Purdue University's Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering recognized seven passionate, influential and visionary graduates during the 32nd annual Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Awards banquet.

It wasn't Matthew Moulton's goal of developing and maintaining safer bridges for the state of Michigan that drove him to return to college for his master's degree in civil engineering. It was a desire to complete a path he had started long ago.

Wavelogix, a manufacturer of novel, patented concrete strength sensors invented at Purdue University's College of Engineering, has received a $500,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase IIB grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships.

The latest edition of 'Steel Design' offers an industry-leading exploration of structural steel, focusing specifically on the design of individual members and their connections. Co-author Sayed Soleimani, a professor of engineering practice in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, combines practical procedures with a strong theoretical foundation to help students and practicing engineers apply fundamental design principles to real-world structures.

For the first time in the U.S., a roadway wirelessly charged an electric heavy-duty truck driving at highway speeds, demonstrating a key technology that could help lower the costs of building electrified highways for all electric vehicles to use.

Purdue engineers have developed a patent-pending method to decrease hazardous strikes to underground utility pipes during construction projects. This could lower related financial losses, service disruptions, injuries and fatalities. Professor Hubo Cai and Purdue doctoral candidate Yuxi Zhang are improving upon traditional ground-penetrating radar data to better estimate the location, orientation and radius of underground utility pipes.

Purdue is pleased to announce that the Data to Science initiative (D2S) — an open-source research platform — has been accepted into the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Open Data Sponsorship Program, which encourages development of communities that benefit from access to shared datasets.

Darcy Bullock, Lyles Family Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Joint Transportation Research Program, was presented with the National Safety Award by the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) during the 56th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo.

Cem Korkmaz, Ph.D., Senior Research Engineer at Purdue's Bowen Laboratory, has been recognized by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) for foundational research work leading to the simplified analytical methods and shear stud modeling provisions for twin tub girder bridge systems.

Behzad Esmaeili, Ph.D., an associate professor with joint appointments in the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering and Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Purdue, has been named the Dr. Rohan & Mrs. Merle Phillips Rising Star Associate Professor.

During the recent ASHRAE conference in Las Vegas, Thanos Tzempelikos, Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering and Herrick Labs Faculty, was named ASHRAE Fellow and received the award. Tzempelikos was recognized for his research contributions to daylighting control, integration of thermal and lighting systems operation, and indoor environmental quality and comfort.

Fred Mannering (MSCE 1979), former head of civil engineering at Purdue, and Milo Riverso (MSCE 1982, PhD 1984), CEAAA recipient in 2015, have been elected as members of the National Academy of Engineering, one of the most prestigious honors in engineering.

Rao "G.S." Govindaraju, Vice President for Institutes and Centers at Discovery Park District and Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, was welcomed as the Distinguished speaker for the Gyan Ganga Distinguished Lecture Series on River Sustainability on January 8, 2026 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Purdue has grown a thriving forest of more than 2,000 geographic information systems (GIS) users across campus. The largest numbers come from the colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Science. GIS and the Institute for Digital Forestry, among other Purdue academic disciplines, have grown together like trees with intertwined canopies. GIS enables users to create, manage, analyze and map data in fields such as the humanities; civil engineering; political science; and earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences.

Richard Ajagu, Masters student in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, was awarded the CCAT Student of the Year by the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC).

Purdue Research Foundation is launching a new series: National Academy of Inventors Fellows at Purdue. The series opens with Luna Lu, Indiana ACPA Professor in Concrete Paving and Materials Science and vice president of the Office of Industry Partnerships, whose work is redefining the future of infrastructure and energy through AI-powered Internet of Things sensor technology that enables communication with infrastructure to understand its condition. The NAI Fellows Program honors academic inventors whose collaborative, multidisciplinary research is translated into real-world technologies that benefit society.

The Lyles School of Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering's Online Master's Program has been recognized as the #1 program in the country.

Daylight and window views positively affect health and well-being in many ways. However, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are hypersensitive to environmental stimulation, which leads many educational facilities to use windowless spaces or fully block natural light to avoid potential distractions. Professor Thanos Tzempelikos leads a $600K collaborative research project with Ball State University, sponsored by NSF, to solve this problem.

Samuel Labi, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been appointed chair of the International Road Federation (IRF) Committee on Alternative Financing.

Congratulations to Brandon Fulk and Rabita Rajkarnikar for being recognized as finalists for the 2025 College of Engineering Staff Awards of Excellence.