I MP A C T R E P O R T 2 0 1 9 Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
Greetings from Iowa State University’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (ISU CCEE)! It has been another year full of exciting changes and successes for our department. ISU CCEE has more than 40 tenure-track and term faculty in five unique areas (construction, environmental, geotechnical, structural and transportation engineering), as well as a transdisciplinary program in intelligent infrastructure engineering. In the last year alone, our research faculty have earned nearly $17 million in externally-funded research, which is a 58 percent increase in the last five years. At this report’s date of publication, 56 percent of that funding came from federal agencies, seven percent from industry, 10 percent from other public or private sector funding and one percent from foreign sources. We continue to be proud of our real-world undergraduate and graduate education models. Our undergraduate civil and construction engineers have a 78 percent placement rate and 95 percent placement rate, respectively, at graduation. We have a 74 percent placement rate for doctoral civil engineers at graduation. In addition, 89 percent of civil engineering undergraduates and 99 percent of construction engineering undergraduates complete at least one co-op or internship prior to graduation.
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In Sept. 2018, U.S. News and World Report ranked Iowa State’s civil engineering program tied for 27th overall, 18th among publics at schools whose highest degree is a doctorate. This was followed by graduate rankings in March 2019, when ISU’s civil engineering graduate program tied for 36th overall and tied for 23rd among public institutions. We are dedicated to diversity and inclusion, both within our department and across our university. More than a quarter of our faculty members identify as women, and 20 percent of our student population identifies as women/minorities. This is a 15 percent increase from five years ago and an indicator that the engineering world is moving forward with an innovative and diverse group of professionals. We continue to work to enhance the inclusive environment in our program through our student, faculty and staff recruitment. In the fall of 2021, ISU CCEE will celebrate its sesquicentennial anniversary. In addition, Iowa State’s Construction Engineering Program will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2020. We will be celebrating 150 years as we plan for the future, which includes examining our undergraduate and graduate curriculums and facilities. Starting in the fall of 2020, be prepared to hear more about the past, present and future of ISU CCEE. It is a great time for our department. – David Sanders, Greenwood Department Chair in Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
Sesquicentennial celebration coming soon
Direct questions regarding this publication to: Kate Tindall, Editor Phone: 515-294-1049 Email: ktindall@iastate.edu Website: ccee.iastate.edu Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Veteran. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to Office of Equal Opportunity, 3410 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel. 515-294-7612, Hotline: 515-294-1222, email eooffice@iastate.edu. Copyright © 2019, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.
Creating faster technologies for high-rate systems
We don’t yet drive hypersonic vehicles, but someday these fast-moving modes of transportation may be one more engineering innovation that is improved by the work of Iowa State researcher Simon Laflamme. New technologies and algorithms enable quicker decision making for highrate engineering systems that will improve safety mechanisms and performance. For Laflamme, an associate professor of CCEE, the research will better protect the integrity of structures. “These technologies and algorithms would enable the integration of mitigation and control systems,” Laflamme said. “This would make these high-rate systems safer and improve their performance.” The next step is demonstrating the capabilities of the new technology. In the future, Laflamme’s work could be used in complex inventions like high-tech vehicles. Laflamme’s research is in close collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate and is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Sleep tight, don’t let the bugs bite A recent study shows that requiring landlords to disclose bedbugs cuts infestations and creates long-term savings. Chris Rehmann, a CCEE associate professor, was part of a research team that developed a mathematical model to evaluate disclosure policies. The team found disclosure policies can lead to modest, short-term costs to landlords, but ultimately result in savings for both landlords and tenants. “We’ve demonstrated that we can help people develop good policies to reduce the prevalence of these pests,” Rehmann said. Bedbugs have re-emerged as a worldwide problem over the past 20 years, the researchers wrote. New York City, in fact, estimates annual prevalence of bedbug infestations is 12 percent in some neighborhoods. The team’s findings were published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (which is funded by the National Science Foundation) was the primary supporter of the study. Photo by Stephen Ausmus, USDA Agricultural Research Service
2018-19 BY T H E N U M B E RS
34 9.4
tenure-track faculty
$17M
20%
published journal articles
externally-funded research
58% increase from FY2015
term faculty
163 40
of student population identifies as women/minorities
15% increase
in press/peer-reviewed journals
1013
undergraduate students
82
masters students
from FY2015
113
doctoral candidates
88% increase from FY2015
ISU civil engineering graduate program tied for 36th overall and tied for 23rd among public institutions in U.S. News and World Report rankings
$500,000 average in
externally-funded research per CCEE tenure-track faculty member
95% placement rate for
undergraduate construction engineers at graduation and 78% placement rate for undergraduate civil engineers at graduation
FACULTY AWA RD S A N D RE C O G N IT IO N ASCE ExCEEd Fellowship Ashley Buss, assistant professor Margaret Ellen White Graduate Faculty Award and Award for Mid-Career Achievement in Research Halil Ceylan, professor Award for Academic Advising Larry Cormicle, teaching professor Inducted into National Academy of Construction Charles Jahren, ISU Construction Engineering Program Professor-in-Charge, ISU CCEE Associate Chair, W.A. Klinger Teaching Professor, Morrill Professor ASNT Fellowship Simon Laflamme, Waldo W. Wegner Professor in Civil Engineering, associate professor Regents Award for Faculty Excellence Say Kee Ong, Cerwick Faculty Professor 2018 Mechanical Contractors Association of America Educator of the Year Brad Perkins, associate teaching professor
Microsoft Azure Research Award Anuj Sharma, Pitt-Des Moines, Inc., Professor in Civil Engineering, associate professor Emerging Leader Academy 2018-2019 Omar Smadi, associate professor ASCE Raise the Bar Committee Service Award Sri Sritharan, ISU CoE Interim Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, Wilkinson Chair in the College of Engineering, professor ASCE Committee on Advancing the Profession Service Award Peter Taylor, research associate professor Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Technology Sydney Kejin Wang, Wilson Engineering Professor Award for Achievement in Intellectual Property and The American Cleaning Institute/National Biodiesel Board Glycerine Innovation Chris Williams, Gerald and Audrey Olson Professor in Civil Engineering C.A. Hogentogler Award, ASTM International Junxing Zheng, assistant professor
NHERI Young Faculty Scholarship Behrouz Shafei, assistant professor
74% placement rate for doctoral civil engineers at graduation
89% of civil engineering B.S. graduates and 99% of
construction engineering B.S. graduates complete at least one co-op or internship prior to graduation
In civil engineering, at schools whose highest degree is a doctorate, Iowa State’s undergraduate program is tied for 27th overall, 18th among public institutions (Sept. 2018)
Friction and function You hardly think about the complex relationship between your car’s tires and the pavement on which you spend your morning and evening commute. But for Omar Smadi, a CCEE associate professor, the interaction between tires and pavement surfaces shares a fascinating dynamic that can lower the possibility of car accidents. “Results from this research will provide guidance to transportation agencies on how to identify and address friction issues on the road network,” Smadi said. “Friction treatments have been implemented in Iowa and other states, and it shows a significant reduction in the number of crashes.” Smadi, who works alongside Ahmad Alhasan, an associate scientist for Iowa State’s Institute for Transportation, is looking to standardize procedures to test pavement friction at a network level while better understanding friction demand. This could improve road travel safety, especially in high-crash locations. The research is funded in part by the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Midwest Transportation Center.
Climate and community change
Photo courtesy of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development found in 2017 that Alaska Natives’ housing conditions are significantly less developed and overcrowded than other U.S. housing. Now, dramatic climate change in the Arctic threatens to create new stresses and exacerbate old ones for these at-risk communities. In a two-year study recommended for funding by the National Science Foundation, CCEE Assistant Professor Cristina Poleacovschi and a group of interdisciplinary researchers will examine social vulnerabilities, substandard housing, households’ susceptibility toward biophysical changes and substandard social health conditions in Arctic communities. “We’re gathering a diverse team of engineers and social scientists,” Poleacovschi said. “We plan to engage closely with the communities to ensure that engineering design is culturally appropriate to what each community needs.” The study is funded in part by the National Science Foundation’s Navigating the New Arctic Program. The team’s research approach uses a community-centered response. One goal is to influence programs and policies of resiliency and sustainability. The researchers will also organize workshops in Alaska Native communities to share their discoveries. The team hopes this will facilitate a greater understanding of and interest in the complexity of the housing crisis.
Green means go! Chris Day, a CCEE assistant professor, has teamed up with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to monitor the operations of and implement automated performance measures for traffic signals. “This project is the latest in a continuous series of state and federal research projects on this topic, which I have been involved with since 2006,” Day said. “This FHWA project will be undertaken in conjunction with another Iowa DOT project, where I am helping cities in Iowa implement automated traffic signal performance measures.” Day said that few agencies currently have the ability to continuously monitor conditions at traffic signals, but this concept is achievable at a low cost and can usually work with existing equipment. Additionally, implementation could help agencies improve signal timing and maintenance.
Online course is on par The course Civil Engineering (CE) 501: Preconstruction Project Engineering and Management is one of the newest Iowa State online courses to earn Quality Matters (QM) certification. QM is a faculty-centered, peer-review process based on best practices to measure the quality of online and blended courses. Jennifer Shane, a CCEE associate professor, and Aliye Karabulut-Ilgu, a CCEE assistant teaching professor, organized the online facilitation of CE 501. Shane leads the 16-week online graduate course and Karabulut-Ilgu specializes in online course content optimization. “When instructors set up a course, they should consider the course objectives and those objectives’ alignment with the individual course module objectives,” Shane said. “They should also think through how learning is going to take place. QM certification gives quality assurance to students. It demonstrates that the course objectives align with the course materials and modules.”
Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
813 Bissell Road Ames, IA 50011-1066
Overtopped, breached and scoured Cassandra Rutherford, a CCEE assistant professor, has inspected failed levees along Midwestern rivers. And now she’s working with other engineers to develop technologies that could improve levee performance. “The biggest issue is that when we have a lot of annual flooding, it’s no longer a 50-year event,” Rutherford said. “We need to look at the levees – we need to assess their condition and adequacy.” Projects currently underway include developing technologies that use electricity to inspect levees for internal defects and using “biocementation” to strengthen the soil surface of earthen levees. Rutherford co-led a 2016 report about levee performance and damage in Illinois and Missouri after Dec. 2015 flooding. The study was the work of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association, with support from the National Science Foundation.