Above Ground The UIC Civil and Materials Engineering Alumni Newsletter Issue #1 Volume #1 Fall 2014
IN THIS ISSUE Welcome from the Interim Head Message from the Outgoing Head: Looking Back; Moving Forward Your feedback required: Faculty Drive CME Mission and Curriculum Changes Around CME: New Faculty: Benjamin O’Connor New Faculty Grants Awards: Faculty and Student Awards Guaranteed Internship Program Featured stories: Cultivating Best Practices and Bright Minds at CME: Chris Burke From Back of the Class to Top of Her Game: Nedda Djavid, CME 2014 Advancing Nuclear Technology and Safety: Ernesto Indacochea
MESSAGE FROM THE INTERIM HEAD Welcome to the fall 2014 Civil and Materials Engineering departmental newsletter! There have been a lot of changes in CME recently that you will learn about in this newsletter. First, Professor Farhad Ansari has stepped down after 15 years as Department Head. Professor Ansari has presided over the hiring of two-thirds of our departmental faculty since he took the helm. I encourage you to read his retrospective column in this issue to learn about all the changes and experiences during his tenure. As one of Dr. Ansari’s first hires as Department Head, I have some big shoes to fill as I step in to the Interim Department Head position this fall.
Next, we throw the spotlight on how our new faculty members are spearheading changes to the Bachelor of Science curriculum and our Departmental mission. This is also an opportunity for you to provide your feedback on the changes. You will also meet Ben O’Connor, our newest faculty member, joining us from Argonne National Laboratory, who specializes in the realm of environmental fluid dynamics and natural and engineered systems.
Karl J. Rockne, Ph.D. CME Interim Department Head
We then highlight new faculty grants for cutting-edge research, with selected new grants totaling nearly $1 million by Professors Eduard Karpov, Jane Lin, Bo Zou, and Ernesto Indacochea. Our next two stories highlight two key members of the Spring 2014 College of Engineering Commencement. First, our very own Professor of Practice and Chicago-native Christopher Burke gave the keynote address at commencement. —Continued
Chris was recently awarded the very prestigious distinguished member status in the American Society of Civil Engineers, as well as the American Public Works Association Top 10 Leaders’ distinction. I recall vividly that Chris received the second loudest applause of the evening (first going to the students) when he was introduced, attesting to his popularity. Second, you can read the inspiring story of Bell Honor award winner Nedda Djavid, who graduated summa cum laude from CME and gave a memorable address to her graduating class. Nedda is continuing the tradition of engineering in her family, and talks about her experiences as an engineering student in CME. Finally the spotlight goes to Professor Ernesto Indacochea, who just received a $700,000 grant from the Department of Energy to study advanced nuclear waste containment. His long history of collaboration with researchers at Argonne National Laboratories has led to many such innovative grants. This year will see a lot of hard work to improve the curriculum and teaching infrastructure in the department, including a complete renovation of the computer labs and new design courses. It is an exciting time as we remember the advances of the past and look towards the future. Warm Regards, Karl Rockne, Professor and Interim Department Head
Message from the Outgoing Head: Looking back; Moving forward Dr. Farhad Ansari reflects on 15 years of service to CME as Department Head in his outgoing message.
Dear Friends of CME, Sixteen years ago, I returned to the institution and department where I completed my graduate studies, to serve as a faculty member. Except for that first year back, I have served as department head of CME for the last fifteen years. Fifteen years have passed in the blink of an eye; all of them filled with exciting challenges and changes. Our classrooms and laboratories have seen many bright students to teach, opportunities to innovate, obstacles to overcome and goals to achieve. As department head, I also had the privilege of working with three outstanding engineering deans, great staff members and an exceptional faculty who kept everything moving. Together, we developed new programs, established strategic tracks, recruited topnotch faculty, taught a cutting-edge curriculum, performed prodigious research, and provided unfailing service to our constituencies. We were never alone in our efforts—CME was very fortunate in receiving the help and advice of the Civil Engineering Professional Advisory Council (CEPAC)—our industrial benefactors. Throughout the many years of our partnership, CEPAC helped us fine tune our curricula, grow with emergent
trends in industry, teach courses, engage and motivate our students, and ensure that our students were poised to seize challenging job opportunities in industry and beyond. Among the many CEPAC professionals who helped grow CME, I have particularly enjoyed my interactions with individuals such as Harold Sandberg of Alfred Benesch— one of the greatest structural engineers of our time and a good friend of the department. Another great is Chris Burke, the architect of our water resources program and CME’s esteemed professor of practice. I am also indebted to Ken Nelson, former CEO of Clark Dietz, for his leadership and succession to the CEPAC chair following the passing of our beloved professor Bryant in January 2010. Nelson also played a proactive role in the success of CME’s transportation engineering program along with our friend John Kos, former chief engineer of IDOT’s district one, whom I also greatly appreciate. Thanks to CEPAC, our students continue to be placed into many high profile positions of responsibility. A few more invaluable CME allies to thank: Muthiah Kasi and David Morrill of Alfred Benesch mentored our students and provided them with many opportunities in the field of structural engineering. John Fortmann, current chief engineer of IDOT’s district one, and Manju Sharma of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC). For their departmental support and placement of our students, I am grateful to Linda Sorn of the Army Corps of Engineers and Dave Behringer of Sargent and Lundy. CME Above Ground Fall 2014
To our phenomenal alumni, Heather Gaffney of T.Y. Lin, and Matthew Huffman of Chris Burke Engineering—thank you, for returning to CME to motivate our current and future students. I would also like to thank Gregory Mulac of Turner Construction and Todd Ude of Parsons, for their continued support of our students. My thanks also go to Dave Fanella of Tylk Gustafson Reckers Wilson Andrews, for teaching our students with great responsibility and enthusiasm the principles of tall buildings design. Every individual who has served in CME’s CEPAC has improved our department in meaningful ways, and has my continued thanks and apologies if I neglected to mention you by name. Among the many accomplishments of CME, I cannot forget to mention our collaboration with Professor Thomas Theis, a faculty member in our environmental engineering track and director of the Institute for Environmental Science and Policy (IESP). With this partnership, we engaged in interdisciplinary research that resulted in two joint faculty hires and addressed important transportation planning and infrastructure system sustainability issues. Our transportation faculty members also work closely with the University Transportation Center at UIC’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs to solve the many issues urban transportation systems face today. When I first returned to CME, after many years away, I considered myself fortunate for the opportunity return to the place and work alongside the professors I deeply respected as a graduate student. I give my thanks to these professors of CME’s past, Chien Wu, Tom Ting, Don Lemke and Robert Bryant. To the memory of Robert Bryant, whom I miss to this day, the books you gave me are still saved in a special place on my bookshelf. Years ago, I promised myself to step down as department head once I felt I achieved the goals I originally set out to accomplish. Today, I believe that time has come. Effective August 15, 2014, I will step down as head and return to my duties as faculty member, performing research and teaching. And so, I am proud to introduce Professor Karl Rockne as interim head of the department.
Farhad Ansari, Ph.D., CME Outgoing Department Head
Fourteen years ago, Karl was my first hire, and since then, he worked steadily to achieve all the rigorous milestones necessary for attaining a full professorship in our department. Professor Rockne studies contaminant fate in the Great Lakes, environmental forensics, nutrients and agrochemicals in surface and drinking water, and sediment remediation technologies. Much of his research is performed in the field, including locations in the Chicago River, all five of the Great Lakes, and the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor in northern Indiana. His funding primarily comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I know he will have the faculty support needed to lead this department to new heights in academia and industry alike. I look forward to seeing a bright future for CME as I return to work alongside my esteemed colleagues as a proud faculty member and teacher in this department. You all have my endless thanks for the great memories, and for all the great years we will have as we move forward together.
With my best wishes, Farhad Ansari, Ph.D. Professor of Structural Engineering CME Above Ground Fall 2014
This is an exciting time for CME. There are many new faces in the faculty (five in the last two years alone) who have brought expertise in the fields of transportation, sustainability, water resources, structural monitoring and multi-scale material modeling. Along with bringing cutting-edge research to UIC, these targeted hires were also made with an eye toward training our graduates for 21st century careers in civil engineering. These changes are just beginning, and I would like to outline how our departmental curriculum will change to better achieve our departmental objectives, and where alumni like you can aid this process. It is important to understand what it means for an engineering department to be accredited. Accreditation is handled through the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Without this accreditation, our graduates would not be eligible to become licensed professional engineers. The accreditation cycle is a sixyear process, and we are now preparing for our next accreditation visit this fall. The first step in accreditation is to develop a statement of goals for our primary stakeholders, the graduates of the program. The set of goals is referred to as the Program Educational Objectives (PEO). They are the guiding principles of >> >> where we want to see graduates of the program (like yourself) in the early stages of their careers. CME faculty recently met to develop a new set of PEOs to maximize our new faculty’s expertise, meet the needs of industry, and better prepare our graduates to succeed in their careers. The PEO statement is as follows: Graduates of CME will establish careers in engineering, research and development, and/or management professions and be involved in professional societies. Graduates of the program are expected within a few years of graduation: • To apply technical expertise, effective design skills, and sustainability principles to address evolving engineering challenges affecting a diverse society • To be engaged in continuing education. Motivated graduates will have pursued or have well-formulated plans to pursue graduate education • To effectively and ethically contribute as a member, manager, or leader of multi-disciplinary teams through efficient communication of technical and non-technical issues • A majority of those in the engineering profession will be Licensed Professional Engineers within five years of graduation, and a majority of those practicing structural engineering will become licensed Structural Engineers within ten years
Faculty Drive CME Mission and Curriculum Changes By Karl Rockne, Ph.D., Interim Department Head
While we must have a clear understanding of our mission objectives, it is not enough to simply state them. We must assess how successful we are in achieving these objectives and continually "adjust course" through curriculum development. We do this process by developing a set of educational outcomes that all students must have satisfactorily completed by the time of graduation. We assess our students through a detailed program that involves faculty, representatives from industry, and professional engineering consultants who work with our Capstone Design students for a semester. These assessments are based upon the following set of Student Outcomes criteria: Graduates of the Civil Engineering Program will be able to: 1) 2) 3)
Apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering Design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data Design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability 4) Function on multidisciplinary teams 5) Identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems 6) Understand professional and ethical responsibility 7) Communicate effectively 8) Understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context 9) Recognize the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning 10) Understand contemporary issues 11) Use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice 12) A majority of the graduates should pass the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam
The process of developing our PEOs and designing the curriculum to meet them is continuous and constantly evolving. We are very interested in your feedback on our PEOs and Student Outcome statements. We look forward to hearing your thoughts! Sincerely, Karl Rockne, Ph.D. CME Interim Department Head 4
CME Above Ground Fall 2014
Around CME: All things new New Faculty Meet our newest faculty member, Benjamin O’Connor, Ph.D. A former researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, Dr. O’Connor joined the CME Department in January of 2014. His research incorporates study of hydrology and hydraulics in natural and engineered systems—with respect to how they affect aquatic ecosystems, and his specific interests include the effects of fluid motion on metabolism and nutrient cycling in rivers, surface water-groundwater interactions, and environmental flow considerations on regulated rivers, stream restoration, and urban hydrology.
New Faculty Grants J. Ernesto Indacochea was awarded a $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for his research into “Performance of a Steel/Oxide Composite Waste Form for Combined Waste Streams from Advanced Electrochemical Processes over Geologic Time Scales.” Eduard Karpov was awarded a $20,000 grant from UIC for his research into “Energy Transfer Processes at Metal-Oxide Interfaces in Plasmonic Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Water Splitting.” Jie (Jane) Lin was awarded an $111,009 grant from CFIRE/DOT for her research into “Enabling Online Logistics Services Auction Platform (OLSAP): Optimal Eco-Routing Strategies.” Bo Zou was awarded two grants: o $25,000 from the Chicago Department of Aviation for his research into, “Protecting the Airfield Asset Built as part of the O'Hare Modernization Program” o $62,424 from the Illinois Department of Transportation and National Center for Transit Research (through the Urban Transportation Center) for his research into “Optimal Rail Service Planning in a Passenger-Freight Shared Corridor”
Awards In addition to their broad range of critical, prestigious and grant-winning research, CME faculty are dedicated to teaching and mentoring the next generation of civil engineers. In 2014, four CME professors were recognized for their inspired work:
Professor Didem Ozevin was awarded the 2014 UIC Teaching Recognition Award.
Professors Ernesto Indacochea and Didem Ozevin were co-winners of the ASNT Faculty Award, an external award recognizing their efforts in revising the CME 594: Characterization of Materials using Nondestructive Testing Methods course to best fit the needs of our students. The grant will be used to acquire new instruments and software to improve the course.
Professors Craig Foster and Abolfazl Mohamamadian were co-winners of the Chris Burke Teaching Award, a prestigious internal award that recognizes the inspired work of these professors with undergraduate and graduate students.
CME is home to many intelligent and driven students from all over the
More Around CME: All
world. In 2014, we are proud to have the following eight award-winning scholars in our department: things new—Students Zahra Heidary, advised by Didem Ozevin, won the 2014 Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Award Dewi Meng, advised by Farhad Ansari, Mehran F. Langerudi, advised by Abolfazi Mohammadian, and Ibrahim Lofty, advised by Mohsen Issa, respectively took first, second and third place for the Chris and Susan Burke Scholarship. Maen Farhat, advised by Mohsen Issa, won the $1350 PCI award to present a poster and presentation at the 60th anniversary PCI Convention and National Bridge Conference (2014), Washington, D.C. Mustapha Ibrahim, advised by Mohsen Issa, won the $2500 Harvey H. Hagge Concrete Scholarship. Reshma Abhilash, advised by Krishna Reddy, won the 2014 ASCE Geotech Scholarship. Balayamini Sadasivam, advised by Krishna Reddy, won the 2014 ASCE-EWRI Scholarship. Soheil Hosseini, advised by Karl Rockne, won the Institute for Environmental Policy 2014-15 Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for his research on "Controls on the Accumulation and Transformation of Semi-Volatile Halogenated Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic Compounds in the Great Lakes" Sk Nasir Ahmed, advised by Sybil Derrible, won the Institute for Environmental Policy 2014-15 Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for his research on "Water Consumption Networks in the United States" We are all proud of, and look forward to working with and following the futures of these bright young researchers—Congratulations from the CME Department!
UIC's College of Engineering is launching what is the first known program of its type in the nation with the "Guaranteed Internship Program." This initiative guarantees all incoming freshmen placement in a paid internship the summer following their first year, provided they meet the required criteria. Students are either placed in a collaborating company or organization, or within UIC's excellent research laboratories. The goal of this program is to expose students to real world work experience in conjunction with their education, with the aim of making their post-graduation transitions smoother. The College is also dedicated to developing stronger ties with our corporate allies, and by creating the Guaranteed Internship Program, we are working to establish and grow these relationships in the years to come.
Freshman Guaranteed Internship Program
Each internship lasts for about eight weeks and, for students placed companies and organizations outside UIC, the expected pay is between $15-25/hour. For students placed in UIC research labs, the expected pay is $10/hour. Since 2012, more than 300 companies and organizations have hired UIC engineering students and alumni as interns and full-time employees. To learn more about the program, please visit: http://www.ecc.uic.edu/ECC/ and if you are interested in posting an internship at the UIC College of Engineering, please email engrjobs@uic.edu or call us at 312.996.2311
CME Above Ground Fall 2014
Featured Stories
Cultivating bright minds and best practices at CME Professor of Practice, Dr. Christopher B. Burke, shares a few thoughts about civil engineering and his vision of the "Citizen Scientist"
A few days before commencement, the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering's Professor of Practice, Christopher B. Burke, Ph.D., D.WRE, F.ASCE, reflected on his pending speech at commencement—to UIC's brand new generation of civil engineers. Burke had always intended to teach in Chicago, giving back to the city he was raised in, and mentoring civil engineers who had "real-world" perspectives that matched their technical abilities. So, a few years after he started his own company, Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd., a full-service engineering and surveying consulting firm, Burke also began teaching, initially at IIT. The demands of his company and the time necessary to teach were at odds, unfortunately, so Burke returned his focus to his firm. He wouldn't stay away from teaching for too long, however. "I came to UIC because I was asked to serve on the advisory board by the late Dr. Bryant, who was a former colleague of mine. I started [teaching] because a faculty member teaching the water courses [in CME] gave very late notice of his departure— CME could not find a replacement in time. I was asked to fill in, and I said, 'Sure, but only for this one semester,'" he said. That was 13 years ago, as of this summer's end. "I’ve never left the university in 13 years mad—I just enjoy the interaction with the students. They're very diverse, intelligent, and they're always respectful—and they don't even fall asleep in my classes!" As a professor at CME, Burke has taught a mixture of classes, both undergraduate and graduate, helping students understand the technical and intrinsic components of engineering in society, and encouraging them to become Citizen Engineers. "The people graduating now are the ones that will sustain our profession in the future," Burke said, "and we want you to be there to take over the many organizations in our societies—not just by working in corporations, but by volunteering and getting involved as leaders in our society." Although there is the stereotype of the engineer working in the background to build, repair, solve problems and generally produce stunning varieties of technical innovation, Burke feels that engineers, especially those who are early in their careers can use this same intellectual capital to improve the community. "Over the years I have started out my classes asking new students questions like, 'Who is the Governor of Illinois?' No better than 20 percent know. It's worse if I ask about how state officials. There is a very strong representation by the legal and business communities in politics, but if you look at the leaders in the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, and beyond—there are no engineers. This can't go on." As Dr. Christopher B. Burke prepares his commencement speech, he knows he cannot advise every student about how to carry out their futures, but he hopes each one will understand when he says, "Start your career path as a citizen AND a scientist. Get involved early in your career by joining organizations that allow you to use your intellect and passion for problem solving to make those changes in your community. You have energy, opportunity and time—use this time to get involved!"
CME Above Ground Fall 2014
From Back of the Class to Top of Her Game
CME Undergraduate Student, Nedda Djavid, Graduated UIC with Perfect 4.0 GPA in Spring 2014
When Nedda Djavid transferred to UIC, she was still undecided about her future, but the daughter of an engineer soon found herself in the Civil and Materials Engineering Program. “The program is tough, and male-dominated—I was always one of a few girls in the class and it was intimidating! I used to sit in the back of the class quietly taking notes, but as time went on, I started moving closer and closer to the front. The professors in CME truly bolstered my confidence, and after a few successes, I was sure I could do this.”
Nedda Djavid graduated this year from UIC’s Department of Civil and Materials Engineering this May with a perfect 4.0 GPA. The daughter of an engineer, Djavid wasn’t sure if she wanted to become one herself—at first. “I enjoy being creative, and so when I got to UIC I considered writing, design, even journalism, but finally decided I was most comfortable in the Engineering program. “The ‘Aha!’ moment for me was in a physics class when I saw real-life applications of what I was learning, and how these concepts could span so many different areas. Suddenly, it just made sense.” Along with a rigorous schedule of courses, Djavid also began an internship at MWH Global, where the real-life applications of her textbook theorems became even more apparent. “The professors always—strongly—encouraged us to go beyond the homework sets—to understand the underlying theory. I found the better I understood the theory and the behavior of whatever I was learning, the better I could handle everything they threw at me in terms of exams—which translated to my being able to actually solve real-life problems at my internship.” A few weeks before commencement, Djavid was heading into finals—which, if all went well, were the last step before she would take to the stage and talk to her fellow students—as a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the program. “I think students, once they finish a tough semester, forget the difficulties and frustrations of learning almost immediately until their next challenge—but you don’t just get from point A- to point B—just like that. It’s a lot of hard work, but with the right focus and the support of the professors—you can get through it—you will get there. I had a wonderful time at UIC, met some wonderful people and excellent professors. I look back on my education, at how much I’ve grown as a person, and professional, and I am proud to be UIC.”
CME Above Ground Fall 2014
Advancing Nuclear Technology and Safety CME Professor J. Ernesto Indacochea wins U.S. Department of Energy award for his innovative research in advanced nuclear waste storage and recycling. Pictured: Workers replace the fuel rods in a spent-fuel pool at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt. courtesy Toby Talbot, Associated Press.)
Earlier this year, Dr. J. Ernesto Indacochea, Professor in the Civil and Materials Science Engineering Department and ASM International Fellow, was awarded $700,000 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund his innovative research on advanced nuclear waste forms. DOE's Nuclear Energy Universities Program (NEUP) funds R&D of fuel cycle technologies, specifically; methods to separate reusable fractions of used nuclear fuel from the radioactive waste, and then manage what is left of the waste. Indacochea, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, is researching the "Performance of a Steel/Oxide Composite Waste Form for Combined Waste Streams from Advanced Electrochemical Processes over Geologic Time Scales." During this three-year research project, Indacochea and his team will create a predictive model to evaluate how nuclear waste encapsulated in corrosion-resistant metals and oxides will degrade over a long period of time. Since it would be quite inconvenient to wait a few eons to see results, they will use electrochemical testing to observe how the encapsulated waste behaves, and then build a mechanistically based corrosion model based on the results. Similar ideas were proposed to contain nuclear waste, by encapsulating it in glass, or in cermet—a composite of ceramic and metallic materials. Unfortunately, these ideas were never put through an appropriate testing protocol, and there were no models created to predict their long-term performance, so these ideas were never developed or implemented. The research Indacochea and his team are working on will establish the first baseline prediction of steel/oxide encapsulated radioactive nuclear waste's behavior over time. Although nuclear energy is cheap and efficient to produce, there is a significant, often political challenge in dealing with the radioactive waste. In the past, radioactive nuclear waste has been stored in facilities like the Yucca Mountain salt mines, but there are only a finite number of areas capable of handling radioactive nuclear waste, and even then, only a finite amount of storage space.
—Continued
CME Above Ground Fall 2014
Currently, most high-level radioactive waste like nuclear fuel is cooled something called a spent fuel pool. This can take anywhere from one to ten years. After the waste is cooled, it is still radioactive, but no longer too hot to handle, so then it is placed in dry cask storage, which is a container made of steel cylinders surrounded by inert gas, then coated with additional layers of steel and concrete, then welded or bolted shut. This prevents most casks from leaks and shields anyone nearby the cask from radiation, like a giant metallic thermos. Dry casks are designed to be very resilient, but they are not perfect. Metal corrosion and leaks are still a possibility, and they are not always cost effective to build. Moreover, dry casking was seen as an interim storage solution, so there are no global standards or designs for these containers. "Unlike the past, now there is technology to reprocess spent nuclear fuel—to recycle the plutonium and uranium in nuclear waste—which reduces the amount you need to store, taking it from 100 percent waste to maybe 10 or 15 percent,” said Indacochea. “The new challenge, then, is in how to store concentrated waste that will take thousands of years to decompose. We cannot just bury it underground, where many of our water sources exist, so we need to find new ways to create safe containers instead. If we can predict how steel-encapsulated oxide waste forms behave over geologic time scales, centuries of the Earth changing, we may be able to safely store radioactive waste—not just for now—but thousands of years from now."
CME Above Ground is an Alumni publication for the University of Illinois at Chicago Civil and Materials Engineers
CME Above Ground Fall 2014