cee magazine, summer 2007

Greener and cleaner: the Environmental Engineering and Science

program engineers a better world

Charles Ellis recognized for design of the Golden Gate Bridge

by Professor Emeritus William J. Hall

Alumni news and features

S p r i n g / S u m m e r 2 0 0 7I n s i d e

This newsletter is published twice a year for members of the CEE Alumni Association and friends of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Robert H. Dodds Jr., Professor and HeadJohn E. Kelley, Director of Development and Alumni Relations

Carla J. Blue, Program CoordinatorCeleste Bragorgos, Editor/Designer

Your letters, comments and editorial contributions are always welcome. Please direct them to: CEE Newsletter, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,

1117 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, MC-250, 205 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, (217) 333-6955, [email protected]

Visit CEE on the web at http://cee.uiuc.edu

Department news5 Illinois in unity with Virginia Tech/Robert H. Dodds Jr., Professor and Head

21 Setting the record straight on the Golden Gate Bridge/Professor Emeritus William J. Hall

28 Concrete canoe team takes second at regionals, heads to nationals29 Steel bridge team to compete at nationals30 Student awards33 Department news 33 MAE Center key in FEMA’s broad, new mission 34 Nominations invited for department alumni awards 35 Spencer to head Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory 35 Structures conference held in April 36 Student team wins City of the Future contest 37 Global Leaders students travel to Dubai 37 Professor Mesri is Chi Epsilon Chapter Honor Member

Research and instruction 8 Greener and cleaner: Environmental Engineering and Science at Illinois

10 International relationships foster a global perspective11 Global warming, explosives byproducts12 Water researchers plan major collaboration network13 Safer airports14 Waterborne pathogens14 Student-run symposium highlights environmental research15 Constructed wetlands16 Waterborne viruses, antibiotic resistance17 Emerging micropollutants18 Clean air technology, membrane fouling19 Urban lakes, sustainable membrane use

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Contents

Alumni news and features4 Letters7 The role of the CEEAA board/John Carrato 22 Beyond the collection plate/Richard Sasse (BS 75)

24 Alumnus supports the troops via email25 Where are they now?/Jonathan E. Lewis (BS 99, MS 01)

32 Alumni awards38 Alumni news39 Obituaries40 Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting 200741 Alumni reception at TRB42 Old Master: Carroll Carson Wiley

Development news6 Student Center campaign continues26 Byrne, Armstrong bequest will provide fellowships27 Railroad gifts to help expand rail program43 Department gift and pledge form43 Join the U of I Alumni Association

CEEAA Board of Directors

PresidentJohn L. Carrato, P.E., S.E., (BS 79, MS 80)

Alfred Benesch & Company, Chicago

Vice PresidentKenneth M. Floody, P.E., S.E. (BS 83)

Ingenii LLC, Oak Park, Illinois

Second Vice PresidentLawrence P. Jaworski, P.E., (BS 72, MS 73)

Black & Veatch Gaithersburg, Maryland

Past PresidentGregory D. Cargill, P.E., (BS 71)

Clark Dietz Inc., Chicago

SecretaryDaniel A. Kuchma

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UIUC

Ralph E. Anderson, P.E., (BS 77)Illinois Department of Transportation

Springfield, Illinois

Stanley M. Herrin, P.E., (BS 74, MS 78)Crawford, Murphy & Tilly


Alan J. Hollenbeck, P.E., (BS 75, MS 77)RJN Group Inc., Wheaton, Illinois

Deron G. Huck, P.E., (BS 90)CH2M HILL, Kansas City, Missouri

John P. Kos, P.E., (BS 77)DuPage County IDOT

Wheaton, Illinois

Walter S. Kos, P.E., (BS 71)Cook County Highway Department, Chicago

Tracy K. Lundin, P.E., (BS 80, MS 82)Hanson Professional Services


Kevin A. Michols, P.E., S.E., (BS 79, MS 81) Construction Technology Laboratories Inc.

Skokie, Illinois

Wilbur C. Milhouse, P.E., (BS 94, MS 95)Milhouse Engineering & Consultants

Chicago

Colleen E. Quinn, P.E., (BS 84)Ricondo and Associates Inc., Chicago

Allen J. Staron, P.E., (BS 74)Clark Dietz Inc., Chicago

David J. Stoldt (BS 80)Commonwealth Pacific Ventures

Hopkinton, Massachusetts

Christopher M. Thomas (BS 96, MS 97) Clark Construction Group Inc.

Bethesda, Maryland

Elias Zewde, P.E., (BS 73, MS 75)Khafra Engineering Consultants, Inc.

Louisville, Kentucky

D on’t miss an issue!Only members of the CEE Alumni Association

receive every issue of the CEE newsletter, your best connection to your home department at the Uni-versity of Illinois! When you join the U of I Alumni Association, you automatically become a member of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association. As a member, you’ll receive the CEE newsletter twice a year and stay up-to-date on the activities of the department and your fellow CEE alumni. To join, see page 43 or sign up online at http://www.uiaa.org/urbana/.

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Cover photo: © Emrah Turudu/istockphoto.com

4 Visit CEE on the web at http://cee.uiuc.edu

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Wletters

We write to acknowledge the receipt of and thank you for another copy of the CEE newsletter.

We laud the initiatives taken by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham-paign’s Department of Civil and Environ-mental Engineering, to gather the opin-ions of the future care-takers and po-tential leaders of the world and provide them with a platform to share their per-spectives, expertise and concerns with the Earth’s ecology, among the many diverse topics of your newsletter. We know that this will bring about a change for the better and hope that it will bring us closer to our common aspiration of a more peaceful and safe world for all.

We hope that the CEE newsletter will continue to circulate to its worldwide readership and inspire people, particu-larly future civil and environmental engi-neers, to work hard towards the achieve-ment of world peace.Fidel Valdez Ramos (MS 51)Former President of the Republic of the PhilippinesChairman, Ramos Peace and Devel-opment Foundation

I read the article about Illinois’ vul-nerability to earthquakes [Earthquake Researchers Examine Illinois’ Vulnerabil-ity, CEE newsletter, Fall/Winter 2006]. Sometime in the 1968/1969 time frame, a couple of my fellow graduate students and I were in our offices on the third floor of the Civil Engineering building—I recall it was in the late morning. Sud-denly, a low level vibration of the build-ing began—along with “sounds” of mo-tion. Now, a bit of further background: The “concrete guys” had just taken de-livery of an earthquake generator and had been trying it out for a few days prior to the event.

Since our office shared a wall with the high bay area of the lab, the noise and vibration from the earthquake gen-erator were quite noticeable.

As the vibration began on this par-

ticular day, it was my first impression, however technologically impossible, that somehow the earthquake generator was out of control. I estimate the vibra-tion went on for some 20 to 30 seconds and increased in amplitude and noise level. We were certainly beginning to be uneasy!

When it stopped, people from the various offices rushed into the hallway. As it turned out, Professor Norby Niel-son, whose specialty was earthquake engineering, was in that day and he re-marked, “Boys, you’ve just experienced an earthquake.”

Material Professor Nielson provid-ed for one of his classes showed that the New Madrid fault was an area of several severe earthquakes in the late 1800s. John F. Harris (PhD 70)

As the last of the Babbittonians (I received the only B.S. in Sanitary Engi-neering awarded in June 1954), I was extremely pleased to see Professor Babbitt profiled in the Fall/Winter CEE alumni newsletter. The article brought back many memories.

There are, however, a couple of things in the article that appear unusual. Perhaps these are due to editing as I do not think Professor [John D.] Haltiwanger would have allowed them in the struc-tural course I took from him.

First, the third paragraph says Pro-fessor Babbitt chose early retirement in 1954. He was 66 years old at the time which appears to be a routine retire-ment age. Perhaps this was early by CEE department practice, but it strikes this reader as normal.

The fifth paragraph reports Profes-sor Babbitt’s prolific writing. However, the second sentence implies that he wrote for 30 years after retiring which is twice as long as he lived. Did not the 30 years begin in about 1922 with the publication of his first textbook?

The Old Masters series is a fine way

to keep alumni aware of the great tradi-tions of the department. Keep it going.Paul A. Kuhn (BS 54)

Professor Emeritus Haltiwanger responds:Paul,

I was delighted to read your letter. To begin with, your note is evidence that people like you are reading our efforts to keep alive the memories of those who contributed so much to the history of our department, and that makes us feel good. It is important to us that we, col-lectively, not forget what these giants of the past meant to all of us and, indeed, to the profession.

And now, may I congratulate you on your careful reading of the Babbitt piece; your observations certainly are in order. First, as to whether retirement at age 66 constituted “early” retirement is subject to debate; it certainly is not now so-considered, but it appears to have been so-considered by Professors R. S. Engelbrecht, W. M. Lansford, Wil-liam A. Oliver, and Milton O. Schmidt who prepared the memorial statement commemorating Babbitt’s contributions for the College of Engineering shortly after his death, from which document we stole the term. And concerning our ref-erence to “a period of intensive writing that continued unabated for 30 years,” that term was also taken from that docu-ment, but regrettably, we used it out of its intended context. You were correct in suspecting that the 30 years began at the beginning of his membership on our faculty, and not at the time of his retire-ment. In that regard, although we can’t find any list of his publications to confirm it, we are quite sure that his publication habits did continue for a long period af-ter his retirement. This judgment is made on the basis of his quite extensive list of post-retirement professional activities, and his known proclivity to document his achievements through the publication of the results obtained through them. But thanks for pointing out our errors, and for reading our writing. —JDH

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 �

By RoBeRt H. DoDDS JR., PRofeSSoR anD HeaD, (MS 75, PHD 78)M.t. GeoffRey yeH enDoweD CHaiR of Civil enGineeRinG

Illinois in unity with Virginia Tech

The shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech shocked us all. In the days since the

tragedy, we in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have watched in great sorrow as our friends and colleagues at Virginia Tech have grieved lost loved ones and experienced the fear and anger that such a senseless act of violence engenders. Our hearts truly are with them.

It is often said that the world is small. The close-knit community of civil and environmental engineers reflects this view. Illinois and Virginia Tech share many connections, both profession-ally and personally. Our field prides itself on collaboration, cooperation, and a strong sense of purpose as we address great challenges facing society. During this time of mourning, our deepest sympathies go out to everyone affected—the Virginia Tech students, faculty, staff, families, friends and colleagues.

Universities are by nature free and open environments, both physically and intellectu-ally. The tragedy at Virginia Tech reminds us that we must protect this atmosphere of free-dom and also, very simply, support one an-other. As we stand beside Virginia Tech in this time of profound loss, let us focus our attention on the comfort of the bonds we share and a future of healing for all concerned. i

Your thoughts, suggestions and comments

are always welcome. Please feel free to con-tact me any time at [email protected] or (217) 333-3276.

Backdrop: Burruss Hall at Virginia Tech, ©Brian Adams/istockphoto.com

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 �


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For more information, please contact:John E. Kelley, Director of Development and Alumni Relations1102 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250, 205 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801(217) 333-5120, [email protected]


a vision, an opportunityOur outstanding CEE students will

be the beneficiaries of the depart-ment’s new student center, planned as a building addition to Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory. The cam-paign continues to fund this new cam-pus landmark, an investment in the education of future civil and environ-mental engineering professionals.

The addition will function as a CEE student center, providing critically needed classroom space and many other features that will enhance the educational experience of the de-partment’s students.

Numerous naming opportunities exist to recognize contributions to this project.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 7

The role of the CEEAA boardBy JoHn l. CaRRato, P.e., S.e., (BS 79, MS 80)PReSiDent, Civil anD enviRonMental enGineeRinG aluMni aSSoCiation BoaRD of DiReCtoRS

The mission of the CEE Alumni Associa-tion is to support the department’s faculty, staff, students and alumni and to inspire lifelong loyalty and pride among alumni and friends by devel-oping and enhanc-ing their continued relationship with the department.

I n the fall 2006 newsletter I wrote, “We are always looking for alumni who would like to

get involved with CEEAA activities or serve on the board.” I was pleasantly surprised to be contacted by several people expressing their in-terest in getting involved. One of those alumni, Katie Hall (BS 85, MS 87, PhD 91) recommended that it would be helpful if I described the role of the Board of Directors. This confirmed my suspi-cion that we are probably seen as a “black box” by many alumni. In order to correct that, I will attempt to explain what we do and how we do it in the following paragraphs.

The CEEAA bylaws state: “The mission of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Associa-tion is to support the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty, staff, students and alumni and to inspire lifelong loyalty and pride among alumni and friends by developing and enhancing their continued relationship with the department. To fulfill its mission, the Associa-tion has a Board of Directors to provide advice and counsel to the department, to recognize dis-tinguished alumni, to foster collegial alumni rela-tions and alumni support of the department, to mentor students and facilitate their entry into the civil and environmental engineering profession, to represent the department’s activities conduct-ed by the Alumni Association, and to support the department’s public outreach activities.”

The Board of Directors may consist of up to 19 members, including five officers and up to 14 directors, at least one of whom cannot be older than 35 at the time of election. We cur-rently have 19 members serving on the Board of Directors. Eighteen of these are alumni, and one is a faculty member. The officers are a Presi-dent, Vice President, Second Vice President, Past President and Secretary (faculty member), each serving two-year terms. The typical progression is from Second Vice President to Vice President to President. There is an election held every two years to officially fill these positions. The directors serve four-year terms and can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. The terms of the directors are staggered by two years, so

currently the term of seven of the directors runs through September 30, 2008, and the term of the other seven directors runs through Septem-ber 30, 2010. The next election of officers and directors will be held in 2008.

The Board of Directors meets three times a year. Traditionally, we have met on the Friday before Homecoming in Champaign, prior to the Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting in early Febru-ary, and on the Friday before the Awards Ban-quet in April in Champaign. For the last two years we have given out the Alumni Awards at the Chi-cago Regional Dinner Meeting instead of at the Awards Banquet, so our spring meeting is no lon-ger tied to the Awards Banquet. In addition, the CEEAA is considering holding dinner meetings in Springfield and St. Louis on a rotating biannual basis. If we do this, we may hold our fall board meetings in conjunction with those events.

Several years ago under the direction of Past President Don Eckmann (BS 56) it was de-cided that the most efficient way to serve our mission was to create a series of committees. We now have five standing committees. They are the Executive-Finance, Alumni-Faculty Inter-action, Alumni Interaction, Student Support, and Award/Nominating committees. The committees meet in conjunction with the board meetings and also perform tasks in between meetings. I’m run-ning out of space, so I can’t go into great detail on what the committees do. However, if you are interested in their activities, please visit http://cee.uiuc.edu/alumni/.

On the right side of the page there are sev-eral links. One of them is to the Board of Direc-tors Handbook. This describes the responsibilities of the officers, directors and committees. It also discusses what is addressed at each of our meet-ings and includes our bylaws and the rules for our alumni awards. There are also several other helpful links on the website including the CEEAA Event Calendar. I hope you can make the time to visit the website and learn more about what we do. Finally, I hope you like what you see and choose to get involved. You can reach me at (312) 565-0450 or [email protected]. I look for-ward to hearing from you. i

8 Visit CEE on the web at http://cee.uiuc.edu 8 Visit EE&S on the web at http://cee.uiuc.edu/environmental/

tory” because a “long period of rest was necessary to secure the deposit of any large proportion of the iron through sedimentation alone.” Well, despite this early recommendation, our local wa-ter treatment plant uses lime treatment today. But in all fairness, unlike more recent generations of Environmental En-gineering students, Professor Talbot’s student did not have the benefit of tak-ing Water Chemistry from a more recent iron/lime treatment expert in our pro-gram, Professor Snoeyink.

Our EE&S program currently has 17 faculty members teaching and doing re-search with graduate and undergradu-ate students in various areas of special-

Greener and cleanerEnvironmental Engineering and Science at Illinois

By Benito J. MaRiñaS Ivan Racheff Professor of Environmental Engineering, and Environmental Engineering and Science Program Chair

The Environmental Engineering and Science (EE&S) program, featured on the next 12 pages, has enjoyed a long tradition of excellence from its earliest days as the Department of Municipal and Sanitary Engineering (1890-1926). The program got its start under the stew-ardship of Professor Arthur N. Talbot, author of “The Champaign Septic Tank,” published in 1897. In 1926, a portion of this pioneering department was inte-grated with what is now known as the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It became a highly ranked program, within a top-ranked depart-ment, under the early leadership of Pro-fessors Harold E. Babbitt (1925-1954) and Richard S. Engelbrecht (1954-1977), and remained so under our most recent past program coordinators, professors John T. Pfeffer (1977-1985), Vernon L. Snoeyink (1985-1999) and Mark J. Rood (1999-2005).

The EE&S program has evolved over the years through the work of several generations of outstanding faculty and bright graduate students, with invalu-able input from our loyal alumni. In-terestingly, despite evolution we have been working on similar problems over the years. For example, one of Profes-sor Talbot’s students built and tested an aerator/filter pilot system to remove iron from the water supply of Urbana-Cham-paign after concluding that the alterna-tive of lime treatment was “unsatisfac-

ization including Air Quality Engineering and Science (Tami Bond, Sue Larson, Mark Rood, Massoud Rostam-Abadi), Ecological Engineering (Ed Herricks), Environmental Chemistry (Timm Strath-mann), Environmental Microbiology (Kevin Finneran, Julie Zilles), Environmen-tal Systems and Information Technology (Wayland Eheart, Barbara Minsker), Hazardous Waste and Subsurface Sci-ence (Al Valocchi, Charlie Werth), and Water Quality Control Engineering (Mark Clark, Benito Mariñas, Eberhard Morgenroth, Helen Nguyen, Vern Snoey-ink). In addition, we are also planning for program evolution in response to emerging societal needs and globaliza-tion trends. At a recent retreat, the EE&S faculty selected three areas for future program development: Urban Water-shed Management, Ecological Engineer-ing, and Air Quality Modeling. In addi-tion, Vern Snoeyink is developing inter-national program initiatives with current emphasis in Asia (formal collaboration programs have been developed with the National University of Singapore, and Tsinghua University, China) and he plans to focus on Latin America and Sub-Sa-haran Africa in the future.

Our EE&S program has also bene-fited from leading major national initia-tives and centers. Barbara Minsker is a leading figure in the development of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Wa-ter and Environmental Research Systems

EE&S at a glanceUndergraduate students: 40*

Graduate students: 80

Ph.D.: 55

M.S.: 25

Tenure-track faculty: 15

Research faculty and scholars: 3

Adjunct faculty: 1

Post-docs and Professionals: 4

Current rankings,

U.S. News & World Report:

Graduate program: No. 2

Undergraduate program: No. 5

* declared juniors and seniors

http://cee.uiuc.edu/environmental/

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 9Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 9

(WATERS) Network initiative. Ed Her-ricks is developing Bird Strike Advisory Systems technology for the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology, and Charlie Werth and Benito Mariñas are co-leaders of Microcontaminant Control and Disinfection interdisciplinary teams of the NSF Science and Technology Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems (The WaterCAMPWS).

Our research facilities continue to im-prove. Because of the recent successful renewal of The WaterCAMPWS, a new 2,000-square-foot disinfection research laboratory will be built on the fourth floor of Newmark (in the area previously occupied by two old chillers) with pre-dicted inauguration date of May 2008.

Our education program also contin-ues to thrive. Our students are learning

how to practice without impairing nature in the new course on Sustainable Urban Engineering taught by Charlie Werth, and how to be better communicators in the Cultural Awareness and Speech En-hancement course developed by Vern Snoeyink.

Support and involvement by our alumni and friends in professional prac-tice, industry and government continue to play a key role in maintaining and improving the excellence of the EE&S program. In-kind and financial contribu-tions support the renovation of facilities, upgrade of equipment, endowments for fellowships and scholarships, and dis-cretionary funds for various academic activities from which generations of stu-dents, both graduates and undergradu-ates, have benefited in their educational and research endeavors. We are very

Above, the pilot system tested by Pro-fessor Arthur N. Talbot for the removal of iron at the Urbana and Champaign Water Co. (1910). A: aerator; O1: ori-fice tank; B, C and D: sequential gravel filters; E: sand filter; K: flow control box with float valve; O2: orifice tank. Illus-tration reprinted from the University of Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin #9, March 25, 1912 (University of Illinois, Urbana).

appreciative of this continued support.And yes, we still find time to enjoy

socializing and interacting outside New-mark. The EE&S Program picnics con-tinue to be successful events. If you hap-pen to be in town on the first Friday of the fall semester or the last Friday of the spring semester, please plan to join us. We would love to have you back. i

Below, faculty, students and their families gathered on Aug. 26, 2006, for the EE&S Program Fall Picnic.


By veRnon l. Snoeyink

PRofeSSoR eMeRituS

The CEE department and the Univer-sity of Illinois have long recognized the importance of good relations with foreign universities. Our research and depart-mental reputation have enjoyed signifi-cant benefits because of the outstanding students that have come from these uni-versities to do graduate study here, and our faculty likewise have benefited from many excellent collaborations with facul-ty from these universities. The innovative “3 plus 2 program,” just established with Tsinghua University in China, in which Chi-nese undergraduates will study for three years at Tsinghua, followed by two years at Illinois and an industrial internship, and then will receive a master of science de-gree from the University of Illinois at Ur-bana-Champaign, is an example of our University’s interest in strong global part-nerships. Similar arrangements are avail-able for U of I undergraduates under the 3 + 2 program.

Such activities and programs are essential for top universities today, ac-cording to a recent journal article by our former Dean of Engineering, Professor William R. Schowalter, now adviser to the President of the National University of Singapore. In the article “Future of U.S. Research Universities in a Global-ized World: A Chemical Engineer’s View from Singapore,” which appeared in the September 2006 issue of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal, Schowalter writes: “Students will be ill served and the global rankings of our universities will decline if we are unwill-ing or unable to grasp the opportunities afforded by the challenges of a global-ized society.”

We in the Environmental Engineer-ing and Science (EE&S) program recog-nize that the world’s economy is rapidly globalizing and that environmental en-

International relationships foster a global perspective

gineering firms are an important part of that movement. In this environment we also must glo-balize our program because our gradu-ates must now com-pete for jobs with graduates from the best universi-ties throughout the world, and we must prepare them for this competition. Having a strong inter-national program will give us increased visibility throughout the world, and it will benefit us in our recruitment of the best international graduate students, in their placement after graduation, and in en-abling us to do research that will have application throughout the world. The goals that the EE&S faculty has set for such a program include the development of strong, sustainable joint graduate re-search and education programs with the National University of Singapore and Tsinghua University in China. Such programs could include co-advising of doctoral and post-doctoral students by faculty from each university, faculty and graduate student exchanges, and jointly funded research.

We also want to establish a pro-gram with a Latin American university in order to meet the desires of our students and faculty for meaningful involvement in environmental issues in developing countries. Such a program could include working with such a university to obtain governmental funding for a water re-sources center that would include both faculty and facilities. This center would educate students on topics such as wa-ter supply and pollution control, and our EE&S program could assist with course development, the offering of University of Illinois courses via satellite, and ar-

ranging for our undergraduate and gradu-ate students to spend intern-ships and “va-cations” at the center working on environmen-tal problems in the region.

We have made progress toward achieving our goals. To date we have:

• Formalized memoranda of under-standing covering research and educa-tion programs in environmental engi-neering and science with the National University of Singapore and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

• Established an agreement for grad-uate student exchange with the National University of Singapore (NUS) that will facilitate joint research being done un-der the direction of professors at NUS and the U of I.

• Held two workshops, one in Singa-pore and one at Illinois, for the purpose of developing ideas for joint research.

Since retirement, I have increased my international activities, and I am in a good position to help the EE&S pro-gram achieve its goals. Currently I am spending approximately three months per year as a visiting professor at NUS, and I have just agreed to spend at least one month per year at Tsinghua Univer-sity. Our EE&S program goals should be easier to achieve given my personal con-tacts with leaders at these universities.

Increasingly, the best environmental engineers are those with a global per-spective. Here in the EE&S program at Illinois, we are positioning ourselves to ensure that our future graduates will continue to rank among the best in the world. i

Professor Emeritus Vernon L. Snoeyink at a panda park in Chengdu, China, with his wife, Jeannie, and Xintong Liu, niece of CEE alumna Qilin Li (PhD 02).

“If you look at where most of the pathogens are and where most of the people are dying in the world due to a lack of safe water, it’s in sub-Saharan Africa. This is something that has motivated a new generation of environmental engineering students.” Benito Mariñas


Live-fire training is necessary for mili-tary readiness, but explosives leave toxic byproducts in the soil. If these toxins mi-grate through the groundwater, they can pose a health hazard to people in the communities near military training areas. Fortunately, there are microorganisms al-ready present in the soil with the power to harmlessly eliminate these contaminants. They just need a little encouragement.

That’s where Assistant Professor Kev-in T. Finneran comes in. Through research sponsored by the U.S. Department of De-fense (DoD), Finneran, an environmental microbiologist, has identified the most ef-fective of these microorganisms and de-veloped a way of stimulating them to ac-tivity, resulting in the harmless elimination of explosives byproducts in the soil.

The byproducts RDX and HMX have long been known to biodegrade, but until recently, the details of the process were not understood. Through laboratory experi-ments on samples gathered from DoD sites, Finneran’s team identified naturally-occur-ring microbes called iron-reducers as the dominant organisms in this process and de-veloped a way to encourage their activity in an anaerobic environment. The method uses electron shuttles, substances that trans-port electrons from the iron-reducers to the contaminants without the need for direct contact. The process is fast and thorough, resulting in only innocuous end products. With what he’s learned, Finneran hopes to provide the DoD with a method for clean-ing up already affected sites, as well as strategies for continual treatment of the

soil at military training sites.

The proj-ect illuminates one of Finner-an’s favorite aspects of his work: the di-versity of or-ganisms and the flexibility that affords to the environmental engineer who har-nesses their power for bioremediation.

“It’s fantastic,” he says. “There’s al-most nothing microbes can’t tackle.” i

A microbial solution to explosives byproducts in the soil

Better atmospheric models, better decisions about global warming

Photo: Assistant Professor Kevin T. Finneran holds a solution containing iron-reducers.

http://cee.uiuc.edu/research/bondresearch/

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/finneran/www/

Global warming is one of the big-gest political issues of our time, but deci-sions regarding what to do about it have been hindered by incomplete informa-tion. What human activities contribute to climate change? Can changes in individ-ual behavior really make a difference? The research of Assistant Professor Tami C. Bond promises more comprehensive models of atmospheric chemistry, lead-ing to more accurate information for those who use such models to make poli-cy decisions and a better understanding about the effects of individual actions on global climate change.

Although most people associate car-bon dioxide with climate change, com-bustion sources produce other gases and particles that also affect climate. In or-der to model how these sources affect the atmosphere, many pollutants must be measured. In a project funded pri-marily by the National Science Founda-tion, Bond and her research team are characterizing the particles produced by solid-fuel combustion, specifically wood combustion. Wood burning gen-

erates 80 to 90 percent of all carbon particles emitted from combus-tion and 20 percent of the total particles in the atmosphere, Bond says, but this type of combustion hasn’t been adequately studied. As a result, the particles in the atmosphere haven’t been correctly characterized, leading to incomplete computer models.

Bond’s team has spent three years taking field measurements of emissions from wood cooking fires in a village in Honduras. By partnering with non-gov-ernment humanitarian organizations, they have been able to observe and measure the actual practices of people who regularly cook over wood fires, a previously unmeasured source of com-bustion particles in the atmosphere. Now the team is working to recreate these particles in the lab so they can be studied intensively and accurately char-acterized for use in models.

Preliminary results have shown that there are significantly more particles from wood combustion in the atmosphere than was previously thought and that more of these particles are of a type that contributes to atmospheric warming. Because of this, measures like providing people with more efficient cook stoves are likely to slow climate change in the near-term, Bond says. In the long term, better models will lead to more confident decision-making among policy-makers.

“We’re trying to reduce uncertain-ties that people give as reasons for not making decisions,” Bond says. “We’re trying to bring those uncertainties down to a manageable level.” i


Water researchers pursue a big-picture approach to researchhttp://www.watersnet.org

A vast new project still in the plan-ning stages promises to revolutionize water research in the United States, and Professor Barbara S. Minsker is at the forefront of the initiative. A project of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering and Geosciences director-ates, the WATERS Network is envisioned as a networked infrastructure of highly instrumented experimental and field fa-cilities that will allow multidisciplinary

research and education on complex, large-scale environmental systems and an unprecedented level of collaboration and information-sharing among water researchers. It promises nothing less than an environmental engineering and hydrologic science revolution.

“When we put all this together, we’re going to be able to look at policy issues,

at management issues, at engineering designs, in a way and at a scale at which we’ve never been able to,” says Minsker, Principal Investigator of the WATERS Network Project Office. “From the per-spective of researchers, this system will be transformative.”

Plans for the Water and Environ-mental Research Systems (WATERS) Net-work as it is currently envisioned began in 2005 with the merging of two coali-

tions of researchers, both funded by the NSF, that were planning separate networks for environmental engineer-ing and hydrology research—CLEANER, the Collaborative Large-Scale Engineer-ing Analysis Network for Environmental Research, and hydrologic observatories proposed by CUAHSI, the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of

Hydrologic Sciences Inc. Recognizing their similar infrastructure and technol-ogy needs, NSF facilitated their col-laboration. A national effort is currently underway to design the network and define key scientific questions to be ad-dressed. If all goes according to plan, the WATERS Network will begin operat-ing in 2015.

“It’s a huge community-building ef-fort to lead everyone through the pro-cess to understand what it is that we want—what kind of science we want to be able to do, how this infrastructure is going to enable it—and ultimately come to a very detailed design document that lays out what this network is going to be,” Minsker says.

As part of the network design and planning process, NSF has funded 11 testbed observatories throughout the nation. These instrumented research lo-cations are smaller-scale versions of the types of sites that will ultimately make up the network. Minsker is the princi-pal investigator of one of the sites in Texas’ Corpus Christi Bay off the Gulf of Mexico. Department researchers also are exploring the establishment of a new testbed site in the Chicago area as part of a broader Illinois River Basin Observatory testbed being developed by Professor Praveen Kumar within the Institute for Sustainability of Intensively Managed Landscapes. A concurrent, NSF-funded cyberinfrastructure proj-ect at the U of I’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications, called Environmental CyberInfrastructure Dem-onstrator, is helping WATERS Network planners understand the network’s infor-matics needs and aid in its design.

Our nation’s persistent problems with water quality and quantity, as well as a general lack of understanding about the causes of such troubles as pollution, floods and water shortages, demon-strate the need for collaboration among water researchers, Minsker says. Cur-

“In my career, more and more, teaching is a bigger part of the thrill.” Mark Clark

Professor Barbara Minsker stands before an image of the testbed observatory in Texas for which she is principal investigator.

http://cee.uiuc.edu/emsa/index.html


rently most research is done by single investigators in small-scale experiments, which help to understand fundamental mechanisms but not how those mecha-nisms interact at large scales.

“We’re now reaching the point where we need large-scale observato-ries; we need multiple disciplines to look at the interactions that happen,” she says. “We have specialized ourselves so much that you have people who look at groundwater, you have people who look at surface water, you have people who look at air, all as separate components. We need to understand the interactions and be able to look at water as an inte-grated cycle.”

Other department faculty members involved with the WATERS Network initia-tive are Professor Mark J. Rood, a mem-ber of the environmental engineering and science research committee; Professor Praveen Kumar, who serves on the model-ing committee and Advisory Board; and Professor J. Wayland Eheart, who serves on the organization committee.

For Minsker, who holds a joint ap-pointment at the U of I’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and whose area of expertise is environmen-tal resource systems analysis, the big-picture approach to managing the en-vironment that the network promises is particularly appealing.

“For me, this project is systems Nir-vana,” she says. i

“We’re starting to look at waste more as a resource than as a li-ability. We’re tak-ing the good things out of the waste, and we’re producing valu-able compounds from it.” Eberhard Morgenroth

Innovative systems for safer airportshttp://cee.uiuc.edu/faculty/herricks.htm

Photo: Professor Ed Herricks explains stream ecology to his Freshman Discovery Class.

An important objective of environ-mental engineers is designing human systems that function efficiently, safely and sustainably within the natural world. For those who design and operate air-ports, failure in this goal can be tragic. Collisions between aircraft and wildlife, most often birds, cost human life and bil-lions of dollars in damage each year. A research team led by Professor Edwin E. Herricks, an expert in the analysis of interactions between human and natural systems, promises to make airports safer by reducing bird-plane collisions.

The team is deploying and evaluat-ing radar systems to detect birds near airports with the goal of one day estab-lishing a warning system for controllers and pilots. An expert in ecology, Her-ricks heads the safety program for the Center of Excellence for Airport Tech-nology, a CEE-based research center funded by the Federal Aviation Admin-istration (FAA) and the O’Hare Modern-ization Program.

“The efforts we have through this air-port safety research and development program are to look at the whole ques-tion as a system,” Herricks says. “That’s where my training as an ecologist and the practicality of being in an engineer-ing department come into play.”

The system includes three major focus areas: geographic information systems to help airport personnel keep track of

wildlife; bird-detection radar; and dif-ferent detection systems to warn of for-eign object debris on runways, another cause of crashes. The team is currently operating a bird radar at the Naval Air Station at Whitby Island, north of Seat-tle, Wash., and this summer they will be operating other radars at Seattle-Ta-coma Airport and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Detection systems for foreign objects will operate in Provi-dence, R.I., Boston and Chicago. Their technical reports will help the FAA es-tablish performance standards for these safety systems, a first step toward wide-spread use.

Because airports are typically at-tractively landscaped, wide open spac-es, they are wildlife magnets. As part of the modernization initiative at O’Hare, Herricks is collaborating with colleague Bruce Branham in the U of I’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences to redesign the airport to be unattractive to wildlife. Using what they know about healthy ecosystems, they are working to achieve the opposite, creat-ing a safer airport for humans.

“It’s the kind of collaboration that comes out of a creative university at-mosphere like the one we’re running through the Center,” Herricks says. i


New tactics against waterborne pathogens

EE&S research is the focus of annual, student-run symposiumBy evan CooPeRSMitH

Environmental Engineering and Sci-ence students presented the 13th annual Environmental Engineering Symposium on April 20 at the Levis Faculty Center in Urbana. Areas of discussion included air pollution, remediation of contami-nants, environmental biotechnology, contaminant transport and decay, mem-brane fouling, and the modeling of envi-ronmental systems. Though the sympo-sium serves primarily as an opportunity to highlight the department’s research efforts as a supplement to the Avanced Graduate lecture series, in recent years the event has been well-attended by members of the academic and industrial communities alike. This year was no dif-ferent as professors, graduate students,

undergraduates, and environmental consul-tants all turned out, with the total day’s attendance falling close to 100 people.

Unlike other simi-lar University-spon-sored presentations, the spring symposium, from its initial plan-ning to its execution is entirely student-run. For the master’s and Ph.D. candidates presenting their work, this event offered the opportunity to showcase their intel-lectual acumen as well as to network with representatives from leading in-dustrial and consulting firms. Addition-

ally, for those student committee members responsible for the orchestration of the event, the symposium built managerial ex-periences uncommon to degree candidates at this stage.

This year, the environmental engi-neering department welcomed Paul Koch

(BS 66, MS 68), senior vice president with MACTEC Engineering and Con-sulting Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio, as the keynote speaker. His lifetime of work in the practical application of environ-mental engineering techniques as well

Evan Coopersmith, right, chair of the 2007 symposium, with fellow EES student King Shan Kwok.

http://cee.uiuc.edu/Faculty/marinas.htm

The goal of drinking water disin-fection is to eliminate health threats from bacteria, protozoa and viruses that can cause illness. But no one technology is effective against ev-ery pathogen. In addition, chemical disinfection can cause dangerous by-products. Researchers led by Profes-sor Benito Mariñas are working to stay ahead of the changing needs of the water treatment industry by in-creasing understanding about current disinfection methods and developing new technologies that are safe and effective against a range of patho-gens.

Until recently, most American mu-nicipalities disinfected their drinking water with chlorine. But that method has proven ineffective against the common waterborne pathogen cryp-tosporidium, a protozoan parasite that causes gastrointestinal illness. Another disadvantage of chlorine dis-

infection is that it is associated with potentially carcinogenic byproducts.

New government regula-tions announced in 2006 call for municipalities to move away from chlorine disinfection within the next few years, a measure that will present new challeng-es. A common alternative re-places the “free chlorine” with the sequential use of ultraviolet light and “combined chlorine,” a form of chlorine produced in the presence of excess ammonia. How-ever, although this method is effective against cryptosporidium and bacteria, it is ineffective against waterborne vi-ruses.

Funded by the Water CAMPWS and private industry, Mariñas’ team is study-ing combined chlorine to develop data that demonstrates its ineffectiveness against viruses, determining what new

byproducts will be formed by this new method, and exploring new, comprehen-sive technologies that will inactivate all pathogens without harmful byproducts.

“We keep changing technologies, and each time we change technologies there’s a new pathogen that comes to the front,” Mariñas says. “We’re trying to understand what the industry is get-ting into.”

“Engineers are all about control, but you can’t re-ally control the environment; you can really only influence the environment.” Kevin Finneran

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 1�Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 1�

When the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chi-cago began exploring the use of constructed wetlands as a potentially less expensive alternative to tradi-tional treatments for removing nutri-ents from water, the agency came to Professor J. Wayland Eheart. The result is the most comprehensive pic-ture to date of the conditions under which constructed wetlands can pro-vide a feasible alternative to tradi-tional methods.

Constructed wetlands, in use since the 1970s, are gaining in popularity because more stringent environmental regulations are on the horizon in most areas of the country, and municipali-ties are seeking less expensive ways to comply, Eheart says. A constructed wetland looks the same as the natu-rally occurring kind and provides a habitat for wildlife and a potential recreation area for fishermen, hunters and bird-watching enthusiasts, while simultaneously removing harmful nu-trients from the water. Constructed wetlands require significantly more land than treatment plants, however.

Along with graduate students Tze

Ling Ng and Thomas Hu, Eheart used computer modeling to analyze hypo-thetical wetlands, adjusting factors like land cost, nutrient concentration, and elements like pumps, liners and earthworks. To ensure their models were realistic, they visited existing wetlands and scouted potential areas in Illinois for new ones.

They found that in situations where land is cheap and nutrient concentra-tions are high, constructed wetlands have advantages over traditional methods. Even in cases where land is more costly, it’s possible to offset the expense of the wetland by charg-ing recreationists to use it. This kind of arrangement can be accomplished through the use of transferable dis-charge permits, which allow private entities to bid on contracts to provide water treatment and “establish an in-centive for innovation,” Eheart says.

In May, Eheart presented his find-ings in a workshop to a group of Il-linois wastewater treatment profes-sionals. The new knowledge could be used by municipalities of any size whose goal is effective water treat-ment at a lower price. i

A comprehensive look at constructed wetlands

Thom

pson

-McC

lella

n

Evan Coopersmith is a first-year master’s can-didate in environmental systems analysis and chair of this year’s spring symposium.

“A lot of times the debate about whether to do something about climate change is ... about money. And I think it’s exciting that there are actions you can take which everybody wants to achieve. Perhaps they haven’t occurred because the money is in the wrong place, but there are definitely things you can do that can make a difference now. We’re bringing that to people’s attention and making it cred-ible through measurement and modeling.” Tami Bond

http://cee.uiuc.edu/Faculty/weheart.htm

The project requires work with live viruses, for example adenovirus, one of the toughest pathogens faced by the industry.

“Adenovirus is very persistent in nature and has the strongest resis-tance to disinfection by ultraviolet light—stronger than any other virus, stronger than any bacteria, stronger than any protozoa, stronger than anything we’ve ever seen,” Mariñas says.

Among the new technologies be-ing explored is photocatalysis, which utilizes a photo-reactive material—for example, titanium dioxide—to enhance the effectiveness of ultravio-let light.

In the meantime, the research will provide water treatment pro-fessionals with valuable information about current technology and lead to cleaner, safer water now and in the future. i

as his dedication to the increasingly vital area of sustainability allowed him to of-fer insight and inspiration to all who at-tended. Eloquently adapting an Aldous Huxley title, A Brave New World, Koch spoke charismatically of the need for continued scientific, public, and political energy devoted to the cause of a more sustainable tomorrow.

Student presentations were approxi-mately 10 minutes in length with five min-utes allotted for inquiry. The discussions were lively, the audience was genuinely intrigued, and the result was a successful day of intellectual discourse. i


“Certainly I enjoy many aspects of my work—the challenge of the research and coming up with innovative solutions to improve water quality. But working with students and seeing them make their first accomplishments within their careers—giving their first presentations, publish-ing their first papers—I enjoy those interactions the most.” Timothy J. Strathmann

Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health concern. The tendency of microbes to become immune to the an-tibiotics that cure infections has been

A clearer picture of antibiotic resistanceblamed on a number of possible factors, including the use of antibiotics in meat production. The work of Research Assis-tant Professor and microbiologist Julie L. Zilles is exploring this connection using an innovative new method for measuring antibiotic resistance in the environment.

Antibiotics given to farm animals make their way into the environment primarily through the animals’ manure, which is used as fertilizer. It has been speculated that these antibiotics in the environment have contributed to the development of resistant strains of bac-teria. But traditional methods of mea-suring antibiotic resistance have severe limitations, making this link difficult to study. A new method developed by CEE graduate student Zhi Zhou has made it possible to measure resistance in all mi-croorganisms under the microscope.

Zilles, Zhou and CEE student Toshio Shimada-Beltran are using this more re-liable, more comprehensive method to study agricultural soil samples in a proj-

ect funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Pork Board. The method utilizes a staining procedure that causes sensitive microbes to ap-pear fluorescent under the microscope. The team analyzes photographs of the samples to determine the level of resis-tant microbes, comparing that informa-tion with lab results that reveal the levels of antibiotics present. Soil samples from farms with and without antibiotic use are being examined.

A surprising preliminary finding in-dicates that the soil of organic farms contains significantly higher levels of an-tibiotic-resistant microbes than previous studies have discovered. These results are still being analyzed, says Zilles, but they may illuminate the advantage of the staining method over traditional methods for detecting resistant microbes. Zilles hopes her research can one day be used to give farmers specific recommenda-tions about antibiotic use, contributing to reduced levels of antibiotic resistance. i

Waterborne viruses can cause a range of illnesses, such as diarrhea, colds and pneumonia. Such viruses, like adenoviruses and noroviruses, can be particularly resistant to traditional methods of drinking water treatment. Chemical disinfection is effective but can produce harmful byproducts. The search for a new physico-chemical method for removing viruses from drinking water is the challenge of the newest member of the environmental faculty, Assistant Pro-fessor Thanh (Helen) H. Nguyen.

In collaboration with other researchers participating in the Water CAMPWS, a multidisciplinary National Science Foundation-supported research center at the U of I, Nguyen and her students are studying interfacial behavior of viruses with the goal of finding an additive that will cause viruses to clump together so they can settle or be filtered out of the water. The team has been working with a model virus, the bacteriophage MS2, but when a planned renovation of the environmental laboratories on the fourth

floor of Newmark Lab is completed next summer, they will receive the permit necessary to work with pathogenic viruses such as adenovirus.

Nguyen holds a B.S. in geology from Ivan Franko National University of L’viv, Ukraine; M.S. degrees in Earth and En-vironmental Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago and in environmen-tal engineering from Johns Hopkins Uni-versity; and a Ph.D. in Environmental En-gineering from Johns Hopkins University. Before joining the faculty at Illinois, she

A precise approach to the problem of waterborne viruses

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/thn/www/index.html

http://www.cee.uiuc.edu/people/jzilles/


There is a growing concern among water treatment professionals about a number of emerging classes of water micropollutants, including pharmaceuti-cals, personal care products, hormones, and even byproducts of the disinfection process in wastewater treatment plants. Conventional wastewater treatment plants are not designed to handle these compounds, and as a result many of them are being discharged into natural water bodies that are often used as drinking water sources. A project by environ-mental chemist and Assistant Professor Timothy J. Strathmann promises to ex-pand knowledge about these micropol-lutants with an eye toward developing treatment technologies for rendering them harmless.

Testing by the U.S. Geological Sur-vey has revealed the presence of many of these compounds in bodies of water throughout the country, raising concerns of the public and regulators alike. Al-though no federal regulations currently

exist for many of these contaminants, a growing number of studies suggest that continuous exposure to many of these compounds poses potential risks to aquatic organisms and human health. In addition, Strathmann says, chemicals that are not harmful on their own may prove dangerous when mixed with other pollutants in the environment. Because of concerns about these potential health effects, there is growing interest in the development of new technologies capa-ble of effectively and efficiently treating water containing these micropollutants.

Funded by the National Science Foun-dation through the Water CAMPWS—a University of Illinois research center—as well as funds from the American Water Works Association Research Foundation, Strathmann’s work illuminates the basic chemical processes behind technologies for selectively removing specific pollut-ants from the water. Through labora-tory tests, Strathmann and his research group are learning how fast such reac-

tions occur, how other ingredients in the water affect the processes, and what the final products are. A significant prelimi-nary finding has been the discovery that toxic disinfection byproducts and x-ray contrast agents that are particularly re-sistant to traditional treatment methods can be rapidly transformed to harmless byproducts at room temperature using metal catalysts in combination with hy-drogen gas.

“Ultimately we hope that this work will lead to engineered technologies that are highly efficient and selective,” Strathmann says, “so that we could work with reactor engineers to develop sus-tainable treatment processes to protect human health and the environment.” i

Better understanding of emerging micropollutants

was a Gaylord Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University.

The virus research makes good use of one of Nguyen’s areas of exper-tise—applying precise tools of biomedi-

cal research to environmen-tal engineering problems. For example, a sensitive microbalance can be used to measure adsorption in nanograms. During her post-doctoral year at Yale, Nguyen used such techniques

to study biological micromolecules.“I want to apply the techni-

cal knowledge I learned during my post-doc to the virus problem,” she says. i

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/strthmnn/www/index.html

“I came out of a background in operations research and indus-trial engineering. … I had taken one course in environmental sys-tems analysis … For me that was very compelling—to be able to do the kinds of mathematical modeling that I love and apply it to the environment where I thought I might make a difference. … Cer-tainly if I had stayed in manufacturing or banking like most of my colleagues, I’d probably be a lot wealthier than I am today, but I love what I’m doing, and that’s more important.” Barbara Minsker

18 Visit EES on the web at http://cee.uiuc.edu/environmental/

Thompson-McClellan

A molecular exploration of membrane fouling

Membranes represent the future of water treatment technology, but the prob-lem of their fouling, or clogging, has con-founded researchers. The need to clean membranes adds expense and reduces ef-ficiency, but the exact nature of the “dirt” fouling the membrane is often a mystery, complicating efforts to prevent it.

The problem is one of scale; the open-ings in membranes are so miniscule that they can’t be examined with a traditional microscope. Other methods, such as elec-

tron microscopy or charge-measuring, can give conflicting information. Research by Professor Mark M. Clark, graduate stu-dent Won-Young Ahn, and Department of Geology Professor Andrey Kalinichev is examining membrane fouling on a molecular level, promising a deeper un-derstanding of the fouling process. The project, funded by the Water CAMPWS, has already produced the most compre-hensive computer models in existence of what happens during membrane fouling.

“We’ve been trying to understand what actually decreases the productiv-ity of the membrane in the water,” says Clark, who has worked on issues of wa-ter filtration for more than 20 years with approximately 30 graduate students. “What’s the dirt? Is it clay, is it silt, is it natural organic matter, or is it bacteria that actually bond to the surface and form colonies? When we got into it, we found out it wasn’t real obvious which of the different substances were causing the

membrane fouling.”Working under Clark, Ahn is using

molecular dynamic simulation to construct 3D computer models of the membrane surface, the water, natural organic matter, and other molecules present in the water. Ahn’s models, the most comprehensive being produced anywhere, show how all the components interact at the molecular level, giving significantly more informa-tion than any other method in use.

“The molecular level of understanding is essential, because without that, no uni-form model could fully predict the fouling scenario,” Ahn says.

The use of membranes is related to the concept of sustainability, Clark says, because better water filtration enables water recycling. The results of this research could lead to better mem-brane design or recommendations for use that would prevent fouling, mak-ing a promising technology that much more feasible. i

Innovations in clean air technology

http://aqes.cee.uiuc.edu/

http://cee.uiuc.edu/people/mmclark3/clark1.htm

Innovative technologies for removing hazardous air pollutants from gas streams are available thanks to Ivan Racheff Pro-fessor Mark J. Rood’s research group. The Vapor Phase Removal and Recovery System (VaPRRS™) and Steady State Tracking (SST) Desorption System use adsorption technology to capture air pol-lutants for either sustainable reuse or dis-posal. These methods are applicable in a range of industries and are more efficient and sustainable than previously devel-oped methods, Rood says.

“We’re using an activated carbon fi-ber cloth that has very unique properties to do a much better job of removing mate-rials from the gas streams than traditional granular activated carbons,” he says.

Thousands of metric tons of hazard-ous air pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere every year, and industry is required to prevent those emissions. The VaPRRS™ technology, available for li-censing through the University, and SST

Desorption offer simpler, cheaper, more efficient options.

These technologies were de-veloped with co-inventors includ-ing Patrick D. Sullivan (PhD 03), and K. James Hay and B.J. Kim of the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory. Research leading to the development of these tech-nologies started in 1990, Rood says, and has been funded by the Department of Defense, the State of Illinois, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency, and Grainger Foundation. This summer, these technolo-gies will be demonstrated as full-scale devices in Utah and Texas.

The development of new technologies in an academic setting contributes to stu-dents’ education and increases the impact of research, Rood says.

“Students are able to apply first prin-ciples they learn in the classroom to solv-ing realistic problems and see the devel-

opment of technology evolve from very simple proof-of-concept testing to dem-onstrations in the field,” he says.

Students who have contributed to this area of Rood’s research include Mark P. Cal (MS 93, PhD 95), Mehrdad Lordgooei (PhD 99), Sullivan, David Ramirez (MS 00, PhD 05), Amit Kaldate (PhD 05), Zaher Hashisho, and Hamidreza Emamipour.

“I’ve been very fortunate in having very high quality graduate students,” Rood says. “We’ve been able to focus on their education while going from simple lab experiments at the bench scale to ac-tually building full-scale technologies that will be tested in the field.” i


The lakes and reservoirs that dot our urban landscapes provide drainage and add visual interest but are often too pol-luted for recreational use. Associate Pro-fessor Charles J. Werth is collaborating with researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to find out why pollution in urban lakes is so high, discover the sources of the pollutants, and explore methods for keeping the lakes cleaner. The work is supported by the National Institute of Water Research and the USGS.

Along with USGS researchers Peter Van Metre and Barbara Mahler, Werth and graduate student Yaning Yang are focusing on a class of pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are toxic to humans and aquatic life. Most prevalent in urban areas, PAHs come from roofing tars, parking lot sealants, oil and grease, and automobile emissions. These materials form particles, in some cases through weathering, and are carried

through storm water systems during rainfall events and into urban lakes.

The team is focusing on two wa-tersheds in Ft. Worth, Texas, the Lake Fosdic Watershed and the Lake Como Watershed, where they are collecting water samples from the lakes and samples of possible pollut-ant sources in the surrounding areas, such as street dust, parking lot dust, residential soil and commercial soil. Analyzing the samples should yield a clearer picture of where the lakes’ pollutants are coming from and how harmful they might be in the environment.

Werth’s project may be the most comprehensive study to date of the role particles play on pollution fate in urban lakes, because the focus is the whole wa-tershed, which includes not only the body of water but also the surrounding area that drains into it. He hopes his re-sults will lead to recommendations

Cleaner urban lakes

for best-management practices to reduce PAHs flowing into urban lakes. Because PAHs become less availble to aquatic or-ganics or break down slowly over time, just stemming the tide of pollutants could ultimately lead to cleaner, better utilized urban lakes. i

http://cee.uiuc.edu/people/werth/

Membranes are an emerging tech-nology in water treatment that produce higher quality water than traditional methods. But membranes are prone to fouling, or clogging with organic mate-rial, and frequent cleaning adds to the cost of using them. Research by Assis-tant Professor Eberhard F. Morgenroth is combining membranes with biologi-cal treatment to reduce fouling, making membranes more cost-efficient, and pro-duce energy in the process.

An expert in biological processes for cleaning water, Morgenroth is collabo-rating with membrane developers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University in an effort to com-bine the two technologies and develop new procedures for membrane reactors. Using a laboratory-scale reactor, Mor-genroth is testing his system against a range of compounds that could poten-tially foul the membranes. The anaero-bic process employs microorganisms, specifically heterotrophic bacteria and

More sustainable membrane use archaea, to clean the water and membranes to filter it, so the bac-teria stay contained.

“Bacteria eat up the waste or organic matter, so they do 98 per-cent of the treatment, then the mem-brane keeps them from passing through and out,” Morgenroth says.

The process also produces methane as a byproduct, which can power a generator to pro-duce electricity. The production of energy as well as the promise of cleaner water at a lower cost will make membrane technology more feasible for municipalities, which are increasingly concerned with conserving energy and recy-cling water.

“We don’t have endless resources in terms of energy and money, so having a treatment process that can efficiently treat dirty water and produce clean wa-ter, that’s essential,” Morgenroth says. “We’re looking at cleaning dirty water

http://www.cee.uiuc.edu/research/morgenroth/

Photo: Assistant Professor Eberhard Morgen-roth at the Urbana Sanitary District.

to the standards that you can either put it into the river again or you could treat it to a level where it would be safe to irrigate land again.” i


save the date:

The University of Illinois Railroad Engineering Program and Engineering Career Services announce the first recruiting event exclusive to the railroad industry

“A New Look at the Railroad Industry:

A History of Innovation”Featuring:aAn overview of the industry and how it has changedaA panel of industry professionals discussing opportunities available to studentsaA networking session, similar in format to a small career fair

September 6, 20075-7 p.m. Illini Union

Engineering Career Services s Suite 3270 DCL1304 W. Springfield Avenue s Urbana, Illinois 61801217-333-1960 s email: [email protected]: http://ecs.cen.uiuc.edu s job board: www.uiucengineeringjobs.com

For more information, contact Sarah Zehr, [email protected]


save the date:

By williaM J. Hall (MS 51, PHD 54)PRofeSSoR eMeRituS of Civil enGineeRinG

Golden Gate Bridge revisitedSeventy years later, a former U of I pro-fessor is given due credit for his design

Seventy years later, former Univer-sity of Illinois Civil Engineering Professor Charles A. Ellis has been formally cred-ited with the design of the Golden Gate Bridge. Although the upcoming change of official credit for the design of the Golden Gate Bridge was known to some of us for many months, we thank alumnus Thomas J. Byrne (MS 55) for providing us with the first official notice that “The Golden Gate Bridge Report of the Chief Engineer, Volume II” is available for $70 at the Golden Gate Bridge gift shop.

It is in this book, an adden-dum to the Final Report written about 70 years earlier by Jo-seph Strauss, that the official recognition is given. In fair-ness, Strauss is to be credited with the vision for the bridge and in raising funds for its con-struction. The CEE department has ordered a copy of the book, and this volume eventu-ally will be placed in the Spe-cial Collection on the Golden Gate Bridge that resides in the Grainger Engineering Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Over the past 50 years, professors Nathan New-mark, James Stallmeyer and the writer have collected Golden Gate Bridge ma-terials from alumni and friends. The most recent contributions have come since 1992 from John Van Der Zee, author of “The Gate: The True Story of the Design and Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge” (Simon and Schuster, 1986); the late Russell Cone, son of the Chief Engi-neer; and Fred Apsey of Galesburg, Ill.,

a Purdue graduate, a good friend of the writ-er, and one of the last living former students of Charles Ellis.

Charles Alton El-lis was born June 23, 1886, and educated ini-tially at Wesleyan Uni-versity in Middletown, Conn. He worked as

a draughts-man, checker and designer at the American Bridge Co. from 1900-1908. His career included serving on the faculty of the Univer-sity of Michigan as an assis-tant professor from 1912-14. In 1914 he joined the Depart-ment of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois as an assistant professor. He was promoted to Professor of Structural Engineering in 1915, a position he held un-til 1921. At that point Ellis left and took a post as Chief Structural Engineer of the Joseph Strauss Engineering Corporation in Chicago. He designed the Golden Gate Bridge from 1929 to 1930, but for some reason he was

dismissed in 1931 by Joseph Strauss. El-lis later became a Professor at Purdue University, where he finished out his ca-reer. He died in 1949.

We possess a full set of the Gen-eral Plans for the Golden Gate Bridge signed by Charles Ellis on August 1930 on behalf of the Strauss Engineering Corporation—the bridge that was actu-ally built—in our collection at Illinois, as does Purdue University. Joseph Strauss

reportedly prepared the final report on the Golden Gate Bridge and never once mentioned Charles Ellis, thus leading to the long effort by many individuals to have this omission corrected. For more details, see the book by John Van Der Zee, as well as archival materials on Ellis at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Purdue University.

Among other significant contribu-tors to the design of the bridge known to us are Wilbur M. Wilson of the Civil Engineering department, who worked on the properties of the bridge steels and riveted joints for Bethlehem Steel Co.; Russell G. Cone (BS 22) chief en-gineer; Charles U. Kring (BS 32, MS 39, PhD 48), a principal engineer oversee-ing cable spinning; John R. Blondin (BS 28); Charles H. Clarahan, (BS 18); Ed-win P. Davenport (BS 32), pier founda-tions; and W. Bernard Dickman (BS 32). Often the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, for which Charles E. Andrews (BS 1906) was Chief Resident Engineer, are referred to as “Illinois Bridges.”

In due course we may wish to publish more on the Golden Gate Bridge. Any-one who may have related information to share with us is urged to send it to the editor of this newsletter. i

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Beyond the

collection plate

Engineers who volunteer their

time and talent as facility managers can be a treasure

to nonprofit organizations

By RiCHaRD SaSSe , P.e., (BS 1975)

Most people understand the impor-tance of volunteering, especially

those with young families. There always are opportunities to volunteer with Little League, Scouting, PTA, swim clubs and the other organizations that families join as part of participating in everyday life. These nonprofit organizations rely on volunteers, and being a coach, leader, or fundraiser is an ideal way to share your free, and even not-so-free, time with your family and other families. If you also happen to be an engineer, you are in even greater demand.

Recent natural disasters have high-lighted opportunities to help those in greatest need. Yet it is easy to overlook the opportunities closer to home to vol-unteer facility management expertise to nonprofit organizations. The nonprofit organizations that spring to mind instinc-tively are those that cannot easily raise dues or admission fees and often rely on gifts and pledges to balance the budget. The face of the organization itself is usu-ally its premier (or only) facility, and its mission’s success depends on the quality of the facility. Poor facility management leads to a failing organization program. Keeping these missions going becomes a problem as their facilities age and be-come historic properties.

Volunteer facility managers are needed in a variety of areas including property committees, plant and prop-erty committees, buildings and grounds committees, and prudential committees.

Sometimes you can identify an orga-nization’s needs simply by reading your local newspaper. In Providence, R.I., for example, the newspaper reports on the efforts of volunteer property commit-tees, their decisions and their problems.

Public libraries may be another good place to volunteer technical expertise, given traditional funding problems. For example, the chairman of Providence Public Library Property Committee grew up in the town and loved the library. As an engineer at a major engineering consulting firm in nearby Massachusetts,

he feels so strongly about the library that he has served on the committee for years.

Scouting is always in need of volun-teers. One of the committees on which I’ve volunteered my time is the Nar-ragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America’s Properties Committee. Scout Camp is where young boys want to be in the summer. But that is made possible by a lot of behind-the-scenes work, includ-ing work on code compliance, discharge permits, property boundary disputes, fire safety upgrades, life cycle planning, facility condition assessments, water treatment plant upgrades and adapta-tion for the Americans with Disabilities Act. Scout Camp today is a lot more than just tents and latrines.

Your local place of worship also pres-ents a good opportunity for volunteer work. I also volunteer on the Property Subcommittee of my church, the Cen-tral Congregational Church, an historic property on the East Side of Providence. This 115-year-old structure provides a hands-on laboratory for any engineer looking to share expertise and learn from others. The subcommittee’s makeup consists of many retirees and, typical for New England, mostly veterans. The senior members are former mill manag-ers, and members include a realtor, two architects, a retired engineering profes-sor, a local insurance magnate, a retired submarine sailor, an engineer at a pre-cious metals recycler, a psychology pro-

Richard Sasse, P.E., received his B.S.C.E. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975 while in the Coast Guard Civil Engineering Program under Professor John D. Haltiwanger. He is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a re-tired Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard, having served in the Coast Guard’s shore facilities program. He is also a graduate of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Rhode Island. He lives in Providence, R.I., and works for VFA in Bos-ton as a Facilities Consultant. He is pictured on the facing page in front of the Central Congregational Church in Providence, R.I.

Reprinted with the permission of the Society of American Military En-gineers, Copyright 2006, www.same.org/tme.



fessor, our minister and our sexton. From this membership list it is easy to see that there is great wisdom to be exchanged among group members, which provides a personal and professional reward for the volunteer.

The church’s work list of issues is long. It also is a good example of the type of facility that needs engineering expertise, because the subcommittee’s decisions af-fect the long-term integrity, appearance and functionality of the building and they must be done right the first time. Many facilities, like my church, also need assistance in making major upgrades to fire safety systems. Rhode Island, for ex-ample, has stiffened its fire safety laws as the result of the Station Night Club fire in 2003 in which 100 people died and 200 people were injured.

More typical problems facing non-profits include electrical systems that often go through multiple life cycles be-fore they can be replaced and safety issues, particularly for organizations that offer daycare. A common theme is that the best solution may not be what could be done with a more generous budget. Real money goes into fixing things, not into feasibility studies. That’s where the volunteers contribute.

Nonprofit organizations of all types are in severe distress as a result of re-duced funding and volunteer time, not to mention decreased community partici-pation. Sound engineering decisions will need to be made to keep these facilities from dipping so low that they cannot be restored for continued use to fulfill their original missions. Some of these facilities are doomed to become adaptive reuse projects after they are sold off to pay bills. Engineers can help prevent that by volunteering.

Whether you have a personal con-nection to a nonprofit or simply read about one that is trying to regroup, there is great need for you to share your professional expertise. The skills that we engineers have acquired through educa-tion and practice are in demand. We

have the ability to read building codes; we understand the presence of fire haz-ards, asbestos, lead and historicity; and we know how to perform an economic analysis. The other members of these organizations whose skills lie elsewhere depend on the engineers to present the

facts, opinions, alternatives and recom-mendations that will support continued operation of the facility and its mission. When the pipe organ is due for major capital work, it may well be the engi-neer, not the organist, whose recommen-dation is selected. i



Alumnus supports troops in Iraq with engineering expertise via emailMore than two years ago, Jeff Ta-

tarek, P.E., S.E., (BS 86), a structural en-gineer with Hanson Professional Services Inc. in Springfield, Ill., joined a civilian engineer volunteer list for the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), Rock Island Post. On Thursday, Jan. 4, he was called to action.

Through the engineering volunteer list, Tatarek was contacted initially by a coordinator from the Rock Island District,

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who called on behalf of the North Carolina Nation-al Guard’s 105th Engineering Group in Iraq. The 105th had an urgent problem. A bridge on a main highway in Iraq had been damaged by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and the 105th needed Tatarek’s assistance to make the bridge structurally sound again.

Individuals in the 105th Engineer-ing Group are trained combat engineers and many have design and construction-related backgrounds. In extreme cases

Jeff Tatarek

Photo by the North Carolina National Guard 105th Engineering Group showing explosives damage to a bridge on a highway in Iraq.

such as this, they also use the skills of professional engineers who volunteer for special assignments through SAME.

“The damage to the bridge was ex-tensive,” said Maj. John Wolf, P.E., North Carolina National Guard 105th Engineering Group in Iraq. “The blast not only destroyed the deck but also damaged the end of the pre-stressed concrete girder and destroyed the diaphragm. The willingness of fellow professional engineers from back home to help us out in a time of need like this gives us the opportunity to keep our focus on the many other issues that we are dealing with on a daily basis.”

Due to the nine-hour time differ-ence and a few email glitches, Tatarek received information on the project the following Monday, including detailed structural damage, measurements and photographs of the bridge. He prompt-ly began to analyze the details and create possible solutions for the dam-age. According to the 105th Engineer-ing Group, the northbound bridge was damaged from an IED, likely placed on the surface of the bridge. The IED cre-ated two large holes approximately 6 feet wide. The southbound bridge was also damaged by an IED placed under the bridge, making the bridge unsafe by creating a surface opening nearly 2 feet wide and 8 feet long and destroying the end of a support beam.

On Tuesday, Tatarek was updated about a few makeshift repairs made to the bridges.

“The traffic never stops over here for anything and blocking off the bridge didn’t work,” Wolf said. “The locals just move the barricades out of the way and continue on through. They were just driv-ing around the hole. While we weren’t concerned with additional damage to the bridge by a passenger car, we were

concerned about a large truck causing catastrophic failure. Vehicle loading is very different here. They don’t follow the same rules we do in the States.”

Using this information, Tatarek worked into the night prepar-ing detailed recommenda-tions. He was aware of both the urgency of the situation and the limited resources of the 105th. With this in mind, he designed both tempo-rary and long-term solutions. For the immediate repair, he drafted details which in-cluded placing a large steel plate over the affected area

and bolting the plate in place, which would allow the bridge to be opened to traffic. For a long-term solution, he created a more in-depth plan to fully re-pair the concrete and support beam. By 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, he had complet-ed the recommendations and immedi-ately emailed the information to Wolf.

“They needed the repair details right away. With the time difference and communicating solely by email, I just wanted to get it done as soon as pos-sible,” Tatarek said.

Tatarek has previous experience an-alyzing explosive effects on structures, but this project was his first experience working on actual damage. According to Tatarek, this experience has been es-pecially interesting as well as a unique opportunity to lend a helping hand.

“The project was rewarding, and my kids thought it was cool!” he said. “Half-way around the world, a bridge is still a bridge. With digital photos and an understanding of what needs to be ac-complished, we can provide the support that the troops need to complete their mission.” i

Story and photos courtesy of Hanson Profes-sional Services Inc.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Spring/Summer 2007 2�

where are they now?

When I was first asked if I’d like to be the subject of the “Where Are

They Now” feature in the CEE Alumni Newsletter, visions of the VH1 television program of the same name kept filling my head. Getting the latest gossip on former celebrities like MC Hammer and Macaulay Culkin can make for pretty entertaining television. However, install-ments of the VH1 version of “Where Are They Now” rarely end happily. But I guess that’s what makes them entertain-ing in the first place. So I suppose my challenge is to distill the first five years of my professional life into several inter-esting paragraphs, without the dramatic effect of recovering from financial ruin, jail time, or any other problems that always seem to befall the Hollywood types.

I’ll be the first to admit that I loved being in college, particularly graduate school. Great classes, a research assis-tantship (ka ching!), and good friends made it tough to leave. Of course, my adviser, Professor Keith Hjelmstad, might say that it was tough for him to finally get me to leave! But leave I did in August 2001 for a job with Wiss, Janney, Elst-ner Associates (WJE), a premier forensic engineering firm comprised of structural engineers, architects, and materials sci-entists with offices nationwide. There is no shortage of Illini at WJE, which cer-tainly helped with my transition from graduate hanger-on to junior engineer at WJE’s Northbrook, Ill., headquarters.

In many ways, my first day at WJE was a microcosm of the following fre-netic five years. Before I could even

compare the construction quality of the CMU walls in my WJE office with those of my old office at 2119 Newmark Lab, I was thrust into my first lesson in crisis management. It seemed that another young engineer at WJE, who was ex-pecting her first child, gave birth sev-eral weeks earlier than expected. So, in addition to delivering a healthy new baby boy, she had also delivered one extremely short-handed and agitated project manager to my office door. I still remember the project manager saying, only half in jest, “The good news is she had her baby. The bad news is she had her baby.” So, reluctantly, I postponed memorizing the thousand-page com-pany resource manual for another day, and got waist-deep in structural analysis for a well-known western sports arena. It felt great and exciting to be contribut-ing, albeit in a relatively small way, right out of the gate.

Work sure is easy when you love what you do. At WJE, I’ve had the privilege to work on a wide range of projects for a diverse clientele. Since our firm focuses on serving the nation’s existing building stock, there really is no “typical” project that we do. It hardly seems possible, but I’ve performed close to 100 investiga-tions and analyses since I started at WJE: some for single-family homes, some for multi-million dollar facilities. I’ve been able to hang off the side of buildings for facade inspections (see inset) and crawl around on bridge girders performing fatigue and redundancy evaluations. Although there weren’t any CEE courses that specifically taught me how to do

this type of engineering, I found myself very well prepared for success. With healthy servings of analytical and be-havioral courses in school, I was armed with the problem-solving skills that I use everyday. It’s also great having the op-portunity to get out of the office to job sites and interact with other people in-side and outside our profession. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t cross paths with a fellow U of I student or alumnus on a project, at a seminar, or just walk-ing through downtown Chicago.

At WJE, we like to pride ourselves on working hard—my average work week is probably somewhere around 4� hours—but also playing hard. One benefit of having such a large Illini con-tingent is that it’s usually not too hard to round up a few of the usual suspects to watch a basketball game at the lo-cal watering hole or put together a last-minute road trip to see a football game.

Play time has recently taken on a whole new meaning for my wife, Michelle (BS 98, MS 00), and me, though, with the arrival of our first son, Evan Michael (BS 2028, MS 2029), in June 2006. We’re going to strongly encourage him to con-tinue the family engineering tradition. Perhaps my writing this article will entitle Evan to a tuition discount? Please? i

Work sure is easy when you love what you doBy JonatHan e. lewiS (BS 99, MS 01)StRuCtuRal enGineeR, wiSS, Janney, elStneR aSSoCiateS

Vice President, Chi Epsilon, 1998-99Editor, The Benchmark Student Newsletter 2000-2001



Byrne and Armstrong bequest will provide graduate structures fellowships Alumnus Thomas J. Byrne

(M.S. 55) and his wife, Jane Armstrong-Byrne, have made a bequest to the department in support of graduate education. Income from the Thomas J. Byrne and Jane Armstrong Structural Engineering Fellowship Fund will provide fellowships to students with an interest in a structural engineering career with private industry.

Byrne and Armstrong-Byrne are the owners of Armstrong Ranch, a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in Napa Valley, Calif. Byrne is a retired structural engineer who earned his de-grees at Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After serving in the Army for two years at the Engineering Research and Development Lab in Fort Belvoir, Va., Byrne joined the Chicago architec-ture and engineering firm Lundstrum and Skubic as a structural engineer. In 1964 he joined Jewel Food Stores as a struc-tural engineer in the construction depart-ment. He spent his career working for various subsidiaries of Jewel Companies Inc., retiring in 1990 as vice president of construction and store development of American Superstores, which acquired Jewel in the mid-1980s. In 1992, he and Armstrong-Byrne, who had married in 1974, moved to the vineyard they had planted in 1984.

Armstrong-Byrne is a home economist and registered dietitian, and a graduate of Iowa State University. Her career in-cluded being Head of Test Kitchens for the American Dairy Association; Director of Home Economics for the Wheat Flour Institute; and a Home Economist and lat-er Vice President of Consumer Affairs for Jewel Food Stores. She was one of the first woman vice presidents in corporate America.

Fond memories of his time at Illi-nois prompted Byrne to remember the department in his will. In awarding the graduate fellowships their gift will pro-vide, the couple has stipulated that pref-erence be given to students who exhibit superior problem-solving skills in the spir-it of the teaching approach of Professor Thomas Shedd, one of Byrne’s favorite teachers.

“He was not a very tall man, and he had those great big, bushy eyebrows

and those steel-rimmed glasses,” Byrne recalls. “Class would begin with his going to the blackboard and sketching out a problem or a truss or something. And then he would turn around and say, ‘And now, Mr. Byrne…’ And he would proceed with a question. You would always just sort of cringe down in your seat hoping he didn’t pick you to answer this question. But you knew he was just the epit-ome of what a structural engineer should be. He was very imposing,

even though he was of small stature.”Other professors who made an im-

pression on Byrne were Ralph Peck (now Emeritus), Jamison Vawter, and Walter Austin (MS 46, PhD 49), who taught for Nathan Newmark (MS 32). Byrne re-called using Newmark’s numerical meth-ods approach to solving complex engi-neering problems, an offshoot of Hardy Cross’ Moment Distribution Method.

“Moment distribution was the great-est tool that structural engineers had back in the 1950s, and it was created right there at the University of Illinois,” Byrne says. “In the ’30s and ’40s the University of Illinois was where every-body was, if you were somebody in civil engineering.

“I have a great feeling about the University and what it stands for. I re-ally appreciated my time there. … It’s time for us to give something back.” i

Registration: 217-244-0841 or http://cee.uiuc.edu/railroad

Featuring presentations on:Environmental Management Systems Energy l Emissions and Air Quality Pollution prevention l Environmental Training l Compliance l RemediationWaste Treatment and Management l Passenger Rail and Transit Environmental TopicsShort Line and Regional Railroad Environmental Topics l Risk Management

Illini Union l University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign l October 23-25, 2007Railroad Environmental Conference


Gifts from CN, CSX enable expansion of railroad engineering programPlans to expand the Railroad Engi-

neering Program are underway, thanks to two recent gifts from railroads. Sig-nificant gifts from railroads CN and CSX will support the department’s initiative to expand and improve its rail program, already considered the best in North America. The gifts will be pooled with other funds to establish a new Railroad Engineering teaching position.

“This new faculty member will teach classes, mentor students, and encour-age their interest in careers in railroad engineering,” says Associate Professor Christopher P.L. Barkan, director of the railroad program.

The University of Illinois has been an academic and research leader in rail-road engineering for more than a cen-tury. The Railroad Engineering Program has the largest selection of courses and broadest array of rail-related research of any North American university. Illinois is also home to one of only three Asso-ciation of American Railroads affiliated laboratories in the nation, and Illinois’ lab is the oldest and most mature.

Adding a faculty member will enable the department to expand its railroad engineering course offerings and en-courage more students to pursue careers in the field. Numerous career opportuni-ties exist in the railroad industry due to

an aging workforce. Half of all railroad engineer-ing professionals are ex-pected to retire in the next five years, Barkan says.

CN, a leader in the North American rail indus-try, crosses the continent east-west and north-south, serving ports on the Atlan-tic, Pacific and Gulf coasts and linking customers to all three NAFTA nations. The company is a long-time supporter of the railroad engineer-ing program.

“CN is very proud to be associated with one of the top engineering schools in the country,” says Gordon T. Trafton, senior vice president of CN’s Southern Region. “We recognize the importance of investing in a program that will en-courage students to pursue a career in railroading. These are the people who will shape the future of our company and the North American economy, which depends on the efficient flow of goods and raw materials.”

CSX Transportation Inc., headquar-tered in Jacksonville, Fla., operates the largest railroad in the eastern United States with a 22,000-mile rail network linking commercial markets in 23 states,

the District of Columbia and two Canadian prov-inces. A CSX spokesperson expressed the company’s confidence that the Illinois program can help the in-dustry achieve its goals of a larger, educated work force.

“CSX realizes the great need for railway engineers as we anticipate a large number of retire-ments over the next five to

seven years,” says Lisa Wheldon of CSX Human Resources. “Chris Barkan has de-veloped a great rail program at the Uni-versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and CSX strongly supports his initiatives.We are looking for strong future leaders who will continue our vision of being the safest, most progressive North American railroad, relentless in the pursuit of cus-tomer and employee excellence. ”

Other donors who have contributed to the expansion of the Railroad Engi-neering Program are the George Kram-bles Foundation, Hanson Professional Services Inc., and Norfolk Southern, which recently renewed its commitment to fund the William W. Hay Railroad En-gineering Seminar Series. Such industry support enhances the Railroad Engineer-ing Program in numerous ways, Barkan says.

“I view our relationship with the rail-road industry as a partnership, and a strong one at that,” he says. “Our stu-dents are tremendously fortunate be-cause of our involvement with railroads and with the Association of American Railroads. ... [They] get a tremendous view inside this industry and can un-derstand not only the technical issues but the context in which their engineer-ing solutions have to be developed and applied.” i

Photos: Railroad engineering students on a recent field trip.


Boneyard Yacht Club takes second place at regionals, heads to nationalsBy Stefano tRuSCHke anD CaRRie PeteRSon

After another year of hard work, the concrete canoe team once again put to-gether a phenomenal canoe. This year’s effort paid off in a second-place overall finish at the regional competition, which earned the team the right to compete in the national concrete canoe competition at the University of Washington in Se-attle in June. Our success this year can

be attributed to several new construction techniques and well-trained paddlers.

Early in the school year, the team decided to pay trib-ute to U of I’s very first con-crete canoe, Mis-Led. Con-structed in 1971 in Professor Emeritus Clyde Kesler’s (BS 43, MS 46) concrete mix de-

sign class, it was first raced against Pur-due University at Kickapoo State Park in Danville, Ill. Since the Great Lakes Conference was to be hosted by Purdue University this year, it seemed fitting to pay tribute to that first canoe. In addi-tion, this year’s national competition will be the 20th annual one, and we wanted to contribute to that celebration. With these ideas in mind, we created Mis-Led II, incorporating the most revolutionary ideas in concrete canoe design.

The first goal was to improve on last year’s hull design. Last year’s canoe, Brigantine, had a significant amount of water splashing over the bow and filling

the canoe, due to its vertical bow and blunt corners. This year’s canoe featured an angled bow and sharpened corners. We also reduced the overall height of the canoe from 12 inches to 10 inches. This helped reduce the weight of the ca-noe and improved the paddlers’ reach.

Additionally, as seen in many of the most impressive canoes from last year, a decorative concrete inlay was included in Mis-Led II. Since this was to be our first attempt at such an inlay, we se-lected a simple “Block I” design. At the point of the inlay, we doubled the thick-ness of the canoe so the inlay would not be relied upon as a structural element.

In order to create an orange and blue canoe and still follow the more strin-gent rules (no paint allowed), we used pigmented concrete. The majority of the canoe was dyed orange with blue deco-rative inlay and concrete-encased end-caps. This helped reduce the time usu-ally spent at the end of the year staining or painting at the eleventh hour.

Finally, we designed a more work-able mix for Mis-Led II. Recent years’ canoes have had issues with thicknesses, resulting in overweight canoes that were difficult to maneuver. Using depth gag-es and the improved mix, we achieved the exact required thickness and were

Above: members of U of I’s 2006-2007 Concrete Canoe team pose with Mis-Led II. Photo at left: this year’s canoe featured a decorative Block I inlay. Below (from left): senior Andrew Jackson, sophomore Will Kolbuk and senior Stefano Truschke paddle into second place.


By Jeff viano

The Steel Bridge Team traveled to Purdue University in West Lafay-ette, Ind., on April 28 to compete in the Great Lakes Regional Competition, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Insti-tute of Structural Engineers. The Illinois team faced 10 teams this year from Il-linois, Indiana and Wisconsin, including the powerhouse team from the Univer-sity of Wisconsin at Madison. The Illinois team placed second only to Wisconsin, a performance good enough to qualify the team for the national competition in Northridge, Calif.

The rules for the bridge competition this year dictated that the bridge be 20 feet long and have a single span. The bridge had to be designed to resist de-

flection from a 2,�00-pound load placed at a random location along the bridge deck. In addition to this, the bridge had to be designed for ease of construction, as construction speed is a large factor in determining the score at the competition.

The final design for the

Illinois steel bridge team places second in Great Lakes conference, qualifies for nationals

able to trowel the mix to a near-perfect finish. This reduced sanding time from a few weeks to only one night.

With all of these improvements and new techniques, we were able to put forth an amazing effort at regionals. Coming within three seconds in some of the races against national champion Wisconsin-Madison, we took second place in the races. A solid technical ef-fort led to a second-place design pa-per and a third-place oral presentation. With a third-place final product (despite some minor but unsightly cracking), Mis-Led II achieved a second-place overall finish.

Qualifying for nationals for the first time since 1996, the Illinois team has high standards to uphold. The 2,100-mile trip to Seattle, Wash., will put the canoe team in a tight financial spot, but it is worth it to field a team at the big show.

To learn more about the concrete canoe team or contribute as a spon-sor, feel free to check out our web-site at www.uiuc.edu/~boneyardyc. If you would like to be added to our alumni listing for emailed updates throughout the year, please send your name and contact information to the team at [email protected]. i

Stefano Truschke and Carrie Peterson are co-captains of the 2007 Concrete Canoe team.

bridge was a trapezoidal truss with six rods connecting the top cord of the truss to the roadbed. This design allowed the bridge to be built without the need to enter the “river” the bridge spanned. In the end, the bridge was designed for ease of construction and lightness, often at the cost of deflection. These trad-eoffs helped us maximize our score in two important categories.

Our 240-pound bridge performed very well at the competition, with a maximum deflection under the 2,�00-pound load of 0.3 inches. Our build-ing speed was just under 12 minutes with only four builders, good enough to beat every team except Wisconsin. Our per-formance at regionals earned the team second place trophies in lightness, con-struction speed, construction economy, aesthetics, and overall performance.

The success of this year’s steel bridge team is due in large part to the gener-ous monetary support from CEE alumni. If you are interested in sponsoring the team for the 2007-2008 school year, please contact Jeff Viano at [email protected] for more information. i

Jeff Viano is co-captain, with Craig Weiland, of the Steel Bridge Team.

Photo at top of page: members of the U of I’s 2006-2007 Steel Bridge team, from left: John Sticklen, Brian Worrasangasilpa, Craig Weiland, Alex Schultz, Jeff Viano and Jackie Plocher. Below left: Craig Weiland, background, and John Sticklen, foreground, connect pieces of the roadbed to the top of the truss during timed bridge construction as judges, in yellow, look on.


The Central Illinois Section ASCE Award

Christiana Barnas

ASCE Outstanding Instructor AwardLarry Fahnestock

Harold R. Sandberg ScholarshipAdam Janzen

Civil Engineering Class of 1943 AwardScott Banjavcic

Lawrence J. Fritz Undergraduate ScholarshipJoseph Blecha

Alvord, Burdick & Howson AwardDavid Yaksic

Wayne C. Teng Scholarship Lauren StrombergMark HirschiAna EisenmanAngelia Tanamal

Koch Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Joseph Lamplot

CH2M Hill Transportation Endowed Scholarship

Denise Soehrman

William A. Oliver Endowed Scholarship Mark Messner

Doris and James Willmer ScholarshipClaire Joseph

Harvey H. Hagge Concrete ScholarshipPeter PascuaAmanda Bordelon

Anna Lee and James T.P. Yao Scholarship

Ryan Duckworth

Max Whitman APWA ScholarshipScott Uranich

Industry Advancement Foundation of Central Illinois Builders of the AssociatedGeneral Contractors Scholarship

Kevin Foster

Walker Parking Consultants ScholarshipScott Wojieczko

Crawford, Murphy, Tilly Award Alec DanaherEzamil Suhaimi

Klein and Hoffman Inc. ScholarshipJodie Green

Bowman, Barrett & AssociatesOutstanding Scholar Award

John Zeman

Illinois Association of County Engineers Award

David SimpsonJohn ZemanKevin SpitzDavid Galey

Chicago Outer Belt ContractorsAssociation Scholarship

Li-Wei Chen Grant W. Shaw Memorial Scholarship Kevin Spitz

Charles E. DeLeuw Travel AwardRapik SaatElham Fini

Harry R. Hanley Memorial ScholarshipJodie F. Green

Norman Carlson ScholarshipMark Dingler

Ernest L. Doctor Memorial ScholarshipAndrew F. Braham

Brett C. Zitny, left, president of the student chapter of the American Society of Civil En-gineers presented the Outstanding Instructor Award to Assistant Professor Larry A. Fahn-estock.

Photo at left: Todd C. Ude (BS 89), second from left, of Teng & Associates, Chicago, presented the Wayne C. Teng Scholarship to, from left, Mark C. Hirschi, Angelia Tana-mal, Lauren L. Strom-berg and Ana A.P. Eisenman.

Photo at right: Vicki L. Trimble, right, of the University of Illinois Foundation, presented the George L. Bridwell Memorial Scholarship to Anne Zhang.

2007 Student Awards


2007 Student AwardsGeorge L. Bridwell Memorial

ScholarshipAnne Zhang

RJN Foundation Civil Engineering Scholarship

Jonathan Czuba

William John MacKay Award Caleb FaderJustin LewisWiryaputra Pramono

George L. Farnsworth Jr. ScholarshipMatthew Sugihara

Woolpert LLP ScholarshipCarol Peterson

William E. O’Neil AwardOmar El-Anwar

Wilfred F. and Ruth Davison Langelier Scholarship in Sanitary/Environmental EngineeringChristiana R. BarnasWilliam C. Lindsay

Walter E. Hanson Graduate Study AwardJames Hansen

Gordon and Monalea Dalrymple Undergraduate Scholarship

Zhuangqiang Tan

Leigh F. Zebree Scholarship in Civil Engineering

Alec Danaher

Clement C. Lee Outstanding Scholar Awardin Honor of Houssam Mahmoud KararaJeffrey Dolian

Bob Zieba Memorial ScholarshipMaren Somers

Samuel C. Roberts Award in Civil EngineeringAdam Wedoff Chester P. Siess AwardWon Hee Kang

Earle J. Wheeler Scholarship Maciej MroczekBrian Schertz

Maude E. Eide Memorial Scholarship Christiana BarnasBenjamin BurroughsDaniel FeySayo Chaoka Lauren Stromberg

Bates and Rogers Scholarship Matthew Sugihara

Ira O. Baker Memorial Scholarships Thomas RadovichAbigail Ekstrand

Delores Wade Huber ScholarshipJohanna Gemperline Peter Maraccini

Henry T. Heald AwardPeter Pascua A. Epstein Award in Civil EngineeringCameron TalischiAllen BartonSang Kyu Kang

Ira O Baker Prize (first)Sean PoustCameron Talischi

Professor and Head Robert H. Dodds Jr., center, presented the Ira O. Baker Prize to Cameron Talischi, left, and Sean L. Poust. This year, instead of awarding first and second prizes, the department honored both recipi-ents equally with first-place awards.

Professor and Associate Head Albert J. Valoc-chi, left, presented the Chester P. Siess Award to Won Hee Kang.

At right (near): Mark G. Calvino (BS 83, MS 84), of Klein and Hoffman Inc., Chicago, pre-sented the Klein and Hoffman Inc. Scholar-ship in Honor of Frank Klein to Jodie F. Green. Next photo: Patrick J. McGowan (BS 86), right, of W.E. O’Neil Construction Co., pre-sented the William E. O’Neil Award to Omas El-Anwar.


Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association2007 Alumni Awards

The winners of the CEE Alumni Association’s (CEEAA) annual alumni awards, presented Feb. 8 at the Chi-cago Regional Dinner Meeting at the Union League Club in Chicago, pictured with CEEAA President John L. Carrato, back row, left. They are (front row, from left) Robert P. Elliott, George C. Hoff, Elmo L. DiBia-gio, Robert L. Martin, (back row, from left) Carrato, Sharon L. Wood, Robert G. Pekelnicky and Benjamin L. Davis.

Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement AwardRobert P. Elliott (BS 69, MS 70,

PhD 84)University Professor of Civil Engineering

University of ArkansasFayetteville, Arkansas

For technical contributions to the improve-ment of pavement overlay design proce-dures employed by state highway agen-cies, and for significant contributions to fostering the development of young engi-neers throughout their college careers.

Elmo L. DiBiagio (PhD 65)Technical Adviser, Division for Instrumen-

tation and Performance MonitoringNorwegian Geotechnical Institute

Oslo, NorwayFor outstanding long-term leadership in design and monitoring of instrumentation for major civil engineering construction projects, including offshore and water-front structures, dams, tunnels, bridges and transmission lines.

Sharon L. Wood (MS 83)Professor of Civil EngineeringUniversity of Texas at Austin

For valuable, innovative and far-reaching research, as well as practice con-tributions to the fields of reinforced, prestressed and precast concrete struc-tures, and exceptional national service to the civil engineering profession.

Robert L. Martin (BS 77, MS 78)General Manager

DuPage Water CommissionElmhurst, Illinois

For contributions to the advancement of the practice of water supply engineering, and for dedicated service to the civil en-gineering profession.

George C. Hoff (BS 61, MS 68)President, Hoff Consulting

Clinton, MississippiFor research and development of unique structural concrete applications, particu-larly in marine environments, for dedi-cated professional society service, and for demonstrated commitment to civic endeavors.

Robert G. Pekelnicky (BS 00, MS 01)Project Engineer, Degenkolb Engineers

San Francisco, CaliforniaFor substantial contribututions to earthquake and blast en-gineering practice, and for promoting multi-hazard miti-gation engineering approaches within the civil engineering profession.

Benjamin L. Davis (MS 99)Lieutenant Commander, Facility Engineer

U.S. Coast Guard Telecommunication and Communication Systems Command, Alexandria, Virginia

For development and implementation of innovative pro-grams to meet unanticipated conditions faced by the U.S. Coast Guard, as illustrated by his effective preparation for and recovery from the effects of Hurricane Isabel, and for outstanding management of numerous mission-critical Coast Guard construction projects.

Join the Alumni AssociationMembers of the University of Illinois Alumni Association are automatically enrolled in the CEE Alumni Association. See page 43 for details.


Department News

Professor Imad Al-Qadi recently was recognized with four honors. He received the 2006 D. Grant Mickle Award from the Transportation Re-search Board for the outstand-ing paper in the field of opera-tion, safety, and maintenance of transportation facilities. The paper is titled “Viscoelastic Model to Describe the Mechani-cal Response of Bituminous Seal-

ants at Low Temperature.” Co-authors are Mostafa A. Elseifi of Bradley University; Samer H. Dessouky, a Research Scientist at the Illinois Center for Trans-portation and the Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory; and CEE Ph.D. student Shih-Hsien Yang.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) awarded Al-Qadi the James Laurie Prize for 2007. This award is made annually to a member of ASCE who has made a definite contribution to the ad-vancement of transportation engineering, either in research, planning, design or construction.

In addition, the November-December 2006 issue of TRNews published a profile on Al-Qadi to recognize his many and outstanding contributions in leader-ship, research and education on transportation is-sues facing our nation. This article can be viewed at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnew-s247toc.pdf.

Lastly, Al-Qadi was elected an honorary member of the Societa Italiana Infrastructure Viarie, Italy.

Assistant Professor Tami Bond of the environmen-tal engineering group received the 2007 Xerox Award for Faculty Research. Bond joined the faculty in 2003 and is an Arthur and Virginia Nauman Faculty Schol-ar. Each year, the Xerox Foundation honors a faculty member for outstanding research through the Xerox Award for Faculty Research. Bond was cited as an emerging leader in the area of air quality and its im-pact on the earth’s climate.

Matt D’Ambrosia, a Ph.D. student under the su-pervision of Professor David A. Lange, was awarded First Place in the Student Paper Competition at the Concrete Platform ’07 Conference held in Bel-fast, Ireland, April 19-20. The award recognizes D’Ambrosia’s paper entitled “Modeling Internal Stresses in Concrete Using Relative Humidity as a Driving Force,” co-authored with Lange. D’Ambrosia received a certificate and a $700 cash prize.

Former CEE Head and Dean of the College of Engi-neering David E. Daniel, now President of the Uni-versity of Texas at Dallas, was elected an Honorary Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Continued on the next page

MAE Center key in FEMA’s broad, new missionAs a result of lessons learned from the

Hurricane Katrina disaster and response, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, has been reorganized, expand-ing its mission for “preparedness and re-sponse to all hazards.” The Mid-America Earthquake (MAE) Center, headquartered within CEE, is playing a prominent role in this new initiative.

“The objective of our project is to im-prove the emergency preparedness in the region affected by the New Madrid seis-mic zone, a 150-mile long fault involving ... eight states,” said Amr Elnashai, direc-tor of the MAE Center, project principal investigator, and the William J. and Elaine F. Hall Endowed Professor in Civil and En-vironmental Engineering. “It will serve as the basis for how we will respond to a ma-jor earthquake by providing realistic esti-mates of losses and impacts.”

FEMA already has awarded a $2.� million grant to the MAE Center for this work and expects to award additional funding, Elnashai said. The outcome will be a comprehensive assessment of seis-mic losses, identification of vulnerabilities, advice on response and recovery, and recommendations for the development of HAZUS, a risk-assessment software tool for analyzing potential losses from disasters.

The 2005 hurricanes demonstrated the need for a broader approach to disaster planning, according to Harvey Johnson, FEMA’s deputy administrator and chief operating officer, who testified April 26 about FEMA’s reorganization before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emer-gency Management. The agency’s new scope involves a “risk-based approach that will focus on the expanded compre-hensive emergency management compo-nents of preparedness, response, recovery,

and hazard mitigation,” Johnson said. “FEMA now has a broader mission, a

wider constituency and a greater depth of penetration with the National Prepared-ness Goal and grants programs.”

The new FEMA is constructed around four catastrophic disaster planning re-gions—one of which includes Illinois and the seven other states centered on the New Madrid fault zone. Forty-four million people live in the region, 12 million in the high-risk area. An earthquake on the New Madrid fault would have a significant im-pact on the security, critical infrastructure and economy of the United States.

The MAE Center’s projections will provide information on a wide range of outcomes, including injured and displaced people; damaged buildings and bridges; water and sanitation needs; and numer-ous other related aspects of response and recovery. The MAE Center is cooperating on this project with colleagues at George Washington University and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Engineering Re-search Laboratory in Champaign.

Concurrently with the Federal study and planning activities, the MAE Center has been working with the State of Illinois to study the probability and consequenc-es of an earthquake in Illinois. In addi-tion to the probabilities of a damaging earthquake occurring in Illinois, the study will consider what types of structures are likely to be damaged, how transportation and utility infrastructures will be affected, and the short- and long-term economic impacts to the region and the state.

As one of three national earthquake engineering research centers established by the National Science Foundation and its partner institutions, the MAE Center is a consortium of nine core institutions. It is funded by NSF and each core university as well as through joint collaborative projects with industry and other affiliations. i


Department News


Professor Doug Foutch (BS 70) was awarded the 2007 Special Achievement Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction Inc. for his outstand-ing contributions through advanced analysis to en-gineering knowledge of the performance of steel moment frames subjected to earthquakes.

Professor Jerome F. Hajjar has been elevated to the rank of Fellow in the American Soci-ety of Civil Engineers. Fellows occupy the Society’s second-highest membership grade, exceeded only by Honorary Members.

Professor Emeritus Neil M. Hawkins (MS 59, PhD 61), former CEE Head, received the Tewksbury Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Struc-

tural Engineering Institute (SEI) at the Structures Congress in Long Beach, Calif., on May 17. The award is given to someone who has ad-vanced the interests of SEI through innovative or visionary leadership. Hawkins was cited for his leader-ship in the education of structural engineers; for the technical ad-

vancement of engineering through collaborative work with other organizations; for establishment of a long-term vision for the profession; and for out-standing support of, and service to, the SEI as an organization.

Professor Keith D. Hjelmstad, associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Engi-neering, is the 2007 winner of the George Winter Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, “for his accomplish-ments in structural engineering research, his dedication to the education of future structural engineers, and for his exemplary commu-nity and artistic service in leading the Parkland Com-munity Orchestra as Concertmaster for 15 years.”

Professor Gary Parker will be the first recipient of the International Association of Hydraulic Engineer-ing and Research (IAHR) M. Selim Yalin Lifetime Achievement Award. Professor Yalin of Queen’s Universi-ty in Canada was known worldwide for his seminal work on sediment

transport and rivers. The award will be presented at the IAHR Congress in Venice, Italy.

Continued on the next page

If you know of a deserving col-league who graduated from CEE, please request a nomination form for the Distinguished Alumnus Award or the Young Alumnus Achievement Award from Carla Blue, Program Co-ordinator, 1117 Newmark Lab, 205 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801; fax 217-333-9464, [email protected]. You must fill out the nomination form, but we will assist you as needed.

Distinguished Alumnus Award This award recognizes profession-

al accomplishments or unique contri-butions to society of civil engineering graduates. Recipient will have dis-tinguished themselves by outstanding leadership in the planning and direc-tion of engineering work, by adminis-tration of major engineering work, by contributing to knowledge in the field of civil engineering, by fostering the development of young engineers, or by uniquely contributing to society. They should be dedicated to the ide-als of the profession as evidenced by their contributions to the recognition and promotion of civil engineering activities and professional organiza-tions. CEEAA board members are in-eligible until at least two years after their terms have ended. UIUC faculty members are ineligible for at least two years after ending their faculty status.

Nominations are due no later than July 15 for consideration for the fol-lowing year’s awards. Please make sure you make a clear case for the professional achievements and con-tributions of your nominee. A nomi-nee will be considered for the award when the nomination form is com-pleted and returned by the nomina-tor. Criteria for the awards are as follows:

Young Alumnus Achievement Award This award recognizes a gradu-

ate who has received his or her most recent degree from the University within the past 10 years, with special consideration for those candidates who are 35 or younger. Recipients shall have distinguished themselves in their fields of endeavor and achieved a level of accomplishment significantly greater than that of oth-er recent graduates. Recipients shall have demonstrated one or more of the following: outstanding technical advancement or achievement; design innovation and excellence; enhance-ment of civil and environmental engi-neering education; outstanding lead-ership resulting in significant accom-plishments; exemplary service to the profession. Consideration is given to volunteer activities in civic, religious or charitable groups and organiza-tions.

Nominations invited for CEE Alumni awards

Write home.We love to get your letters, news, photos and feedback!

CEE Newsletter1117 Newmark Lab, MC-250205 N. Mathews Ave.Urbana, IL 61802Email: [email protected]


Professor Bill F. Spencer Jr. has been appointed Director of the New-mark Structural Engineering Labora-tory (NSEL). He will provide leadership and establish a long-term vision for the future of the NSEL, provide a liai-son between CEE faculty and structural engineering researchers and practitio-ners in the U.S. and abroad, promote the dissemination of research results, and actively seek new opportunities for the laboratory. He also will chair the NSEL Oversight Committee, direct day-to-day operations, and coordinate the many CEE groups and research centers that conduct projects in NSEL.

Spencer is the first Nathan and Anne Newmark Endowed Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Theoretical and Ap-plied Mechanics from the University of

Illinois at Urba-na-Champaign. Since joining the department in 2002, he has taught graduate and undergrad-uate courses in structural mechanics, structural dynamics, and structural reli-ability. He is the author of two books.

The CEE department at Illinois has a long tradition of excellence in large-scale and advanced experimental re-search in structural engineering. Re-search conducted in the lab has con-tributed greatly to the state-of-the-art in civil engineering. Most recently, the national and international leadership of the NSEL has been enhanced by es-tablishment of the Multi-axial Full-scale Substructure Testing and Simulation (MUST-SIM) facility, part of the Nation-al Science Foundation George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation and Smart Structures Tech-nology Laboratory. i

Spencer to direct structures labProfessor Feniosky Peña-Mora is co-chair of the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiatives Committee. Formed in August 2006, the 28-member committee was ap-pointed by Chancellor Richard Herman and Provost Linda Katehi. The group’s goals include increasing representa-tion of students, faculty and staff members from under-represent-ed groups through more aggres-sive recruitment and retention efforts, creating an environment of respect in the workplace and in education, enhancing diversity scholarship, promoting diversity in the community, and through civic engagement.

Peña-Mora also was selected to receive the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize for 2007. The Huber Prize is awarded to members of the Society in any grade for notable achievements in research related to civil engineering. Peña-Mora was cited “for con-tributions to engineering practice and research on construction management, involving state-of-the-art quantitative models and information technology for collaboration, change management and conflict reso-lution in large-scale constructions projects involving geographically distributed A/E/C teams.” The selec-tion committee particularly noted his collaboration on the creation of the Interaction Space Theory.

Graduate student Jennifer Rice was named the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Teaching Fellow for aca-demic year 2007-2008. Rice is a fourth-year graduate student in structural engineering working with Professor Bill F. Spencer Jr. She will teach CEE 360 Structural Engineering in the fall 2007 semester under the men-torship of Spencer and Professor and Head Robert H. Dodds Jr.

Professor Mark Rood, of the Environmental En-gineering and Science group, has been selected to receive the Outstanding Cooperator’s Award (2006) from the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). An Ivan Racheff Professor of Environmental Engineer-ing, Rood has collaborated for more than 20 years in research programs with the staff of the ISGS. In 1987, the first student to be co-advised by the USGS and the University of Illinois received her M.S. degree in Environmental Engineering. Since then, Rood and Dr. Massoud Rostam-Abadi of the USGS have worked together on nine projects and have co-advised seven M.S. and five Ph.D. students to completion. Together with these students, they have made more than 30 professional presentations, and published more than a dozen papers in engineering journals.

Annual structures conference held in AprilAbout 250 practicing engineers, stu-

dents and educators gathered at the Illini Union on the University of Illinois campus April 5 for the eighth annual Structural Engineering Conference.

This year’s sessions represented a broad range of structural engineering topics. Richard Weingardt, CEO and Chairman of Richard Weingardt Consul-tants Inc. in Denver, Colo., spoke on en-gineering and consulting challenges in his presentation, “Reaching Your Highest Level.” William Baker (MS 80), Partner, and Lawrence Novak (BS 85, MS 86), Associate Partner, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, in Chicago, gave a pre-sentation on the Burj Dubai, a skyscrap-er under construction in Dubai, United

Arab Emirates, that will be the world’s tallest building. Other topics included collaboration in tall building design, sus-tainable design, bridge aesthetics, and value engineering.

Founded in 2000, the conference highlights the department’s longstand-ing leadership in structural education and research and offers registrants an opportunity to stay current in their field, network with colleagues, and earn pro-fessional development hours. For the many alumni who attend, the conference is a chance to catch up with former class-mates and professors.

For information about next year’s conference as it becomes available, visit http://www.conferences.uiuc.edu. i

Department News


A team of CEE students won first place in the City of the Future Engi-neering Student Challenge held March 1 in Chicago. Team members Chris-tiana Barnas, Peter Pascua, Sean Poust and Cameron Talischi worked with team adviser Professor David A. Lange to implement a design concept by a team of practicing architects who had won the first phase of the competition.

The City of the Future Engineer-ing Student Challenge is sponsored

by IBM, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and The History Channel. The Student Challenge was the sec-ond stage of a two-stage competi-tion. In Stage I, architecture teams in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles were asked to develop design visions for the future of their cities. The win-ning team selected for each city ad-vanced to the national stage of the

competition where television viewers determined the grand prize winner by casting votes in January 2007.

The winning Chicago architecture team—and ultimately the grand prize winner in the national voting—was Ur-banLab, an architecture and urban de-sign practice in Chicago. Details on the three winning entries from each city are posted on The History Channel website.

The Student Challenge required uni-versity teams to implement the concepts

developed by the architecture teams using inventive, in-novative solutions. UrbanLab’s con-cept, “Growing Water in 2106,” envisions a future where water is the new oil—a valuable resource that drives the need for reduc-ing consumption, decen t ra l i z i ng wastewater treat-ment, and return-ing treated water to Lake Michigan.

Working with-in the one-month time constraint, the U of I team developed an in-

novative proposal for “EcoTowers” to be the modular residential living system of the future. Each cluster of EcoTowers would have its own graywater and black-water treatment capacity. The graywater is passed through a biomimetic forward osmosis membrane bioreactor, and then through a novel technology that uses the windows of the tower for UV disinfection. Disinfected graywater would be reused in

the EcoTower while blackwater would be treated in a clever greenhouse with a vertical treatment train. The proposal included other features such as green roofs, pervious surfaces for water retention, and wetlands and rec-reational areas along Eco-Boulevards that stretched across the UrbanLab vi-sion of Chicago.

“We had to be innovative, but at the same time, we had to create a proposal that was realistic,” says CEE senior Sean Poust. “Working with the professors gave me some guidance on what was out there and currently being done, but the 100-year design time of the project gave me the freedom to think creatively and grow as a result.”

Each member of the winning stu-dent team received $1,2�0, a new IBM Thinkpad computer, and the des-ignation, “IBM Engineer of the Future.” Other benefits of competing, students say, were insight into the teamwork of the consulting world and a lesson in the importance of effective communi-cation.

“No matter how hard you work to design and implement an engineering solution, you must work equally as hard to make it presentable, aesthetically pleasing, and appealing not only to engineers, but to the general public,” says CEE junior Peter Pascua. “Not all of our judges were water engineers or environmental engineers; we had to account for that in preparing our method of presentation.”

“This experience with Sean, Chris-tiana, Cameron and Dr. Lange was an invaluable one that I will carry with me forever,” he says. “I told them that I will always have the door open for creating a consulting firm with the five of us. Keep an eye out for ‘Orange and Blue Consulting.’” i

CEE team wins City of the Future Engineering Student Challenge

Pictured (from left): Duffy Gaynor, Vice President, IBM Global Ser-vices; CEE students Sean Poust, Christiana Barnas, Cameron Talischi and Peter Pascua; Professor David Lange; Robert Reid, Manager, Corporate Community Relations, IBM; Sarah Dunn, UrbanLab; and Martin Felsen, UrbanLab.


Chi Epsilon Alpha Chapter names Mesri Chapter Honor MemberBy BRett Zitny

Professor Gholamreza Mesri (BS 65, MS 66, PhD 69) was elevated to Chi Epsilon Chapter Honor Member at the December 2006 Chi Epsilon Alpha Chapter initiation ceremony.

Mesri was nominated by the Al-pha Chapter due to his significant achievements in the field of Geo-technical Engineering, as well as his strong ties to the University of Illinois. He has served on the faculty of the

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1969.

Mesri has contributed significantly to the field of civil engineering and the Uni-versity of Illinois. As a world-renowned geotechnical engineer, he has served as a consultant to both government and private organizations in projects all over the world. He also represents a very rich tradition of civil engineering at the University of Illinois, because he

received all of his degrees from the department and has been a member of the faculty here for more than 35 years. His distinguished achievements, coupled with his close ties to our school, were our motivation for elevating him to such an honor. i

Brett Zitny is president of Chi Epsilon Alpha Chapter.

Nine students and three faculty members from CEE’s Global Lead-ers in Construction Management Program traveled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in January. An inter-national trip is part of the curriculum for the program, established in 2005 to prepare students to take on lead-ership roles in construction manage-ment in an environment of increased globalization.

Dubai is a strong international construction market with several signature projects under construc-tion. For 10 days, the Global Lead-ers group visited important projects such as Burj Dubai, the tallest build-ing in the world; the Palm Islands; the Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world; and QatarGas II Off-shore Project, all of which are under construction by well-known compa-nies such as Nakheel, Emaar, Zetas, Turner Middle East International, and Exxon Mobil. Each project presented different challenges, but all of them shared a multi-cultural organization for project execution, including de-

Global Leaders trip:construction in Dubai

signers from the United States, workers from India and Pakistan, suppliers from China, and managers from Europe. This international flavor was one of the most relevant aspects of this visit, besides the technical and logistic challenges encoun-tered in the daily operations.

Faculty chaperones for the trip were Visiting Assistant Professor Carlos A. Arboleda; Assistant Professor Khaled El-Rayes; and Professor Feniosky Peña-Mora. The students were undergradu-ates Michael Addison, Allen Barton, Mi-chael Gustavson, Adam Jansen and Eric

Meister; graduate students Jeffrey Dolian, Robert Kuang and Numan Velioglu; and Ph.D. candidate Ibra-him Odeh.

Previous Global Leaders trips have included visits to Japan, the United Kingdom, and France. In 2008, Global Leaders students will travel to China to visit the Olym-pic venues in Beijing, the infra-structure for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, the Three Gorges Dam, and the historical buildings in Xian, Chongqing, and Fengdu. i

From left, Professor Feniosky Peña-Mora, Assistant Professor Khaled El-Rayes; Visiting As-sistant Professor Carlos A. Arboleda; Adam Jansen; Robert Kuang; Allen Barton; Michael Addison; Numan Velioglu; Michael Gustavson; Jeffrey Dolian; and Eric Meister. They are posing behind a model of The World, a mixed-use private and commercial island develop-ment of the construction firm Nakheel.

A lumni News


1950sEdward Brooks (BS 50) and his wife, Helen, cele-brated their 50th wedding anniversary in July with a family cruise to Alaska. Brooks was a civil engineer with the Illinois Department of Transportation Divi-sion of Highways for 37 years, retiring in 1988. He also retired in 1976 as a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserves after 29 years of service.

Robert L. Carsello (BS 56) retired in January as Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Kraft Construction Co. Inc. in Naples, Fla., where he had worked since 1970.

Dean Merchant, P.E., (BS 51) in 2007 will be named an Honorary Member of the American Society of Pho-togrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Merchant is a professional engineer and surveyor, and founder of Topo Photo Inc. The award is the highest honor of the ASPRS.

Geoffrey M.T. Yeh (BS 53) in November received an Honorary University Fellowship from the Open University of Hong Kong for outstanding achieve-ments in his field and exceptional contributions to the University. Yeh is the retired Chairman of Hsin Chong International Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong. He was cited for significant and lasting contributions to the local construction and financial sectors.

1960sShamsher Prakash (MS 61, PhD 62), Professor Emer-itus at the University of Missouri-Rolla, delivered the keynote lecture to the International Symposium GEO-Singapore in Dec. 2006. He was admitted as Honor-ary Fellow of the Indian Geotechnical Society in 2006 and was cited for outstanding lifelong contributions to Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynam-ics, including liquefactions of fine-grained soils and seismic behavior and analysis of rigid retaining walls. He received the IGS Kueckelmann biannual prize for significant contribution to geotechnical engineering in India and was admitted to the Order of the Golden Shil-lelagh of MSM-UMR Alumni Association.

Douglas A. Wallace (BS 60) was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of Elgin High School in Elgin, Ill. Voted Elgin High’s greatest quarterback, Wallace also was a three-year letterman in football during his time at the University of Illinois. He is an envi-ronmental engineering consultant.

1970sJames L. Daugherty (BS 72, MS 73) qualified to join the American Academy of Environmental Engi-neers with the designation Board Certified Environ-mental Engineer.

Joe H. Leach (MS 70) marked 25 years of service with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) Inc. Consulting Engineers. Leach is manager of CMT’s Construction Services Group and is currently serving as the firm’s Project Manager of construction phase services for the rehabilitation of the McKinley Bridge over the Mississippi River in Venice, Ill.

Richard W. Liesse, P.E., (BS 76) in June 2006 was elected president of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. He is a vice president and partner for Costello Inc., a consulting engineering and surveying firm in Houston. He lives in Houston with his wife, Debby; sons Nicholas and Matthew; and daughter, Elizabeth.

David Ludwin, P.E., (BS 77, MS 78) is Regional Busi-ness Group Manager for CH2MHILL’s Water Business Group in its nine-state Southwestern U.S. region. Before joining CH2MHILL in 2006, Ludwin was direc-tor of engineering for the Orange County Sanitation District.

David W. Reed (BS 78) was appointed referee for the Yolo County, Calif., Superior Court. His respon-sibilities will include adult and juvenile traffic court, small-claims matters and unlawful detainer cases. Reed earned a law degree from McGeorge School of Law after graduating from U of I with his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He began practicing law in California in 1983.

Scott M. Smith (BS 75) is president of HNTB Corp. of Kansas City, Mo., a national, employee-owned in-frastructure firm that offers design, engineering and planning services. Smith joined the firm in 1985. Charles D. Wurster (MS 76), a vice admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard, in 2006 assumed command of the Coast Guard Pacific Area. Wurster has been a com-missioned officer for 35 years. He and his wife, George Ann, have two grown sons.

1980sBrian Josephs (BS 84) is Vice President-Produce/Floral for Topco Associates.

Douglas D. Perry, P.E., (BS 88) married Sarah E. Sun-dberg on June 24, 2006, in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Perry is a division engineer with BNSF Railway.

1990sMichael A. Beckett (BS 96, MS 98) is an associate in the Intellectual Property Department at Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP in Chicago. He focuses his practice in patent transactions and domestic and international patent prosecution in the areas of mechanical, chemi-

cal and biotechnology patent law.

James Dedrick (BS 96) married Nara Goldman on May 27, 2006, in Phoenix, Ariz. Dedrick is employed by A.C.S. Engineering of Phoenix.

Dewayne Fender (BS 90, MS 91) in January became county engineer of Mercer County, Ill. He and his wife, Kim, have two sons, Alec, 13, and Adam, 10.

Kenneth J. Elwood (MS 95) and Jack P. Moehle (BS 78, MS 78, PhD 80) won the Chester Paul Siess Award for Excellence in Structural Research from the American Concrete Institute. They were cited for estimating the residual axial capacity of reinforced concrete columns damaged during earthquakes in their paper, “Axial Capacity Model for Shear-Dam-aged Columns” (ACI Structural Journal, V. 102, No. 4, July-August 2005, p. 578-587.)

2000sAnthony S. Anczer (BS 03) married Lisa Becker June 30, 2006. Anczer is employed by Baxter & Woodman in Mokena, Ill.

Jason C. Fuehne (BS 02, MS 03) married Meggie D. Stauder on Aug. 4 in Champaign. Fuehne is a civil engineer in the Aviation Department at Burns & Mc-Donnell in Kansas City.

Katherine Thompson Hammer (BS 03, MS 05) married Benjamin R. Hammer on Sept. 10, 2005, at the Polo First United Methodist Church in Polo, Ill. She is an environmental engineer with Greeley and Hansen in Phoenix, Ariz.

Alicia N. Johnson, P.E., (MS 02) married Joseph P. Pitlik IV, P.E., (BS 97) on Nov. 25 in Elgin, Ill.

Rashod R. Johnson, P.E. (BS 00), director of engineer-ing for the Mason Contractor’s Association of America, has earned a professional engineering license from the State of Illinois. Johnson serves on codes and stan-dards committees representing the interests of mason contractors throughout the country.

Andrew Keaschall (BS 04, MS 05) married Kristin Frankowiak on June 17, 2006. He is a design engi-neer at Alfred Benesch & Co.

Jesse L. Oster (BS 05) married Kara L. Scott on Nov.11 in Chicago. He is a Level I engineer at Sear-gent and Lundy. The couple lives in Chicago.

Tias Paul (MS 06), Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering and Science, received a graduate stu-dent paper award from the American Chemical So-ciety’s (ACS) Division of Environmental Chemistry for


1930sFred W. Leake (BS 38) of Dixon, Ill., died Jan. 4. He served as Lee County Superintendent of Highways for almost 20 years.

1940sRobert W. Brown (BS 46) died Dec. 30. He received his B.S. from the U of I in the U.S. Navy V12 Program and was a commissioned officer. His career included owning Benton and Overburry, a commercial con-struction company in British Columbia, Canada.

Hugh H. Connolly (BS 48, MS 49) died April 7. Con-nolly served in WWII as a B-24 pilot. After the war, he taught engineering at the University of Arizona and the U of I. He also worked for the U.S. Public Health Service and as Chief Engineer at a private consulting firm in Tucson.

Kenneth E. Cowser (BS 47) died Dec. 26, 2006. He worked for 32 years at the Oak Ridge National Lab/Martin Marietta Energy Systems Inc. in the field of environmental safety and health.

Leslie B. Harding (MS 47), of Atlanta, died Dec. 23. A West Point graduate, Harding served in World War II, the Korean Conflict, and Vietnam, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. After military retirement, he worked as a supervisor of construction for the U.S. Postal Service Southeast Division.

Albert F. Raulin (BS 43) died April 6. He served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Seabees during WWII. His career included employment by the University of Chicago and Du Pont De Nemours Corp. on atomic energy projects, and a position as city en-

gineer of Marion, Ohio. Raulin owned and operated the Albert F. Raulin Engineering Co. in Naples, Fla., until he retired in 1993.

1950sWilliam C. Boyd (BS 50) died Oct. 15 in Quincy, Ill. As a civil engineer for Klingner and Associates, he was responsible for working with almost all of the area water supply facilities in Illinois and Missouri.

David W. Carnegie (BS 50) of Dowagiac, Mich., died Oct. 29. His career as a structural steel engineer included 28 years with Roberts and Scheffler in Chi-cago, for which he built coal processing plants.

William L. McClure (BS 56) died Nov. 17. He was the first city engineer in both Grayslake, Ill., and East Moline, Ill., and later became the East Moline Director of Public Works. In 1969 he founded McClure Engineering Associates Inc. He retired in 1995 and joined Ament Engineering as a senior engineer.

Kenneth G. Medearis (BS 52, MS 53) of Fort Col-lins, Colo., died Feb. 15. His career included teaching civil engineering at the University of New Mexico, Arizona State University, San Jose State University, and Colorado State University. He founded Kenneth Medearis Associates, a consulting engineering firm. Medearis established a graduate education fund in CEE at the U of I.

Kenneth E. White (BS 58), P.E., died Sept. 8. White’s career included working for the California Division of Highways and as Chief of Engineering Design for the Port of San Diego.

1960sRichard S. Kramkowski (BS 60) died Sept. 17. He was a safety professional and industrial hygienist, employed for 27 years with the U.S. Public Health Service before retiring as a captain in 1989.

Al A. Kupelian (BS 62) died Jan. 26. His career included owning the general contracting firm Kupco Construction, which concentrated on large commer-cial projects in Miami and Houston.

Jerome R. Sachno (BS 65) died Feb. 27. He was a retired engineer for the City of Chicago Streets and Sanitation.

1970s Thomas E. Connor (BS 72) died March 25. He was president and chief executive officer of Hurst-Rosche Engineers in Hillsboro for many years.

In Memoriam


her paper entitled, “Visible Light-Mediated TiO2 Photo-catalysis of Fluoroquinolone Antibacterial Agents.” Paul was also awarded second prize in a poster presentation competition at the Engineer-ing Conferences International Water Treatment and Reuse II conference, held in Tomar, Portugal, in Feb-ruary. Her poster was entitled “Selective Oxidation of Fluoroquinolone Antibacterial Agents by Visible Light Photocatalysis.”

Michael J. Siwek (BS 03) married Kristine M. Pohl on Aug. 5 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Morris, Ill. Siwek is employed by the Concord Group. The couple lives in Milwaukee, Wis.

Joseph W. Sweitzer (MS 04) has joined Cannon Design, an architectural firm in St. Louis, Mo., as a project architect.

Gregory A. Wilken (BS 01, MS 03) married Catherine E. McDonald on Nov. 24. He is a structural engineer with Buehler and Buehler Structural Engineering Inc.

Mark K. Wilson (BS 05) married Melissa Lynn Tees-dale on June 10 in Jupiter, Fla. He is a civil engineer for CMT in Indianapolis, Ind.

Jacob R. Wolf (BS 97, MS 01) married Kendra Gilles Oct. 28 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Pesotum, Ill. Wolf is a design engineer at Frauenhoffer & Associ-ates in Champaign.

Eli W. Cohen (BS 55), a Chicago structural en-gineering pioneer credited with shaping the Chicago skyline, died May 2 at his home in Evanston, Ill.

Cohen was known for his refinement of the composite steel high-rise with a reinforced concrete core. His composite steel designs received awards from the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois for Most Innovative Design in 1987 for 10 S. LaSalle St.; Best Structure Award in 1991 for 181 W. Madi-son St.; and Best Structure Award in 1992 for 77 W. Wacker Drive.

Born in Germany in 1927, Cohen moved with his family to Palestine in 1935. After high school, he served as a communications officer in the Haganah, fighting for Israeli Independence in 1948. He moved to the United States in 1953 and earned his bache-lor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois in 1955. To put himself through school, he

worked as a singing waiter during the summers in the Catskills.

Cohen’s career began with a brief stint working on bridges for the Illinois Division of Highways. He then joined Paul Rogers Associates, a structural engineering firm in Chi-cago, becoming a partner in 1965, then in 1969 president and principal of the firm he founded, Cohen-Barreto-Marchertas (CBM). In 1993, CBM merged with Thornton Tomasetti.

This department honored Cohen in 1990 with the CEE Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 1999, the College of Engineering awarded him the Distinguished Service Award.

Eli W. Cohen, structural engineering pioneer1927-2007

Tias Paul

1990sTimothy A. Kramer (PhD 97) died Dec. 9 in An-napolis, Md. Kramer was an associate professor in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A & M University.


CRDCRD2007Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting

The department extends its thanks to the following sponsors of the Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting 2007:

Gold LevelPatrick Engineering, Daniel P. Dietzler

Silver LevelAlfred Benesch and Company

Bowman, Barrett and Associates Inc.CH2M HILL

Clark Dietz Inc.CTE

CTL GroupF.H. PaschenH.W. Lochner

Hanson Professional Services Inc.Milhouse Engineering and Construction

RJN GroupSOM

Teng & AssociatesTranSystems Corporation

W.E. O’Neil

Bronze LevelCDM

Greeley and HansenHDR Engineering

HNTB CorporationMetcalf & Eddy

Ricondo & Associates Inc.

Sponsors

More than 200 alumni, faculty and friends of the department gathered at the Union League Club in Chicago on February 8 for the annual Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting. A 27-year tradition, the event included a cocktail reception, din-ner, the presentation of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association awards, and a department update by Professor and Head Robert H. Dodds Jr.

About 50 CEE students traveled to Chicago to attend the event, as well as a tour earlier in the day of the construction site of Trump International Hotel and Tower at 401 N. Wabash. The students were hosted by department alumni Kinjal Patel (BS 00) and Torsten Trupp (MS 04) of Bovis Lend Lease Inc. The tour ar-rangements were made by Leigh Manson (BS 05) and William F. Baker (MS 80) of

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Photos, from top, clockwise (people

listed left to right): Walter D. Linzing (BS 49); Paul D. Koch (BS 66, MS 68), Donald E. Eckmann (BS 56), Robert L. Martin (BS 77, MS 78); CEE stu-dents Michael R. Mendoza, left, and friends; and Christopher N. Yamaya (BS 78, MS 84), Shawn Shiffer (MS 01), and CEE student Yang Zhang.


Transportation Research Board Alumni ReceptionAbout 200 alumni, faculty and

friends of the department attended the 14th annual CEE alumni reception at the Transportation Research Board meeting January 23 in Washington, D.C. Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception at the Mar-riott Wardman Park.

Photos, from top, clockwise (people listed left to right): Angela S. Wolt-ers (BS 99, MS 00) and Christopher M. Thomas (BS 96, MS 97); Robert A. Rod-den (BS 04, MS 06), Assistant Professor Jeffery R. Roesler (BS 92, MS 94, PhD 98), and Stanley M. Herrin (BS 74, MS 78); Eli Fini, Shihui Shen (PhD 06),Katie Chou (PhD 04), and Professor Emeritus Samuel H. Carpen-ter; Amanda Borde-lon, Mario Cristian Gaedicke Hornung, Matthew Beyer, Professor Jeffery R. Roesler, Francisco Evangelista Jr., and Victor Cervantes; Professor and Head Robert H. Dodds Jr. and John E. Wagner (MS 59, PhD 61).

The department gratefully acknowledges the following spon-sors of the alumni reception at the 2007 Transportation Research Board meeting:

CorporateAmerican Concrete Pavement As-

sociationApplied Pavement Technology Inc.Applied Research Associates Inc.

CTLGroupSoil and Materials Engineering Inc.

IndividualLaurence Burley Jr.

Charlie GreerKathleen HallStan Herrin

Katie Zimmerman

University of IllinoisATREL

Illinois Center for TransportationU of I Transportation Faculty

Center of Excellence for Airport Technology

Sponsors


Old MastersEngineering giants of the department’s history

Carroll Carson Wiley1884 -1971Educator, researcher, national expert in highway and traffic engineering

Carroll Carson Wiley was born in Edinburg, Ill., in 1884. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with honors in June 1904 at age 19. After two years in industry he returned to join the department faculty, remaining for 46 years until his retirement in 1952, at which time he was awarded Professor Emeritus status. He was award-ed the professional C.E. degree by the University of Illinois in 1910.

Wiley’s fine teaching of railway, highway and traffic engineering was his most important contribution during his long years of service to the University.

He enjoyed his contacts with his students and spoke of the fun of teaching, and his students reciprocated with their obvious enthusiasm for his methods.

Wiley carried on research on high-ways and roads, including their design, materials of construction, and traffic us-age. His studies were extensive, leading to a widely used Engineering Experiment Station Circular and Bulletin, many tech-nical papers and reports, and two text books, including Principles of Highway Engineering. Published in 1928 and re-vised in 1935, it was for many years the standard textbook in the field. Wiley was a popular speaker at local and na-tional conferences.

In 1914, with Ira O. Baker, he or-ganized the nation’s first conference on highway engineering. The Highway En-

gineering Conference, which took place nearly every year, was in large part responsible for the development of the close cooperation that exists even today among the Illinois Department of Trans-portation (IDOT), contractors and engi-neering firms, and this campus; it is still held annually on the Urbana campus. He also organized and directed in 1941 the first conference on traffic engineer-ing, another annual event still ongoing here.

As an active consultant, Wiley spent most summers with municipal and state entities participating in and directing

work in his fields of spe-cialty. During WWI he participated in the con-struction of Chanute Field in Rantoul, Ill., and also directed much of the work to upgrade the Armory on

the Illinois campus for use by what is now known as the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. As a concerned citizen, he served on the Parking and Traffic Commission of the Champaign Chamber of Commerce when downtown Champaign was recon-figured. He was a major adviser on the location and construction of U.S. High-way 45 in this region of Illinois.

Wiley’s 1936 study of automobile license plates is of historic significance. Suggested by the Secretary of State of Illinois, the study addressed the number-ing system and legibility of the plates. The result of his study was the retention of the straight numerical system with con-trasting colors which the studies showed to be the simplest, leading to rapid and accurate reading. Another example of Wiley’s service to the public was his

study of road signs, which significantly influenced their design.

In 1955 the C.C. Wiley Travel-ing Award was established to honor Wiley. The General Paving Foundation of Champaign provided funds annually for the outstanding senior in highway engineering to travel during the sum-mer following graduation to study and report on highway activities throughout the United States. This award continues today. Wiley was an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); he was a charter member, first secretary and later President, of the Central Illinois Section. He also was in-strumental in the establishment of the student chapter of ASCE in this depart-ment.

Wiley’s long association with the mo-tor car began late in his career. In 1964, upon being honored during the 50th Il-linois Highway Engineering Conference, he said, “I was through high school before I ever saw an automobile; I was through college before I ever rode in one; I was teaching highway subjects on the engi-neering faculty before I ever drove one; and it was another three years before I owned one.”

Wiley’s professional stature was rec-ognized nationally and especially in the State of Illinois. His advice was usually accepted and adopted by leaders in state government, as well as by the Uni-versity and this department. His many contributions to the field of highway and traffic engineering were studied widely and had a major influence on highway engineering as we know it today.

Wiley died on July 7, 1971, in Ur-bana. i

“I was through high school before I ever saw an automobile; I was through college before I ever rode in one; I was teaching highway subjects on the en-gineering faculty before I ever drove one; and it was another three years before I owned one.”

By williaM J. Hall anD JoHn D. HaltiwanGeR

eMeRituS PRofeSSoRS of Civil enGineeRinG

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how it works

aChoose an online seminar at http://www.illinoisengineer.com/UofIOnLineSeminars.asp and watch it at your convenience. aPrint out and complete the seminar quiz and Professional Development Hour request form. Submit your quiz and form with your payment of $20 (check or credit card) to ISPE. aIf you earn 80 percent or better, your PDH certificate will be sent to you. Quiz and certificate processing take about three weeks. aAll seminars are about one hour long and are worth one PDH.

Professional engineers licensed in Illinois must earn 30 Professional Development Hours in each two-year renewal period. To learn more about the professional development requirements for engineers, to view a complete list of seminars, or to access the ISPE/University of Illinois Online Seminars, visit http://www.illinoisengineer.com.

The Illinois Society of Professional Engineers and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have teamed up to offer a series of online seminars that make it easier than ever for civil and environmental engineers to earn Professional Development Hours.

seminars include

Use of FRP in Seismic Design and Blast Mitigation

Frieder SeibleUniversity of California

Forensics EngineeringJeff Garrett

CTL Inc.

Bridge Engineering: the Other Structural Engineering

John L. CarratoAlfred Benesch & Co.

Failure InvestigationGary Klein

Wiss, Janney & Elstner

Structural Design of the Burj Dubai and Trump Towers

Bill BakerSkidmore, Owings & Merrill

Earn Professional Development Hours from the convenience of your own computer.

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cee magazine, summer 2007

Documents

environmental engineering

department alumni awards

alumni reception

alumni relationscarla

cee alumni association

student team

university of illinois

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