Fall 2020 UF Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment, Insights Magazine

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

INSIGHTS INTO SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING, 2020

IN THIS ISSUE:

SOMETHING’S IN THE WATER

DAVID KAPLAN, PH.D., WROTE AN AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF FOR THE U.S. SUPREME COURT FOR A CASE REGARDING THE CLEAN WATER ACT AND THE DECISION WILL HAVE A LASTING IMPACT ON PUBLIC POLICY. PAGE 12 NEW FACULTY PAGE 4 STUDENT AWARDS PAGE 17

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UF NUMBER 6 AMONG PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

2021

DI RECTOR’S M ESSAGE

Dear Alumni and Colleagues,

awarded to ESSIE faculty has increased by 77%.

This year has been a great display of student, staff and faculty resilience through uncertain times. As we continue to advance through each semester, we are reminded how far we have come and how much further we have to go.

Throughout the magazine, we highlight faculty and alumni who are paving the way toward environmental sustainability. David Kaplan, Ph.D., an associate professor of environmental engineering sciences, was instrumental in a U.S. Supreme Court case on the Clean Water Act that will have a lasting impact on public policy. Timothy Townsend, Ph.D., the Jones Edmunds Professor of Environmental Engineering, received part of a $6 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to research PFAS chemicals in landfills. Chris Ferraro, Ph.D., an assistant professor of civil engineering, in collaboration with Kyle Riding, Ph.D., an associate professor of civil engineering, were awarded $1.1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to research the prevention of damage on concrete used to house nuclear reactors.

Our students, faculty and staff were able to adapt and adjust to keep moving forward when faced with the great challenges related to the coronavirus. Eric Jing Du, Ph.D., an associate professor in civil and coastal engineering, with funding from NSF, is investigating how people are acclimating to the new normal as America continues to reopen. His research will provide insight and guidance on behavioral patterns for the general public and policy and emergency management agencies.

You can read more about his research on page 24.

In June, the School wrote a statement condemning the tragic murders of unarmed Black citizens and how we plan to respond. Stemming from the college’s initiative, ESSIE will create an Inclusion Diversity Equity and Access (IDEA) Committee to promote the well-being and strength of our diverse society through engineering research and education pertinent to the built and natural environment.

Our IDEA Committee created a list of initiatives, though we recognize this is just a start. We understand that real, lasting change, comes from hard work and long-term commitment to change.

In the midst of these difficult times, we remain dedicated to serving our students with top programs and teachers. We are proud to announce the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences graduate program is now ranked No. 18 among public institutions, rising two spots from No. 20, and the Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering graduate program is ranked No. 19 among public institutions. We are also excited about our addition of three new faculty members in environmental engineering sciences and one new member in civil engineering since January 2020.

In May, the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences welcomed Michael Annable, Ph.D., as department head. Dr. Annable has been a faculty member within the department since 1992, and he brings significant leadership experience to this position. We are grateful to his predecessor, Chang-Yu Wu, Ph.D., for six years of his tireless leadership and setting the stage for the department’s bright future on page 10.

In July, the University of Florida announced a public-private partnership with NVIDIA that will catapult UF’s research strength to address some of the world’s most formidable challenges, create unprecedented access to AI training and tools for underrepresented communities, and build momentum for transforming the future of the workforce.

The initiative is anchored by from UF alumnus Chris Malachowsky and funds allocated to hardware, software, training and services from NVIDIA, the Silicon Valley-based technology company he cofounded and a world leader in AI and accelerated computing.

Along with an additional investment from UF, the initiative will create an AI-centric data center that houses the world’s fastest AI supercomputer in higher education. Many new and established ESSIE faculty are poised to harness this incredible resource to guide the development of a more sustainable world. I look forward to providing you updates in future communications.

As we continue to become stronger together, we hope that all is well with you and your loved ones.

Best wishes,

Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D. DIRECTOR, ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFR ASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

Our faculty continue to grow their research productivity each year. Since 2015, federal and non-federal grants

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INSIDE

INSIGHTS

2020 D I R E C T O R ’S M E S S AG E ....... 2 FAC T S & F I G U R E S ............. 3 FAC U LT Y ..................... 4 - 5 SC H O O L S TAT E M E N T ..... 6 -7 FAC U LT Y (CO N T.) ......... 8 -11

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F E AT U R E ................... 1 2 -1 5 U N I V E R S I T Y N E W S ......... 16 S T U D E N T AWA R D S ..... 17-1 8 A LU M N I S P O T L I G H T ....... 1 8 G I V I N G .......................... 19 A LU M N I (CO N T.) ........ 2 0 -2 2 R E S E A R C H ...............

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Cammy Abernathy, Ph.D. DEAN, HERBERT WERTHEIM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

BY THE NUMBERS

Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D.

DIRECTOR, ENGINEERING SCHOOL O F S U S TA I N A B L E I N F R A S T R U C T U R E & ENGINEERING

Michael Annable, Ph.D. DEPARTMENT HEAD, E N V I R O N M E N TA L E N G I N E E R I N G

Robert Thieke, Ph.D. DEPARTMENT HEAD, CIVIL & COA S TA L E N G I N E E R I N G

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IN THE NATION IN UNDERGRADUATE ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING PROGRAMS AMONG PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

IN THE NATION IN UNDERGRADUATE CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAMS AMONG PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Reba Liddy Hernandez M A R K E T I N G & C O M M U N I C AT I O N S S P E C I A L I S T & MAGAZINE EDITOR

NOTE: The photos in this magazine were taken prior to the global pandemic and are not reflective of the University’s current safety measures.

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UF IS NO. 6 AMONG PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

2021

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TENURE AND TENURE-TRACK FACULTY

$

20+

MILLION ALLOCATED TO NEW AWARDS

2%

77%

10%

138%

IN THE NATION IN GRADUATE ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING PROGRAMS AMONG PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

OF NEWLY LICENSED INCREASE OF FEDERAL PROFESSIONAL CIVIL AND NON-FEDERAL ENGINEERS ARE UF AWARDS SINCE 2015 GRADUATES

IN THE NATION IN GRADUATE CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAMS AMONG PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

OF NEWLY LICENSED PROFESSIONAL INCREASE OF FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS SINCE 2015 ENGINEERS ARE UF GRADUATES

Information sourced (from top left): 2021 U.S. News & World Report; Departmental Resources

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N E W FA C U LT Y

THE SCHOOL PROUDLY WELCOMES FOUR NEW FACULTY HIRES

Sara Behdad, Ph.D.

James Cahill, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Lecturer

Dr. Behdad is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences. She received her doctorate in Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on sustainable design, e-waste management, process modeling, decision analysis, and product lifecycle engineering.

Dr. Cahill is a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences. He received his doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research focuses on population genomics, genome sequencing and evolutionary biology.

Elise Morrison, Ph.D.

Arthriya Subgranon, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor Dr. Morrison is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences. She received her doctorate from the University of Florida’s Soil and Water Sciences Department. Her research focuses on the microbial ecology and organic geochemistry of wetland and coastal systems and the relationship between microorganisms and biogeochemical cycling.

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Assistant Professor Dr. Subgranon is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering. She received her doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan in May 2020. Her research focuses on sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems and multi-hazard engineering.

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

FA C U LT Y AWA R D S

FACULTY AWARDS Tenure and Promotions

2019-20 Awards Christine Angelini National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s EarlyCareer Research Fellowship

David Cornwell Water Research Foundation’s Research Innovation Award

Katherine Deliz Quiñones Anderson Scholar Faculty Honoree

■■ Christine Angelini - Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in environmental engineering sciences

■■ Jean-Claude Bonzongo - Promoted to Full Professor in environmental engineering sciences

■■ Kyle Riding - Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in civil & coastal engineering

■■ Reynaldo Roque - Named Professor Emeritus in civil & coastal engineering

■■ Denise Simmons - Received Tenure in civil & coastal engineering

Angelini Receives Two Awards for Early Achievements Christine Angelini, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment, has received two awards for her achievements in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences — the 2019 Water Institute Faculty Fellow Early Career Award and the Cronin Award for Early Achievement by the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF).

Christine Angelini, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences.

The Faculty Fellow award is a threeyear term. Dr. Angelini was recognized for providing substantial support to programs of the UF Water Institute including her participation as a faculty mentor in the Water Institute

Graduate Fellows program, and for her contributions to interdisciplinary water research, according to the Water Institute. She was one of two recipients of this award. She was recognized at a Faculty Fellow Awards Celebration on October 22, 2019.

Dr. Angelini also received the Cronin Award at the 25th Biennial CERF Conference held in Mobile, AL, on November 4, 2019. She was selected due to her significant accomplishments in estuarine science and coastal restoration as well as her mentorship of other early career scientists. The Cronin Award recognizes junior scientists within the first six years of their career.

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S TAT E M E N T

A C O L L E C T I V E S TAT E M

Photos taken (left to right): Nov. 2019, Sept. 2019 and Aug. 2019.

We stand with President Kent Fuchs, Dean Henry Frierson of the Graduate School, and Dean Cammy Abernathy of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, in condemning the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks. These murders, and countless others, involving unarmed Black citizens are the tragic outcome of racial violence spawned by prejudice, bias and a society that suffers under the pervasive weight of systemic racism. We stand with those who protest, and we believe systemic discrimination and violence against any group, community, or its members must be eradicated.

Continuing to ignore these problems – or even to work earnestly toward incremental change as our fellow citizens suffer – are not acceptable options.

As faculty within the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE), our mission is to promote the well-being and resilience of our diverse society through engineering research and education pertinent to the built and natural environment. We aspire to promote a society in which the basic pillars of diversity and equity are sources of strength, health, stability and prosperity.

We have been sitting with these emotions and reflecting over the past several weeks. Now it is a time for action.

A critical aspect of the ESSIE culture is to create a safe environment where diversity, inclusion, equity, and access among students, faculty and staff are encouraged, cultivated and celebrated. In the context of the tragic murders and countless others like it, and the ensuing waves 6

of protests by citizens of all races demanding justice, it is amply clear that we need to expand our efforts to advance diversity and inclusion beyond our institutional walls to build a fair, just and equitable future.

We must all work to destroy systemic racism and be among the strongest voices demanding change and work to achieve it. The process to eliminate systemic racism will be arduous and lengthy, but the time for all of us to step up is long past due. There are people who have invisibly borne the pain and struggle alone amongst our collective blindness. Doing nothing more now than applauding their nobility shelters us from accountability and provides safe haven for the infection to fester. The burden has always been all of ours to bear, but only the few have had their shoulders under the weight. We cannot let this persist.

In consultation with faculty members and staff, ESSIE will undertake the following initiatives to get us started. This list is by no means exhaustive, perfect, or immutable and we recognize them as only a start. We recognize that real, lasting change, comes from education and representation.

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Educate Ourselves: As a first initiative, we commit to educating ourselves as students, staff, faculty and parents about the unlawful killings of Black people, their historical causes, contexts, and the consequences wrought on our society.

A thorough understanding of our racial, gender and ethnic issues will give us a common basis for moving forward and we recommend an article posted on our website as a

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

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E N T FR OM T HE S CH O O L comprehensive introduction, along with additional links to multiple resources listed at the end of this letter.

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Committees on Inclusion Diversity Equity and Access (IDEA): Maitane Olabarrieta, Ph.D., has agreed to serve as ESSIE’s representative on the College’s IDEA committee. The committee will be discussing and planning further efforts for this summer and fall that will be shared soon. In addition to having faculty representation on IDEA, the School has initiated the formation of an ESSIE IDEA committee to include students, faculty and staff. Committee members would organize activities to increase inclusion, diversity, equity, and access within the School, engage student groups and promote student leadership.

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Safe Zone Training: According to The Safe Zone Project, the trainings are “opportunities to learn about LGBTQ+ identities, gender and sexuality, and examine prejudice, assumptions, and privilege.” We are committed to increasing trainings to 20% of faculty by the end of 2020 and more will be trained by the end of 2021.

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Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Student Body: ESSIE will strengthen its commitment to maintaining a culture where a diverse student body feels welcome and can thrive.

We will amplify the voices of our many Black and minority students already here as we continue to increase our recruiting and retention. We seek to do more, by working with faculty, students and alumni, along with the College, to tailor effective recruitment and retention plans and develop metrics to measure success. We will encourage the collaboration and joint events of our multiple student organizations within ESSIE to foster a greater sense of community.

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Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce: ESSIE is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce of staff and faculty. Since 2008, ESSIE has increased the proportion of women faculty from 6% to 30% and the number of underrepresented faculty from 10% to 19%. We will continue to increase the number of women and underrepresented faculty to reflect the diversity of our nation.

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Advancing ESSIE’s curriculum: As stated previously, our mission is to advance education and research in fields related to the built and natural environment. Not long ago, faculty took steps to include sustainability and sustainable engineering in their courses. We believe that now is the time to include social justice, equity, and ethics within the proper context of how they relate to engineering. We recognize unfair systemic practices that unequally impact the education, housing, health and pursuit of happiness of Black citizens has produced lower outcomes, reduced quality of life, smaller incomes and wealth and greater likelihood for premature death. As engineers, we are ethically bound to harness our knowledge to better our society for all.

Systemic racism is an immoral scourge that runs counter to our professionalism. This enhanced curriculum will help our graduates become champions of change by consciously sowing the seeds of egalitarianism in their daily lives.

Finally, it is imperative that we take care of ourselves, our children, and others. We have recommended links for information and opportunities listed on our website.

Sincerely,

Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D., Director and Professor

David Kaplan, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Michael Annable, Ph.D., EES Department Head and Professor

Maitane Olabarrieta, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Elliot P. Douglas, Ph.D., Professor and EES Undergraduate Coordinator Kurt Gurley, Ph.D., Associate Director and Professor

David O. Prevatt, Ph.D., Associate Professor Denise R. Simmons, Ph.D., Associate Professor Chang-Yu Wu, Ph.D., Professor

To learn more about ESSIE’s IDEA Committee, visit essie.ufl.edu/IDEA.

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UNDERLINING A NEED FOR DIVERSITY UF’s Unstoppable Minds Podcast, Episode 6 ESSIE associate professor Denise R. Simmons, Ph.D., was featured on UF’s Unstoppable Minds podcast, hosted by Kyla McMullen, Ph.D., and Jeremy Waisome, Ph.D. Dr. Simmons discussed how being a Black woman in a maledominated field has taught her some hard truths about diversity.

DR. DENISE R. SIMMONS My specialty is in project management. But my research looks at workforce sustainability and evaluation with aspects of inclusive culture.

DR. JEREMY WAISOME Denise specializes in the intersection of civil engineering and the behavioral sciences. We all have our own stories to tell, and our experiences are unique to ourselves. And it really does influence how we show up at work every single day. Denise began her research looking at two different kinds of success found in the workplace.

you’re also limiting your ideas. It’s our different life experiences that drive creativity and have novel solutions like that come out of it.

DR. DENISE R. SIMMONS There was the organization’s perspective and then the employees perspective. The organization’s perspective included things like productivity and profitability and then create an environment that’s safe and inclusive. And where these two things, I think, overlap is that people or companies are just looking for the right people. And when companies began to task me with the thing of looking for where we’re losing money, I almost always found it wasn’t really about a technical failure. It was about maybe a human or person related failure. And so, it began to help me think about if we have these two competing but overlapping things about success, and the Venn diagram there was, it was really about people, what they understood, how they were able to perform, if they felt valued. I felt like if we could solve that problem first, both sides of that equation of success could be satisfied.

DR. JEREMY WAISOME It’s really the company and ultimately the customer that’s losing out on the best product that they could receive.

The University of Florida has already kind of established some best practices that support our faculty and staff who are people of color, but also faculty and staff who aren’t to help them engage in conversations that, you know, may be difficult to talk about. We have a group that’s trained in crucial conversations and that helps those who participate develop communication skills, that allows people to be their authentic selves and discuss inclusivity, diversity, equity and access. The other piece is, we have these affinity groups and they are for underrepresented people on our campus to kind of connect with each other, to connect with like-minded individuals. We see them in an industry environment, and we don’t often see them in academic environments.

DR. KYLA MCMULLEN Yeah, that’s really stifling to be someone in a place where you can’t show up as your whole self to work because

DR. KYLA MCMULLEN What happens when there isn’t diversity like in teams and in companies?

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ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

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DR. DENISE R. SIMMONS When we have homogeneous teams, we can only benefit from the experience, knowledge, values that those people hold. If we think about this just from a design lens, we’ve all heard about the experience of seat belts that were designed or air bags that were designed that well supported males but had detrimental effects for women.

And in particularly, pregnant women. So, I believe when there’s a lack of diversity, your stakeholders aren’t served well. Employees certainly are not served well, and society in general is also not served.

DR. KYLA MCMULLEN So as a consumer, you would definitely want a diverse team of people creating any product that you get. So what role does diversity play in engineering?

DR. DENISE R. SIMMONS I think with diversity and particularly diverse teams, it equals a better product every time. I don’t know any other stronger or direct way to sort of say that homogeneous teams tend to have and overlook certain other perspectives. And so, diversity equals a better product every time.

DR. KYLA MCMULLEN So having the ability to work on diverse teams and have inclusion, employers we know are looking for these professional skills. Sometimes people like to erroneously call them soft skills, but they are life skills, for example, like communication and the ability to work on teams. How do you convey the importance of developing these [life] skills to your students?

DR. DENISE R. SIMMONS So first of all, I want to thank you for calling them life skills.

We need to be careful about how we’re describing this to students. If we use the word, “soft’ skills, I want to imagine what are the thoughts of every male in the classroom.

“I THINK WITH Soft skills? Is that the kind of skill I want DIVERSITY AND to develop? So, I like that you call them P A R T I C U L A R LY life skills. I say they must be the hard skills DIVERSE TEAMS, IT because these are the things that companies EQUALS A BETTER for decades have told us students are not PRODUCT EVERY developing.

T I M E .”

DR. KYLA MCMULLEN - Denise R. Simmons If you could redesign like the entire engineering student experience to make this well-rounded engineer, what would you do?

DR. JEREMY WAISOME So what Denise is saying makes a lot of sense, including many different perspectives will give you a better product or solution every single time.

DR. KYLA MCMULLEN Exactly. Forbes even did a whole analysis where I think they took like 200 different businesses and they looked at them for over two years and looked at the business decisions they made. And they found that when they had inclusive teams that they made better business decisions up to 87 percent of the time. The whole process of making decisions was twice as fast, with half the meetings, sign me up for that. And then the decisions that were made and executed by diverse teams, you know, delivered 60 percent better results. So with all of that data, you know, this is the proof in the pudding.

DR. DENISE SIMMONS I think there’s a long history of us telling engineers that engineers solve problems and we put a period there.

Engineers solve problems for people. And so, we have these ways of, okay, gravity equals zero. And that helps us, help students develop fundamental concepts. But at some point, we have to layer back in that you’re solving it for people.

There’s a societal sort of context for this fundamental concept. And if we teach them separate, they’re never going to couple or value this.

To listen to the full interview, visit ufl.edu/unstoppableminds/#episode6.

DR. JEREMY WAISOME It’s very compelling.

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RECOGNIZING DR. WU FOR SERVING SIX YEARS AS DEPARTMENT HEAD

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

The Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE) and the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences recognizes Chang-Yu Wu, Ph.D., for six years of his tireless leadership as Department Head as his tenure came to an end in December 2019.

Dr. Wu continues to serve as a professor within the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences.

“I am very lucky to have fantastic faculty and staff who are super supportive. It’s great working with them to build a top and caring program in the world,” Dr. Wu said.

Throughout his tenure, Dr. Wu developed a novel early detection air sampler that

efficiently collected influenza virus, solicited undergraduate teaching scholars, initiated a corecourse undergraduate curriculum, and facilitated a new program within the department – Engineering Education.

“Serving the department in this role is one of the best things I have ever done, which is way more than I ever imagined,” Dr. Wu said. “I cherish every moment with our talented students, and I am so happy to see them taking off to better the world.

Also, I have learned so much from my time with the ESSIE leadership team.”

After serving his term as Department Head, Dr. Wu went on a sabbatical to ​conduct experiments at Aerosol Dynamics Inc. in Berkeley, Calif., and Helmholtz Zentrum München in Munich, Germany, to upgrade an air-liquid interface exposure system and evaluate the toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles using the upgraded system. His sabbatical was abruptly halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he has since been busy investigating how the novel virus spreads and identifying mitigation strategies to better protect healthcare workers.

“Dr. Wu’s total dedication to supporting the EES faculty, staff and students was on display every week for six years when we met to discuss how to advance the goals of ESSIE, the departments, and the individual faculty,” said Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D., ESSIE director. “He oversaw a major transformation and revival the department’s education and research through curriculum modernization and superb faculty hires. His excellent service is greatly appreciated and we look forward to his assistance in transitioning the Department Head to Dr. Annable.”

The school is thankful to Dr. Wu for setting the stage for the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences’ bright future.

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ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

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ESSIE WELCOMES DR. ANNABLE AS DEPARTMENT HEAD

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

The Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE) at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering is proud to announce the appointment of Michael Annable, Ph.D., as head of Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences.

Dr. Annable has been a faculty member within the department since 1992, beginning as an assistant professor. His appointment as department head began in January 2020.

“ESSIE is delighted to have Professor Michael Annable as the new head of the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences,” said ESSIE Director, Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D. “Dr. Annable is an outstanding example of a successful academic who has excelled in research, teaching, graduate student mentoring and service. He brings considerable leadership experience to the position, and his dedication and service to EES has earned the trust of faculty.”

Throughout his nearly three-decade career within the department, Dr. Annable has been recognized as an Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year in 2007, a recipient of the CSIRO Distinguished Visitor Award in 2008 and awarded an Otto Mønsted Guest Professorship in 2015.

“I would like to see the department continually improve and be recognized nationally and internationally as a high-quality program at both undergraduate and graduate levels. I would like to support our students to excel during their time here on campus and in their future activities in the environmental science and engineering fields,” Dr. Annable said. “I want to continue to promote diversity and inclusiveness at all levels from incoming freshman to our senior faculty in the department. I would like to encourage and foster our students to become the future leaders in society and within the profession.”

Dr. Annable thanked his predecessor, Chang-Yu Wu, Ph.D., for his six years of service as Department Head

for Environmental Engineering Sciences.

“He oversaw a period of significant change with a number of faculty retiring and a very active period of hiring new faculty and supporting our ongoing efforts to increase diversity. Dr. Wu has been critically involved in our efforts to dramatically restructure our undergraduate curriculum over the next few years. His leadership will be missed but having him as a resource in the department will be critical to our future success,” Dr. Annable added.

Dr. Annable’s research interests include hydrology and water quality. He developed passive flux meters for measuring water and contaminant flux as well as interfacial tracers for measuring air-water and oilwater interfacial areas in porous media. Dr. Annable has published over 100 research journal articles.

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SOMETHING’S IN THE WATER 12

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

Written by Reba Liddy Hernandez | Photo by John Moran. Peacock Springs in 2019.

F E AT U R E

David Kaplan, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE) within the University of Florida Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, along with a team of scientists, wrote an amicus curiae brief for the U.S. Supreme Court about a case regarding the Clean Water Act (CWA) that will have a lasting impact on public policy. An amicus curiae brief is a written submission to a court in which a person or organization can set out legal arguments and recommendations in a given case.

Pacific Ocean, threatening marine ecosystems. The larger issue in the case was whether the county was allowed to discharge pollutants into groundwater without a CWA permit, especially if the groundwater is connected to surface water.

“Environmental engineers have been working for over 100 years to improve the way that we dispose of wastes and the results have been incredible in terms of lives saved and environmental protection,” Dr. Kaplan said.

With over two decades of field experience, Dr. Kaplan, who has been at the forefront of advocating for a resilient environment, brought his expertise to In the case the brief. He presented, the has created County of Maui an initiative was being sued to monitor and by environmental manage coastlines, groups in Hawaii for provided innovative pumping treated approaches to water sewage into the conservation, and David Kaplan, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering ground, where provided data to Sciences within the Engineering School of about 90% of protect the health of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment it reached the the Amazon River.

(ESSIE).

In April, the Supreme Court declared, in a 6-3 ruling, that the CWA requires the federal government to regulate some groundwater pollutants that can navigate into waters such as oceans, rivers and streams.

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Established in 1972, the CWA was created to protect the quality of water by regulating pollutant discharges in streams, wetlands, rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

The CWA has been responsible for cleaning up tens of thousands of lakes and rivers and protecting drinking water for hundreds of millions of people.

It also impacted water quality for the environment and recreational activities such as fishing and swimming.

Groundwater flow and pollutant transport are complex topics, but Dr. Kaplan and his colleagues were able to sway the justices, with Justice Stephen Breyer remarking from the bench, “The scientists really convinced me they’re geniuses and they can trace all kinds of things.”

“Before this ruling, only pollutants discharged in surface waters— like rivers, lakes, ocean—were

The Watershed Ecology Lab, led by David Kaplan, Ph.D., pictured in Silver River. Photo by Jenny Adler.

THE CLEAN JULY 2019

AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF

David Kaplan, Ph.D., along with a team of scientists, wrote an amicus curiae brief in support of environmental groups in preparation for the U.S. Supreme Court case.

OCT. 1972

CLEAN WATER ACT ESTABLISHED

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Created to protect the quality of water by regulating pollutant discharges in streams,& wetlands, ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE ENVIRONMENTrivers, lakes and coastal areas.

F E AT U R E

covered by the CWA, but wastewater could be Dr. Kaplan says the same idea applies to discharged to groundwater many other places where without a permit,” Dr. groundwater and surface Kaplan said. “With this water systems are closely ruling, the Supreme Court linked. Florida’s springs are acknowledged that many fed by the Floridan Aquifer, “THE MOST EXCITING THING A B O U T B E I N G I N V O LV E D I N groundwater systems are so any pollution reaching the T H I S P R O C E S S WA S T O S E E T H E very closely connected groundwater will eventually R O L E O F S C I E N C E VA L I D AT E D to surface waters, so make its way to the springs.

I N S E T T I N G P U B L I C P O L I C Y, pollution of groundwater Regulating pollution of the E S P E C I A L LY R E G A R D I N G T H E needs to be regulated in groundwater consequently E N V I R O N M E N T. S E E I N G T H E order to protect surface J U S T I C E S R E A D , C O N S I D E R A N D protects our drinking water and water. Our groundwater natural environment.

EVEN CITE OUR BRIEF IN THEIR D E C I S I O N H A S B E E N O N E O F and surface water “The most exciting thing about THE PROUDEST MOMENTS OF resources are now better being involved in this process M Y C A R E E R ,” protected from pollution. was to see the role of science In short, the ‘groundwater validated in setting public loophole’ is closed.”

- D AV I D K A P L A N , P H . D . policy, especially regarding Their decision will change the environment. Seeing the the way wastewater is justices read, consider and even managed across the U.S. cite our brief in their decision has With the new ruling, wastewater will have to be been one of the proudest moments of my career,” treated to a higher standard before discharge in Dr. Kaplan said. order to protect the reef.

WATER ACT APRIL 2020

SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS

Wastewater will have to be treated to a higher standard before discharge in order to protect the reefs.

NOV. 2019

COUNTY OF MAUI V. HAWAII WILDLIFE FUND SUPREME COURT CASE PRESENTED

The County of Maui was being sued by environmental groups in Hawaii for pumping treated sewage into the ground.

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UNIVERSITY NEWS

UF ANNOUNCES $70 MILLION ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PARTNERSHIP WITH NVIDIA

By Steve Orlando Artist’s rendering of University of Florida’s new AI supercomputer based on NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD architecture.

The University of Florida announced a public-private partnership with NVIDIA that will catapult UF’s research strength to address some of the world’s most formidable challenges, create unprecedented access to AI training and tools for underrepresented communities, and build momentum for transforming the future of the workforce.

The initiative is anchored by a $50 million gift -- $25 million from UF alumnus Chris Malachowsky and $25 million in hardware, software, training and services from NVIDIA, the Silicon Valley-based technology company he cofounded and a world leader in AI and accelerated computing.

Along with an additional $20 million investment from UF, the initiative will create an AI-centric data center that houses the world’s fastest AI supercomputer in higher education.

Working closely with NVIDIA, UF will boost the capabilities of its existing supercomputer, HiPerGator, with the recently announced NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD™ architecture. This will give faculty and students within and beyond UF the tools to apply AI across a multitude of areas to improve lives, 16

bolster industry, and create economic growth across the state.

sectors across the region where the technology will have a profound positive effect.”

UF’s National AI Leadership

Extensive Collaboration with NVIDIA

The partnership will be central to UF’s vision to be a national leader in the application of AI, including an expansive plan to elevate its reach and impact in research, teaching, and economic development. It provides a replicable framework for future public-private cooperation, and a model for addressing society’s grand challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration. By deploying AI across the curriculum, this powerful resource will address major challenges such as rising seas, aging populations, data security, personalized medicine, urban transportation and food insecurity.

NVIDIA solution architects and product engineers will partner with UF on the installation, operation and optimization of the NVIDIAbased supercomputing resources on campus, including the latest AI software applications.

“UF’s leadership has a bold vision for making artificial intelligence accessible across its campus,” said Malachowsky, who serves as an NVIDIA Fellow. “What really got NVIDIA and me excited was partnering with UF to go broader still, and make AI available to K-12 students, state and community colleges, and businesses. This will help address underrepresented communities and

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

Establishing UF’s Equitable AI program, led by Dr. Juan Gilbert, Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering.

The effort is convening faculty members across the university to create standards and certifications in developing tools and solutions that are cognizant of bias, unethical practice and legal and moral issues.

Integrated AI Curriculum, IntelligentDecision Support, Equitable Access As a comprehensive institution, UF has a goal of bringing together students and faculty from across campus—and across the state.

Read the entire story on our website at news.ufl.edu/2020/07/nvidia-partnership.

S T U D E N T AWA R D S

Thomas Lutza Awarded UF Outstanding Four-Year Scholar

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

Thomas Lutza (BSCE ’19) was named a University of Florida (UF) Outstanding Four-Year Scholar at the Outstanding Leaders & Scholars ceremony on December 13. Lutza just received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

Every commencement, UF and the Alumni Association select outstanding students based on overall achievements.

The committee takes into account grade point average as well as academic awards, presentations and research projects.

“This award means everything to me, I believe is it is a representation of hard work and perseverance,” Lutza said. “I have been able to work with multiple research groups, design teams, and student organizations that have truly provided a well-rounded educational experience.”

Through resilience and determination, Lutza maintained a 4.0 GPA while participating in structures and materials research groups and leading UF’s

academic advisor, concrete canoe team advisor and role model.

Photo taken Dec. 2019

Curtis Taylor, Ph.D., Thomas Lutza and President Kent Fuchs, Ph.D., at the outstanding leaders & scholars ceremony.

“Thomas is an absolutely dedicated and industrious individual who has displayed outstanding teamwork skills in roles both as a member and a leader.

At the same time, he has achieved academically at the highest level at UF and continues to do so. He compliments this outstanding academic ability with a very good practical sense and is as much at home tackling hands-on design projects as he is doing theoretical engineering computations.,” Dr. Thieke said.

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) concrete canoe team. He served as concrete canoe head captain in 2018 and then as ASCE conference chair.

After receiving his bachelor’s, Lutza will continue pursue a master’s degree in structural engineering in the college within the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE).

Lutza credits Dr. Robert Thieke, Department Head of the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering and academic advisor, as the most influential individual in his collegiate career. Lutza says Dr. Thieke served as a professor,

“Because of the University of Florida, more specifically ESSIE, and the amazing people I’ve gotten to know along the way, I am now more confident than ever to move confidently in a direction that I never could have imagined,” said Lutza.

Doctoral Student Named Fellow

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

Sydney Williams, an environmental engineering sciences doctoral student, was accepted to the Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship Program and received funding by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office for Coastal Management to research the Sapelo Photo taken July 2019 Island National Estuarine Research Reserve’s (SINERR) water quality changes over the years and provide recommendations.

“There is major, untapped potential for us to work with our filter-feeding shellfish populations like mussels, oysters and clams to clean our waters in an economically feasible and environmentally sustainable way. This approach, serving as an alternative to those of traditional water treatment, is increasingly essential as more people live and develop on the coast,” she said.

EES Student Receives the CDM Smith Fellowship Award

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

Photo taken Sept. 2019

On Sept. 25, 2019, Jenny Olmsted, a fifth year Environmental Engineering student, received the CDM Smith Fellowship Award due to her outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements.

Olmsted planned to graduate with honors in fall 2019 and pursue her master’s in water systems at the University of Florida.

She’s accompanied by CDM Smith Client Service Manager Vice President, Patrick Victor (left), and her mentor, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences Associate Professor, Dr. Jean-Claude Bonzongo (right). ← TABLE OF CONTENTS | ESSIE.UFL.EDU

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STUDENTS & ALUMNI

STUDENT AWARDS Alexander Campano Outstanding Gator Engineering Two-Year Scholar

Wei-Ting Lu Outstanding Gator Engineering TwoYear Scholar

David Orense Don Maurer Memorial Fellowship

Karyna Villalba Attributes of a Gator Engineer Service to the Global Community Award

Madeleine Murphree ACI Concrete Materials Fellowship

Leading Global Sustainability

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

waste reductions, water conservation, green buildings and energy efficient products.

voice in global sustainability, she had to adapt to different communication styles in other cultures and perspectives.

She credited the University of Florida for its significant influence throughout her 20-year career, stemming from an internship at a local environmental consulting firm in Gainesville to her current position.

“I still remember my first in-person presentation I gave to our team outside the United States where English was not the native language. At the time, I did not appreciate how much cultural differences, language and my presentation style could have such a big impact on the success or failure of the meeting,” Bergen added.

Fawn Bergen presenting at an environmental conference on Intel’s water strategy.

Fawn Bergen (B.S. Environmental Engineering ‘99) has emerged as a leader in the global sustainability initiative. Her role as Global Sustainability Program Manager at Intel Corporation fulfills her lifelong passion in math, science and the environment.

“I am leading Intel’s carbon footprint and water stewardship programs across the world. This includes setting and achieving our climate and water goals as well as quantification and reporting of our footprint, enabling projects and partnering with local Intel teams, environmental organizations and governments to implement our goals,” Bergen said.

Bergen uses her decades of job experience to place Intel in the forefront of tackling climate change. The company focuses on carbon footprint and energy conservation, 18

“Being a UF student allowed me to have a wide variety of opportunities to invest in my education and develop my career along with professors and fellow students who pushed me to realize my potential,” Bergen said. “As I learned more and completed classes in the Department of Environmental Engineering, I began to understand how engineering principles and problem solving could be applied to developing solutions to environmental issues.”

Pulling from her undergraduate experience, Bergen urges current students to have patience and be openminded within their field of interest.

“When you are a student what you think you want to do may be very different than what you actually enjoy doing. One of the many reasons I have loved working as an environmental engineer is the enormous range of opportunities and focus areas that exist,” Bergen said.

Before Bergen could become a leading

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

Fawn Bergen and her two children managing Intel’s booth at the 2018 Children’s Clean Water Festival, where they taught hundreds of elementary students about the role of clean water and tech.

By starting over, she was able to assess her shortcomings and apply those skills to lead global programs in achieving the company’s sustainability goals.

Currently, Bergen is spearheading Intel’s water restoration goal, which is to restore 100% of the company’s water usage by 2025.

“I am passionate about demonstrating the business value that environmental sustainability brings to a company. My hope is to be able to look back at my career and see the positive impact my work has had on corporations and the environment,” she said.

Bergen recognized her husband as her biggest supporter and a staple throughout her career. They reside in Portland with their two children.

GIVING

REBEL WITH A CAUSE

By UF Foundation

IMMIGRANT’S LOVE FOR UF OPENS DOOR FOR OTHERS Just after midnight on April 17, 1961, Sergio Galeano and 1,400 other CIAtrained Cuban exiles, determined to put an end to Fidel Castro’s rule, slipped into the island nation’s Bay of Pigs (Bahia de Cochinos) for a covert mission. By dawn, the invasion had gone from secret to full-on firefight. Over the next two days, Castro’s men would capture — or execute — almost the entire brigade.

And Galeano, an engineer by trade, would spend the next 20 months as a political prisoner.

When he was released, he became a Gator — a graduate student, a father, an immigrant returning to school at the age of 29.

“UF symbolized everything that America had to offer our father and our family: opportunity. An understanding that if you worked hard and maximized your talents, the experience could literally change the course of your life,” son Michael Galeano says.

The father of four, grandfather of eight, great grandfather of five, and leader in his industry passed away in August 2019. He was 85 and grateful to the very end for his UF education. One of Galeano’s last acts was to support environmental engineering students in perpetuity with a planned gift. The Dr. Sergio F. Galeano Endowment is for students who, like him, have the will and fortitude to strive for a greater good.

Dr. Sergio F. Galeano in 1963 (center) with two other Bay of Pigs invasion veterans, Enrique Rodriguez (left) and Enrique Llacs, Jr. (right).

The scholarship, Michael and his brother, Sergei, say, is their father’s way to “pay it forward.”

“He wanted those who were deserving, but perhaps not financially able, to take advantage of a great education, to have that opportunity,” Sergei Galeano explains.

“One of our hopes is that [scholars] will recognize that someone was willing to make this available to them, remember his name and even perhaps take the time to research him a bit to understand his history and career success.”

It’s an improbable tale of grit and faith.

Galeano (MSE ’64, Ph.D. ’66) had already started to rise in his profession when Castro’s revolution unfolded. An expert on water systems, he’d been

part of Cuba’s delegation to the World Health Organization in the 1950s. After being exiled to Miami and moving to Gainesville to earn a master’s and doctorate degree, he began his almost 50-year career. Galeano became an international leader in pollution control standards, with seven patents to reduce pollution and as a U.S. representative at international environmental collaborations. Colleagues so admired him, Galeano received the pulp and paper industry’s highest award for his lifetime contributions.

Even with those achievements, their father should be remembered for something even more important, his sons believe.

“He never ignored his responsibilities, even under the worst of circumstances,” Sergei Galeano says. “He made no excuses, moved forward and did what had to be done. He assumed he would prevail and find solutions to each problem.”

It’s a lesson he would have wanted to share with his scholarship’s recipients, Michael Galeano adds.

“Don’t waste your talents. Hard work is a necessity and completely under your own control. You don’t need a Ph.D. to know right from wrong and do the right thing. Don’t waste time arguing or complaining. Recognize and accept things as they are, then try to change what you can.” ← TABLE OF CONTENTS | ESSIE.UFL.EDU

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ALUM N I SPOTLIGHT

THE GATOR100 Alumni from the University of Florida have created and guided some of the most innovative and profitable businesses in the nation and the world. Each year, the UF Alumni Association, in partnership with the UF Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center recognizes these amazing entrepreneurs with the Gator100 at a ceremony held on the main UF campus in Gainesville.

Congratulations to our talented Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering alumni who made the 2020 list for leading one of the world’s Fastest Growing Gator Companies!

NO. 22 – VERDEX CONSTRUCTION, LLC

NO. 43 – PROTEAN DESIGN GROUP, INC.

Rex Kirby (BSCE, ‘80), a veteran of the

Scott Horlander (BSCE, ‘88), vice-

construction industry, is the founder

president/chief business officer and

and president of Verdex Construction,

principal of Protean Design Group, Inc.,

LLC, located in Palm Beach, Florida. The

has a broad range of experience, spanning

company is involved in pre-construction

more than 22 years, including roadway

concepts, construction management,

design, traffic engineering and traffic

design/build, general contracting, tenant

studies, highway lighting and drainage

improvements and special projects.

design.

Verdex has received numerous awards from industry organizations. Kirby is pictured with Joey Mandese, vicepresident/managing director of North Florida.

Kimberly Horlander (BSCE, ‘89) is a founding principal and president of Protean Design Group, Inc., a multidisciplined civil engineering consulting firm with expertise in transportation, traffic, and lighting. As a member of both

22

20

Verdex Construction, LLC

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

ALUM N I SP OTLIGHT

ASCE and FES, Horlander has served in leadership roles on numerous committees during her career, including Engineers Week (Chairman) and Engineering

Florida. His company has won numerous

NO. 73 – J2 SOLUTIONS, INC.

awards, including Business of the Year,

David Fouche (BSCE, ‘01) is co-owner and

Contractor of the Year and induction

executive vice president of J2 Solutions,

into the prestigious “BIG-50 Remodeling

Management Forum (President).

Inc., with the vision of growing the firm

As vice-president/chief operations officer

company. His current duties include

for Protean Design Group, as well as a

leading the operations of the company, as

principal in the company, David Reed

well as all Health Care projects within acute

(BSCE, ‘89) offers clients more than 20

care hospitals all over the state of Florida.

years of highway engineering experience, ranging from minor intersection improvements to complex interchange design .

Contractors” from Remodeling Magazine.

into a premier commercial contracting

Jess Fronckowiak (BSCE, ‘00) founded J2 Solutions, Inc., in 2002 and has transitioned it from a one-man startup to a full-service, self-performing, design-build, construction management firm, servicing the entire state of

43

Protean Design Group, Inc. 21

73 Photos taken Feb. 2020

← TABLE OF CONTENTS | ESSIE.UFL.EDU

J2 Solutions, Inc.

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ALUM N I SPOTLIGHT

A BIG PART OF LIVING IS GIVING

By Diane Choate

Photo taken Sept. 2019

Charles “Chick” (BSCE ’72) and Lisa Gregg, UF Alumni Association life members, were vacationing in Colorado with their friend and partner, Mark Neubauer, when news of Hurricane Dorian’s imminent landfall reached them. Very quickly, their carefree vacation turned into a tense long weekend glued to the Weather Channel, waiting to learn the fate of the Abaco Islands and their inhabitants. The catastrophe affected Chick, Lisa and Mark directly, as they are the owners of Air Unlimited, a luxury airline service in Sanford, Florida, that offers scheduled flights to Marsh Harbor and Treasure Cay on Great Abaco as well as charter flights throughout the Bahamas and the southeastern United States. Chick and Mark started the airline after both had retired, turning their love of flying into a thriving regional business.

When Category 5 Hurricane Dorian arrived at the islands on September 1 and remained almost stationary over the area until September 3, the 185-mph winds, torrential rain, and storm surges devastated the Abacos and other areas of the Bahamas, leaving nearly 70,000 people homeless, most without food, water or shelter. As the dreaded news of a major impact caused by Dorian started pouring in, the Greggs and Neubauer began making plans on how to help the devastated island, a skill for which engineers are well trained.

Using WhatsApp, they began contacting friends and members of their business community. Overnight, their luxury planes turned into cargo carriers. Their airport hangar and warehouse filled with donations from local people. Within a day and a half of the storm’s passing, Neubauer traveled to the Abacos via helicopter to assess the situation. The partners quickly 22

realized that, while relief efforts were critical, rescue operations would also play an important role in their efforts.

The first Air Unlimited planes ferried relief supplies to those staying in the islands but also evacuated people who needed medical attention from the islands to Florida.

Florida House Representative Scott Plakon set up an office at the Sanford, FL, hangar, Lisa and Charles “Chick” (BSCE ’72) Gregg. teaming up with Air Unlimited and other members of the Abaco Flight Support

By September 20, as the need for group to help organize relief services, essential relief supplies decreased, Air supply drops, and to help with the logistics Unlimited shifted their efforts to include of getting stranded Floridians back home. flying professionals – medical personnel, engineers, builders, etc. – to Marsh Harbor On September 6, the Greggs and Neubauer, and Treasure Cay on charter flights to help along with Abaco Flight Support, set up begin rebuilding efforts. another distribution center at Spanish In addition to transporting supplies, “Dorian struck the Abacos from September Air Unlimited flights are now offered to 1 – September 3, and we flew our first homeowners hoping to rebuild, as well as planeload of supplies to an airstrip in numerous volunteers doing everything Nassau on September 5. Within five days, from helping with the cleanup initiative to our supply chain had become so efficient rescuing homeless pets. that by September 10, when we sent two A320 Airbuses to North Eleuthera As the Abacos begin to heal from Hurricane loaded with 30,000 pounds of supplies, Dorian, Chick, Lisa and Mark are reeverything was distributed via the boats by establishing their business in the Bahamas, the next day,” Chick said. “When the boats serving people traveling there and were going to the out islands, it was very continuing to give support to the citizens challenging to offload the supplies because of the islands. “When giving of yourself all docks and piers were gone,” added Lisa. or your treasure, you usually get more in return than you put in,” Chick noted.

As time went on, the Air Unlimited team began to receive specific requests from For these UF alumni and friends, an people in the Abacos, which they sent out important part of living is indeed giving. to their community via social media. “We would receive the needed items by the end of the day,” said Melissa Manchester, the office manager at Air Unlimited. “Everyone was extremely responsive.”

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

RESEARCH

ARPA-E AWARDS FERRARO $1.1 MILLION

TO RESEARCH BORON CONCRETE TO MITIGATE NEUTRON-INDUCED EXPANSION

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy (ARPA-E) program has awarded $1.1 million to Christopher Ferraro, Ph.D., P.E., to perform research on the prevention of damage on concrete used to house nuclear reactors.

When concrete is exposed to radiation, like it is in nuclear reactors, the aggregates within have potential to expand which ultimately leads to cracking and failing. This project will investigate a unique solution involving the conversion of boron and lithium which will be used to increase concrete’s durability and mitigate structural failure.

Dr. Ferraro, civil engineering assistant professor and principal investigator, seeks to explore ways to improve the concrete’s strength and extend its life span.

Currently, the majority of nuclear power

plants housed in the United States are under a renewed 40-year license.

footprint,” said ESSIE director Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D.

“If the boron proves to reduce or eliminate the expansion caused by radiation, it would mean that nuclear power plants using this technology would be much more likely to continue operation beyond their current 40year license period,” Dr. Ferraro added.

Dr. Ferraro states that the increased productivity will lead to a decrease in production costs and maintenance costs of nuclear power plants resulting in lowered dependence on foreign energy.

His research supports the current mission of the DOE’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program by providing a scientific basis for the design of newly constructed nuclear reactors beyond 60 years.

“This award is an impressive testament to Dr. Ferraro’s national reputation as an expert in cementitious materials. His research is leading the wave of next-generation civil materials design and application, with an emphasis on increased durability, broader implementation and reduced carbon

“The goal of the research project is to develop additives that can eliminate the damage and cracking concrete typically experience when exposed to radiation,” Dr. Ferraro said.

This project produced by UF is among 30 awards receiving over $37 million in funding from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Innovating Through Unconventional Ideas initiative.

SONG RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS NSF CAREER AWARD

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) to study failures in unsaturated porous media.

He will use the five-year, $500,000 award to formulate and validate a novel computational mathematical paradigm to evaluate failures in unsaturated soils impacted by climate change.

Xiaoyu Song, an assistant professor of civil engineering, received a National Science

Unsaturated soils such as wet sand and clay are three-phase porous media in which pores are filled with both water and air.

This project will apply scientific computing to provide a better understanding of why unsaturated soils are prone to failure under certain circumstances, as well as the knowledge needed to build more sustainable, resilient civil infrastructure, such as thermal piles, dams, levees, roads, and buildings on unsaturated soils.

“As a geomechanics modeler by highperformance computing, I can better characterize failures in unsaturated porous media driven by coupled multi-physical processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales, like nanometers to kilometers and nanoseconds to years, which are usually computationally demanding,” Dr. Song said.

His research will advance the critical understanding of complex processes coupled between the reaction of unsaturated soils to climate change in regard to environmental, energy and coastal geotechnics.

This highly regarded CAREER Award is given from the NSF to junior faculty to produce lifetime contributions to research and education.

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RESEARCH

MEASURING THE NEW NORMAL POST COVID-19

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

The unprecedented coronavirus pandemic forced the world to shut down for months. Homes turned into classrooms, work places and restaurants.

Now, as America continues to reopen, people are adjusting to a new normal when entering public places and interacting with others.

Eric Jing Du, Ph.D., an associate professor in civil engineering, plans to examine and predict changes to people’s mobility behavior with a Rapid Response Research (RAPID) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Du is collaborating with Ryan Qi Wang, Ph.D., at Northeastern University. The goal is to enable improved citizens’ preparation and public agencies’ responses to future public health crises.

“This is important because the general public can be better informed of safer travel behaviors, such as avoiding certain areas at certain times in the day and the use of personal protective equipment when u s i n g p u b l i c t r a n s p o r t .”

“A person’s daily trip decisions can be affected by a variety of motivational, decisional and sentimental factors, such as the sense of urgency for going out, concerns about the coronavirus

24

spread, news coverage and social influence,” Dr. Du said.

Dr. Du worked with his students–Tianyu Zhou, Qi Zhu and Paul Wei–to develop a smartphone mobile app to send daily high-frequency surveys to users and obtain location data through the built-in GPS tracker. He plans to cross-reference the app’s results with the individual’s geolocation data captured from Twitter to gather information.

A smartphone app developed by Dr. Du and his students, Tianyu Zhou, Qi Zhu and Paul Wei.

Based on the results of the attitudinal data with people’s daily GPS results, Dr. Du will build machine learning models. The mathematical model will be used to display a trajectory of the public’s mobility pattern changes during the pandemic as changing conditions influence attitudes correlated to travel decisions.

“This is important because the general public can be better informed of safer travel behaviors, such as avoiding certain areas at certain times in the day and the use of personal protective equipment when using public transport. Public agencies can use our data and model to help predict the development of the pandemic and

ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT

investigate strategies to encourage safer behaviors related to daily travels,” Dr. Du said.

The project is now gathering data from roughly 500 individuals over a 3-month period. Participants consented to releasing their geolocation information for research purposes. Participation in this research is voluntary and adheres to UF Institutional Review Board compliance guidelines. Support from NSF extends to April 2021.

RESEARCH

THE CASE FOR BUILDING HAZARD-RESILIENT RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

THE DESTROYED HOUSES FROM THE NASHVILLE, TN, TORNADO David O. Prevatt, Ph.D., a civil engineering associate professor, conducts structural engineering research to advance the sustainability of communities subjected to severe wind events. On March 3, 2020, a tornado touched down in Nashville, Tenn., resulting in over 20 fatalities and the destruction of dozens of buildings.

Dr. Prevatt deployed to Nashville to conduct a post-tornado damage investigation.

for the cost-effective improvement of building codes for tornado-resilient communities.

“The U.S. does not yet have a tornado-resilient building code and so structures aren’t designed for such extreme loads,” Dr. Prevatt said.

“Unfortunately, the existing guidelines for structural design of houses, in particular, include several known weaknesses in their components and connections that make them far too vulnerable to extreme winds.”

As a wind and structural engineer, Dr. Prevatt has led or participated in more than a dozen post-tornado damage surveys since 2011, and he repeatedly observes similar preventable causes of building failures.

The Nashville tornado was no different, as the researchers found weak or missing connections in the buildings’ load path that made them vulnerable to catastrophic failures.

A four-story apartment complex lost 50% of its roof structure, damaged walls and broken windows, resulting in all residents finding alternative housing.

Dr. Prevatt serves as a co-director of the NSF-supported Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) Network. This organization fields forensic engineering teams that collect post-event field data needed to understand the failure patterns in buildings. These efforts are critical

The detailed, comprehensive 100-page Early Access Virtual Reconnaissance Report (EARR) released on April 13, presents evidence collected using street view cameras, UAV cameras and detailed door-to-door assessments. The EARR report includes recommendations from five previous tornado damage assessment reports and recommends methods to mitigate structural damage. It is hoped the Nashville officials will use this report as they develop options for revising their building codes.

“It is sad to see many families suffer complete loss of their houses due

Two-story multi-wythe masonry wall destroyed by the tornado in Nashville, TN.

to insufficiencies that have been known for decades,” Dr. Prevatt said.

“Since the 1970 Lubbock tornado, which happened 50 years ago this month, engineers have said that building structures should be tied to foundations. But in Nashville, many of the houses that failed did not have these ties and, as a result, suffered catastrophic damage.”

Dr. Prevatt hopes that planners for wind hazard-prone communities will take this report and a wealth of existing supporting literature into consideration. It is obvious that future housing can be built to be more resilient with the right connections in the right places, but it is also true that the existing building stock can be dramatically improved through proper retrofits to mitigate weaknesses.

“The only way to change the paradigm is to shift towards structural systems that include robust vertical and lateral load paths. We can upgrade today’s houses and build tomorrow’s houses for a more resilient future,” Dr. Prevatt said. ← TABLE OF CONTENTS | ESSIE.UFL.EDU

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RESEARCH

DELIZ RECEIVES EPA STAR AWARD

TO MITIGATE PFAS EXPOSURE IN FLOODS

By Reba Liddy Hernandez

Katherine Deliz Quiñones, Ph.D., a lecturer in environmental engineering sciences in the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE) within the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, received support from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program to help build resilience in vulnerable communities.

As lead principal investigator, Dr. Deliz will assess how flooding, caused by extreme weather events in Florida, affects the migration of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from contaminated sites to nearby communities. The group will also determine societal factors that could exacerbate the exposure risk and potential health outcomes of vulnerable groups in the population.

John Bowden, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences, collects sediment samples for PFAS analysis.

According to the EPA, PFAS are man-made chemicals that have been used in industry since the 1940’s. PFAS applications range from commercial and household products, to clothing and food packaging. Once released into the environment they are very hard to degrade. PFAS can now be found in

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water, soil, plants, and animals – including humans. Nearly everyone has detectable levels of PFAS in their body. Despite widespread PFAS contamination and evidence of their adverse health effects, there are no U.S. federal regulations to enforce lower PFAS levels in the environment.

Dr. Deliz says that growing up in Puerto Rico and experiencing the constant devastation from natural disasters gave her a clear understanding of how the fragility of the surrounding natural and built environments can affect community health.

“I am very aware how the lack of preparedness resulting from uninformed management, and limited public involvement can affect seemingly healthy communities,” Dr. Deliz added. “It has always been my dream to work in improving public health. I understand that it is a task that can’t be accomplished without first enhancing communities’ resilience against environmental hazards.”

With the $800,000 grant, this project will be the first to use a Holistic Environmental Health Research model, which considers natural, social and built environments to provide insight on different PFAS pathways. She intends to show that this systems-based model will improve risk assessment and management in vulnerable communities that are prone to flooding.

This transdisciplinary collaboration involves the effort of multiple researchers within the University of Florida, including Jean Claude Bonzongo, Ph.D., a professor in environmental engineering sciences, and Antarpreet Jutla, Ph.D., an associate professor in environmental engineering sciences; John Bowden, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences; and Eric Coker

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“It has always been my dream to work in improving public health . I understand that it is a task that can’t be accomplished without first enhancing communities’ resilience against environmental h a z a r d s .”

Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health.

“This project engages a diverse team including UF faculty and local communitybased organizations such as Fight for Zero in Brevard County and the Jacksonville Gullah Geechee Nation Community Development Corp. Together we will support the EPA’s mission to perform solution-driven research that can protect both human health and the environment,” Dr. Deliz said.

The project began in August as the researchers will survey Brevard County, FL, as a case study, Duval County has been selected to demonstrate broader impacts in terms of translating relevant findings and resilience-building activities. The results, however, are intended to provide more than localized solutions.

“Ultimately, this community-driven study will allow our team to develop comprehensive approaches for environmental protection, emergency management and exposure mitigation, targeted at building healthy and environmental resilient communities beyond our case study area,” Dr. Deliz said.

RESEARCH

EPA FUNDS TOWNSEND TO STUDY PFAS CHEMICALS

By Diane Choate

Municipal solid waste (MSW) includes the household waste we carry to the curb each week in our trash cans and recycle bins.

Most MSW is composed of food, paper, plastic, and a variety of other discarded products and packaging materials. In the U.S., roughly half of our MSW is recycled or burned to produce energy. The rest of it is disposed of in landfills, often along with other waste streams such as medical waste, water treatment sludges, and construction and demolition debris.

In recent years, potential health concerns form a newly appreciated suite of trace chemicals has emerged on the national stage: per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Thousands of PFAS chemicals have reportedly been developed and used in a multitude of industrial and commercial products, including firefighting foams, water-repelling agents in our clothes and shoes, and in food product packaging.

Timothy Townsend, Ph.D., the Jones Edmunds Professor of Environmental Engineering, and his team from the Sustainable Materials Management Research Lab (SMMRL), are spearheading research to study PFAS at landfills and our waste stream as a whole. “Today the scientific community recognizes that PFAS chemicals, many of which are known or suspected to impact human health, can be found in our water, surrounding ecosystems, animal life, and in every one of us right now,” Dr. Townsend said.

As the principal investigator (PI), Dr. Townsend is heading up a group of interdisciplinary collaborators that has received part of a $6M total grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study PFAS chemicals and their role in landfills. “These grants will help improve EPA’s understanding of the characteristics and impacts of PFAS in

waste streams and enhance our efforts to address PFAS,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

The EPA desires to know more about the extent to which PFAS chemicals enter the nation’s landfills, the fraction of these chemicals exiting landfills with leachate, and the extent to which modern landfills provide effective control of the PFAS found in the garbage we throw away every day. Of critical importance to EPA is the development of effective treatment technologies. One element of the new research will include an examination of the degree of PFAS removal being accomplished by existing treatment systems.

ESSIE graduate students, such as shown here, build their research programs around solid waste and landfill-related questions posed by scientific, regulatory and industrial professionals.

The project is an interdisciplinary effort of investigators from within UF and outside.

Dr. Katherine Deliz Quiñones, a research faculty member in environmental engineering sciences, provides expertise in toxicology and biochemistry. Battelle, a global research and development organization, houses nationally certified PFAS analytical facilities and serves as one of the top PFAS labs in the U.S.

Dr. Townsend reflected on the desired impact of this research study. “It will provide scientists, policy makers, landfill operators, and the entire industry much more clarity regarding the many unknowns concerning PFAS and landfills. We need to better understand which components of our waste stream are providing the greatest PFAS inputs to landfills, if and how much of the PFAS chemicals are retained or transformed in the landfill, and what methods of PFAS treatment are most effective. The answers to these questions can help direct national strategies such as targeted waste screening and reduction to reduce PFAS impacts, better landfill operational strategy, and the most effective treatment techniques,” he said.

This research will also provide significant experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in the environmental engineering discipline.

“They will be interacting with landfill operators and others in the solid waste community, both through the collection of samples at multiple disposal facilities, and through the dissemination of research results. The students will play a critical role in the laboratory analysis and the performance of experiments to meet project objectives,” Dr. Townsend stated.

This project will span three years, with the researchers conducting studies at multiple landfill sites of all ages and waste characteristics, as well as laboratory simulations to test hypotheses resulting from field sampling and analysis. The ultimate goal is to allow the scientific community, policy makers and landfill operators to come up with new strategies for addressing the concerns of PFAS in our waste stream, with UF playing a leading role in this discussion.

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