eConnections


January 2026

Message from the Head

Ayman Habib

With a new semester and a new year, comes a new era for the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering.

After more than a decade serving as head of our school, Dr. Rao “G.S.” Govindaraju has taken a new position at Purdue University to become the Vice President for Institutes and Centers at Discovery Park District. We could not be happier for G.S. and know he will be a great success and take our university to even greater heights in the years to come.

Currently, our school and the College of Engineering at Purdue, are searching for the next head. As you can imagine, becoming the head of one of the premier civil and construction engineering schools in the world is something that is highly sought after and will take time to find the perfect fit, but I am confident we will have a wealth of incredible candidates to choose from.

In the meantime, I have the privilege to serve as the interim head of the school. I am confident that during this time, our faculty, students, alumni, staff, and partners will continue to strive toward making the next giant leap in both education and research — and I look forward to sharing their efforts and accomplishments.

I am also excited to be part of a momentous occasion this year as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Construction Engineering Program. Since the Lyles School and CEM merged in 2024, we have only made each other stronger and provided even greater opportunities for our students. In the months to come, we plan to share information about our plans to mark this incredible achievement, and I encourage you to join us.

Best regards,

Ayman Habib
Acting Head and Thomas A. Page Professor of Civil Engineering
Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering

Online Ranking

Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering Online Master's Program ranked #1 in the nation

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

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Undergrad Ranking

Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering undergraduate program ranked #3 in the nation

The Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering (LSCCE) at Purdue University is a top 3 undergraduate program in the United States.

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CNE 50th Anniversary

The Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering Celebrates 50 Years of Construction Engineering in 2026-2027

This celebration honors the legacy of Construction Engineering at Purdue University, where innovative and versatile engineers are taught and developed for the industry. As we reflect five decades of excellence, we invite our Purdue family to join us in shaping for an even brighter future. Together, we will create a lasting impact for the next 50 years and beyond.

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Nusrat Jung

Potential health hazards associated with heat and hair care products 'worse than expected' say Purdue engineers

A typical morning hair care routine can expose you to as much immediate nanoparticle pollution as standing in dense highway traffic, report Purdue University engineers.

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PaveX car in motion

AI tech from Jahanshahi startup PaveX improves consistency, speed and cost of road condition assessments

PaveX, a Purdue University-connected startup founded and led by Associate Professor Mohammad Jahanshahi, is leveraging AI to help public works departments across multiple Indiana cities automate road condition assessments and maintain local road infrastructure.

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Thanos Tzempelikos

When true multidisciplinary research makes an impact: engineering, psychological and behavioral sciences join forces towards a common goal

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.

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Upcoming Events

  • January 21, 2026 — Employer Day: Honeyville Metal
  • January 22, 2026 — Employer Day: Yarger Engineering
  • January 28, 2026 — Employer Day: Kimley-Horn
  • January 28, 2026 — Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors Purdue Alumni Reception
  • February 4, 2026 — Employer Day: The Walsh Group
  • February 25, 2026 — Employer Day: Strand Associates
  • March 4, 2026 — Employer Day: Hanson
  • March 11, 2026 — Employer Day: AtkinsRealis
  • April 1, 2026 — Employer Day: Parsons
  • April 2, 2026 — Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Awards
  • April 9, 2026 — Distinguished Alumni Awards
  • April 16, 2026 — Beta Tau Internship Banquet
  • April 29, 2026 — Purdue Day of Giving
  • May 15, 2026 — CCE Golf Open
Pablo Zavattieri

Panama Canal efficiency project led by Pablo Zavattieri awarded $50,000 from Trask Innovation Fund

Purdue University researcher Pablo Zavattieri is developing a reconfigurable and navigable waterway barrier, or RNWB, to address saltwater intrusion in the Panama Canal. Zavattieri leads one of two projects that have received a total of $100,000 from Purdue Innovates’ Trask Innovation Fund to further enhance Purdue innovations for commercialization.

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Bridge Class

Purdue Civil and Construction Engineering to create 'first-of-its-kind' bridge engineering concentration

In response to increasing industry demands, Purdue's Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering (LSCCE) is introducing new courses, seminars, and — in the future — a concentration to address the United States' bridge infrastructure workforce gap.

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SySCCon Logo

1st International Symposium on Steel to Concrete Connections to be held August 2026 at Purdue

The 1st  International Symposium on Steel to Concrete Connections (SySCCon 2026) will take place from August 3rd to 5th, 2026, at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States. This symposium will serve as a dedicated platform for researchers, academics, practitioners, and industry professionals to come together and engage in meaningful discussions on the latest innovations and research in Anchorage, Bond and Composite Construction.

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Robert Connor

First-ever pedestrian bridge inspection process proposed

Pedestrian bridges have evolved from merely functional to works of art that often integrate with a city’s design plan. Enhancing a structure’s appearance often introduces more complex design elements and construction challenges.  In "Proposed Criteria for the In-Service Inspection of Pedestrian Bridges," a new study for the Journal of Bridge Engineering, authors Aedh Alharthi and Robert Connor used a risk-based inspection method to determine optimal inspection intervals for pedestrian bridges.

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Andrew Whelton

When wildfires compromise drinking water, utilities lean on the advice of Prof. Andrew Whelton

In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals which federally mandated testing is not designed to catch. Filling that regulatory void is Professor Andrew Whelton, who has dedicated himself to helping water utilities recover in the aftermath of devastating fires.

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Autonomous vehicle research

Purdue researchers uncover vulnerability in autonomous vehicle vision systems

A team of Purdue University researchers including Yiheng Feng, Assistant Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering and Assistant Director of the Center for Road Safety (CRS), have introduced a new, physically practical method called DetStorm that reveals a critical vulnerability in how autonomous vehicles process visual information.

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Get Connected!

The Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering has several ways for you to stay up-to-date with our activities and accomplishments. One of the best ways is to subscribe to our social media channels.

We have active Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts. Join us, interact, and share!

Thanks for keeping us up to date with your contact information, life events, and career news. Send your updates to: Jaimee Barr at jimaddox@purdue.edu.

  • PhD student Bruno Cesar Krause Moras has been selected as an International Road Federation (IRF) Fellow for the Class of 2026. He was co-nominated for this prestigious award by Professor Nadia Gkritza and Professor Samuel Labi. This fellowship has been the cornerstone of the careers of many who are now leading figures in the realm of roads and transportation globally.
  • Aser Eissa, Ph.D. student in Geomatics, has been named a recipient of the Robert E. Altenhofen Memorial Scholarship from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).
  • Sang-Yeop Shin, Ph.D. student in Geomatics, has been named a recipient of the Paul R. Wolf Memorial Scholarship from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).
  • Congratulations to CCE student athletes Hugh Jacobsmeyer, member of the Purdue men's cross country team, and Allie Shondell, member of the Purdue volleyball team, for earning Academic All-Big Ten accolades in the fall 2025 sports season. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten, students must carry a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
  • Woei-Chyi Chang, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, has been awarded the 2nd Place Prize in the Poster Competition at the 2025 ITS Michigan Annual Meeting. Woei-Chyi was also awarded the Spring 2025 Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award, as well as the Best Paper Award in the TG96 - Accelerating Innovation in Construction section at the 2025 World Building Congress (WBC) held at Purdue University..
  • LSCCCE undergrad Amareah Bead has been named to the seventh class of Purdue Engineering Fellows. Thanks to the generosity of alumnus Robert H. Buckman (BSChE '59) and his wife, Joyce A. Mollerup, each fellow receives $25,000 after graduation to freely pursue their aspirations and goals.
  • Ph.D. student Kendahl Hejl has been recognized as an outstanding mentor for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program. The program, founded in 2003, was designed to enhance classroom learning, involve undergraduates in real problem solving, and spark interest for research careers in science and engineering.
  • Sydney Boudreau, member of the Purdue soccer team, and Joel Gomez, member of the Purdue cross country and track & field teams, earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition for their academic excellence achieving a GPA of 3.7 or better during the 2024-2025 school year.
  • PhD candidate Deepak Benny was selected to participate in the 2025 Leaders Development Conference (LDC) organized by the Eno Center for Transportation in Washington, D.C. This prestigious, week-long fellowship brought together a select cohort of 17 graduate students from across the country to explore how national transportation policy is formed, debated, and implemented at the highest levels of government.
  • Mohammadhosein Pourgholamali, graduate student in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, received the award for best paper in the Planning and Development category, and finalist in all categories, at the 2025 ASCE International Conference of Transportation and Development held in Glendale, Arizona.
  • Wei Zhou, Ph.D. student in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, has received the Best Paper Award in the TG96 - Accelerating Innovation in Construction section at the 2025 World Building Congress (WBC) held at Purdue University.
  • The Slag Cement Association (SCA) announced Chibueze Sylvester Ajuonuma and his research project, "Practical Implementation of Internally Cured Slag Cement Concrete Using Superabsorbent Polymers," as a winner of its 2024 Slag Cement in Sustainable Concrete Awards. The winning projects were unveiled and celebrated on April 2, 2025, during the spring ACI Concrete Convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • Jordan Cross, a Ph.D. student in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, has been awarded the 2024 Stephen H. Rothblatt Memorial Scholarship by the Air & Waste Management Association – Lake Michigan States Section (AWMA-LMSS). The award was presented at the Annual Air Conference in Chicago.

  • Luna Lu, the Indiana ACPA Professor in Concrete Paving and Materials Science, has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Lu is the founder and CEO of the venture-backed startup company Wavelogix Inc., which was on Time magazine's list of best inventions in 2023.
  • Ayman Habib, Thomas A. Page Professor of Civil Engineering, has been elevated to the grade of IEEE Senior Member. IEEE Senior Membership is an honor bestowed only to those who have made significant contributions to the profession.
  • The IEEE Board of Directors has elevated Jie Shan, Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering, to the grade of IEEE Fellow, effective January 1, 2026. Professor Shan received this honor for his contributions to advanced LiDAR analytics and technologies.
  • Andrew Whelton's team co-authored the first-ever evidence-based post-fire building environmental testing guide. Released in August 2025 and highlighted during the briefing, the report already has been downloaded more than 1,600 times by professionals, agencies and homeowners.
  • Robert Frosch, Pprofessor of Civil and Construction Engineering and Vice Provost for Academic Facilities, has been selected to receive the Charles S. Whitney Medal by the American Concrete Institute, in recognition of his advancement of engineering knowledge.
  • Professor Ernest R. Blatchley III recently started a 2-year term as President of the International Ultraviolet Association (IUVA).
  • The Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI) of ASCE has announced Samuel Labi, Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering, as the 2025 recipient of the Wilbur S. Smith Award. This award is given to a person who has made "special contributions to the enhancement of the civil engineer's role in highway engineering."
  • Amit H. Varma, Ph.D., Karl H. Kettelhut Professor in Civil Engineering and Director of Bowen Laboratory, has been recognized by the American Institute of Steel Construction with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his research and contributions in the areas of steel-concrete composite construction, fire design, and nuclear structures. An interview with Dr. Varma is featured in the American Institute of Steel Construction's latest Modern Steel Construction podcast and magazine.
  • The Purdue University Board of Trustees ratified the appointment of Makarand (Mark) Hastak as the Reilly Professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering

 

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