In our environmental engineering theme Spring/Summer 2006 issue of Impact you will read how a research trio develops technology to ensure safe drinking water, how remote sensing is taken to new heights, how civil engineers are making a world of difference, plus much more.

Zachary T. Clark, undergraduate student, Avery Rhodes, MSCE 2005, Professor Darcy M. Bullock of Transportation, James Sturdevant, Traffic Management and System Operations Specialist with USDOT, and Dave Candey, Technical Support Manager at Econolite Control Products, received the Transportation Research Board D. Grant Mickle Award for best paper in the area of operations and maintenance, titled "Evaluation of Stop Bar Video Detection Accuracy at Signalized Intersections".

Traffic safety can be greatly impacted by non-truck drivers' and freight truck drivers' behavior toward one another. Professor Srinivas Peeta, graduate student Pengcheng Zhang, and former graduate student Weimin Zhou is the research team of this study titled "Behavior-based analysis of freeway car-truck interactions and related mitigation strategies".

Lesley H. Sneed, graduate student, received the PCA Education Foundation Fellowship for the following research project titled "Effect of Member Depth on the Shear Strength of Reinforced Concrete Flexural Members".

Structural engineers study corrosion-resistant material of an Indiana bridge, promising to double the number of years between expensive repairs.

Distinguished Professor Mete Sozen is currently teaming up with other engineers and scientists urging action to protect Istanbul from future earthquakes.

Farshad Rajabipour, graduate student, was awarded first place in poster contest for his work on the development of a sensor for assessing drying in concrete during the Spring 2006 meeting of the Center for Advanced Cement Based Materials.

This year's 2006 Bryant Mather Award was given to Gaurav Sant, undergraduate student, Pietro Lura, post-doc, and Associate Professor Jason Weiss, Materials, for their paper titled "Measurement of volume change in cementitious materials at early ages: review of testing protocols and interpretation of results".

The $1.5 million ten-year pledge from Chris and Susan Burke establishes the Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Professorship.

Geotechnical Design has traditionally been done using working stress design (WSD), a design approach in which a factor of safety is used to either magnify the applied loads or reduce the available resistance to ensure safety. In WSD, all the uncertainties are lumped in the factor of safety. Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) is an approach in which the uncertainties related to the imposed loads are accounted for by magnifying these loads, while the uncertainties involved in reducing resistances are accounted for by reducing the resistances.

At the Civil Engineering Scholarship and Awards program held April 27, 2006, Clint Roos received the John G. McEntyre Endowment Scholarship.

Sybil Sharvelle, environmental graduate student, received the Greeley and Hansen Elmer F. Ballotti Memorial Fellowship and the Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship.

Civil engineers aiming to uncover better ways to make roads last longer, using less asphalt and less crude oil.

Purdue researcher uses remote sensing to study environmental and property related issues in the aftermath of Texas coast hurricanes, monitor endangered species' habitats at Kennedy Space Center, assess earthquake damage in Algeria, and map wildfires in the Australian outback.

Three Purdue researchers put their heads and labs together under the umbrella project of using UV radiation to treat drinking water, their collaboration became a breakthrough.

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are a group of chemicals added to many products, including computers, TVs and household textiles, in order to reduce fire risk. The widespread production and use of BFRs are raising concerns due to evidence of increasing contamination of the environment, wildlife, and people; and limited knowledge of potential effects heighten the importance of identifying emerging issues associated with the use of BFRs.

In our Fall 2005 issue of Impact you will read how well-paved roadways can lead to energy savings, how more women break into engineering fields once reserved for men, how energy demands call for civil engineers, plus much more.