Construction Engineering

PhD student Jessica Eisma has completed a one-year project studying sand dams in Tanzania. In 2016, Eisma was awarded a pair of prestigious research grants — totaling more than $45,000 — from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and the U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security Program to study the ecological impact of sand dams in Tanzania. She flew to Africa in August 2016 to begin her study, which is the basis for her doctoral thesis.

Robert Connor, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of CAI and S-BRITE, has been named Distinguished Alumnus at his alma mater of Lehigh University, where he completed his M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering.

Julio Ramirez, Professor of Civil Engineering and NHERI-NCO Center Director, is among 25 Purdue innovators inducted into this year's Purdue Innovator Hall of Fame by the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization.

PhD student Seungjae Lee was recently named recipient of the prestigious American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Grant-in-Aid Award for 2017-2018. This $10,000 award is given to the most outstanding graduate students performing research in the High Performance Buildings or HVAC fields.

The 15th C.W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture will be held on Friday, October 20th and will feature Professor Ross W. Boulanger with his talk entitled, "Seismic response of an embankment on loose saturated sand treated with soil-cement panels: Centrifuge Tests and Numerical Analyses."

Lyles CE graduate student Seyed Ali Ghahari was recently awarded a competitive scholarship from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to attend the Modeling and Simulation of Transportation Networks Workshop that took place in Cambridge, July 31 – August 4, 2017.

On Thursday, Sept. 21, at Fowler Hall, Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alum, Ron Klemencic (BSCE '85), will share his insights into the magic which has fueled his career. His presentation – entitled The Secret to Everything – is free and open for all to attend.

Adnan Rajib, a member in Dr. Venkatesh Merwade's research team in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, has been named as recipient of the Spring 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

Yunlan Zhang, PhD student in Civil Engineering, received the 2017 SURF Best Mentor award on August 4th. The purpose of the award is to recognize Purdue graduate student mentors who have provided exceptional guidance and instruction to undergraduate researchers in the SURF program.

Daniel Gomez, PhD Candidate in Civil Engineering, received a SURF Best Mentor award on August 4th. Daniel advised two undergraduate researchers on independent projects during summer 2017.

Associate Professor, Konstantina "Nadia" Gkritza was awarded a fellowship by the Greek Diaspora Fellowship Program to travel to Greece to work with Prof. Eleni Vlahogianni of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece on collaborative research in smart and shared mobility and mentoring graduate students in transportation planning and engineering.

CE doctoral student Seyed (Ali) Ghahari was awarded a competitive national scholarship by the Foundation of the Association of Energy Engineers (FAEE) to attend the World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC) in Atlanta, GA, September 27-29, 2017.

New research is calling for immediate safeguards and the study of a widely used method for repairing sewer-, storm-water and drinking-water pipes to understand the potential health and environmental concerns for workers and the public.

ASTM International recognized Professor Emeritus Vincent P. Drnevich with the 2015 Committee on Publications Award for the Outstanding Article on the Practice of Geotechnical Engineering.

Dr. Chad Jafvert, Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University, was recently awarded the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Outstanding Publication Award for his influential 1992 paper "Reaction Scheme for the Chlorination of Ammoniacal Water." The award is a commendation for a "landmark environmental engineering and science paper that has withstood the test of time and significantly influenced the practice of environmental engineering and science."

Karen Casteloes, recent MSCE environmental graduate of the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, received 1st place Outstanding Masters Thesis Award from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP).

Tariq U. Saeed, a graduate student in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering was recently named a national Eno Fellow, Class of 2017, a select group of exceptionally promising graduate students who plan to pursue careers in transportation.

Kumares Sinha, Edgar B. and Hedwig M. Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, has been named a Faculty Fellow of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS) at Texas A&M University. HIAS attracts world-class talent to the University and is driven by nominations of National Academy and Nobel-prize caliber researchers that align with existing strengths and ambitions of the University. The Institute selects its Faculty Fellows from among top scholars in the nation who have distinguished themselves through outstanding professional accomplishments and recognition.