Civil and Materials
ENGINEERING
Alumni Newsletter - Spring 2018
Chicago’s Research University
IN THIS ISSUE • Professor Derrible Featured at TEDx Talk • New Faculty Join CME • Professor Reddy Wins Wesley W. Horner Award • Professor Bo Zou Researching Crowdshipping • UIC Hosts 2018 Great Lakes Student Conference • Students Show Innovation and Creativity at Expo • Student Snapshot: Minoo Kabir Wins Chanellor’s Graduate Research Award
Message from the DEPARTMENT HEAD
CME Faculty HIGHLIGHTS
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“Cities are partly shaped by the challenges we face.”
reetings from Chicago! As the department head, I am continually impressed with the research conducted by our CME faculty and the work ethics of our students. In this issue, you will meet three new faculty members joining our growing department, and watch Professor Sybil Derrible as he takes his research out of the lab and brings it to the stage for a Chicago TEDx Talk. You’ll discover why Professor Ansari received a life-time achievement award, too. (see next page). Additionally, our faculty continues to earn awards for their research. See page 4 to learn why Professor Krishna Reddy was honored with the 2018 Wesley W. Horner Award by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Professor Bo Zou is featured in the Research News section on page 5 for his research on Crowdshipping for Urban Delivery. Our student body has been very active this past year. The UIC chapter of ASCE did more than compete in the 2018 Great Lakes Student Conference. The students successfully hosted the conference in Chicago, and managed to pick up a couple of wins at the same time (see pages 6 and 7). Our seniors participated in the 29th Annual UIC Engineering Senior Design Expo, which is a requirement for graduating. The students showed incredible poise, innovation and creativity as they competed against their peers in the event, while being judged by professional engineers (see pages 8 and 9). CME graduate students continue to outdo themselves as they earn scholarships and awards for their work in the laboratory. Be sure to stay connected with CME faculty and alumni on our Linkedin group.
Dr. Sybil Derrible, associate professor said during a TEDx Talk at Walter Payton High School. Watch the full talk at Derrible TEDx.
Professor Ansari Receives Life-Time Achievement Award
Department Head and Professor Abolfazl Mohammadian
“I am incredibly proud of everything we have accomplished in our student chapter this year. I feel humbled to have been able to lead a chapter filled with so many talented and hard-working people.”
Regards,
Diana Briones, president of UIC ASCE
Abolfazl (Kouros) Mohammadian, Professor and Department Head
Connect with alumni and students on 2
Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Professor of Civil Engineering Farhad Ansari has been named a winner of the Aftab Mufti Life-Time Achievement Award by the International Society of Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII) and its Executive Committee. Ansari was named a winner for his contributions to Civil Structural Health Monitoring, and will officially receive the award at SHMII-9 in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2019. He is a pioneer in the field and his work introduced the subject of fiber optic sensors in Civil Structural Applications, and still doing it to date. Since then, many began working on the subject around the world. “Farhad’s work in the use of fiber optic sensors for structural health monitoring applications is exemplary,” said Dr. Sreeni Allampalli, the Director of Structures Evaluation Services Bureau for NYSDOT. “At the same time, his contribution to young and growing professional society ISHMII is great. He brought a systematic structure to it to make sure it stays for a foreseeable future in fulfilling its mission of promoting smart structures through technology transfer and other activities. Farhad also has been a good mentor to young researchers.” Ansari is one of only three people globally to win the award. He is joined in this honor by Dr. Yozo Fujino, of Japan, and Dr. Wolfgang Habel, of Germany. Candidates for this distinguished award were nominated by the ISHMII Council with the support of known leaders in the field. The assessments were conducted by a committee formed of previous recipients of this prestigious award, which was made up of Dr. Urs Meier, of Switzerland, Dr. Zhishen Wu, of China, Dr. Jan-Ming Ko, of Hong Kong, and chair of the Committee Dr. Aftab Mufti, of Canada. Learn more about Ansari and his research at Ansari Profile.
3 Faculty Members Join CME Three new faculty members are joining the department in Materials Engineering. Dr. Sara Kadkhodaei is joining CME as an assistant professor of materials engineering. Her research interests include: • Developing quantitative tools in computational materials science • Ab-initio thermodynamics and kinetics • Developing fundamental understanding of new bulk and nano materials • Diusion process in novel energy materials • Structure-property prediction with application to energy materials • Rational materials design Dr. Matthew Daly is joining the department as an assistant professor of materials engineering. His research interests include: • Deformation behavior of advanced materials • Mechanics of nanostructured and 2D materials • In situ characterization techniques • Atomistic modeling of deformation processes • Physical metallurgy Dr. Sean Vitousek came to CME and made headlines instantly with his research on the potential decimation of Southern California’s beaches. Now, he is being promoted from research assistant professor to a tenure track Assistant Professor in water engineering. Learn more about Vitousek at Environmental Fluid Mechanics laboratory. 3
Research NEWS Professor Zou Researching Crowdshipping for Urban Delivery By David Staudacher, UIC
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Professor Reddy Named ‘2018 Wesley W. Horner Award’ Winner By David Staudacher, UIC
“It came as a total surprise,
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which makes it very special.
rofessor Krishna Reddy, of UIC’s Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, was recently named the winner of the 2018 Wesley W. Horner Award by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The Publication Committee of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the ASCE reviews all of the materials published in their journals and selected the award quality papers, which included Reddy’s Modeling Coupled Hydromechanical Behavior of Landfilled Waste in Bioreactor Landfills: Numerical Formulation and Validation. “It came as a total surprise, which makes it very special. Peers have recognized my published research as award winning quality,” said Reddy. “I’m surprised, humbled and very happy!” The paper presents a numerical two-phase flow model as a tool to predict hydraulic behavior – moisture distribution and pore fluid pressures – in unsaturated MSW under leachate
Peers have recognized my published research as award winning quality.” recirculation, mechanical response (stress-strain behavior), and coupled hydromechanical interactions of MSW in landfills. The selected mathematical model is the Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, which assumes leachate and landfill gas as two immiscible phases. The governing equations and numerical implementation are presented along with the general model implementation considerations. The model is validated by simulating the published laboratory studies, field studies, and published modeled studies. According to Reddy, the mathematical model will provide environmental professionals the information necessary for the design and operation of effective and safe bioreactor landfills. He also plans to continue building on 4
this research with the support of an NSF grant. “We are expanding the model to consider thermal and biological processes, ultimately aimed at create thermo-hydro-bio-mechanical model that considers all major coupled processes occurring in bioreactor landfills,” said Reddy. “Such an advanced model will help predict the performance of bioreactor landfills in an accurate manner. It will help design economic and effective leachate recirculation systems for accelerated stabilization of the bioreactor landfills in a safe manner within a shortest time period. We are also promoting sustainable landfill technology involving stabilization of organic fraction in the waste and subsequently mining to recover and reuse inorganic fraction.” Reddy will officially receive the award during the 2018 EWRI World Environmental and Water Resources Congress held in Minneapolis, MN, in June. For more information about Professor Reddy’s research, visit SERL & GAGEL.
he world of online retail is in a state of tremendous growth. Purchasing behavior changes and technological advancements are shifting the way consumers and businesses use e-commerce. The surge also has resulted in an increase in truck traffic, which is having a negative impact on the urban environment. We are seeing more traffic congestion and emissions, faster wearand-tear on road infrastructure, and a shortage of truck parking space. From these changes, an alternative delivery method called “crowdshipping” has emerged. It uses individuals who walk, bike, or drive to perform delivery in urban areas, which presents considerable promise to appease the need for livable community development with the increase of freight demand. CME Assistant Professor Bo Zou, an expert in transportation and logistics systems, was recently awarded a grant to develop theoretic foundations for modeling and improving the efficiency of crowdshipping for urban delivery. “There has been explosive growth and a high demand for the delivery of packages, and the delivery speed also is increasing,” said Zou. “Ten years ago, we had three to five days standard speed for deliveries. Then it was two day delivery, and one day delivery, and now were seeing two-hour delivery times.” The use of traditional means like dispatching a truck for delivery is not feasible for a two-hour time. In two hours, a truck may not have many items loaded on it. Basically, a very empty truck would be dispatched for very few items. “That process is a lot more expensive for the delivery companies,” said Zou. “It’s also bad for the environment, for the traffic congestion, and parking, especially in urban freights. Typically, there is not enough space for truck parking so you can see trucks double parked on the
streets and blocking traffic.” “There are people who have available time and are willing to do something to earn some extra money for a particular time period, while doing something useful for others. And that is the genesis of crowdsourced delivery.” People walking and biking to deliver the packages is much more environmentally friendly. Even driving a car emits less than a truck. “It meets the increase in demand for speed, but also mitigates the potential impact of traditional truck delivery and saves cost for the delivery service providers. That is the motivation for this research,” he said. The project will tackle two parts — the microscale and the macroscale. “Microscale deals with the individuals,” said Zou. “How can a delivery service provider solicit individuals, ask them to come to the pickup location, pick up the package, and deliver it. Also, how can a provider match different people with different packages so that it cost a minimum for the route and the delivery is on time? How much should the delivery service provider pay the ordinary people for a delivery? Are you going to pay $50 an hour? That’s too high. Are you going to pay $5 an hour? Then nobody will show up. So you have to figure out the right level of payment.” At the macroscale, Zou is looking at
the behavior of the system and how it performs. “My research is mainly in Transportation Systems Analysis, and I’m interested in the system as a whole,” he said. “I want to know if we are going to have a good match between supply of crowdshipping people and the demand for delivery. What will be the delay? What will be the probability that a shipment demand will not be matched with ordinary people? How many people will we need in order to deliver them on time? Those are the questions I’d like to seek answers to.” To get these answers, Zou will use modeling. He is designing mechanisms at the microscale to look at how they could encourage both sides to match. At the macroscale, he plans to use a queuing network-based framework to characterize and improve the system performance of crowdshipping at the macroscale. “Results from the research will lead to a better understanding of the traffic, economic, and environmental impact of crowdshipping and support urban freight policy making” he said Knowledge gained from this project will also provide generic insights for other areas in the increasingly crowdsourced and on-demand society, such as ride sourcing and mobile sensing. By designing, delivering, and evaluating a pipeline of engineering education activities, this research will further enhance the awareness and understanding of freight transportation and urban delivery innovations among diverse student groups.” Zou’s research has been made possible by a National Science Foundation award for the project titled Multi-scale Modeling of Crowdshipping as a New Form of Urban Delivery. He is the sole-PI for the three-year project with the total amount of $349,339. Learn more about Zou’s research at TransLog Lab.
“There has been explosive growth and a high demand for the delivery of packages, and the delivery speed also is increasing. Ten years ago, we had three to five days standard speed for deliveries. Then it was two day delivery, and one day delivery, and now were seeing two-hour delivery times.” 5
Great Lakes STUDENT CONFERENCE
UIC Hosts Successful GLSC, Wins Two competitions By David Staudacher, UIC
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ME students showed their leadership ability as they successfully hosted the 2018 ASCE Great Lakes Student Conference (GLSC) in April. The team also won two competitions during the conference. Apart from organizing, the students ambitiously attempted to compete in all 15 competitions they organized for the annual conference. A challenge that was made more difficult with the addition of eight new events. UIC managed to capture first place in the Scavenger Hunt and second place in the Wooden Bridge Design competition. The event’s success was made possible by the hard work from the more than 40 committee members, more than 100 volunteers, 50 plus judges, and more than 500 students from 19 universities who contributed thousands of hours of hard work throughout the past year. “I am incredibly proud of everything we have accomplished in our student chapter this year,” said Diana Briones, president of UIC ASCE. “I feel humbled to have been able to lead a chapter filled with so many talented and hard-working people.” The conference encompasses schools from southern Wisconsin, northern and central Illinois, and Indiana, and it is one of the largest regions based on number of schools. Apart from UIC, the participating colleges include Bradley, IIT, Indiana State University, Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne, Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Northwestern University, Purdue University Northwest, Purdue University West Lafayette, Rose-Hulman Institute of technology, Trine University, University of Evansville, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, University of Notre Dame, University of Southern Indiana, University of Wisconsin Madison, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Valparaiso University. The ASCE Great Lakes Student Conference is an annual competition that travels to different universities each year. Students must actively participate in meetings and workshop days to be eligible to participate in the competitions and conference activities. ASCE is an engineering society devoted to advancing technologies, encouraging lifelong learning, promoting professionalism and the civil engineering profession, developing civil engineering leaders, and advocating infrastructure and environmental stewardship. More information is at http://asceglsc.org.
Apart from hosting the annual ASCE Great Lakes Student Conference, UIC students competed in the competitions and capture first place in the Scavenger Hunt and second place in the Wooden Bridge Design competition.
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UIC Engineering SENIOR DESIGN EXPO
Students Display Innovation and Creativity at Expo By David Staudacher, UIC
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ME students showed their innovation and creativity during the 29th Annual UIC Engineering Senior Design Expo on Friday, April 27, at the UIC Forum. The students were among more than 528 seniors from the College of Engineering (COE) presenting within 27 project categories. They produced eight Best in Category winners in the five categories in which they participated. The team of Brian Han, Luis Felipe Orozco, Colin Matthew Ringel, and Benjamin L. Sommers were named the third runner up for the Innovation Prize from the UIC Office of Technology Management for their project Removal of Microplastic from Wastewater Effluent. The team’s research estimated that more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic exist in the world’s oceans. A primary source of microplastic pollution in the bay is from eight wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) that discharge effluent polluted with microplastics. Passive cleanup on a massive scale such as the large v-shaped array floating barrier is being implemented to mitigate larger particles from migrating further into the Pacific Ocean’s marine environment. Due to the abundance of microplastics characterized by study results, an active design to impede further infiltration of microplastics into the bay by filtering said particles at the source (WWTP) will be employed. By flocculating microplastics in WWTP’s and then utilizing a rapid sand filter; the design of a tertiary treatment system to target microplastics in WWTP’s will inhibit further microplastics from entering the bay; forestalling the problem at its source Best in Category Winners In the Building Services
The team of Brian Han, Luis Felipe Orozco, Colin Matthew Ringel, and Benjamin L. Sommers were named the third runner up for the Innovation Prize from the UIC Office of Technology Management for their project Removal of Microplastic from Wastewater Effluent. Photos by David Staudacher, UIC.
category, the winning team was Omar Ahmad Aboalnadie, Andrew K. Boysen, Ivan Moises Romero-Martinez, Maryam F. Yaso, and Yujia Zhang for their Shipping Container Structure project. The City of Chicago lacks adequate affordable housing, an issue highlighted by the considerable inventory of vacant lots in Chicago’s “Large Lots Program.” This can be addressed through repurposing shipping containers as residential structures. The use of shipping containers can reduce both construction time and total cost, making it an ideal building material to apply to the affordable housing demand in Chicago. In this project, the team will create multiple mix design in order to achieve an Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC). The main advantage of UHPC is that it has seven times higher compressive strength comparting to conventional concrete. Also, UHPC does not develop critical cracks, which makes it suitable for applications 8
such as nuclear power plants, slab connections in bridge joints, rehabilitation purposes, etc. The main goal of this project is to achieve a mix design that could be workable while maintaining a very high strength. The co-winners were Adrian Brudz, Erik Steven Gutman, and Cade John Sundstedt for the project The Efficacy of Cement-Stabilized Full Depth Reclamation in Illinois. Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) is an alternative to the traditional road construction method. It is the process of pulverizing an existing road, adding a stabilizing agent such as concrete or bituminous materials, then placing and compacting the mix of recycled roadway and stabilizer to form a new road base. This technique has proven to be superior to typical reconstruction in many case studies. FDR was found to be 14.2% cheaper and emitted significantly less carbon than the traditional model.
In the Structural Engineering category, Mahmoud M Ahmad, Abdullah Jabri, and Mateusz Truchan won for their Belmont Harbor Pedestrian Bridge design. The location of Belmont Harbor on Lake Shore Drive and Belmont is an intriguing attraction because of the popular Lakefront trail. The pedestrian bridge would primarily be an addition to the ongoing Lakefront Trail Separation project, creating an alternate route for pedestrians to enjoy the scenery as they travel without feeling unsettled about oncoming cyclists. A pedestrian bridge would provide a large reduction in travel time. A main design consideration is the clearance height for boats/yachts to access the Harbor. Designing a pedestrian bridge across Belmont Harbor is beneficial to the general public as a safer and quicker alternative route on the Lakefront trail that will provide Chicago with new aesthetic value. In the transportation Engineering category, two teams were named winners. The team of Guangyi Li, Alfredo Rodriguez, Oscar Rodriguez, Erik Sanchez, and Feifan Yu were winners for the Edgewater Complete Streets Design. Complete Streets is a design philosophy that aims to safely and efficiently provide transportation access, integration, and support for users of all modes and is a promising solution for addressing the issues and demands of a complex and multimodal urban transportation system. Additionally, Complete Streets projects can produce other stakeholder benefits such as encouraging more users to choose more active forms of transport, this can also lead to economic benefits in the project area. The main objectives of this project are to create an integrated street transportation system in the Chicago metropolitan area which will increase accessibility and support all types of users and modes of transportation, protect the most vulnerable users such as pedestrians and cyclists, and incorporate sustainable best management practices. The team of Diego G. Cortez, Qiming Fang, Luis E Mejia, Raashida Muhammad, and Piotr Pezdek won for their Traffic Analysis and Design for I-355 and Bruce Road. The need for reliable roads and highways providing additional access for the growing communities along the southerly portion of I-355, is required. When researching the free flow travel time (FFTT) of vehicles on I-355, it was determined that the amount of vehicles is increasing each year. Three alternative ramp designs were created for the interchange. The proposed ramps will bring additional access and will improve the mobility, reliability and travel times to better adapt to an increasing number of vehicles and goods provided by the growing communities. In the Water Resources Engineering category, two teams were awarded. The group of Margaret Grace Allen, Laurel K. Haynes, and Jessica M. Taskila won for
In the Materials Engineering category, students Fathi Mazen Al Share, Sasha Arbuzava, Bogdan Dykyy, and Moody Adel Gad Metry won for their project Qualitative Analysis of Ultra-High Performance Concrete. They were one of two teams to win in this category.
Assessment and Design of Sidestream Treatment for Chicago Area Waterways. Collateral Channel in Little Village was selected as the project site due to high contaminant concentrations and consistently low dissolved oxygen within the Channel. Building on encouraging results of in-situ and sidestream treatments of polluted rivers, various treatment practices were evaluated and incorporated into the design. Aeration was selected due to its relatively low costs and numerous demonstrated benefits, including improved dissolved oxygen concentrations, oxidation of certain metals and volatile organic compounds, and removal of dissolved gases. The design includes plans for a public park and gathering space to provide meaningful improvements to the quality of life of local residents and wildlife. The team of Carlos E. Cerezo-Rojas, Anabelle Lotao Huff, Nadin S. Jazrawi, Fabian Rangel, and Jianfei Tian also won for their project titled Sustainable Potable Water Production at a Household or Local Community Level in Developing or Underdeveloped Countries. The main purpose of this project is to provide water to underdeveloped countries that are experiencing natural disasters and water crisis. Boiling and condensation, on a very small scale, can be made into an easy and affordable way to produce potable water from different sources such as muddy water and rivers. With the research that has been conducted, the process produces drinkable water using the assembled boiling and condensation system. The evaluation will include measuring the efficiency and ability to sustain energy during the purification process. The system is designed for continuous water purification, providing clean potable water. The system is self-sustainable and could be utilized to fill many containers with potable water each day. This project will improve the quality of life, provide freshwater, and minimize health issues resulting from bad quality water. 9
Student NEWS
Student Wins IL-ITE Graduate Student Scholarship By David Staudacher, UIC
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One-of-a-Kind Student Awarded One-of-a-Kind Scholarship By David Staudacher, UIC
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nly one student is awarded the 2018 SEI Graduate Student Scholarship from the American Society of Engineers Structural Engineering Institute - Illinois Section. And that student is UIC’s Emad Norouzzadeh Tochaei, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering. Tochaei, received the award from the national president of ASCE during the President-Elect/ Student Scholarship Dinner on April 12 at Maggiano’s in Chicago. “I am sincerely honored to have been selected as the recipient of this prestigious award. This great achievement motivates me to work hard and maximize my potential to reach my goals,” said Tochaei. “I have been lucky to have UIC Distinguished Professor Farhad Ansari as my supervisor in my doctoral research. He is an example of excellence as a researcher, mentor, instructor, and role model.” The scholarship is presented annually to inspire and encourage structural students whose academic and research performance display a prominent level of excellence and merit. The
candidates are evaluated based on academic performance, work experience, involvement in community, extracurricular activities, education plans and career goals. The scholarship is provided to one undergraduate and one graduate student in the amount of $1,000 each. Tochaei works under the direction of Farhad Ansari, Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Professor of Civil Engineering, UIC Distinguished Professor and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, in the Structural Dynamics and Monitoring Laboratory. Tochaei’s research is focused on seismic behavior of cable-stayed bridges considering soil-structure interaction. He also is involved in several projects in order to develop structural health monitoring systems for bridges. “Emad hit the ground running from the moment he arrived to my laboratory back in September 2016,” said Ansari. “In his first semester, Emad served as a teaching assistant for the course, entitled as, Earthquake Resistant Design for Structural Steel 10
Systems, which is an advanced graduate level course in our department. He also was able to resolve many of the machine/software interface issues we had faced in the previous experiments.” “Emad’s background commensurate with my current work, which involves structural health monitoring and seismic performance of structures,” he added. “He is working on evaluation of the performance of cable-stayed bridges considering soil-structure interaction. For this, he developed a comprehensive numerical and experimental model of a scaled cable-stayed bridge. The results of his research will help structural engineers to understand the performance of different structures and infrastructures better.” Tochaei has five publications at highly prestigious journals and international conferences. Additionally, he mentors several visiting scholars and helps them with research projects. Learn more about the research in the Structural Health Monitoring lab at http://cme.uic.edu/ structural-health-monitoring.
amin Shabanpour, a Ph.D. candidate in CME, won the IL-ITE Graduate Student Scholarship from the Institute of Transportation Engineers Illinois Section. Shabanpour, who serves as UIC’s ITE chapter vice president, received the award during the ITE Illinois Section Annual Banquet on Jan. 19 at The Berghoff in Chicago. “I feel extremely honored for receiving this award, which is an important impetus for me to continue my research with more efforts,” said Shabanpour. “I also feel proud that this is the second year in a row that UIC Transportation students are winning this scholarship. We started our ITE-UIC chapter last year, and, since then, our students have brought home many regional and statewide awards in transportation. I feel proud to be part of this striving team. I also appreciate Professor and CME Department Head Kouros Mohammadian’s dedication in supervising me in my doctoral research.”
“I feel extremely honored for receiving this award, which is an important impetus for me to continue my research
Ramin Shabanpour, a Ph.D. candidate in CME, won the IL-ITE Graduate Student Scholarship from the Institute of Transportation Engineers Illinois Section. Shabanpour, who serves as UIC’s ITE chapter vice president received the award during the ITE Illinois Section Annual Banquet at The Berghoff in Chicago. Photo courtesy of Ramin Shabanpour
with more efforts.” Shabanpour is working under the direction of Mohammadian. His research is focused on the analysis of adoption behavior of smart mobility technologies with an emphasis on emerging autonomous vehicles, and their potential implications for people’s travel behavior. He is a prolific student, which is evident by the number of awards and scholarships he has earned. Throughout the past two years, he received several awards and scholarships including the full-tuition scholarship for attending the discrete choice analysis summer course at MIT, Institute for Environmental Science and Policy’s Doctoral Fellowship, Illinois ASCE Transportation & Development Institute Scholarship, Christopher and Susan Burke Civil Engineering Scholarship, David Boyce Graduate Scholarship, George Krambles Transportation Award, Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association scholarship, and the UIC Chancellor’s Student Service and Leadership Award. The IL-ITE scholarship is presented annually to honor and encourage transportation students whose academic achievements and research display a high level of excellence and distinction. The scholarship is provided to one undergraduate and one graduate student in the amount of $2,000 each. The candidates are evaluated on the basis of academic performance, education plans, career goals, activities, and record of
leadership. Last year, UIC students made their debut by beating out students from universities throughout Illinois to capture three scholarships. Nabin Kafle took home the Graduate Scholarship Award, Nima Golshani received the Best Student Paper Award and Yousef Dana nabbed the Undergraduate Scholarship Award. “I think our chapter is doing great, and hope next year we again take all the scholarships,” said Shabanpour. UIC students, and faculty advisor Professor Bo Zou, relaunched the ITE-UIC chapter to make a longterm contribution to the transportation profession. Its main goal is to inform undergraduate students about transportation engineering profession and to encourage them to take an active role in promoting the ideals of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and serving to the community. The students organize several seminars and workshops, and invite industry representatives to share their work experiences and potential job opportunities. Learn more about ITE-UIC chapter, scholarships in the field of transportation, and events at http://ite. org.uic.edu. 11
Minoo Kabir is one of 27 students throughout the university to be awarded the Chancellor’s Graduate Research Award for her work entitled “Enhancing crack detection ability in large infrastructures by integration of acoustic metamaterials and MEMS sensors.” Photo by David Staudacher, UIC
CME STUDENT SNAPSHOT
Grad Student Wins Chancellor’s Graduate Research Award By David Staudacher, UIC
and inspires them with cutting-edge research. She is co-author with a female undergraduate assistant in a conference paper. Kabir’s research is related to combining Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors with metamaterials in order to develop Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for large-scale structures as part of Ozevin’s NSF Early Career Development Award. Her research objective is to integrate real time damage monitoring strategies into the earliest stages of the design of civil infrastructure for resilient structural behavior. The integration will be achieved by introducing spatially periodic subsystems into structural elements, which will then behave as acoustic metamaterials as they are tailored to be able to block, redirect, and strengthen propagating elastic waves in the deployed. Such design allows the elastic waves emitted from any structural damage to be more easily focused and captured, long before the damage becomes critical, which allows uninterrupted service and safety in critical civil structures. Considering the current status of infrastructures in U.S., her research has high impact to the society. “I am truly honored and humbled to receive the Chancellor’s Graduate Research Award,” said Kabir. “This award will make a great contribution to my career as a Ph.D. candidate and researcher. This award will not only help me to successfully complete my Ph.D. research, but also will create the foundation to getting close to my ultimate career goals. I would like to thank the Graduate College for providing this opportunity for graduate students to practice writing research proposals.”
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inoo Kabir is one of 27 students throughout the university to be awarded the Chancellor’s Graduate Research Award for her work entitled “Enhancing crack detection ability in large infrastructures by integration of acoustic metamaterials and MEMS sensors.” “I’m absolutely thrilled that I received this prestigious award. It’s a great achievement that motivates me to continue my research with more efforts, and I’m so passionate about performing this project,” said Kabir. “I have been so lucky to have such a wonderful advisor, Dr. Didem Ozevin, who supported and encouraged me through my research.” Kabir works under the direction of Associate Professor Didem Ozevin, of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, in the Non-Destructive Structures laboratory. “Minoo joined my research laboratory in Spring 2014, and showed an impressive performance since then,” said Ozevin. “She wants to pursue an academic career. She definitely has tremendous capabilities as self-disciplined, organized and collegial student, and she can conduct independent research.” Kabir already published three manuscripts at highly prestigious journals: Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering and Applied Physics Letters. Two new journal manuscripts are in preparation. She published numerous conference papers, and won the first place at highly competitive UIC Research Forum poster competition in Life Sciences/Engineering category in 2016. Additionally, she mentors several female undergraduate research assistants, 12