January 2025

Message from the Head

With the new year I cannot help but think about the new opportunities in store for 2025 and the great strides we recently made in 2024.

The most notable stride we made, of course, is the merger with the Division of Construction Engineering to form the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering. The merger has ushered in a new, incredible era for our school — and especially for our students. With this merger, 116 new students joined our program, bringing our total student roster up to 763 undergrads and 430 grad students.

This is the first eConnections edition post-merger, and I am proud to say the combining of our two great programs has gone — and continues to go — very well. I cannot express how proud I am of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and partners who helped make this merger as smooth and successful as it has been.

This past year has also seen some of the most notable research to ever come out of our school. Our world-impacting research efforts to wirelessly charge electric vehicles as they drive over sections of highway, greater insights into indoor air quality and how it impacts a person’s health, and concrete strength-sensing technology are but few examples. We have also seen a greater increase in AI applications as we use it to gather data, train professionals, and make advancements with autonomous vehicles.

Our research and excellence in education has not gone unnoticed, either. Nationally, our programs are ranked amongst the best in the United States this year. In 2024, U.S. News and World Report named our undergraduate program #3 in the nation, our graduate program #5, and our online program #2.

Now, with an incredible year behind, our school looks forward to seeing what 2025 has in store. I am confident our students, alumni, faculty, staff, and partners will continue to make great efforts this year, and I look forward to celebrating their successes.

All the best,

Rao S. Govindaraju
Bowen Engineering Head of Civil and Construction Engineering
and Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering

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

U.S. News & World Report has released its national rankings of undergraduate programs for 2025 with Purdue University LSCCE ranked #3 in the nation. The rankings are computed from the responses to a survey sent to deans, heads, and selected senior faculty.

Learn more.

Purdue to host CIB World Building Congress in 2025

Purdue University will host the 23rd World Building Congress (WBC2025) at its campus in West Lafayette from May 19-23, 2025. The title of the conference is “Sustainable Built Environment – The Role of the Construction Community in Meeting the UN SDGs.” Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include industry, innovation and infrastructure; responsible consumption and products; sustainable cities and communities; and decent work and economic growth, to name just a few.

Learn more.

Concrete sensor manufacturer Wavelogix receives $1M grant from National Science Foundation

Wavelogix, a manufacturer of novel, patented concrete strength sensors invented by Luna Lu, Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering and Wavelogix's founder, has received a $999,910 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation.

Learn more.

NASA visits Purdue to discuss extra-terrestrial habitats

Humans have always aspired to live among the stars — and Purdue University researchers are now working to make it happen. The Resilient Extra-Terrestrial Habitat institute (RETHi), a NASA-funded Space Technology Research Institute, explores how to make future space habitats resilient to disruptions and able to deal with complex situations autonomously.

Learn more.

Upcoming Events

• February 16: CE and CNE Advisory Council Meetings in Naples
• April 1: Beta Tau / Construction Engineering Internship Banquet
• April 3: Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Awards banquet
• May 16: Commencements

Congratulations Class of 2024!

Congratulations to all of our students who earned their degrees! We’re incredibly proud to count you as our newest alumni — and we look forward to seeing you back on campus soon!

Autonomous vehicles could understand their passengers better with ChatGPT, research shows

Imagine simply telling your vehicle, “I’m in a hurry” and it automatically takes you on the most efficient route to where you need to be. A Purdue University research team, led by Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering Prof. Ziran Wang, has found that an autonomous vehicle can do this using ChatGPT.

Learn more.

Panel shares lessons from the chemical disaster in East Palestine, recommend local and national actions

Listeners from the United States, Canada, and Europe tuned in November 6 to a webinar entitled Lessons Learned from the 2023 East Palestine Chemical Spill and Fires Disaster. The event centered on new discoveries from four rapid response research studies funded by the National Science Foundation.

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Purdue researchers develop faster hazardous spill response method

A research team led by Nusrat Jung, an assistant professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, has developed a new rapid screening method to test for volatile chemicals. This new method, described in a paper published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, can be used in a variety of hazardous spill scenarios to provide responders faster results when checking for chemicals in the soil, water and air.

Learn more.

Lake Michigan shoreline research project receives funding from U.S. Coastal Research Program

A study examining the Lake Michigan shoreline response to a record-breaking extreme water level event that occurred between 2013 and 2020 has received funding from the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP). The project is being led by Cary Troy, Professor of Civil Engineering.

Learn more.

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!

• Ricky Grogan, Jr. (BSCNE 2012), Project Manager at The Walsh Group, has received the 2024 Construction Engineering Emerging Leader Alumni Award.
• Logan Cook (BSCNE 2010 MSCE 2011), Associate Principal and Unit Manager at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., has received the 2024 Construction Engineering Emerging Leader Alumni Award.
• Jeff Hagerman (BSCNE 1993), Chairman of The Hagerman Group, has received the 2024 Construction Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award.
• Augie Ziccarelli (BSCNE 1981), Project Director at Pepper Construction of Indiana, has received the 2024 Construction Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award.
• A new episode of "This Is Purdue" features Jennifer Pyrz, president and CEO of IndyGo. A Purdue engineering alumna, Pyrz (BSCE '95, MSCE '97) was appointed president and CEO of Indiana's largest public transit agency in May 2024.
• Four alumni of the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering — Rachael Bisnett, Emily Foote, John Kremer, and Jeffrey Peters — are among the inaugural class of Purdue Engineering's 38 by 38 award. The annual award recognizes 38 young alumni who have rocketed through the ranks and left their mark by the time they are 38 years old.
• James E. (Jim) Rowings (BSCE 1975, MSCE 1979, Ph.D. 1982) has been honored by the Purdue Engineering Alumni Association with the 2024 Loyalty Award.
• Mark Donahue (BSCNE 1994), Senior Vice President at Mortenson, has received the 2023 Construction Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award.
• Jeff Lemna (BSCNE 1988), Career Development Director at The Walsh Group, has received the 2023 Construction Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award.
• Matthew Miller (BSCNE 2009) is the recipient of the 2023 Construction Engineering Emerging Leader Alumni Award.
• Dylan Seesman (BSCE 2015), PE, Principal and Director of Structural Engineering at JQOL, has been recognized as the Young Engineer of the Year by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Indiana for his outstanding talents, skills and abilities representing the next generation of engineering leaders.
• Rick Olson (BSCE 1983), PE, Regional Manager at Terracon Consultants, Inc., has been recognized as the Consulting Engineer of the Year by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Indiana for his significant contribution to the field of consulting engineering in Indiana.

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 Omair Bin Saleem has been presented with the Young Investigator Award for his contributions at the 6th International Conference on Protective Structures and the Special Issue of the International Journal of Protective Structures.
• Woei-Chyi Chang, Paul Chintala, Oluwaseun Olabode, and Jorge Rojas have been selected to receive the 2024 Crooks Graduate Scholarship, awarded to outstanding graduate students in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering with a concentration in construction engineering.
• Woei-Chyi Chang, Ph.D. candidate in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering and Master's student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded the Kinnier Dissertation Fellowship.
• A paper on personalized autonomous driving co-authored by CCE PhD student Can Cui and a group of Purdue Engineering students and faculty received the Best Paper Award by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Vehicle-Highway Automation (ACP30) at this year's conference held in Washington, D.C.
• Of the fourteen College of Engineering students who earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades in the fall 2024 sports season, CCE undergrad, track and field, and cross country runner Joel Gomez led the pack with a 4.0 GPA. Joel set the Americas record at the 2024 Paralympic Games held in Paris.
• PhD student Phani “Saketh” Dasika has received a TRAvel for CollaborativE Research (TRACER) Grant from the College of Engineering. He will travel to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in March to research nano-architected materials with tailored mechanical properties inspired by biological systems.
• Members of the Purdue Underground Construction Association (UCA)/North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASST) Student Chapter participated in the 2nd Global Buried Asset Management Congress (GBAMC), held November 14-16, 2024, in Indianapolis.
• CCE grad student Deepak Benny has been selected as an International Road Federation (IRF) Fellow for the Class of 2025. Deepak was also selected to participate in a national panel discussion at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) "P3s in Transportation" conference held in Washington, DC, July 16-18, 2024.
• PhD student Kike Garzon-Sabogal tied for first place in the poster competition at the 5th International Symposium on Geomechanics from Micro to Macro held September 23-27 in Grenoble, France. His poster is titled, Stiffness and damping of non-homogeneous engineered particles.
• Civil Engineering and Herrick Labs PhD student Sichen Lu is a recipient of the prestigious ASHRAE Grant-in-Aid Award for 2024-2025. This $10,000 award is given to outstanding graduate students performing research in the High Performance Buildings or HVAC&R fields. Sichen also won the Best Paper Award at the 8th International High Performance Buildings Conference, organized at Purdue in July 2024. She also received the Fontaine Memorial Fellowship for the 2024-2025 academic year.
• Construction Engineering Ph.D. student Oluwaseun Samuel Olabode received the second runner-up Best Paper Award at the 2024 ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering (i3ce2024), held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
• Construction Engineering Ph.D. student Hyewon Hailey Seo has been honored with the Outstanding Student Award by the Construction Industry Institute (CII). This award recognizes her exceptional academic achievements, dedication, and commitment to excellence.
• Professor Samuel Labi, together with CCE students Richard Ajagu and Jelin Sabu and ECE graduate student Sashank Modali, hosted the 2nd Annual Autonomous Karting Series competition at the Purdue Grand Prix track in West Lafayette, IN, May 20-23, 2024. Professor Labi and CCE student Jelin Sabu also teamed up with members of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute to represent Purdue at the 1st Annual Artificial Intelligence Maritime Maneuver Indiana Collegiate Challenge (AIM ICC) held at the Pokagon State Park in Angola, IN, June 25-27, 2024.
• The Purdue Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Traffic Bowl Team won the 2024 ITE International Collegiate Traffic Bowl Grand Championship.
• CCE grad student Mohammadhosein Pourgholamali received the Purdue University College of Engineering Outstanding MS Thesis Award for Spring 2024 for his thesis titled, Robust design of electric charging infrastructure locations under travel demand uncertainty and driving range heterogeneity.

• Monica Prezzi, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been elected to a two-year term on the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Educational Trust Board of Trustees.
• Jie Shan has been named the Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering. Dr. Shan has also been appointed Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE journal Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (TGRS).
• Ayman Habib, Thomas A. Page Professor of Civil Engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). This is one of the highest professional achievement awards bestowed by ASPRS.
• Melba Crawford, the Nancy Uridil and Francis Bossu Professor in Civil Engineering, was recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award for Academic Excellence from The Ohio State University during the 2024 College of Engineering Alumni Awards on October 25.
• Luna Lu, Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering, has been appointed vice president of the Office of Industry Partnerships. She has also been named a member of the study committee formed by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to identify key demands and challenges facing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) related to navigation and flood risk management assets. Wavelogix, a manufacturer of novel, patented concrete strength sensors invented and founded by Dr. Lu, has received a $999,910 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation.
• An INDOT study on the redundancy in built-up steel bridge members led by Robert Connor, Jack and Kay Hockema Professor in Civil Engineering and Director of CAI and S-BRITE, is the 2024 recipient of the Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) Excellence Award.
• The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.68M to a project team headed by Amisha Shah, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering, collaborating with researchers from Columbia University and Lafayette College. A key aspect of the investigation is using water to collect and recycle precious materials from landfills.
• Satish Ukkusuri has been named the Hubert and Audrey Kleasen Professor in Civil Engineering. Dr. Ukkusuri has also has been selected to the summer 2024 class of INFORMS Senior Members.
• Rao "G.S." Govindaraju, Bowen Engineering Head of Civil and Construction Engineering and Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, has been recognized by the American Institute of Hydrology with the Charles Vernon (C.V.) Theis Award for Groundwater.
• Brandon Boor has been named the Dr. Margery E. Hoffman Associate Professor in Civil Engineering. This professorship has a 5-year term that will extend through Fall 2029.
• Mirian Velay-Lizancos, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, has been named the Bowen Scholar of Excellence and also the Associate Director of the Pankow Materials Laboratory in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering.
• Akanshu Sharma has been named the Jack and Kay Hockema Associate Professor in Civil Engineering. This professorship has a 5-year term that will extend through Fall 2029.
• Venkatesh Merwade, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been selected by the Indiana Association for Floodplain and Stormwater Management (INAFSM) to receive the 2024 Education and Outreach Award.
• Nusrat Jung, Assistant Professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering has been appointed to the Early Career Editorial Board of Indoor Environments, published by Elsevier.
• Rich Domonkos has been named Associate Program Director of Indiana LTAP. Rich has been with the Indiana LTAP Center for 17 years.
• Samuel Labi, Professor of Civil Engineering, joined a distinguished panel of speakers on “Lessons Learned from the Key Bridge Collapse – Enhancing Resilience in Critical Infrastructure Systems” at the University of Maryland (UMD) on May 22, 2024.

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