person, Bill Hall. Our gift is not only recognition of what Bill did for me, but also for the decades of students who also benefitted from his influence. A whole other case could be made for honoring Bill’s professional achievements. That is not our objective. Our gift is all about Bill the person.”

Kupperman is Chief Operations Officer for the real estate development, investment and management firm Silverstein Properties Inc. in New York City.

He began his career at A. Epstein and Sons, the company founded in 1921 by Abraham S. Epstein (BS 11), also a CEE at Illinois alumnus. Throughout his 45-year career there, Kupperman had a particular focus on organizational strategy and development as well as the management and organization of mega-projects, such as the expansions of McCormick Place in Chicago and the United Airlines Terminal at O’Hare International Airport and the redevelopment of Midway Airport.

After A. Epstein was sold to the employees through an employee stock ownership plan in 2000, Kupperman retired

as Chief Operating Officer. In 2005, he began working at Silverstein Properties Inc., where his projects have included the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has honored Kupperman with the College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award.

During 40 years on the department faculty, Professor Emeritus William J. Hall (MS 51, PhD 54) educated and advised generations of students who became civil and environmental engineering leaders around the world. He was a named a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1968 — one of the youngest people ever elected. He led the department as Head from 1984-1991.

“I’m honored to have this classroom dedicated to me,” Hall said. “My hope is that others who use it are as fortunate as I was in enjoying a long career at Illinois with top-notch colleagues and talented students. I’m very grateful to Mickey for his generosity and to all the donors who are contributing to this space.”

The Kuppermans also made a gift to establish the Sidney Epstein Alumni Welcome Center in the new Hydrosystems Lab addition. i

Wilbur Milhouse establishes Milhouse Family Classroom

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lumnus Wilbur Milhouse (BS 94, MS 95) and his wife, Dawn, have made a gift to establish the Milhouse Family Classroom. Milhouse is president and CEO of Milhouse Engineering & Construction Inc., the firm he founded in 2001. The name of the classroom has dual meaning.

“Whenever I refer to Milhouse Engineering and the individuals in it, we talk about being the Milhouse family. The name refers to my own personal family and also my family at large here at MilYou go through life, and you get to a level Wilbur Milhouse, pictured in the Newmark Lab house,” he says.

Milhouse is a longtime supporter of of success, and I like to remember those crane bay at the May graduation reception in 2017, when he delivered the College of Engineerthe University of Illinois, having served on who helped me get there. The university ing graduation address. several university boards, including the and the faculty are all part of that.”

Milhouse also sees value in improving College of Engineering Board of Visitors es and lecture spaces is very important. and the CEE Alumni Association Board of CEE’s facilities. ”When I was going to school there, we You made do. But if you go to other uniDirectors. His many awards have included the CEEAA Distinguished Alumnus Award didn’t have the Yeh addition that is there versities, or even to other departments at (2018); the Illinois Section of the American now,” he said. “It was very bare; we had Illinois, you think, we need a better buildSociety of Civil Engineers Citizen Engi- classes in the basement, and we’d wait in ing. We’ve been number one for so long, i neer of the Year (2016); the University of the dark hallway. Having additional class- it’s time to give a little TLC.” Illinois at Chicago Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies Chicago Area Second floor funding opportunities Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame (2015); and a University of Illinois Graduate Student Office Spaces Black Alumni Network Milhouse Family Classroom $20,000 each Power Mover (2015).

Milhouse’s extensive involvement in civic and charitable groups has included his founding of Milhouse Charities in 2012. He was featured in the Chicago Tribune for his efforts to bring power to Nigeria.

When asked about his motivation for givExxonMobil Senior faculty office suite Conference Room ing to the Moderniza$200,000 Judith Liebman Gallery Key tion Plan, Milhouse Green: fully funded said, “I’d like to give Yellow: Naming established with a leadership gift; more funding needed Orange: Planned but not yet funded back to my university. cee.illinois.edu/give—Summer 2018 11

Additional spaces named to honor CEE faculty that offer opportunities for giving in order to be fully equipped and furnished

Basement level teaching laboratory

Robert H. Dodds Jr. Commons First-floor lobby collaboration space

William J. Hall Classroom Largest traditional classroom, located on the first floor

Vernon L. Snoeyink Water Chemistry Laboratory Highly visible, first-floor teaching laboratory

Ben Chie Yen Library Third-floor space designed to safely house rare books related to the Water Resources Engineering and Science area

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rofessor Emeritus Jon Liebman has made a leadership gift to establish a student collaboration space named for his wife, Professor Emerita Judith Liebman. Judith was the first woman to be appointed to the tenure-track faculty in CEE. “Judith has always had a strong interest in various forms of participatory learning: learning by doing, learning by collaboration,” Jon said. “So it is very fitting that a collaborative space in the new addition carries her name, and we both hope that a lot of enjoyable and beneficial learning will happen over the years in this space.”

Judith began her career at Illinois in 1972 as an assistant professor in CEE, later moving to the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering when Jon became CEE department head. From 1986 to 1992 she served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate College. She is Professor Emerita of Operations Research in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Illinois. She holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Physics from the University of Colorado. She has chaired the Advisory Committee for the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate. Other service has included membership on the Army Science Board and as president of the Council of the Operations Research Society of America. She has served on the University of Colorado Foundation Board of Directors and its Board of Trustees. Judith has authored or co-authored many research publications and received numerous awards for excellence in teaching.

Photo: Larry Kanfer

Ven Te Chow Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Judith Liebman Gallery to be named for CEE’s first woman on tenure-track faculty

Above, Jon and Judith Liebman. At top, the art glass piece they intend to donate to be displayed in the Judith S. Liebman Gallery.

The Judith Liebman Gallery will also feature a work of art donated by the Liebmans.

“Judith and I have been collecting contemporary art made from glass for more than 30 years,” Jon said. “We love the huge diversity of forms and representations that can be made from glass, and the incredible variety of skills and techniques that can be used to create these shapes.

“The piece that we are giving for incorporation in the space is called ‘Engineer,’ and is by British artist David Reekie. Reekie is known for his humorous figures that show aspects of the human condition, usually with an underlying serious social commentary. This work, with its almost-robotic figure with a screwed-on arm, is a reflection on under-utilization of highly-educated technical skill.” i

“We’re a highly ranked department, so we’re doing something right.

We are not blowing up the curriculum; we are incrementally making changes The CEE Curriculum in a staged structure.” Committee

Curriculum changes on the way as part of Modernization

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ndergraduates in CEE at Illinois will riculum goes hand-in-hand with CEE’s receive more instruction in computa- facilities Modernization Plan. The staged tional and data management skills; tech- implementation was designed to save unnical communication; critical thinking til last the curricular changes that require and problem solving; and professional the new teaching facilities, scheduled to practice strengths due to curriculum be completed in spring 2020. changes being implemented over the “The new facilities will be critical for next four academic years. The changes providing the environment for classes are designed to better position students that are more hands-on and involve critias leaders in the civil and environmental cal thinking and open-ended problems,” engineering field who are capable of ad- Popovics said. dressing society’s grand challenges.

In the meantime, CEE will begin workThe process of examining the curricu- ing on improving instruction in the first lum began with a day-long faculty retreat identified skill set – computational and last fall that was entirely “The new facilities data management skills. curriculum-focused. Since The general approach with will be critical then, CEE’s eight-member each skill set will be to defor providing the velop a culture of cooperaCurriculum Committee has been working on recomenvironment for tive education and student mendations and an impleclasses that are accountability by harmonizmentation plan using the ing content and expectamore handsideas that came out of that tions throughout all course on and involve retreat, a review of literature levels. The curriculum will critical thinking on undergraduate educaprovide a flow of learning tion, and consultation with and open-ended from freshman to senior external experts. Its charge years, including clear conproblems.” was “to investigate what nections between early and should be enhanced, maintained and/or advanced courses, between fundamende-emphasized in the current Illinois CEE tals and engineering applications, and beundergraduate program in order to con- tween engineering analysis and design. tinue providing a top-notch education, Classes will include more project-based enabling our graduates to become lead- learning, hands-on experiences and the ers in responding to current and future use of real-world problems to help stusocietal needs.” dents make connections between cours“We’re a highly ranked department, es and their eventual professional goals. so we’re doing something right,” said Students also will have opportunities for Professor John Popovics, who heads the more interdisciplinary design and collabCurriculum Committee. “What we do well oration, as well as systems-level thinking. is that we have a very fundamental and The Curriculum Committee is a standtraditional set of courses that are estab- ing committee of the department. In lished, rigorous and that impart a com- addition to Popovics, members of the plete knowledge of the fundamentals. committee are Professor Tami Bond; AsIt forms the foundation for everything. sociate Professor Mani Golparvar-Fard; This will be a process. We are not blowing professors Youssef Hashash, James Laup the curriculum; we are incrementally Fave and Jeffery Roesler; Research Asmaking changes in a staged structure.” sistant Professor Arthur Schmidt; and The initiative to modernize the cur- Assistant Professor Ashlynn Stillwell. i

John Popovics

Tami Bond

Mani Golparvar-Fard

Youssef Hashash

James LaFave

Jeffery Roesler

Arthur Schmidt

Ashlynn Stillwell cee.illinois.edu/give—Summer cee.illinois.edu/give—Summer2018 2018 13 13

Spaces that still require leadership gifts in order to be secured: Transportation Faculty Classroom

Third floor funding opportunities Graduate Student J.L. Merritt Structural Office Spaces $20,000 each Design Laboratory Transportation Faculty Classroom $2 million

Third floor.

To be named for the transporation faculty who educated and inspired generations of Illini transportation professionals.

Resource Recovery Laboratory Basement level.

A hands-on teaching laboratory that will give students experience with real waste streams and state-of-the-science resource recovery technologies, plus opportunities to ideate, build, test and develop innovative approaches to sanitation and resource recovery. The Resource Recovery System would be unique among American universities.

Sedimentation Laboratory

Sidney Epstein CEEAA Board of Directors Alumni Welcome Center Student Collaboration Space

Ben Chie Yen Library $250,000

Senior faculty office suite $200,000

Key Green: fully funded Yellow: Naming established with a leadership gift; more funding needed Orange: Planned but not yet funded

Basement funding opportunities

Geotechnical Laboratory

Sedimentation Laboratory Resource Recovery Laboratory $1 million $1 million

Materials Laboratory Basement level.

To provide hands-on instruction in these fundamental subject areas.

Faculty and graduate student offices World-class faculty and top graduate students are key to maintaining our exemplary research program, and adequate office space is essential in attracting and retaining them.

cee.illinois.edu/give 1414 cee.illinois.edu/give

Materials Laboratory $1 million

Key Green: fully funded Yellow: Naming established with a leadership gift; more funding needed Orange: Planned but not yet funded

Ven Te Chow Fluid Mechanics Laboratory $2 million

For more information about giving to the CEE Modernization Plan, please contact: or Katya Trubitsyna Benito MariĂąas Strategic Data Manager Professor and Head (217) 300-0194 (217) 333-6961 katia@illinois.edu marinas@illinois.edu

Ouyang invested as first Krambles Professor

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rofessor Yanfeng Ouyang was invested Dec. 7 as the first holder of the George Krambles Endowed Professorship in Rail and Public Transit. The professorship is named for an Illinois alumnus who dedicated his career to the advancement of urban transportation engineering.

The investiture ceremony included remarks on Ouyang’s career history and current work by his Ph.D. adviser, Professor Carlos F. Daganzo, a Chancellor’s Professor of the Graduate School in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of U.C. Berkeley’s Center of Excellence for Future Urban Transport; and CEE Professor Imad Al-Qadi, Bliss Professor of Engineering and Director of Illinois’ Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative, the Illinois Center for Transportation and the Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory. Also participating in the ceremony were Kevin Pitts, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education; College of Engineering Dean Andreas Cangellaris; and CEE Department Head Benito Mariñas.

Ouyang joined the faculty in 2005. He teaches undergraduate courses in sys-

tems engineering, transportation engineering and public transportation systems; and a graduate course on logistics systems. His research interests are in networks and supply chains; logistics systems; sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems; re- Yanfeng Ouyang poses with his wife and sons, and his Ph.D. advisnewable energy systems; er. From left, back row: Wei Liu Ouyang, Carlos Daganzo, Yanfeng traffic flow theory and op- Ouyang. Front row, Paul Ouyang and Jonathan Ouyang. erations; sensor network ing 43 years of outstanding service to the systems; and safety and econometrics.

Chicago Rapid Transit Company and its Ouyang holds a B.Eng. in Civil Engi- successor, the Chicago Transit Authority, neering (summa cum laude) from Tsin- Krambles rose from student engineer to ghua University in Beijing, China (2000); Executive Director. an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the UniIn dedication to the future of the versity of Washington (2001); and an M.S. transportation industry, Krambles estabin Industrial Engineering and Operations lished the George Krambles TransportaResearch and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering tion Scholarship Fund to provide awards from the University of California at Berke- to promising young students enrolled in ley (2005). transportation-related degree programs.

George Krambles (1915-1999) was This organization established an ena 1936 graduate of the Department of dowed fund at the University of Illinois in Electrical Engineering at the University of 2003 to provide for a professorship in rail Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who dedi- and public transit, an annual scholarship cated his career to the advancement of in that area and continued support of the urban transportation engineering. Dur- railroad engineering program. i

Three CEE professors win NSF CAREER awards

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hree CEE assistant professors have been awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awards – Ahmed Elbanna, Hadi Meidani and Rafael Tinoco.

Administered under the Faculty Early Career Development Program, CAREER awards are the NSF’s most prestigious form of support and recognition for junior faculty who “exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.” It is particularly noteworthy that the department has three such honorees

in one year.

CEE Assistant Professor Ahmed Elbanna has been awarded a CAREER award to study the physics behind earthquakes with an eye toward more accurate predictive models.

Earthquakes and landslides begin and propagate because of dynamical instabilities related to fundamental physics – the friction, frac- From left: Rafael Tinoco, Ahmed Elbanna and Hadi Meidani ture, heating, dilation and compaction of fluid-filled granular materials says. Still, the multi-scale mechanics of and rocks in the subsurface subjected to fluid-infiltrated fault zones is not yet fully extreme geophysical conditions, Elbanna Continued on page 16 Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 15

CAREER awards Continued from page 15

understood using the current modeling and experimental techniques, he says.

“The objective of this CAREER project is to develop a plan to advance frontiers in earthquake source physics using an interdisciplinary research and educational approach,” Elbanna says.

CEE Assistant Professor Hadi Meidani’s CAREER award is to develop faster, more accurate methods for modeling smart infrastructure systems.

The size and complexity of infrastructure systems have traditionally made them cumbersome to model, but advances in computing and sensing technologies have opened up new possibilities, Meidani said. His project aims to streamline the modeling of infrastructure systems so that the complex responses and inherent uncertainties of these large systems can be accurately predicted.

“Healthy and optimal operation of infrastructure systems has immediate implication on the well-being of society,” Meidani said.

CEE Assistant Professor Rafael O. Tinoco’s CAREER project is to study and quantify the effects of aquatic ecosystems in gas transfer processes in natural waters, from the water-sediment interface to the water surface.

“Understanding such processes, from substrate to surface, will allow us to develop process-based models for management and restoration of wetlands, estuaries and vegetated coastal areas,” Tinoco said. “Our findings will also help in the modeling of global greenhouse gases changes in natural waters.”

The award will allow Tinoco’s group to conduct an ambitious experimental series, using acoustic sensors and highspeed cameras to implement state-of-the -art hydroacoustics and quantitative imaging techniques at multiple scales. The unique laboratory facilities on campus, including the Large Oscillatory WaterSediment Tunnel at the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory, one of the largest of its kind in the world, and the Large Ecohydraulics Racetrack Flume at the new Ecohydraulics and Ecomorphodynamics Laboratory at CEE’s Rantoul, Ill., facility, will allow the team to reproduce and study realistic scenarios representative of both rivers and coastal areas.

Full story at cee.illinois.edu/CAREER2018 16

cee.illinois.edu

CEE celebrates Fazlur Khan, honored in concert for 150th

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EE alumnus Fazlur Rahman Khan (MS nic DiOrio as he worked on the music, he 55, PhD 55) was one of only three Uni- said. versity of Illinois alumni to be featured in “One of the things I really wanted to a musical composition created to mark do when writing this project was to somethe university’s sesquicentennial. The how weave into the sound of the music a work was performed by the University sense of structure,” DiOrio said. “… In the of Illinois Wind Symphony and Chamber place where I set [Khan’s] words, I actuSingers in spring 2018 during concerts in ally tried to make the sound of the music Chicago, New York and Urbana. The CEE look like skyscrapers in the way it would department held alumni events in con- come down and up – loud, soft, loud, soft, junction with each concert. loud, soft. … I wanted get this structural The symphony and singers, led by feel into the music itself, and I hope when Director of Bands Stephen Peterson and people hear the music they’ll notice.”

Director of Choral Activities Andrew MeThe concert was made possible by gill, were joined by soloa gift from Lynd Corley, ists Nathan Gunn, Todd whose late husband was Payne and Yvonne RedCEE alumnus and strucman for the three pertural engineer W. Gene formances of the newly Corley (BS 58, MS 60, commissioned work, PhD 61). Corley was best titled “Gathering.” The known for his work in composition was creforensic engineering, inated collaboratively bevestigating the collapse tween composer Domiof the World Trade Center nick DiOrio of the Indiana after 9/11 and the bombUniversity Jacobs School ing of the Murrah Fedof Music and National eral Building in Oklahoma Book Award-winning City. writer and University of The Corleys met at Illinois Professor Emeri- Fazlur Khan, during his time as an the University of Illinois tus Richard Powers. Pow- Illinois CEE student. in 1956, when Gene was ers assembled a text that a CEE junior and Lynd blended speeches and was a sophomore in the writings by a diverse trio of University of School of Music. The two were active in Illinois alumni, including Pulitzer Prize- the women’s and men’s Glee Clubs, both winning poet Mark Van Doren (BA 1914), serving as president of their respective Nobel laureate in Physiology/Medicine organizations.

Rosalyn Yalow (PhD 1945) and Khan, a pi“The Corley Family decided that a oneering structural engineer best known donation in Gene’s honor for the ‘Gathfor designing Chicago’s Willis (Sears) Tow- ering’ project would be a wonderful reer and John Hancock Building. membrance of Gene,” Lynd said. “Twenty A featured quote from Khan is: “The members of my family were able to attechnical man must not be lost in his own tend the outstanding ‘Gathering’ contechnology. He must be able to appreci- certs. It was an honor for the family to be ate life, and life is art, drama, music, and a part of this wonderful project. Thank most importantly, people.” you to everyone that made it a reality.”

Khan’s work inspired composer DomiIn Chicago, CEE alumni gathered after

To view a video about “Gathering,” please visit http://bit.ly/gatheringconcert or use this QR code.

Nancy Gavlin (BS 76)

Remarks at “Gathering” dinner, Urbana, April 21, 2018

Lynd Corley, left, and Dominic DiOrio at the Chicago Symphony Center.

the performance at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), where Khan spent most his career, including working as an intern the summer before he earned his Ph.D. SOM is located just next to the Chicago Symphony Center, where the performance was held. A cocktail reception was hosted

by SOM Partner and CEE alumnus William F. Baker (MS 80), and alumni were able to view models of buildings designed by Khan. Baker knew Khan and worked on one of his projects as a junior engineer, he said. Khan also influenced Baker’s career, he said, partly through his extensive published writings.

“I thought the performance was very, very good,” Baker said. “It was interesting that the words they chose – from the Nobel prize winner, the poet and the engineer – that’s pretty representative of Champaign.”

In New York, a CEE alumni event was held in conjunction with the “Gathering” performance at Lincoln Center. Special thanks to Langan and Managing Partner George Leventis (MS 85) for hosting the cocktail reception.

Before the final performance of “Gathering” in Urbana at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the department hosted a dinner in the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center in Newmark Lab. Donor Lynd Corley was present, along with several family members. CEE alumna and structural engineer Nancy Gavlin (BS 76) spoke about Khan. Her remarks appear at right. i

I am happy to be here today to celebrate with all of you the well-deserved recognition this CEE department has received as a result of the work of Fazlur Khan, and the support of Lynd Corley, in memory of Gene Corley. I get to speak to you tonight because I have been lucky enough to know Gene and Lynd Corley, and, to a much lesser degree, Fazlur Khan.

Fazlur Khan and Gene Corley were brilliant engineers. But to paraphrase Hardy Cross, another Illinois CE luminary, their brilliance was essential, but otherwise unimportant. Fazlur Khan and Gene Corley both were hard workers, and hard thinkers. They were courageous in their leadership, they didn’t give up on what they thought was right, and they were generous in sharing their time and their ideas.

My first job out of college was at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago. Fazlur Khan was then the head structural partner. At the time, he was working on his beautiful Haj Terminal, and other Mideast projects. We can read about Fazlur Khan’s many technical accomplishments.

In fact, his daughter wrote a very interesting book about his projects and thought processes.

But for me, when thinking about both Fazlur Khan and Gene Corley, the kindness and respect that they showed everyone, their calmness and perseverance under fire, and their generosity are what I have long remembered and have tried to learn from. It was clear where their values lay. And those values infused their brilliance as they made a profound impact on the world.

There is one other person I would like to speak about this evening. Earlier this month we lost an important member of the Illinois CEE family when Mete Sozen died. Mete was my adviser when I was a student here, and had been my friend ever since. Once again, I had been lucky.

Mete often spoke fondly and with great respect about his nearly 40 years at Illinois as a student and faculty member. A common thread in his comments was that the

faculty was like a family with everyone working hard for the common good.

Mete had a way with words. If he were here to speak with us, we would be well entertained. One of his favorite topics, other than reinforced concrete, was engineering education and the superb tradition of engineering education at Illinois.

So tonight, as we are celebrating 150 years of the University of Illinois and the Civil engineering department, I am going to read what I think is an apt excerpt from one of his papers.

“What brought the young to Urbana from around the world in 1960 was a movement that started in the late 19th century. In the year 1872, the engineering college catalog of the then four-year-old Industrial University of Illinois brandished the message, ‘this school is designed to make good practical engineers.’ Five years later, Arthur Newell Talbot arrived in Urbana, intent on becoming an engineer. He graduated in 1881 with a degree in civil engineering and took a job in railroad construction. In 1885, he returned to Urbana as an Assistant Professor of Engineering and Mathematics. He completed his career as a Professor of Municipal and Sanitary Engineering in 1926 and continued on with his research at Urbana. His tangible contributions to the University of Illinois were the Engineering Experiment Station and Talbot Laboratory. His intangible but more powerful contribution was the shaping of a way of thinking about structures that lasted over a century and produced a continuous stream of talent such as Duff Abrams, Hardy Cross, Eivind Hognestad, Nathan Newmark, Frank Richart, Chester Siess, Harald Westergaard and many more, in fact a torrent that ultimately produced highly competent and creative structural engineers.”

With Mete’s comments in mind, it seems obvious, appropriate and right that the words of a CEE alumnus were chosen to commemorate the University of Illinois sesquicentennial, with Fazlur Khan as our representative.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 17

Puerto Rico trip offers students unique opportunity to gain real-world design experience

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tudents in Professor Benito Mariñas’ popular environmental engineering lab course had a unique opportunity this spring: to see first-hand the results of a natural disaster, and to work on practical design solutions to aid recovery.

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, which was still recovering from damage sustained during Hurricane Irma two weeks earlier. Maria wreaked havoc on the island: Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure was destroyed, leaving everyone without power; heavy rains led to floodwaters up to 30 inches high; and sustained winds reaching 155 miles per hour caused tornado-like damage across the island.

It was in the weeks that followed that Mariñas decided to make Puerto Rico the focus of his Spring 2018 CEE 449 Environmental Engineering Laboratory class (see “Why Puerto Rico?” at right). The class, which is designed to teach laboratory methods, gives senior undergraduate students the opportunity for real-world design experience in international loca-

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tions. Even though Puerto Rico is part of the United States, the extent of the disaster and the ongoing recovery efforts made it an ideal destination for the class this year.

With help from the Safe Global Water Institute, connections were established with local partners – Brenda Guzmán-Colón, Humanitarian Coordinator with Oxfam America and Professor Madeline Torres-Lugo of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez – to facilitate the trip and identify Above: getting to the water sources required some intrepidwhich communities would be ness. Left, top: in a makeshift lab in a hotel conference room, best for the students to visit. George Gunter and Meghan Drew test water samples. Left, Funding from the department bottom: with the help of a translator (far right), students interview a community member in Orocovis. and the College of Engineering’s International Programs in Engineer- challenge is not going to be the contamiing office covered expenses for those nant levels in the water, but is going to be educating the communities on the danwho made the trip.

The travel team visited three rural gers of their water,” said Meghan Drew, areas: Corea Metralla in the Peñuelas one of the students who made the trip. municipality, Los Duros in the Orocovis “We found through our interactions with municipality, and Sierritas in the Villalba community members a shared distaste municipality. In each location, a local for chlorine. Some members of the comguide led them on a hike through the munities had access to [Puerto Rico Aqhills to the water sources for each com- ueducts and Sewers Authority] – the largmunity. Mariñas said that in Puerto Rico, est purified water distributor to Puerto it is not uncommon to find that commu- Rico – water lines, but they refused to use nity members run pipes straight from them because they preferred the taste of mountain springs or streams into the the untreated water.”

“I always tell the students, engineers village, without any sort of water treatment. The students took water samples think about technical solutions but that’s from the sources, which were later ana- only 50 percent of the job,” Mariñas said. lyzed using equipment left behind in the “The other 50 percent is really understanding what you are designing this for. hotel rooms.

The team also spoke with community The context – the economic context, the members in each area to learn about social context, the traditional context, the their water-related challenges. Many of religious context – all of this can impact the students were surprised to learn that whether your solution will be embraced some local community members used by that group or not.”

In all, the team collected 17 water untreated water by choice, and were seemingly unconcerned with the associ- samples from sources, water tanks and households in each area they visited. The ated health risks.

“The most interesting thing that we class spent the rest of the semester delearned from the trip is that our greatest veloping designs and recommendations

Why Puerto Rico?

Kevin Zhu collects a water sample from a community member’s home in Villalba.

based on the travel team’s observations and tests. Actually getting to see how the knowledge you’re learning applies to the real world is what makes this class different than every other class that’s offered in her environmental engineering track, Drew said.

“You really see your impact,” she said. “In other lectures you learn the information, and you can apply it to your project and you can work in a group, but you can’t really see the impact you’re going to make.”

The students presented their results in an open seminar at the end of the semester, and will also provide copies of their reports to Oxfam for use as a reference during the ongoing recovery effort. i

Many of today’s students have a strong desire to work in developing countries and help solve major challenges, like safe water and sanitation. Department head Benito Mariñas’ CEE 449 Environmental Engineering Laboratory class was designed to meet this demand.

Each year, students work on an international design project to find sustainable solutions for safe drinking water in impoverished or developing areas. Over the years, students have Lalit and Kavita Bahl had the chance to travel to Mexico, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

So why did the class instead travel to Puerto Rico this year?

Mariñas said the decision was made in early November 2017, during a visit with two friends of the department, Lalit and Kavita Bahl. When a discussion about the class and past trips to Uganda and Kenya led to Mariñas expressing concern about returning this academic year due to political unrest, Kavita suggested that the class instead travel to Puerto Rico. At the time, the nightly news was full of stories about the conditions on the island: widespread power outage, decimated farms, unsafe drinking water, difficult travel conditions and a rising number of deaths. Mariñas, who had been struggling to make the decision about Africa, was struck by the idea.

“Kavita inspired me to do something I never would have thought of,” Mariñas said. “If it wasn’t for that dinner with Kavita and Lalit, we would never have gone to Puerto Rico. I am so grateful for the inspiration, and so glad we had the opportunity to go.”

Disaster relief course takes students to Puerto Rico for spring break CEE 449 was not the only class that made Puerto Rico the focus of their work this year. The course ABE 498 Disaster Relief Projects: Hurricane Maria was a study tour to Puerto Rico designed to develop a pathway towards sustainable responses for disaster relief efforts. Sushobhan Sen, a Ph.D. student in CEE who was a teaching assistant for ABE 498, said the class – which made the trip during spring break, March 18-25, 2018 – was composed of 37 students from across the university, spanning a variety of majors from music education to physics to landscape architecture.

“It was a very unique experience for me, because I’m a Ph.D. student in civil engineering,” Sen said. “[The students] don’t speak the same engineering language that I do. They don’t even think in that perspective. So it was a pretty unique experience in that respect. But it was really

nice. All the students were smart and enthusiastic. Nobody was there to take a vacation; they knew we were there to work, and they had that level of seriousness.”

Sen said the trip had two components: service and infrastructure assessment.

Students participated in some recovery work, including painting a school, clearing a mangrove that had been completely infested with invasive species and cleaning up other public areas. The students also went to different neighborhoods to assess infrastructure damage.

Sen said that conditions were generally poor but improving, though areas away from tourism districts were still suffering.

“The government has repaired a lot of the large scale public infrastructure – constructed to decent standards,” Sen said. “But if you go to local streets or local communities where they don’t get pub-

Sushobhan Sen (left) and students in ABE 498 do clean-up work in Puerto Rico.

lic money, things are in extremely bad shape.”

It was nice to see a lot of the students come to understand how important infrastructure is, Sen said.

“Many of them take it for granted. They gained that perspective that good infrastructure doesn’t just happen – somebody has done it, somebody has paid for it, and somebody has designed it. When you go to someplace that doesn’t have good infrastructure … that’s when you appreciate everything that civil engineering does and that we take for granted, at least in the U.S.”

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 19

Get to know Martha VanGeem (BS 76):

EARLY WOMEN OF CEE – PART 2 –

We had such a strong response to our feature “Early Women of CEE” in the Winter 2018 issue of the magazine that we decided to follow it up with some additional history.

The Early Women of CEE feature in the last issue highlighted women who graduated prior to 1970, as well as a few other trailblazers that came later. Beginning in 1970, the number of women in CEE began to significantly increase: in the 36 years from 1933-1969, there were only 12 women who earned degrees from CEE; from 1970-1979, there were approximately 100. In the 80’s, the number of women graduates exceeded 300, and the numbers have continued to grow.

For this feature, we will revisit some names from the Winter issue, as well as introduce a few women who graduated in the years that followed. We hope our records are complete, but if you spot errors, please let us know.

Senior Director of Advancement Operations: Celeste Arbogast celeste@illinois.edu, (217) 333-6955 Assistant Director of Communications: Kristina Shidlauski kshidlau@illinois.edu, (217) 300-8286

CORRECTION:

In the last issue, we named two alumnae as the first women to earn an M.S. degree in Environmental Engineering. Turns out our research was not very thorough. Further digging shows the first women to actually earn that degree were: Melba Crawford (BS 70, MS 73) Diane Badorek (MS 75) Marion Erwin (MS 75) Cheryl Westra (BSLAS 74, MS 75) Our thanks to Catherine Barnard (BSEng 77, MS 78) and Nancy Ehlen (BS 79, MS 80), who pointed out the error.

20 20 cee.illinois.edu cee.illinois.edu

What is an early memory of your time at Illinois? I had several classes in Engineering Hall and found many men’s restrooms (at least one near the center of every floor) but couldn’t find any women’s restroom on any floor. After a few weeks of this, I finally found a woman to ask (which was a challenge in itself ) and she directed me to one hidden away on the 4th floor.

First job? My first job right after I graduated was as a structural engineer at Sargent & Lundy Engineers in Chicago.

What are you up to now? In 2012, I started my own company as a self-employed engineer specializing in energy use in buildings, energy codes and green buildings. My company has been busy and profitable since the day it started 6 years ago, and I am blessed with five grandchildren ranging in ages from one month to nine years who fill me with joy! My daughters are teachers and my son is in the U.S. Air Force.

See more at cee.illinois.edu/womenofcee

More about an early trailblazer: Connie Hauser (BS 51) In the last issue, we highlighted our 3rd woman undergraduate, Connie Minnich (now Connie Hauser). Here are some additional photos of Connie’s time on campus, provided to us by her husband, Ray, along with some pictures taken from student publications.

The photo at bottom is the ASCE club in 1949. Connie, as the only woman in the club, stands out in the second row.

CERL internship kick-starts alumna’s career:

Judith Liebman:

There was never any doubt that Carolyn Eberhard (BS 83) would attend the University of Illinois. Indeed, it was the only university to which she applied. Growing up in small town Melvin, Ill., with a father and brother who graduated from Illinois, in her mind it was a given that she would do the same.

As a student, Eberhard always had to balance her time between her studies and earning a paycheck to afford tuition and expenses.

When a friend told her she could make slightly above minimum wage as a summer intern at the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) – an unusual and tempting prospect for undergraduates at that time – Eberhard did not hesitate to apply. She was soon hired as a summer intern, transitioned to parttime worker during the school year and eventually took a full-time position there after she graduated.

“My first job [at CERL] was horrible,” Eberhard recalled. “It was transportation planning that didn’t need to be done. It served no purpose. It was boring. I was just about to quit when I met Jerry Benson (BS 75) and Joe Matherly (MS 73). And I guess they were looking for a junior engineer and I was looking for something better to do, and they said ‘come on over and work for us,’ and I did.”

Benson has many memories of Eberhard, whom he calls one of the best new engineers he has ever worked with.

“I was a researcher with [CERL] in Champaign when Carolyn Howk, now Eberhard, joined our research team,” Benson said.

“She was originally assigned to another research team who were working on envi-

By Charlotte Collins, Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering Judith Liebman’s classes usually didn’t have many other women in them. She was overwhelmingly outnumbered by male colleagues from high school through graduate school, and in her department as a professor. She definitely noticed, but she never let it make her feel like an outlier.

“There weren’t a lot of girls taking the optional science courses,” says Liebman. “And certainly in college there were only a couple other girls in my physics class. As a graduate student there was only another woman or two in my classes. I was so used to it, that I didn’t even think about it. I’ve always said maybe I should have been concerned, but I didn’t care.”

Liebman’s interest in STEM began with science kit Christmas gifts and Marie Curie biographies.

She had no idea they would pave the way for her to become the first woman selected as a tenured faculty member in ISE (at the time, Industrial Engineering was part of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering); she just knew it meant she could be a scientist and a mother all at once.

ronmental policies. Our team leader tasked me with getting Carolyn up-to-speed on our current project, which was to develop a wastewater treatment system for the stream coming off of Army vehicle washing operations. After a few weeks and after a field trip to an Army base, Carolyn turned to me as we were preparing to leave and said, ‘I am so happy to be working on something meaningful with real engineers.’”

“It was my first engineering job out of school, and I had so much to learn,” Eberhard said. “The most important skill I learned from Jerry and Joe was the art of team building and empowering the staff. All of this was done at a time when those words were not in anyone’s vocabulary. This is just how Jerry and Joe ran the group.”

“It was just so much fun. Those guys were great,” Eberhard said.

After working several years for the government, Eberhard made the leap to private industry. While working for Parsons Corporation, she tackled a wide range of environmental projects as both an engineer and a manager. She finished her career at Parsons as a senior manager on chemical weapons demilitarization projects around the world.

She retired when her children were born.

Eberhard currently lives in Sierra Madre, Calif., where she is a self-described “professional volunteer” on the board of a local organization. Her son will soon be a student at Illinois, in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Eberhard did her best to redirect him to CEE. “We have a farm in northern California and I had him fly up there and drive a bobcat for an hour, and play in the dirt and dig holes,” Eberhard said. “I said, ‘now get off that and tell me you still want to be an electrical engineer.’ And he said, ‘yeah, mom.’ So that was my best shot, was that bobcat.”

Fortunately, she still has time to work on her daughter.

Read the rest of the story at ise.illinois.edu/newsroom/article/ liebman-women-engineering-pioneers Liebman was the first woman on the CEE faculty (see Winter 2018 issue).

Get to know Lynne Chicoine (BS 78, MS 80): What is an early memory of your time at Illinois? My first day in my first engineering class: drafting. I was the only girl and I took a deep breath and said to myself “OK, you got this!” And I did.

First job? I worked in Champaign at CERL for a short time, then moved to Chicago to work for Metcalf & Eddy helping with the planning and design of a regional 100 MGD wastewater treatment plant in Des Moines and the new regional potable water delivery system for Chicago’s northwest suburbs.

What are you up to now? I’ve worked for 38 years as a consultant. The last 25 years have been in Oregon, where I’ve planned and designed wastewater treatment facilities around the state. The last few years, I’ve been working as the Capital Program Manager for Water Environment Services (Clackamas County, Oregon). We are one of three wastewater utilities for the greater Portland metro area.

See more at cee.illinois.edu/womenofcee Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 21

Our fifth woman faculty member, Lutgarde Raskin: In the last issue, we missed one of our early women faculty members: Lutgarde Raskin (PhD 93). Raskin was the fifth woman faculty member in the department.

Before coming to Illinois to work on her doctorate, Raskin earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees from KU Leuven, in Belgium.

Raskin joined the CEE at Illinois faculty as an assistant professor in 1993 and remained until 2005, having achieved the rank of professor.

Since 2005, Raskin has been on the faculty of the University Michigan, where she is the Altarum/ERIM Russell O’Neal Professor of Engineering. A long list of honors includes the ISME/IWA Biocluster Award (2016), the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Frontier Award in Research (2007) and the American Society of Civil Engineers Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (2006).

Most recently, she was selected to be the 20182019 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Distinguished Lecturer.

She hopes to visit Illinois on her lecture tour next academic year.

“I am inspired by the complexity of the microbial world and the astonishing progress we have made in the field of microbial ecology over the past few decades,” Raskin states on her research website. “This progress continuously motivates me to rethink engineered systems so we can better harness the power of microorganisms to treat water and recover resources from waste streams. Most of the research projects my team and I work on

strive to understand and improve various aspects of the engineered water cycle microbiome to improve human health using sustainable design approaches.”

As a Ph.D. student at Illinois uncertain about which career path to follow, she was encouraged by one of her mentors, Professor Emeritus Vern Snoeyink, to pursue academia. This was a turning point for her.

“Being in academia has allowed me to work on research with graduate students, and we continue to make new discoveries,” Raskin said. “One of the best parts of my job is seeing graduate students grow from knowing very little to becoming experts in their field. It is very rewarding to see this happen right before my eyes.”

Women and Ideas in Engineering: A new book by CEE at Illinois alumna Angela Wolters and co-author Laura Hahn highlights the stories of pioneering women in the College of Engineering. “Women and Ideas in Engineering: Twelve Stories from Illinois” presents accounts of women engineers throughout the College’s history – from Mary Louise Page, the first woman student in the College, through current day.

Angela Wolters The book was inspired by a 1967 volume titled “Men and Ideas in Engineering – Twelve Histories from Illinois,” which featured “twelve accounts of men, events, and inventions in the hundredLaura Hahn year history of the University of Illinois’ College of Engineering.” Wolters originally intended to parallel the 1967 book by telling the story of twelve accomplished women engineers,

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but ultimately the book tells the stories of many more than that.

“Upon our initial discovery of ‘Men and Ideas in Engineering – Twelve Histories from Illinois’, we were inspired to expand the recorded history of the College of Engineering to include the stories of women engineers and their impact on campus, in science and engineering, and in society,” Wolters said. “Our research to identify twelve women to highlight in the book led to more remarkable and inspiring stories of women engineers with ties to Illinois than we had thought possible. With an abundance of stories to tell, we adjusted the text to cover 12 themes allowing us to recognize the contributions of over 30 women engineers.”

CEE at Illinois Professor Emeritus Barry Dempsey funded the authors’ effort through his Skunk Works program and said he is excited to see the finished product.

“Angie and Laura put a lot of effort and

thought into this book and I do believe that the book will be an inspiration for women pursuing an engineering career,” Dempsey said.

“I am extremely pleased with what Angie and Laura have accomplished, and the book is a proud reminder that intelligent people can accomplish great things when given the opportunity to do so.”

The book is slated for release in August from the University of Illinois Press.

Additional stories can be found at go.illinois.edu/WomenEngineers.

Wolters earned her B.S. and M.S. from CEE at Illinois in 1999 and 2000, respectively, and is the Director of Women in Engineering. Hahn is director of the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education. Hahn’s father (Henry Koertge) and father-in-law (Ralph Hahn) are both CEE at Illinois alumni.

Alumna reflects on her education and career:

By Gloria Caban-McCutcheon (BS 69, MS 70) On Friday, June 4, 1965, I graduated as Valedictorian from Granite City Senior High School. As the summer of 1965 approached fall, my mom Lucille, grandmother Naomi, and I drove from Granite City, Illinois, to the Blaisdell dormitory at the University of Illinois. We unpacked my belongings and had dinner together before they drove home to tell my father Paul, a Granite City steelworker, about the day. Then, I was alone.

As a high school junior, I had considered my career options. Pursuing a teaching or nursing career were obvious opportunities but I did not have the enthusiasm and determination that these careers required.

When my high school math teacher, Harry Lane, introduced engineering as another opportunity, I researched the engineering fields and course requirements. I applied to the University of Illinois because the university had a high national rating for its Civil and Environmental Engineering programs, affordable tuition and was less

Juan Salinas and Tony Fiarato with Gloria Caban-McCutcheon. “They were mentors, role models and my supervisors for the data management and file management work on their projects. They were wonderful role models who became my friends.”

than a half-day drive from my home.

My undergraduate years (1965–1969) were full of focused work and learning.

My adviser, Professor Mete Sozen, provided support, advice and encouragement. I studied, learned and received grades reflecting my efforts. Grace Wilson, a professor from the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, became a mentor throughout my time at Illinois and beyond my college years.

I joined the Society of Women Engineers as a sophomore and served as Secretary-Treasurer of the University of Illinois Student Section. As a junior, I worked up to 10 hours a week performing data and file management duties for several Civil Engineering Ph.D. candidates in Civil Engineering and was inducted into Sigma Tau and Chi Epsilon. My senior year courses focused on Environmental Engineering and strengthened my determination to work to improve the environment. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with High Honors in August 1969.

Only after classes began did I realize that few or no other women were in my engineering classes. My classmates were friendly and none of them ever said that I should not be an engineer. In many situations, we helped each other and struggled together in courses that were difficult. I did feel that one professor singled me out by calling on me during every class. His actions may not have been as obvious to other class members, but I felt uncomfortable. However, he did not distract me from reaching my goals, and I always felt that I belonged at the University

Get to know Doris Willmer (BS 72, MS 73):

of Illinois.

On August 30, 1969, William McCutcheon (also a civil engineering student, working on his Ph.D.) and I were married at St. John’s Chapel in Champaign. I received a Master of Science degree in August 1970, and job hunting was a top priority that summer.

With job offers in different locations, we focused on Madison, Wis., where I was the first woman engineer hired by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). I started as a Plan Review Engineer for Sanitary Sewer Systems and Wastewater Treatment Systems and rose through the ranks until, in 1983, I became the Southeast Region Director.

When my daughters attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison, it rekindled my past interest in pursuing a Ph.D. In January 2011, I took a sabbatical from WDNR to pursue a Ph.D. in the Nelson Institute for Environmental StudiesEnvironment and Resources. I completed my courses and thesis (Evaluation and Refinement of Envision as an Infrastructure Sustainability Rating System) and received my Ph.D. in May 2014.

As I reflect on my education and work, I realize that I love to learn. I received an education at the University of Illinois that prepared me for a challenging and meaningful career. Learning is a gift. Caring for the world’s environment is important. Following in the footsteps of my daughters at UW Madison is an honor. FORWARD!

What is your favorite memory of Illinois? My favorite memory is the kindstudents of the Chi Epsilon Student Chapter when they threw a special party campus after my transfer from another Big 10 school.

ness shown to me by the welcoming me to Illinois’s

First job? I was one of the three transportation planners/designers that retem to feed into the proposed Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit System, conceptual design for each planned station, and estimated the bus, pedespatronage routed to each station.

routed the existing bus syscompleted the 10 percent trian and automobile traffic

What are you up to now? Today I am the founder and owner of Willmer Engineering Inc., celebrating 35 years of service to the Atlanta community. Willmer is an award winning woman-owned professional engineering consulting corporation specializing in geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering and construction materials testing and special inspection services.

See more at cee.illinois.edu/womenofcee Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 23

“The months of hard work by our Illinois CEE NSSBC planning team resulted in an exciting twoday competition that was both professional in organization and collegial in spirit.”

National steel bridge competition comes to Illinois M

ore than 40 student teams from universities in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China arrived on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus in May to compete in the National Student Steel Bridge Competition (NSSBC). This is the first time the national competition has been hosted by Illinois since the event’s inception.

The two-day competition, which took place May 25-26, 2018, was the culmination of a series of regional competitions – in which teams were tasked with building a bridge based on guidelines provided by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) – that narrowed the teams from 230 to 42 finalists. Top scorers in those contests brought their bridges to Illinois for a chance at taking home national honors and bragging rights.

“For our Illinois CEE steel bridge team to competitively participate for the third year in a row in nationals, while at the same time helping to host the national competition, is a tribute to their talent, spirit and hard work,” said professor and faculty adviser Jim LaFave.

The competition was broken into a series of events over the two-day period. The first day, teams assembled their bridges on Bardeen Quad while judges awarded points based on the aesthetics of each team’s bridge and the poster accompanying their project. The following day was action-packed, as teams competed in the Armory to build their bridges in the fastest time and earn high marks in various scoring categories.

Ultimately, the judges – which included CEE alumni Nancy Gavlin (BS 76), recently retired Director of Education at AISC, and Christina Harber (BS 02), AISC’s new Director of Education – awarded honors to the top three teams in each of six categories (Construction Speed, Lightness, Display, Stiffness, Economy and Efficiency) as well as the top three overall winners. Lafayette College was the competition’s overall winner, followed by California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo in second place, and École de technologie supérieure taking third.

“The months of hard work by our Illinois CEE NSSBC planning team resulted in an exciting two-day competition that was both profes-

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Above: the CEE at Illinois construction team sets up their bridge across a span of blue plastic sheeting, representing a river, in the speed round.

Left: CEE at Illinois students Barkin Kurumoglu and Jacob Cross co-directed the competition.

Below: on day one of the competition, teams set up their bridges for display judging in Bardeen Quad in a drone-captured image.

At right, top three images: teams rush to construct their bridges during the timed competition.

At right, bottom: the Portland State University team loads steel onto their bridge for the vertical load test.

SEGSO named SEI Chapter of the Year

T

he Illinois chapter of the Structural Engineering Graduate Student Organization (SEGSO) was named the Graduate Student Chapter of the Year for 2018 by the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The award citation read, “in recognition of exemplary activities and efforts to advance the structural engineering profession.”

Active at Illinois since 2012, SEGSO is an organization created by graduate students to improve the graduate school experience. The group organizes regular meetings; academic and professional seminars; and the Chicago professional weekend, an annual event that allows students to learn about the city from a

sional in organization and collegial in spirit,” LaFave said. “We were delighted to hear from so many of the NSSBC competitors, judges, sponsors and other attendees that the competition was very well run, our volunteers were friendly and helpful, and everyone had a great time.”

The NSSBC is sponsored by AISC and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The first national steel bridge competition was held in 1992 at Michigan State University and in the years since has become a popular competition for civil engineering students. The next NSSBC will be held at University of Texas at El Paso, May 26-27, 2019. i

structural engineering perspective.

Other yearly activities include an endof-the-year gathering with professors and a pen pal program. This past year, SEGSO also organized a session at the 2017 Denver Structures Congress, participated in the 2017 SEI Local Leaders Conference and held a booth at the department’s 19th annual Illinois Structural Engineering Conference April 4 at the I Hotel and Conference Center.

The group also collaborated with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s student chapter to hold a social event at the conclusion of the technical sessions at which students and conference attendees could network. i

At top, members of SEGSO enjoy the yearly trip to Chicago, where they learn about the city from a structural engineering perspective. Professor Emeritus Dan Abrams is at far right. At bottom, SEGSO organized a social event after the spring structures conference. Professor Jim LaFave is at far right.

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The sky’s the limit for this structures grad

What are you working on?

CEE alumni are working on fascinating projects all over the world.

If you’d like to write about one of your projects for a future issue of the CEE magazine, please contact Celeste Arbogast, celeste@illinois.edu, for details.

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By Steve Stowe (MS 70)

I

am a 1970 CEE at Illinois graduate with a primary field of study in Structures.

Since I left the Urbana campus, my career took off and went sky high – literally. After my Air Force-sponsored graduate school, active duty and U.S. Air Force (USAF) pilot training were next. Following operational tours in jet fighters, I returned to my engineering roots with an appointment to the USAF Test Pilot School, graduating as an Engineering Test Pilot. During my aviation career, I’ve logged more than 15,000 flying hours in more than 150 kinds of aircraft, helicopters and gliders, and I’ve flown many flight test projects for the U.S. Air Force, Royal Air Force, The Boeing Company, Learjet and Bombardier.

My current project is the new Mitsubishi Regional Jet, “MRJ” for short, a twin engine jet airliner seating 70 to 90 passengers. MRJs are developed by the Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation in Nagoya, Japan.

Due to the limited airspace for flight testing in Japan, Mitsubishi Aircraft teamed with Seattle-based AeroTEC to conduct flight testing in the U.S. at the Moses Lake Flight Test Center, Grant County Airport (KMWH), Wash. Four “FTAs” (Flight Test Aircraft) have been ferried to KMWH and are currently conducting development and certification flight test. My role is Senior Experimental Test Pilot for envelope expansion on FTAs 1 and 2.

Test pilots and engineers based at Moses Lake Flight Test Center are indeed a culturally diverse group, coming from Japan, the USA, England, Canada, France and many other countries. The initial structural testing was recently completed and consisted of the two structural engineering disciplines critical for all new aircraft designs: Flutter and Loads Survey.

“Flutter" refers to a dynamic structural failure mode similar to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse that occurred in gale force winds. Aerodynamic forces

Steve Stowe

can cause the wings or other aircraft flight control surfaces to self-destruct at high airspeed due to undamped aeroelastic bending response and vibration.

The JCAB, FAA and EASA airworthiness regulations require us to verify the MRJ is flutter-free up to “Vd” and “Md”: the maximum structurally designed Calibrated Airspeed (CAS) and Mach Number (MN). For such testing, FTA 1 and 2 are extensively instrumented with accelerometers, strain gauges and other sensors. Thousands of parameters are digitally processed and recorded onboard. For structural testing, critical flight data for the maneuvers are transmitted via telemetry equipment to engineers at a ground station where aeroelastic response and damping are viewed and analyzed real-time. This “TM Room” has about 30 engineer desks and maintains VHF Radio contact at all times with the test aircraft. Before flight testing, structural engineers developed a model of MRJ aeroelastic response for all configurations and load distributions from wind tunnel tests, ground vibration tests and computer tools. These models were incorporated into the TM Room displays so engineers can visually compare actual response to predictions. Flutter testing utilizing the TM Room capabilities reduc-

Above, the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. Below, the telemetry room showing engineers analyzing data sent in real time from the aircraft during a test mission.

es the onboard flight crew required and increases safety and efficiency.

Test points are sequenced from well damped CAS and MN conditions in progressive increments to Vd/Md in a methodical “build up” fashion. At the higher speeds, increments may be only a few knots or hundredths of a Mach. Control surface oscillations were excited manually by pilot control column or rudder pedal pulses, or mechanically by computer controlled flutter exciter devices mounted on the wingtips and empennage. Pilot pulses were sharp step inputs one axis at a time: pitch, roll or yaw. The Flutter Exciters generated pre-programmed sinusoidal frequency sweeps. Following the input, if the test pilot observed any signs of divergence or anything unusual, the aircraft

would be immediately slowed down well below the test point speed. At the same time, the TM engineers could transmit “Knock It Off” over the radio – code word to slow down – if they observed any unpredicted behavior on their screens. If the TM Room engineers were satisfied with the aeroelastic response and damping, the FTA crew were approved for the next test point with a “Cleared Next” radio call.

MRJ Flutter testing showed that damping was positive up to Vd/Md and agreed well with predictions.

Whereas Flutter testing was flown with the aircraft in steady unaccelerated flight, Loads Survey testing involved maneuvering the aircraft in turns, pull ups and push overs while progressively increasing the normal load factor (Nz) up

to plus 2.0 and down to 0.5 “g’s” (airworthiness regulations require a safety factor to ultimate limit of 1.5 similar to civil engineering applications). In addition, side loads were tested up to full rudder pedal sideslips. MRJ structural loads were verified satisfactory similar to Flutter with prediction models, TM Room utilization and the test point sequence “build up” approach to the load factor limits.

With the structural testing successfully completed, all MRJ flight test aircraft are now at the level of design speed range to conduct all kinds of tests required to achieve type certification. If you ever fly on the MRJ as a passenger, you can sit back and relax knowing the aircraft’s structure has been flight tested and proven by an Illini CEE grad test pilot. i

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 27

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Lange president of American Concrete Institute Professor David Lange was elected President of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) at its 2018 Spring Convention in Salt Lake City. His term extends from March 30, 2018, through March 29, 2019.

ACI is a leading authority and resource for the concrete industry. The organization, founded in 1904, works to further engineering and technical education, scientific investigation and research, and development of standards for design and construction incorporating concrete and related materials. Lange is the 22nd CEE at Illinois faculty member or alumnus who has served as ACI President.

Also during the ACI Spring Convention, Lange received the ACI Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper for the co-authored paper “Field Measurements of SCC Lateral Pressure-Toronto 2014” by Gardner; Keller; Khayat; Lange; and Omran.

In unrelated news, Lange testified before a congressional subcommittee April 18 on the potential of FiberReinforced Polymer (FRP) building materials for strengthening infrastructure

development in the U.S. The hearing was held by the Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Subcommittee on Research and Technology.

“FRP is a high-strength, low-weight and durable material that can be fabricated in a wide array of shapes and properties,” Lange said. “The attractive aspects of FRP have motivated significant investment in research and many funded demonstration projects over the years.”

To view Lange’s full testimony, use the QR code.

The American Concrete Pavement Association presented the Hartmann-Hirschman-Egan Award to Professor Emeritus Michael Darter on Nov. 30, 2017, in San Diego. Darter was recognized for his innovation, leadership, teaching and mentoring in the field of civil engineering, as well as for his advancement of technology that has resulted in countless numbers of high-quality concrete pavements.

Associate Professor Mani Golparvar-Fard has been awarded the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, given annually by the American Society of Civil Engineering. GolparvarFard received the prize Mani Golparvar-Fard “for cutting-edge research on computer vision data analytics resulting in a new class of algorithms and techniques for mapping the current state of production on construction projects in 3-D and exposing waste at both project and schedule task levels.”

Spencer president of US-China Earthquake Foundation

Bond wins engineering achievement award Professor Tami C. Bond has been awarded the 2018 University of Washington Diamond Award for Distinguished Achievement in Academia.

Through her pioneering efforts to develop a framework for more accurate analysis, her work led to the conclusion that black carbon is one of the most significant con-

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tributors to manmade climate change – second only to carbon dioxide.

Use the QR code to view a video about Bond’s award.

Professor Bill F. Spencer Jr. has been elected as President of the US-China Earthquake Engineering Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation is to encourage and support research and education in earthquake engineering and related fields, and the application of research results to reduce life loss and property damage from earthquakes.

DEPARTMENT NEWS Sivapalan wins prestigious water prize

Barkan wins lifetime achievement award

Wen-Tso Liu

interface of microbial ecology and water/wastewater treatment.

Professor and RailTEC Executive Director Christopher Barkan was awarded the Charles H. Hochman Lifetime Achievement Award by the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on the Transport of Hazardous Materials. Barkan is the fourth recipient to receive this award.

Barkan’s work in this area was recognized by the same committee in 2015 with an Outstanding Paper of the Year Award for the research paper "Probability Analysis of Multiple-Tank-Car Release Incidents in Railway Hazardous Materials Transportation." The co-authors of the paper are RailTEC alumni, Dr. Xiang Liu (MS 11, PhD 13) and Dr. Rapik Saat (BS 03, MS 05, PhD 09).

Assistant Professor Jeremy S. Guest has been named a recipient of a 2018 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research.

Professor Praveen Kumar has received an appointment of Guest Professor at the Institute for Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Science in Xi’an.

Professor Praveen Kumar has been selected for the Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2018 from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Professor Wen-Tso Liu received the ISME-IWA Bio Cluster Award 2018. This prestigious prize rewards interdisciplinary research of outstanding merit at the

Professor Bill F. Spencer Jr. has been awarded the 2018 Nathan M. Newmark Medal “For pioneering work, innovations, and leadership in the theory and application of advanced technologies to fundamental problems in structural engineering and mechanics, as well as for his unwavering commitment to education/mentoring of students and professional service.”

Professor Bill F. Spencer Jr. was appointed Managing Editor of the Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration. Engineering and Engineering Vibration is an international journal published by Springer whose goal is to improve the theory and practice of earthquake hazards mitigation, preparedness, and recovery, as well as to promote scientific exchange between Chinese and foreign scientists and engineers.

Professor Bill F. Spencer Jr. and Robin E. Kim (MS 10) have been awarded the 2016 Kobori Prize for their coauthored paper, entitiled “Efficient time synchronization for structural health monitoring using wireless smart sensor networks”. This is the highest award of the International Association of Structural Control and Monitoring and the Journal of Structural Control and Health Monitoring.

Assistant Professor Ashlynn S. Stillwell has won the Theta Chapter of Alpha Omega Epsilon, Amy L. Devine Award for her contributions to the University of Illinois and engineering.

Assistant Professor Ashlynn S. Stillwell won the 2018 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence, which recognizes innovative teaching methods and instructional programs which motivate freshman and sophomore students to learn and appreciate engineering.

A profile of CEE Professor and Director of International Programs Erol Tutumluer is featured in the latest issue of TR News, a magazine published by the Transportation Research Board. The profile highlights Tutumluer’s research on applying geotechnical engineering and geomechanics principles to design and build a sustainable transportation infrastructure.

CEE at Illinois professor Murugesu Sivapalan is a recipient of the 8th Award of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. Sivapalan and his colleague Günter Blöschl, of the Vienna University of Technology, formed one of two teams who shared the Creativity Prize – awarded for interdisciplinary work that represents a major scientific breakthrough in any water-related field.

Sivapalan and Blöschl received the award for their work to establish a model for water management studies called Sociohydrology. Their approach focuses on understanding the relationship between water management systems and people, which in turn allows for the prediction of long-term human-flood dynamics. The award announcement cites the importance of their work in addressing many water management challenges in the face of population growth and climate change.

Sivapalan is the Chester and Helen Siess Endowed Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Robert E. Horton Medal from the American Geophysical Union, the Alfred Wegener Medal from the European Geosciences Union, and the Centenary Medal by the Australian Government “for service to Australian Society in Hydrology and Environmental Engineering.”

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 29

DEPARTMENT NEWS

CEE 495 hosted a number of alumni guest speakers during the 2017-2018 academic year, who shared stories about their work and career paths, and met with students after class for one-on-one discussions.

1 1) Katie Latham (BS 11), Founder and Managing Partner for Talman Consultants LLC speaks with a student after her presentation, “The Female Entrepreneurial Advantage.”

2) Michael Kehoe (BS 10), Founder and CEO of Johego, pictured with CEE department head Benito Mariñas, spoke about building social infrastructure and the company he founded.

3) Andrew Richardson (BS 78), Chairman and CEO of Greeley and Hansen, pictured with Professor Emeritus Vernon Snoeyink (right), spoke about the practice of consulting engineering in the 21st century.

4) Barry Balmat (BS 66) Director of Foundation Relations for RAND Corporation (retired), spoke to the class about a career path that took him from civil engineer to the “public face” of a think tank.

5) Karen Gupta Weichold (BS 94), Green Building Consultant, pictured with students, spoke about her path to business ownership by always building on her CEE at Illinois foundation.

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DEPARTMENT NEWS

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6) Larry Sur (BS 64, MS 65), Vice Chairman (retired) of GENCO, spoke to students about his career path and the life lessons he learned along the way.

7) Kathryn Mallon (BS 89), Program Director for Bloomberg, pictured with her mother and niece, spoke to students about the Hurricane Sandy disaster recovery effort.

8) Gary Brierley (MS 70, PhD 75), Owner of Doctor Mole Inc., spoke to students about how they can start positioning themselves for success.

9) Frank Wengler (BS 80, MS 81), Vice President of aviation planning, design and construction for AECOM, spoke about trends in airports and spaceports and their associated professional careers.

10) Rick Cavenaugh (BS 83), President of Stoneleigh Companies, second from right, pictured with students and Professor Jeff Roesler after his seminar about his career as a real estate developer and the projects he has worked on.

11) Rosina Dean (BS 89), Associate Director at The Dow Chemical Company, provided students with an engineering perspective on recent mega project challenges.

12) Tom Noon (BS 71), Owner and Chief Executive Officer of Mt. Rainier Corporation, spoke to students about strategies for planning a career and pitfalls to avoid.

13) Jim Willmer (BS 71, MS 73), Executive Vice President at Willmer Engineering Inc., speaks with Professor Scott Olson (right) and a student after his presentation, “What it means to be a CEE alumnus.”

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Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 31

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ALUMNI NEWS

Willmer named Engineer of the Year

Ballot to select new officers for the CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors

James L. Willmer (BS 71, MS 73), was named Georgia Engineer of the Year by the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers. Willmer is Principal at Willmer Engineering Inc. in Atlanta, Ga. Use the QR code to watch the award video. Photo: Robb Cohen Photography & Video

All CEE alumni are invited to cast their votes and return this ballot by mail or email to the addresses below.

Open positions for Board of Directors for the new term: President 2018-2020:

John P. Kos (BS 77), Lochner, Chicago Write-in: Past President 2016-2018:

Colleen E. Quinn (BS 84), Ricondo & Associates Inc., Chicago Vice President 2016-2018:

Paula C. Pienton (BS 85), T.Y. Lin International, Chicago Write-in: 2nd Vice President 2016-2018:

David L. Byrd (BS 01, MS 06), Blinderman Construction, Chicago Write-in: Directors 2016-2018 (vote for three):

Kevin C. Fuhr (BS 96), Lochmueller Group Inc., Chicago Michael J. Mack (BS 89), Burns & McDonnell, Downer’s Grove, Ill. Douglas S. Pelletier (BS 95), Fermi Research Alliance LLC, Batavia, IL Write-in: Please mail to: Keely Ashman 1117 Newmark Lab, MC-250 205 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 Or email your choices to: kashman@illinois.edu

32 cee.illinois.edu cee.illinois.edu 32

1990s 2010s Guillermo E. Diaz-Fanas (MS 14), a geotechnical John P. Arnett (BS 96, MS 98) was named a Principal engineer in WSP USA’s New York City office, was recognized as a 2018 New Face of Civil Engineering by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Arun L. Gain (MS 10, PhD 13) won the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer of 2018 by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Allison E. Goodwell (MS 13, PhD 17) received Honorable Mention for the Universities Council on Water Resources 2018 Ph.D. Dissertation Award in the category of Natural Science and Engineering.

Jared G. Thoele, P.E., S.E. (BS 10, MS 11), a structural engineer at Hanson Professional Services, was named Young Engineer of the Year by the Capital Chapter of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers.

2000s Kimberly L. Davids (BS 01), General Manager of The

Weitz Company, was named one of the Top 20 Under 40 honorees in 2018 by Engineering News-Record.

Travis D. Painter, P.E., S.E. (BS 04, MS 06), a civil and structural engineer at Hanson Professional Service, celebrated 10 years of service with the firm. Painter provides design services, primarily for rail projects.

Denise L. Richards, P.E. (MS 01) was promoted to Principal of Keast & Hood structural engineers. She has managed some of the firm’s largest and most complex projects, including the Statue of Liberty National Monument Life-Safety Upgrades.

at Silman. His notable projects include the Siebel Center for Design at Illinois.

Christopher M. Thomas (BS 96, MS 97) joined WSP USA as head of the government market for the company’s Property & Buildings sector.

Amy J. Wildermuth (MS 98) was named dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

1980s Peter J. Bulgarelli (BS 81) was named President and

Chief Executive Officer of Lillibridge Healthcare Services.

Naniel R. Newlon (BS 81) received the 2018 American Public Works Association Top Ten Public Works Leader of the Year Award.

Lawrence C. Novak (BS 85, MS 86) received the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois Service Award for 2018 “in recognition of his outstanding lifelong contributions to the advancement of our profession through outstanding projects, research, teaching, code work and his everlasting outreach efforts to inspire the next generation to study math, science and engineering.”

David A. Sabatini (BS 81) received the 2017 International Association of Hydrogeologists U.S. National Chapter’s International Service Award for promoting sustainable water resources projects in developing and impoverished countries.

C. Wayne Swafford (BS 78, MS 82) was named president of Lockwood, Andrews & Newman.

ALUMNI NEWS

1970s Ronald W. Deverman (BS 73) was named a Fellow by

the National Association of Environmental Professionals and received the HNTB Fellow Award.

James R. Morgan (BS 75, MS 77, PhD 79) has been named the inaugural course director for Engineering at Charles Sturt University (CSU). CSU Engineering has been identified as an emerging leader in engineering education in a recent report commissioned by MIT.

Gift matching magnifies young alum’s generosity Thanks to the miracle of gift matching, young CEE alumna Rebecca Nothof (BS 15) saw her recent donation of $250 become $1,500.

Shell project engineer Nothof gave $250 to CEE for its Engineering Visionary Scholarship fund. Thanks to Shell’s double match, the gift grew to $750.

Then, thanks to the current matching gift challenge by the Grainger Foundation, which doubles any gift to an endowed scholarship fund, the gift grew again to $1,500.

“I decided to give because I was a recipient of a few scholarships through the CEE scholarship fund, and I know how much they helped me,” Nothof writes. “I didn't have to worry about getting a job during the school year and I could put money toward my loans to lower how much I would be paying interest over time. Once I finished paying off my school loans I knew it was time to help a current student.

“To other young alumni, I would say that any bit will go a long way – especially when you pair your gift with a matching program! CEE at Illinois sets us up for success, and I think that puts us in a position to give back and set those currently in coli lege up for success.”

cee.illinois.edu/give

Michael D. Nickey (BS 76) retired from The Babcock & Wilcox Company after 41 years. His most recent position was Director of Business Development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Book explores Chicago drainage history A new book by alumnus Richard Lanyon (BS 60, MS 61), “West by Southwest to Stickney: Draining the Central Area of Chicago and Exorcising Clout,” tells the history of drainage infrastructure improvements in the central area of Chicago and reform of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) governance.

In Lanyon’s book, the central area of Chicago is defined as a 260-square-mile area that drains to the Stickney Water Reclamation plant – the world’s largest acti-

Martha G. VanGeem (BS 76) was recognized by the American Concrete Institute with the Concrete Sustainability Award for 2018.

1950s Charles T. Dooley (BS 54) received the 2017

Engineering News-Record (ENR) Legacy Award. The Legacy awards are given annually by ENR regional editors to an individual who has achieved a lifetime legacy of service in design and construction, and who has given above and beyond to his or her profession and communities.

1940s Ray Ackerman (BS 43) turned 100 years old on Jan.

7. Alumni and friends celebrated his birthday at the Springfield social hour with an Illinois-themed birthday cake. Ackerman is pictured below with department head Professor Benito Mariñas. Ackerman said he has had his picture taken with every CEE department head since Whitney C. Huntington, who served as department head from 1926-1956.

vated sludge process plant. Transforming the drainage infrastructure in this area was a major undertaking by the MWRD that involved canal building and expansion, redirection of sewer discharge away from Lake Michigan and construction of a huge intersecting sewer system to pick up sewage and convey it to the treatment plant. The book details these projects and others, covering a timeframe from 1900 to the present.

Lanyon also discusses efforts to reform the governance of the District. After a series of MWRD misdeeds and scandals, ranging from ghost payrolls to theft of equipment, action was taken to usher in reform that ensured taxpayers received efficient, professional and reliable service.

“West by Southwest to Stickney” is the third in a four-book series by Lanyon, all dealing with the MWRD’s history and major projects. He worked for the MWRD for 48 years before retiring in 2010 as executive director. An extensive photo gallery to accompany the book is available for viewi ing on everythinggoesmedia.com.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 33

Mete Sozen (1930-2018)

The following represents excerpts of a piece written by Polat Gülkan, professor emeritus of Middle East Technical University, with input from more than two dozen of Mete Sozen’s family, colleagues and former students. The full text, including a list of all those who contributed to its creation, is at cee.illinois.edu/sozen.

By Polat Gülkan (PhD 71) Mete A. Sözen (MS 52, PhD 57), Karl H. Kettelhut Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Civil Engineering, Purdue University, died unexpectedly on April 5, 2018, just a few weeks before what would have been his 88th birthday. For all of us who knew Mete, this marked the end of an era. Few people have guided and nurtured a field the way Mete led earthquake and structural engineering related to reinforced concrete systems over a period spanning six decades. He had a profound effect on many people and will long be remembered fondly by those who came into contact with him during his career. His impact was so compelling that he had earned the admiration of many generations of students, friends, colleagues and fellow engineers.

An only child, Mete was born, according to official birth registry bureau records, on May 22, 1930, in Istanbul, Turkey. His family traces its roots to western Georgia from which they had been driven westward during the nineteenth century’s numerous armed conflicts in the area, settling first in the city of Ordu on the Black Sea coast and finally in Istanbul.

He attended elite primary and secondary schools before enrolling in Robert College, an independent school established in 1863 for the purpose of “giving to its students a thorough education equal in all respects to that obtained at a firstclass American college and based upon the same general principles.” Graduating in 1951, he was granted entry into the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, 34

cee.illinois.edu

Mete Sozen at Illinois after delivering the Newmark Distinguished Lecture in 2008.

where he went on to receive his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. After earning his M.S. degree in 1952, he worked as a structural designer with Kaiser Engineers (Oakland, Calif.) and Hardesty and Hanover (New York, NY). His doctoral dissertation, completed in 1957 and supervised by Chester P. Siess, dealt with the shear strength of prestressed concrete beams that were then being used with increasing frequency in highway bridge construction in the U.S. Offered a faculty position by department chair Nathan M. Newmark, that same year he joined the Department of Civil Engineering as a young assistant professor.

For the next 36 years at Illinois he would pursue a career for development of professional design codes for reinforced and prestressed concrete structures, and for earthquake-resistant design of reinforced concrete structures.

With a fine tradition of reinforced concrete research established during the first half of the twentieth century by experimenters Arthur N. Talbot, Duff A. Abrams and Frank E. Richart and professors like Harald M. Westergaard and Hardy Cross who provided the analytical prowess, the University of Illinois had become the leading source of expertise in U.S. academia on structural engineering with emphasis on reinforced concrete, whether of a seismic nature or not. This occurred not only because of Newmark and his strong faculty, but because the department had a major testing facility. Later, by mid-20th century, Newmark would attract additional attention and talent to Urbana as

he dealt first with design against blast effects brought about by the Cold War, and then seismic effects to keep abreast of the needs in nuclear power. Mete began his career at Urbana in such an environment. a Shake tables did exist in several countries prior to the 1960s, but these were suitable mostly for seismometric instrument calibrations and observations, or modest model tests that did not lead to useful structural engineering interpretations adaptable for design. So with NSF support, Mete embarked on a program for building a single-axis shaking table at the University of Illinois, Urbana. The 3.6-m square table had a five-ton payload capacity and was built by an aerospace company in California. It was the first of its kind and was delivered in late 1967, becoming operational in 1968. Although equipped with limited stroke and velocity capabilities compared with current simulators, that platform was to serve as the prime research tool for more than 20 graduate students for the next 25 years because it could provide the possibility to reproduce a ground motion with scaled time and acceleration that had not been available earlier for structural testing.

In his own opinion, the most important impact of their work was the “paradigm shift” (a cliché that he used with sarcasm) in design for earthquake resistance from force to displacement. a Nothing made him happier than to enjoy a good meal and good wine in the company of friends who were frequently his students. The circle tried to make sense of the world but always found the true solution in one another's company, surrounded by books, food, beauty and lively conversation. In their thirst for truth and understanding they learned something new every day. It will not be inaccurate to assume that everyone who ever was acquainted in some way with this tremendously talented and unique man will miss him very much.

Mete Avni Sözen is survived by his wife Joan and family Timothy, Adria, Ayshe, i and four grandchildren.

IN MEMORIAM Sozen remembered As a companion piece to Gülkan’s memorial, CEE alumna Catherine Wolfgram French (PhD 84) invited his former students, colleagues, friends and family members to share their memories about Sozen. Below are excerpts; the full version is at cee.illinois.edu/sozen.

William J. Hall (MS 51, PhD 54) We were good friends. He, more than anyone else, put together the restructuring of the earthquake provisions in the ACI code. He made a tremendous contribution to this country.

M. Saiid Saiidi (MS 77, PhD 79) Mete’s legacy and the profound impression he had on me and his other former research assistants have multiplied affecting graduate students around the world. We, as Mete’s first generation of students, have passed on to our students the way of technical inquiries, communicating, expanding our view beyond the technical world and creating a welcoming sense of community. Our former students are doing the same now.

Anthony Fiorato (PhD 71) Beyond technical knowledge, I believe one of his greatest gifts to me was his insistence on clear communication. ... To this day (almost 50 years since leaving the U of I), whenever I write a paper or give a presentation, a voice in my head keeps saying “Would Mete approve?”

Jack P. Moehle (PhD 80) Mete was not just a mentor for graduate study and research, he was a mentor for life. He regularly would appear in the audience at a speech, or would show up by phone or email, with a thoughtful comment or question, usually kindly put, that maybe there was another way to think about the problem at hand. We didn’t have to agree, but thinking about the problem in that other way enriched my thinking throughout my career.

Catherine Wolfgram French (PhD 84) He was a Renaissance Man – well-versed in literature, history, the arts and current events. We learned so much from him and continued to learn from him throughout our careers. I don’t believe that there has ever been or will be another teacher/ mentor/adviser who could hold a candle to him.

Andres Lepage (PhD 97) The 40-word abstract of Mete’s 1999 “The Simplicity of Complexity” gives it in a nutshell: “In the practice of engineering, simplicity is almost always better than complexity, but not all engineers think so and it takes rare genius to understand the full complexity of a problem and charity to make it simple for others.”

Timothy Sozen The evening before my first day as a TA at Illinois, Dad, perhaps sensing disaster, took me to our basement room in which he occasionally held seminars and asked me to stand at the chalkboard and teach him something. … Before I got a word out of my mouth he stopped me and said “Don’t raise your eyebrows.” What? “Don’t raise your eyebrows. It makes you look pompous and condescending. It makes you look like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Now start again.”

The next five minutes consisted of my trying to explain Newton’s Second Law, and his interjecting “eyebrows!” It was exasperating, but I think in the end very good advice.

a In late October of 1983, uncharacteristically, the university football team was doing very well. They had met and defeated two of the three nationally ranked Big 10 teams and it looked like the only obstacle to a Rose Bowl appearance would be the game against the third, Michigan. Things looked very bright indeed, however there was a small but very dark cloud: During the recent sold-out game against Ohio State in Champaign, the crowd had been lively, and people in the east balcony were reporting a lot of movement, some claimed as much as a foot, particularly during chants. The big match with Michigan at the end of the month would be a home game.

And it would be televised.

Of course this put the administration and the athletic department into a panic, and somehow Dad ended up being asked to come out and take a look. Apparently he was met at the stadium not only by the facilities managers but also by several very concerned deans and other higher-ups – he didn’t tell me who or how many, but I always imagine seven or eight in suits, looking very nervous. Rather than making an inspection underneath the balcony, Dad took the whole group upstairs.

He wound up the metronome, set it going, and asked everyone present to jump in time.

They must have thought he was crazy. I just love this image, though: Dad, standing by the metronome, cheering on this dance troupe of very worried university administrators.

Adjusting the metronome, he eventually found the period of the balcony, and from this managed to locate the failure. It was repaired in time for the game against Michigan.

Vincent J. McDonald (1925-2018)

Associate Professor Emeritus Vincent J. McDonald died Jan. 16, 2018, in Urbana. He was 92.

McDonald retired from Illinois in 1990, after 41 years with the department, as Associate Professor and Principal Research Engineer.

McDonald was born on April 21, 1925, in Galena, Ill. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1946, then attended the University of Illinois to study electrical engineering. As a student, he began working in the Department of Civil Engineering as a part-time assistant in 1950. He earned his B.S. in 1951. He married Norma Genotte Feller on June 25, 1955. She died in 2004.

A tribute to him from the department written at his retirement reads, “Mac has been the supervisor and the heart of the Instrumentation Lab in the Civil Engineering Department for many years. As a result, many of the other faculty and countless graduate students owe much of their research success to his expertise and patience. ... V.J. is an expert in the areas of instrumentation and testing and has published numerous articles in these areas. His activities have led to membership in the Instrument Society of America and the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis.”

His retirement reception also included “Greetings from Colleagues to V.J. McDonald” by Mete A. Sozen.

McDonald is survived by his daughter, Jean McDonald; stepsons Richard, Robert and James; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 35

Thomas B. Berns (1945-2018)

Thomas B. Berns (BS 68) died Feb. 19, 2018, in St. Louis. He was 72.

Berns was born on April 8, 1945, in Chicago. He began his engineering career at Danner and Associates Inc. In 1975, he founded Berns, Clancy and Associates with Ed Clancy. He taught surveying for the University of Illinois as an adjunct instructor, beginning in 1992. He co-authored with then-CEE Professor Kam Wong the fourth edition of the textbook used in the surveying course, “Fundamentals of Surveying.”

Berns’ many years of service to the department included 10 years on the CEE Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Notable engineering projects on which he worked include the 490-acre topographic survey of the University of Illinois campus for the Chilled Water Proj-

The Boneyard Creek Flood Control Project, on which Berns worked, beautified and restored the creek, as well as the surrounding quad.

ects, the restoration of Boneyard Creek, and the site engineering for the Memorial Stadium reno-

vations.

In 2000, he was appointed State Representative for the 104th House District, replacing Tim Johnson. He served one additional term.

Berns’ many honors included the Outstanding Civil Engineer Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (2009), the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the CEE Alumni Association (CEEAA) (1996), the Chi Epsilon Chapter Honor Member award (1993) and the CEEAA Young Alumnus Award (1978).

Berns is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jeannie; a daughter, Rebecca; a son, Michael; and four grandchildren.

36 cee.illinois.edu cee.illinois.edu 36

1960s Edwin G. Burdette (PhD 69) died May 18.

He was 84. He was a professor emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee, having taught for more than 50 years.

1950s Roger Diaz de Cossio (MS 57, PhD 59) died De-

cember 22. He was 86. He was one of the first researchers at Mexico’s National Autonomous University to work at the Instituto de Ingenieria, which he directed from 1966 to 1970. He then began a 15-year long career at the Education Ministry, where he was twice Under-Secretary.

In the 1980s he served at the foreign relations ministry in the area of Mexico-U.S. relations.

David S. Heindel (BS 58) died March 5. He was 82.

(1924-2017)

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was 67. In 1977, he was admitted to practice law in California, and had experience mediating and litigating claims in a broad range of legal areas.

Paul Gordon (BS 52) died March 1. He was 89.

Robert J. Mosborg ormer faculty member, alumnus and assistant dean Robert John Mosborg (BS 46, MS 49) died Dec. 6, 2017. He was 92.

Known for his focus on undergraduate education, Mosborg won numerous teaching awards, including the Epstein Memorial Award for Outstanding Young Teacher (1959), the American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter Outstanding Civil Engineering Teacher Award (1974, 1984), the Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence (1976) and the Stanley H. Pierce Award for development of empathetic student-faculty cooperation (1976).

For many years he served as chief adviser in the department. He was secretary of the Civil Engineering Alumni Association for more than 20 years, beginning in 1974.

Mosborg became Assistant Dean and Director of the Engineering Placement Of-

1970s Donald R. Bloss (BS 71) died November 21. He

fice in 1983. Under his leadership, the placement office adopted a computerized sign-up system for on-campus interviews, a PC-based student data sheet, and the posting of jobs on the campus computer network. He also established the first databases of engineering graduates and began annual surveys of B.S. graduates 20, 25 and 30 years after graduation.

Mosborg’s civil engineering research focus was in the strength of materials and metal fatigue, and he authored or co-authored several articles on the subjects. He was a registered professional engineer in Illinois.

Among Mosborg’s many honors, he was co-valedictorian of his undergraduate class at Illinois, was named to the Bronze Tablet, awarded a University Scholarship Key and received the First Place Ira O. Baker Award.

Calvin K. M. Wang (BS 58) died November 15, 2016. He was 80. For almost 40 years, he worked in varied branches of civil engineering in both private firms and the public sector in California.

Raymond F. Wojcieszak (BS 53, MS 55, PhD 57) died July 7, 2016. He was 85.

Tien-Hsing Wu (MS 48, PhD 51) died June 7. He was 90. Wu was a faculty member for 12 years at Michigan State University and for 29 years at Ohio State, teaching courses in geotechnical engineering and serving as department chair from 1992-1994. He remained an active professor emeritus, collaborating with other geotechnical engineers on books and journals. His research was on the strength properties of soil and rock, stability of embankments and natural slopes, soil reinforcement and risk and reliability assessments for foundations and slopes. He was a pioneer in the development and application of probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering.

IN MEMORIAM

Don U. Deere (1922-2018)

F

ormer faculty member, CEE alumnus and prominent geotechnical engineer Don Uel Deere (PhD 55) died January 14, 2018, in Gainesville, Fla. He was 95.

Deere’s numerous career honors included being elected to both the National Academy of Engineering (1966) and the National Academy of Sciences (1971).

Born on March 17, 1922, on a farm in Mt. Etna, Iowa, Deere earned his bachelor of science degree in Mining Engineering at Iowa State College in 1943. After several years of employment as a mining engineer in Arizona and New Mexico, in 1946 Deere accepted a position on the faculty of the University of Puerto Rico, where he served as Head of the civil engineering department from 1950-51. He earned a master of science degree in geology in 1949 from the University of Colorado.

From 1951-1955, Deere was a partner in the Foundation Engineering Company of Puerto Rico, at the same time earning his Ph.D. in civil engineering with a major in geotechnical engineering. After completing his Ph.D., he accepted a position at Illinois as an Associate Professor with a 67 percent appointment in Civil Engineering and a 33 percent appointment in Geology.

He was named a full professor in 1959 and remained on the faculty until 1971, when he left the University to pursue a full-time consulting career, co-founding the international consulting firm in geology and rock mechanics, Deere and Merritt.

Major projects to which Deere contributed included the construction of the World Trade Center, the Channel Tunnel, the Washington, D.C., subway, and numerous hydroelectric facilities. He received the BEAVER award (1980), the MOLES award (1983) and the Rock Mechanics Award of the Society of Mining Engineering (1990). At the University of Illinois, he taught and mentored a generation of leaders in the tunneling industry. i

Above, Don U. Deere. At right, Deere, Ralph Peck and Jose Luis Capacete, circa 1952, 1953 in the soils lab of the Foundation Engineering Company of Puerto Rico in San Juan, the first geotechnical engineering firm in the Caribbean. When Deere decided to go to Illinois, he was co-owner of the company with Capacete. Courtesy of Don W. Deere.

A snippet of Illinois geotechnical history Deere’s son, Don W. Deere, relates this engineering firm in the Caribbean. story about how his father came to the My Dad invited Dr. Terzaghi to guest University of Illinois to be influenced by lecture in Puerto Rico. Afterwards, as my geotechnical greats Ralph Peck and Karl Dad dropped Dr. Terzaghi off at the airTerzaghi. port, he told my father that his future was My Dad met Ralph Peck in the mid- bigger in geotechnical than what he was 1940s while getting an M.S. in geology currently doing and that he needed to go at the University of Colorado (CU). Dr. to U of I and get his Ph.D. with RRRRalph Peck was a consultant (rolled R accent). My father to CU on the foundation “He told my father that listened and talked his his future was bigger partner into alternating for construction of the student union building. in geotechnical than semesters at U of I, so they He met with my Dad what he was currently could keep the company who was writing his thegoing and both study undoing and that he sis on the engineering der Dr. Peck. geology of the campus. needed to go to U of I My mother’s greatest He was impressed and and get his Ph.D. with regret is that my father told Dr. Terzaghi about never finished the book RRRRalph (rolled R this bright geology stuwith Dr. Terzaghi entitled accent).” dent in Colorado that “Engineering Geology.” they should bring into the fold. My Dad Several chapters were completed when had commitments to the University of Dr. Terzaghi “fired him” for missing deadPuerto Rico, who paid his scholarship to lines and wrote my Dad that he would Colorado, to go back and teach, which finish the book with his wife, a geologist, he did. He also started his own firm with Ruth Terzaghi. Ironically all the outside Jose-Luis Capacete (MS 54) – the Foun- consulting work brought in by Dr. Terzadation Engineering Company of Puerto ghi and Dr. Peck was the main reason he Rico in San Juan, the first geotechnical kept missing chapter deadlines. i

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 37

2018 ALUMNI AWARDS DINNER Alumni, CEE faculty, students and friends of the department gathered on March 8 at the Union League Club in Chicago for the annual CEE at Illinois Alumni Awards Dinner. The event included a cocktail reception, dinner, department update by Department Head Benito J. Mariñas and presentation of the CEE Alumni Association awards.

More photos are available on the CEE at Illinois Facebook account: www.facebook.com/ceeatillinois

2018 ALUMNI DINNER SPONSORS CEE at Illinois thanks the following companies for their generous support of the Alumni Awards Dinner and programming for CEE students.

GOLD AECOM and Tishman-Hunt Construction Services Alfred Benesch & Company Ardmore Roderick Bowman, Barrett & Associates Inc. Burns & McDonnell Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. Clark Dietz Inc. d’Escoto Inc. Fullerton Engineering Geo Services Inc. Geopier Foundation Company Greeley and Hansen LLC Hayward Baker Inc. HNTB H.W. Lochner Milhouse Engineering & Construction Mott MacDonald Patrick Engineering Pepper Construction Steve & Lorie Raupp Rubinos & Mesia Inc. Sargent & Lundy LLC Shannon & Wilson Inc. Trotter & Associates Inc. SILVER Bollinger, Lach & Associates Inc. Bowman Consulting Bulley & Andrews LLC Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. Donohue & Associates Inc. cee.illinois.edu 3838 cee.illinois.edu

Epstein GEI Consultants Inc. Hanson Professional Services Inc. James K. Klein Kenny Construction RJN Group Robinson Engineering Ltd. Stantec/MWH Global STV Incorporated The Kenrich Group LLC The Walsh Group W.E. O’Neil Construction Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. BRONZE Advanced Concrete Pavement Consultancy LLC Aldridge Electric Inc. Ciorba Group Inc. David Mason & Associates Duane Morris LLP EXP F.H. Paschen Fehr Graham John Frauenhoffer Haley & Aldrich Inc. INGENII LLC Lochmueller Group Inc. Nixon Peabody LLP Ricondo & Associates Inc. S.T.A.T.E. Testing LLC T.Y. Lin International Urban GIS V3 Companies Wight & Company

Above (top to bottom, left to right): 1. John Kos (BS 77), Farhad Rezai and Michael Mack (BS 89). 2. Kevin Fuhr (BS 96) and Rich Sieracki (BS 74). 3. Rashod Johnson (BS 00, UIC MS 05) and Milton Sees (BS 75, UIS MA 96). 4. CEE students Max Jurado and Merilda Kristalya.

Next page: a good time was had by all.

2018 CEE Alumni Award Winners DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD (left to right) George Leventis Daniel Dietzler Juan Casillas García de León (award accepted on his behalf by his son, Juan Casillas, pictured here) Wilbur Milhouse YOUNG ALUMNUS ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Yang Zhang (unable to attend)

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 39

2018 CEE Student Awards A. Epstein Award in Civil Engineering Hua Shao Cody Simpson Anna Lee and James T.P. Yao Scholarship Shiyao Sun ASCE Outstanding Student Award Valerie Makri ASCE Outstanding Instructor Award Pouyan Asem Bates and Rogers Scholarship Matthaios Aravosis Nicholas Kerska Benesch Engineering Scholarship Geordie Roscoe

Bernard Delbert Murphy Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering Luke Hanselman Jessica Wiegand

Delores Wade Huber Scholarship Joung Woo Han Pieter Svenson Xuhuan Zhao

Bob Zieba Memorial Scholarship Kyle Bathgate

DFI Educational Trust Charles J. Berkel Memorial Scholarship Jessica Silva Elisabeth Tarpey Nathaniel Zipperich

Bowman, Barrett and Associates Outstanding Scholar Award Alex Kendzior C.S. and Ruth Monnier Scholarship Sylvia Kierpiec Alexis Montoya Matthias Zajdela Caroll C. Wiley Traveling Award Brian Setzke CEE Excellence Award in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring Jeremy Guest CEEAA Undergraduate Service Leadership Scholarship Lauren Excell CH2M Hill Transportation Endowed Scholarship Nada Naffakh

Rich Briscoe presents the Jack and Kay Briscoe Scholarship to (left to right) Nicholas Perozzi, Nicholas Fishburn and Henry Doyle.

Charles E. DeLeuw Travel Award Weixi Li Chester P. Siess Award Lucas Djehdian Steven Hand Chicago Outer Belt Contractors Association Scholarship Brian Setzke Civil Engineering Class of 1943 Undergraduate Leadership Award Alexandra Kawar

Bryan Pinkley (left) and Brayan Rico (right) receive the Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. Scholarship from Stan Hansen.

Clement C. Lee Outstanding Scholar Award in Honor of Houssam Mahmoud Karara Christopher Giebel Jiayi Pan Chen Zhang CN Railway Transportation Scholarship Geordie Roscoe CRSI Education and Research Foundation Scholarship Timothy Sam

Cheryl Weyant (left) and Nancy Hanna-Somers (right) present the Maren Somers Memorial Engineering Scholarship to Amanda Darling.

40 40 cee.illinois.edu cee.illinois.edu

Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. Scholarship Bryan Pinkley Brayan Rico Dan and Mary Guill Scholarship Kayla O’Sullivan

Donohue & Associates Scholarship Jennifer Nugent Duane Edward and Phyllis Ann Erickson Memorial Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering Abigail Cohen Heather Gathman Erika Jaszka Earle J. Wheeler Scholarship Liam Benson Theodore Mossman Zhichao Sun Eli W. Cohen – Thornton Tomasetti Foundation Scholarship Christopher Meilinger Engineering Visionary Scholarship Edgar Alvarado Matthaios Aravosis Melissa Bayer Gabriel Braboy Karina Corral Maria Fatima Escano Kimberly Garza Naomi Gonzalez Abigail Iuorio Erika Jaszka Felicia Jia Alexandra Kawar Kara Kessling Wyatt Martinson Angel Montero Brandon Morse Javier Mulero Jasmine Munoz Shyama Pandya Leonel Rodriguez Peter Rogers Catherine Seebauer Therese Sobol Jared Vegrzyn David Wichman Jessica Wiegand Adam Zimon Eric J. Kerestes Memorial Scholarship Dylan Subrin

Julian Rueda Geotechnical Engineering Scholarship Roland Adrian Klein and Hoffman Inc. Scholarship in honor of Frank Klein Mark Cerabona

Erik Sager receives the William E. Stallman Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Bill Stallman.

Foster Research Scholarship Meijun Liu George L. Farnsworth Jr. Scholarship Cindy Chen Jared Vegrzyn Geotechnical Scholarship Gift Andrew Conwell Grant W. Shaw Memorial Scholarship Kyle Bathgate Harry K. and Carol A. Windland Endowed Scholarship in Memory of David A. Windland Marissa Banks David Wichman Henry T. Heald Award Karly Bast Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association Scholarship Gabriel Braboy Uthman Mohamed-Ali Illinois Association of County Engineers Award Katherine Biggs David Budzik Zachary Cinq-Mars Nicholas Reynolds Industry Advancement Foundation of Central Illinois Builders of the AGC Scholarship Karolina Urban Ira O. Baker Prize Xiaodan Du (First Prize) Hua Shao (Second Prize) Jack and Kay Briscoe Scholarship Henry Doyle Nicholas Fishburn Nicholas Perozzi John B. Felmley Engineering Scholarship Jameel Kaddo Joseph C. and Marianne J. Geagea Civil and Environmental Engineering Scholarships Matthew Carsello Nathan Tomerlin

Koch Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering Abigail Iuorio Langan/Dennis J. Leary Memorial Scholarship Fund Kent Eng Loreta and Silvio Corsetti Memorial Scholarship and Fellowship Fund Melissa Bayer Maren Somers Memorial Engineering Scholarship Amanda Darling Maude E. Eide Memorial Scholarship George Kontos Tomasz Rynkiewicz Max Whitman APWA Memorial Scholarship Adam Weinberg Melih T. Dural Undergraduate Research Prize David Litwin Dihan Yang

Wayne C. Teng Scholarship Keith Briones Sherif ElMasry Ethan Heidrich Andi Li Raymond Pu William A. Oliver Endowed Scholarship Justin Schmit William C. Ackermann Sr. Civil Engineering Scholarship Luke Hoppenworth William E. O’Neil Award Lufan Wang William E. Stallman Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering Erik Sager William John MacKay Award David Casillas Tomasz Rutkowski Haoyu Si Wilson H. Tang CEE International Scholarship Yicong Dong Wilson H. Tang CEE Risk, Reliability and Decision Analysis Scholarship Catherine Seebauer

Michael William Bartos Ed. D. Memorial Scholarship Abdullah Hassaballah Moreland Herrin Scholarship Gabriel Braboy Justin Kuhns Norman Carlson Scholarship Jasmine Munoz Ralph C. Hahn Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering Elmer Perez-Hernandez RJN Foundation Civil Engineering Scholarship Dakota Gonzales

Yicong Dong and Catherine Seebauer receive the Wilson H. Tang CEE Risk, Reliability and Decision Analysis Scholarship from Bernadette Tang.

Road Builders Charities Scholarship Wyatt Martinson Samuel C. Roberts Award in Civil Engineering Konstandinos Zavos Shelby K. Willis Engineering Education Scholarship Samuel Kottoor Walker Parking Consultants Scholarship Amber DeCarlo Walter E. Hanson Graduate Award Hua Shao

CEE Professor Jeffery Roesler presents the Duane Edward and Phyllis Ann Erickson Memorial Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering to (left to right) Erika Jaszka, Heather Gathman and Abigail Cohen.

Civil Civiland andEnvironmental EnvironmentalEngineering EngineeringAlumni AlumniAssociation—Summer Association—Summer2018 2018 41 41

PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

LEGACY PARTNERS

CORPORATE PARTNERS PROGRAM The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering gratefully acknowledges the following companies who contribute to CEE at Illinois as Corporate Partners.

For information about the program, visit cee.illinois.edu/cpp.

Many thanks to the following companies for sponsoring student programming and department activities with a gift in excess of their job fair registration fee: Crawford, Murphy & Tilly F.H. Paschen Hayward Baker Shannon & Wilson Inc. The Walsh Group

42

cee.illinois.edu

Excellence.

Flexibility.

Illinois.

New online courses are always being added!

Find out what’s new at cee.illinois.edu/ceeonline.

Photo: Kristina Shidlauski

FAREWELL In late fall 2018, when CEE’s modernization of the Hydrosystems Laboratory kicks off, the south side of the building, including the water tower, will be demolished to make way for the new addition.

Because the building’s footprint will be bigger, the flowering crabapple trees will also be lost. The new building and landscaping promises to be even more beautiful, and the water tower is showing signs of wear. In the future, water will be supplied to the lab from a brand new water tank and pump system. Still, it’s the end of an era for those who viewed the water tower as an iconic symbol of the Hydro Lab. The old water tower was constructed in 1967 and is just the most visible part of a sump-and-pump system that supplies the lab with the water pressure it needs. The head is 12 feet wide, 18 feet long and seven feet deep and, when full, holds about 11,300 gallons of water weighing about 95,000 pounds. The trees are Japanese flowering crabapples planted in 1983.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2018 43

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250 205 North Mathews Avenue Urbana, Illinois 61801

Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 75 Champaign, IL 61820