In October 2021, the Purdue University Board of Trustees ratified a $1.1 million gift made by Specification Products, Inc. The gift goes to further the education and research efforts at the Sustainable Materials and Renewable Technology (SMART) Laboratory — and has been renamed the Joe and Lisa Shetterley Innovation Lab.

Howell Li, the Joint Transportation Research Program’s Principal Research Analyst at Purdue University’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering, leads a team that has developed a new system to manage traffic intersections with signals and to mitigate the risk associated with running a red light.

Powerful partnerships among Purdue University's colleges of agriculture, engineering and science will advance digital forestry tools to save time, money and achieve a deeper understanding of an important natural resource.

The Shah Family Global Innovation Lab has announced six winning teams to receive 2021 seed and design grant awards. Two of the six teams are led by CE faculty, including project proposals for sesame seed harvesting in Malakal, South Sudan (Joe Sinfield) and a water defluoridation system in the Dungarpur, Rajasthan district of India (Amisha Shah, Chad Jafvert, and George Zhou).

Dr. Michael Raymond Inggs, the 2021 Edward M. Curtis Visiting Professor, will present a series of seminars on radar technology throughout October and November.

Ph.D. Candidate Lisa Losada-Rojas has been accepted to two prestigious faculty workshops: the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Rising Stars at MIT and Latinx Trailblazers in Engineering at Purdue.

CE alumnus Chris Burke (BSCE '77, MSCE '79, PhD '83, HDR 2010) has received the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering from the University of Illinois Chicago for his contributions to the field of civil engineering.

The Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) has been awarded $5 million in funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through 2025. Its Network Coordination Office (NCO) is located at Purdue University and is directed by Purdue CE's Julio Ramirez, Karl H. Kettelhut Professor in Civil Engineering.

Dr. Randall Poston, PhD, PE, SE, NAE, Sr. Principal at Pivot Engineers and Neil Armstrong Distinguished Visiting Fellow, held a seminar on Tuesday, October 5th titled, "Wind damage of solar power arrays and required repairs."

Congratulations to Etienne Atisso and Meredith Camp, both from the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), for being recognized by the College of Engineering with a 2021 Bravo Award. The Bravo was established by the University in 2014 to provide recognition and rewards for substantial accomplishments achieved by Purdue employees that extend well beyond regular work responsibilities.

PhD student Juliana Pereira has received the Ada I. Pressman Memorial Scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year from the Society of Women Engineers. The recipients of SWE scholarships are a group of extremely accomplished and driven students who excel both inside and outside of the classroom.

CE senior Camille Hamilton has received the Bechtel Corporation Scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year from the Society of Women Engineers. The recipients of SWE scholarships are a group of extremely accomplished and driven students who excel both inside and outside of the classroom.

Paul Mlakar (PhD '75) is an ASCE distinguished member with more than 40 years of service with the United State Army Corps of Engineers, now in the role of Engineer Emeritus for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. And 20 years ago, he led the ASCE team investigating the damage done by the Sept. 11 attack at the Pentagon. In episode 85 of ASCE Plot Points, Mlakar looks back on that investigation, Sept. 11, and how the profession has changed.

U.S. News & World Report has released its national rankings of undergraduate programs for 2022 with Purdue Civil Engineering ranked #6 in the nation. The rankings are computed from the responses to a survey sent to deans, heads, and selected senior faculty. Purdue Civil Engineering has been consistently ranked as a top 10 undergraduate program by U.S. News & World Report for over a decade.

Mariah Schroeder (BSCE '11, MSCE '15) has been recognized with the 2021 Rising Trendsetter Award from Central Exchange. This award is focused on a woman who has demonstrated significant achievement early in her career as an Influencer of women in STEMM.

Kumares C. Sinha, Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, is featured in a recent article from Wallethub weighing in on the best & worst cities to drive in.

Cary Troy, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, is part of a sweeping study funded through Illinois-Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs to assess Lake Michigan coastal erosion levels, causes, and management options from physical, social and community perspectives. The two-year project that began in 2020 is led by Troy, Guy Meadows with Michigan Technological University and Chin Wu at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Chih-Ping Lin (MSCE '95, PhD '99) has been named Dean of Engineering at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYTU) in Taiwan. Dr. Lin received the MS in Civil Engineering and the PhD degree at Purdue in Geotechnical Engineering. He completed the Ph.D. in three years and while doing so also obtained a MS degree in Electrical Engineering at Purdue.

Amit H. Varma, Karl H. Kettelhut Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Bowen Laboratory of Large-Scale CE Research at Purdue University's Lyles School of Civil Engineering, and his former student Zhichao Lai, Professor at Fuzhou University in China, have received the 2021 Alfred Noble Prize awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers for their paper, "High Strength Rectangular CFT Members: Database, Modeling, and Design of Short Columns."

The College of Engineering recognizes the following faculty, lecturers and other staff for their outstanding dedication to teaching Boilermaker Engineers.