CME Alumni Newsletter - Fall 2016

Civil and Materials

ENGINEERING

Alumni Newsletter - Fall 2016

Chicago’s Research University

Supporting Students with Scholarships

IN THIS ISSUE • • • • •

Guest Speakers Visit CME Faculty Highlights Student News Students Start New ITE Chapter Student Spotlight: Josh Deans

Message from the INTERIM DEPARTMENT HEAD

Faculty and Students Finding Success at UIC

W

elcome to the fall 2016 CME Newsletter. I hope you enjoy the stories on our faculty and student successes since our spring issue.

I would like to let you know of some new developments in the department. First, Professor Farhad Ansari was named the Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Professorship endowed professor of Civil and Materials Engineering.

This is the first named professorship in the history of CME, supported by a generous donation to the department from Christopher Burke. We will have a detailed story on this following the investiture ceremony in the spring 2017 newsletter.

Second, we are close to hearing whether our new proposed High Bay Structural Laboratory building will be approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. This proposed new lab facility will house a state-of-the-art tornado simulator to test the behavior of structures under the extreme conditions of a tornado.

In addition to the tornado facility, the lab will include a flume for fluid-structure interactions, a strong floor and sheer wall. Keep tuned for developments in the spring newsletter.

In addition to these new developments, we have several stories on the activities of CME faculty and students over the last six months. Our faculty continue to be highly successful in obtaining new research grants, serving as PI or Co-PI on new grants totaling $5.7 million. Additional stories detail some of these projects

by Professor Karpov and Ozevin. We also read in this issue about a connection to the past, with former UIC Structural Professor Surendra Shah, NAE coming back to CME to give the 2016 Paul Chung Distinguished Lecture. It was great to hear from Professor Shah, particularly his account of the role UIC faculty and students played in the earliest history of the ASCE concrete canoe event.

In looking back over the last 2+, it has been exciting to see all the great success of our faculty and students. To highlight the latter, we have several stories on our student successes, including a story on our most recent (and largest ever) scholarship awards dinner, as well as a story on the formation of a new ITE chapter.

COE Dean Peter Nelson (from left), Ken Nelson and CME Interim Department Head and Professor Karl Rockne at the CEPAC Scholarship reception and Awards Dinner. Photo by David Staudacher, UIC

CME BY THE NUMBERS $5.7 Million

The amount of funding the faculty have been awarded for ressearch in the past year.

29

The number CME has improved in the U.S. News & World Report rankings since 2014.

2

The number of NSF CAREER Awards received by faculty in 2016.

1

Regards,

Newly named professorship in the department.

Karl Rockne, Professor and Interim Department Head

Click

and connect with alumni, students 2

Guest Speakers, FRIDAY SEMINARS NSF Director Visits CME

By David Staudacher

Engineering students have many opportunities throughout the year to learn from guest speakers. But in early September, it was the CME faculty members who benefited from a special guest speaker.

Deborah J. Goodings, Division Director for the National Science Foundation’s Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation, met with the faculty to discuss winning strategies for submitting grant applications.

“If you want to do important work, you must work on important problems,” said Goodings.

She also reminded the faculty to keep important dates and deadlines in mind when submitting proposals.

“The faculty are having a great year as they have been awarded multiple grants, which includes two NSF CAREER awards,” said Interim Department Head Karl Rockne. “The information Dr. Goodings shared with our faculty is invaluable. Her knowledge will be helpful to our continued success as the department grows.”

Friday Seminars Connecting Professionals and Students

By David Staudacher

The Department of Civil and Materials Engineering department seminar series runs during the fall and spring semesters. The series is offered as a one-credit class, CME 493, but each individual seminar is free and open to the public.

The seminars cover a range of topics in civil and materials engineering, with speakers from academia, industry, consulting, and government.

Recently, the department was honored to host Dr. Surendra P. Shah, of Northwestern University, who presented “Nanotechnology, High Performance Concrete and Sustainability” as part of the Paul M. Chung Distinguished lecture series.

Shah, a former UIC faculty member, discussed how “super tall buildings such as the one kilometer high Kingdom Tower are constructed with concrete as a structural material. Such tall buildings are made with so-called high performance concrete, which can have strength five times that of conventional concrete.”

The seminar abstracts are posted on the department website at http://cme.uic.edu/seminars on the week of the seminar. Upcoming and past presenters can be found on the site, too.

Unless otherwise noted, all seminars are hosted in room 1047 of UIC’s Engineering Research Facility, 842 W. Taylor St., Chicago, from 11 am to noon on Fridays.

Anyone interested in presenting a seminar for the series should contact Associate Professor Craig Foster at fosterc@uic.edu.

3

CME Faculty HIGHLIGHTS Professor Karpov Researching Man-Made Materials with NSF Grant Associate Professor Eduard Karpov has been awarded a new $243,185 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) entitled: “Structural Metamaterials with Saint-Venant Edge Effect Reversal for Static Load Pattern Modification and Recognition.” He is the sole principle investigator of the three-year grant that started on Sept.

15, 2016.

The grant supports fundamental research leading to a new class of mechanical metamaterials that, unlike the traditional materials, respond stronger to finer spatial fluctuations in static surface loads than to smooth loads.

Metamaterials refers to an exciting

class of man-made material systems with engineered internal structure. Specially designed interactions among individual elements of the internal structure lead to a reversal of certain Eduard Karpov basic properties of natural materials.

These new properties unveil practical opportunities that can be highly beneficial to the society. For example, photonic metamaterials may be used to fabricate ultrathin lenses for medical applications, and acoustic

metamaterials can provide highly efficient sound insulation and earthquake hazard mitigation systems.

The mechanical metamaterials will potentially enable position identification of unsafe loading conditions in structures and building foundations, as well as autonomous modification and blockage of spurious load concentrations without human intervention.

The paradigm breaking aspects of this work is geared toward inspiring undergraduate students and underrepresented groups to participate in the proposed research activities.

Learn more about Professor Karpov’s research at Karpov Profile.

Professor Ozevin Awarded Department of Defense Grant

Professor Vitousek Researching the Impact of Climate Change

Assistant Professor Didem Ozevin and a team of faculty members from three departments in the College of Engineering received a new $304,997 grant from the Department of Defense entitled “C-Mode Scanning Acoustic Microscope for Understanding Fundamentals of Failure in Military Relevant Materials.”

Principal Investigator Ozevin is joined by co-PI CME and UIC Distinguished Professor Didem Ozevin Emeritus Alexander Chudnovsky. Senior partners from CME are Assistant Professor Sheng Wei Chi, Associate Professor Eduard Karpov, and Interim Department Head Karl Rockne.

Contributing faculty members from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering are Assistant Professor Sushant Anand, Professor David He, Associate Professor Reza Shahbazian-Yassar, UIC Distinguished Professor Alexander Yarin and Assistant Professor Jie Xu. Assistant Professor Igor Paprotny from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering rounds out the team.

The objective of the proposal is to understand the performance of new materials and manufacturing processes, and predicting the remaining life of existing structures compromised by service-load induced defects - like fatigue cracks. Using novel sensing methods is crucial for the safety of existing and future structural systems utilized by the DoD. The research and education fields at UIC relevant to the DoD priorities include fatigue and fracture, nondestructive evaluation, new sensors and materials design.

Learn more about Professor Ozevin and her research at Ozevin Profile.

Professor Sean Vitousek joined the department of Civil and Materials Engineering in the spring and he is already making waves.

The assistant research professor recently received a $300,000 grant entitled “Coastal Impacts Associated with Climate Change” from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for his pioneering research on the impacts of climate change and sea-level rise Sean Vitousek (SLR) on coastal zones. He is the sole principal investigator for the award.

“Climate change and sea-level rise are already impacting communities along highly vulnerable coastlines,” said Vitousek. “Along Arctic coastlines, accelerated shoreline erosion and habitat loss are resulting from thawing permafrost and extended periods of sea-ice free conditions causing greater susceptibility to storm surge and wave energy. Government agencies and land-use planners are considering plans to relocate Native Alaskan villages and critical airstrips further inland away from eroding coasts.”

Increased SLR rates (up to 1 cm/year) are already impacting coastal infrastructure, freshwater resources, and terrestrial and marine ecosystems in many low-lying island nations, notably the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI).

“Coastal flooding from storms and predicted sea-level rise threaten continued human habitation on many (USAPI) islands in the Pacific, likely making the residents of these low-lying islands the world’s first climate-change refugees,” said Vitousek.

Learn more about the professor’s research at Vitousek Profile.

4

Professor Reddy Chairs Geo-Chicago Conference

By David Staudacher

In mid-August, approximately 600 engineers, scientists, academicians and students from 32 countries gathered in Chicago for the ASCE specialty conference Geo-Chicago 2016: Sustainability, Energy, and the Geoenvironment.

The conference, which was chaired by CME Professor Krishna Reddy, provided a unique forum to explore recent advancements, new directions, and opportunities for sustainable and resilient approaches to design and protect infrastructure and the environment. The conference featured the presentation of technical papers, panel discussions, short courses, workshops, keynote lectures, posters, mini-symposiums honoring geo-legends, exhibits, a technical tour, and much more.

“The conference was a great success,” said Reddy. “It gave attendees the opportunity to learn new and emerging technical challenges of sustainability, geo-energy, and the geoenvironment. Moreover, it gave the unique opportunity for the attendees to make new friends as well as explore the dynamic city of Chicago. It was so nice to see so many participants from around the world interacting with each other to the advancement of geoenvironmental engineering.”

The conference featured two exclusive workshops – the US-Japan and US-India Bilateral workshops. The US-Japan workshop focused on Geoenvironmental Engineering, and the US-India Bilateral workshop was on establishing linkages between geoenvironmental practices and sustainability. Several academicians, practitioners and professionals gathered to discuss the similarities and differences in the state-of-the-art and identify potential areas of

collaboration for constructive research benefiting both the countries.

The action plan and follow up includes, preparing stateof-the-art papers that give an over-view of the current situation in both the countries on the topics identified and the need for collaborative research on the same.

Learn more about the conference at http://www.geoenvironmentconference.org.

5

CEPAC Scholarship RECEPTION AND AWARDS DINNER

Donors, Students Meet at Annual Reception

P

art of UIC’s mission is to continue to provide access to excellence and success for our students.

Through the generosity of donors and partners, CME was able to hold true to its mission as it awarded more than 40 scholarships to students 0n Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, during the Civil Engineering Professional Advisory Council’s (CEPAC) annual Scholarship Reception and Awards Dinner.

These scholarships reduce the financial stress, which gives students more time to study, pursue internships and participate in one of the many student organizations.

For some students, the financial assistance is a pathway to their academic and professional success.

During the event, students received their certificate, and, in many cases, they were able to meet the donor of their

scholarship or a corporate representative.

The unique event provides an additional opportunity for students and industry professionals to networked during dinner and after the scholarships were awarded.

CEPAC was established at UIC in 2000, and consists of civil engineering faculty members and professional practitioners. The purpose of CEPAC is to enhance undergraduate education through close interactions with the professional civil engineering community. The members are leaders from the environmental, geotechnical, structures, transportation and water resources fields. They are representatives of private companies and governmental agencies throughout the Chicago region. More CEPAC information and event pictures are at www.cme.uic.edu.

2016 Scholarship Donors and Recipients Access Illinois John Burnett Scholarship Mateusz Truchan

Kasi Foundation Scholarship Youssef Chimon, Laurel K. Haynes, Patricia V. Zareba

Access Illinois Glenn & Linda Neland Scholarship Ephraim Dissen, Christian J. Fouche, Muhamad Lababidi

Knowles Inc. Scholarship for Women Anya Robertson

Alfred Benesch Scholarship Hector Barajas

Professor Dusan Krajcinovic Scholarship Youssef Chimon

Because of Them, I Can Scholarship Raashida Muhammad

Olive Chacey and Alfred L. Kuehn Scholarship Larry M. Abril, Adam M. Dasoqi, Sean Doumas, Ephrien L. Lockett

David E. Boyce Graduate Scholarship Nima Golshani, Nabin Kafle, Amirhassan Kermanshah, Fatemeh Nazari

Wilfred F. & Ruth Davison Langelier Scholarship Brendon Kline De Rosario, Jessica M. Taskila

Professor Robert H. Bryant Scholarship Adam M. Dasoqi

Kenneth E. Nelson Scholarship Sean Doumas

Rosemary Burke Scholarship Jessica A. Kobylak, Tanja Rakovic

Samartano & Company/Henry Marek Scholarship Garrett J. Golden

E.E. Carter Opportunity Scholarship Diana L. Briones

Sargent and Lundy Scholarship Michael C. Ekwueme, Sinan Elias, Griffin W. Fuller, Henry A. Kellam, Nicholas Lordis, Herbert M. Nuwagaba, Gurpreet S. Sethi, Nikolay N. Stepin, Jessica M. Taskila

CEPAC Scholarship Margaret G. Allen, Jessica M. Taskila

Thomas and Romana Ting Scholarship Jordan R. Kilhoffer

Clark Dietz Scholarship Hector Barajas

Turner Construction Scholarship Margaret G. Allen

Professor Edward H. Coe Scholarship Jordan R. Kilhoffer

T.Y. Lin International Scholarship Marvin C. Ambrocio

Colonel William J. Hawes Scholarship Andrew J. Nitch

William D. Unger Scholarship Lu De Ni

Nancy Anderson Holmes Scholarship Jacqueline E. Montero Illinois Road & Transportation Builders Assoc.

(IRTBA) Scholarship Garrett J. Golden, Peniza Thapa 6

7

Student NEWS

Graduate Student Wins Thesis Competition at The Railway Academic Conference

By David Staudacher, UIC

S

ummer is a time for many students to take a break from their studies. For Ahmed El-Ghandour, it was time to excel.

El-Ghandour, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the Three-Minute Thesis Competition during The Railway Academic Conference (TRAC) in Urbana, Ill., on July 13. The competition, among graduate students participating in the NURail consortium, allowed students three minutes and a single PowerPoint slide to present their dissertation research.

El-Ghandour’s research, under the direction of CME Associate Professor Craig Foster, focuses on forces and settlement in rail ballast and the substructure of the rail track system.

“I am not surprised that he won,” said Foster. “He put a lot of effort into preparing his presentation, as he does in his research.”

The NURail consortium is a group of partners from seven universities focusing on rail education and research, and is a USDOT OST-R University Transportation Center.

The conference is geared toward building synergy between the AREMA Railway Engineering Education Symposium event and NURail Center education and workforce development initiatives. Building on similar goals and objectives, TRAC informs educators, industry professionals, and students about developments in railroad engineering education and research, workforce development and

outreach programs. The sharing of education materials is designed to introduce students to railway infrastructure, operations, engineering, and design concepts.

Scholarship Sends Sophomore to London for the Fall

J

igar Gohel, a sophomore in Civil and Mechanical Engineering, is studying in London this fall. The Lakemoor, Ill., resident is one of four UIC students awarded a U.S. State Department Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship to study abroad.

Gohel and his peers are among more than 850 American undergraduate students from more than 320 colleges and universities across the United States selected for the honor.

The UIC recipients represent the colleges of engineering, education, and liberal arts and sciences.

Sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Gilman International Scholarship Program aims to diversify the 8

group of students who study abroad and their destinations. To be eligible for the award, students must demonstrate financial need by receiving a federal Pell Grant for their studies.

Each scholar receives up to $5,000 to apply toward their study abroad program costs. Since 2006, UIC students have won more than 145 Gilman scholarships totaling approximately $585,000.

The Gilman program is funded through the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000 and is administered by the Institute of International Education’s Southern Regional Center in Houston. The program honors former U.S. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman of New York, who was chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

Grad Student Nabs Top Spot at Research Forum

By David Staudacher, UIC

T

he competition at UIC’s 2016 Student Research Forum was fierce as nearly 300 students from all disciplines contend for the judges’ attention. At the end of the day, it was CME’s Minoo Kabir who stood out among the hundreds of competitors and attendees to walk away a winner.

Kabir, a Ph.D. student working under the direction of Professor Didem Ozevin in the Non-Destructive Structures laboratory, captured first place in the field of “Business/ Computer Science/Mathematics + Engineering/Physical Sciences” among graduate students during the event at the UIC Forum on April 12, 2016.

Kabir won for her poster entitled “Integration of Acoustic Metamaterial and Highly Narrowband MEMS Sensor to Enhance Crack Detection Ability in Large Infrastructures.”

The main purpose of the research is developing a reliable and cost

“The judges were very interested in this research and found it very beneficial for designing future structures.”

Minoo Kabir, Ph.D. student

effective structural health monitoring method for detecting sub-millimeter crack growth, long before the damage becomes critical. The monitoring of large-scale structures is imperative to ensure the structural integrity and identify the presence of flaws with the purpose of preventing catastrophic events in structures, such as bridges, pipeline or aircrafts.

“I was very excited when I heard I took the first place in this competition especially because my parents 9

were here at the time of competition,” said Kabir. “It is a highly competitive poster competition as there are students and judges from different fields of science. The judges were very interested in this research and found it very beneficial for designing future structures. I feel extremely honored and appreciative for receiving the award from Dr. Michael Amiridis, the chancellor of the university.”

The forum is an annual event that provides a venue for UIC students to present their scholarly efforts and is an affair that celebrates the wealth of research across all disciplines carried out by the dedicated students of this campus. Students present their work one-on-one to attendees and judges during a high-energy three-hour session, followed by an awards ceremony.

Learn more about Kabir’s work under the direction of Professor Ozevin at Non-Destructive Structures.

Institute of TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERS

New Student Group Set to Take on Transportation Issues

By David Staudacher, UIC

C

ME has a new student organization up and running! A packed house attended the first general body meeting of the UIC chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) in October.

“The objective of the ITE UIC student chapter is to bring together students related to transportation engineering at CME and beyond,” said Nabin Kafle, president of ITE UIC. “We want to make students more interested in the Transportation Engineering program by conducting regular talks, seminars, and employment opportunities, while connected them to ITE district and scholarship opportunities.”

The student chapter also offers free membership to ITE UIC chapter, career guidance, networking events, field trips, conferences, and much more.

“The transportation and logistics sector is facing huge challenges and opportunities at the same time,” said faculty advisor Bo Zou, who directs CME’s Transportation and Logistics (TransLog) Research Lab. “There are growing demands, growing environmental concerns, and threats from natural and man-made hazards that need to be addressed, together with rapid technological advances that are transforming how we move ourselves and goods.”

ITE is an international educational and scientific association of transportation professionals who are responsible for meeting mobility and safety needs. It facilitates the application of technology and scientific principles to research, planning, functional design, implementation, operation, policy development and management for any mode of ground transportation.

ITE promotes professional development of its members, supports and encourages education, stimulates research, develops public awareness programs and serves as a conduit for the exchange of professional information.

Learn more about ITE UIC at https://ite.group.uic.edu.

CME Interim Department Head Karl Rockne (center) meets with ITE UIC President Nabin Kafle (left) and ITE Vice President Hossein Noruzoliaee before the first general body meeting.

Above, CME Professor Bo Zou presents prizes to engineering students during the meeting.

At left, ITE-UIC members pack the meeting room for the student organization’s first general body meeting.

Photos by David Staudacher, UIC

10

CME STUDENT SNAPSHOT

Joshua Deans has Big Dreams as an Engineer

By David Staudacher, UIC

U

IC provides a variety of opportunities for its students to succeed, and Joshua Deans knows it. The CME junior is an Honors College fellow, he completed a summer internship, he participates in several student organizations, and he is working in one of the department’s laboratories.

While he was in high school and researching colleges to attend, Deans learned about two scholarships offered by UIC’s Honors College. He applied for them and received the top award.

“I received the President’s Award Program Honor Scholarship, which is a four-year scholarship.” said Deans, of Matteson, Ill. “My full tuition and boarding is paid, and all I have to cover is the fees.”

A stipulation in the scholarship requires the student to be involved with campus activities. As an outgoing student, this isn’t an issue for Deans. He is part of an organization that promotes athletics to students, and a ski and snowboard organization, which hosts a trip to Colorado every year.

While Deans likes catching some air while skating across campus and shredding down a mountain, he gets more stimulation when he’s using his mind with the physical challenges offered by the engineering organizations.

“I’m part of ASCE, where I was on a mystery design team at the [Great Lakes Student] Competition,” he said. “During the year, I helped with some of the welding for the bridge used at the competition. This year, I plan to play a bigger part and commit more time to the team.”

Apart from the student organizations, Deans is gaining a mountain of knowledge through opportunities offered to engineering students. After his freshmen year, his high grades helped him qualify for an internship with Rosemont-based Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. “My main role was to be a daily scribe of all the materials that were being put in the ground and used,” said Deans. “I worked onsite, and we did storm water projects, water main projects, and road pavement. I learned a lot at the internship. Things we are not taught in class. It was a really good experience to let me know what civil engineers do with municipal work.”

This school year, Deans has seized the chance to work under the direction of Professor Sybil Derrible in the “Complex and Sustainable Urban Networks (CSUN) Laboratory.”

“I was looking for two super talented undergrads to work on my NSF CAREER award, and Josh was one of them,” said Derrible.

“The goal of our research is to create a smartphone app that monitors your daily carbon footprint. My role is to do a full inventory and comparison of all of the carbon calculators online,” said Deans While Deans is having a busy semester, he also has his sights set on the future.

“I plan to go to graduate school to get a masters in structural engineering,” he said. “My goal/dream is to build a skyscraper in Chicago.”

More student, faculty and news can be found at http://cme.uic.edu.

11