Some forms of engineering deal with predictable, controlled environments. Ross Boulanger deals with the kind that can change from place to place and day to day.
He is a distinguished professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, focusing on geotechnical earthquake engineering, a field where decisions can be shaped by the unique geologic conditions found only in the location where a dam, bridge or other project is being built.
Prof. Michele Barbato has been named as the incoming President of the American Society of Civil Engineers Engineering Mechanics Institute. The EMI is the premiere interdisciplinary organization of engineering mechanics, with a focus on addressing existing and emerging engineering and societal issues through research and the application of scientific and mathematical principles. Read Prof.
by Jay Lund, Jamie Anderson, William Fleenor, and Fabián A. Bombardelli
San Francisco Bay is a tidally-energetic estuary where clay muds are the dominant sediment building wetlands, depositing in channels and harbors, and responding to sea level rise since San Francisco Bay was most recently inundated about 8,000 years ago. These sediments mainly come from the Central Valley and become cohesive when they encounter enough salinity in the western Delta. This causes the cohesive sediments to flocculate into larger particles which then settle, deposit, erode, circulate, and redeposit where the tides and flow take them.
When a public building catches fire, its built-in systems automatically respond: Smoke alarms blare, sprinklers kick on, and occupants quickly evacuate.
But what if the life-threatening danger isn’t fire but invisible airborne contaminants that can make occupants sick? Could a similar smart-building system monitor and improve the quality of the air indoors, where Americans spend 90 percent of their time?
Air quality scientists have detected elevated levels of hexavalent chromium and silver in air samples collected from the debris cleanup zones for the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, which occurred January 2025 in Los Angeles County.
Alissa Kendall, the Ray B. Krone Endowed Professor of Environmental Engineering, has been named the new director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, or ITS-Davis, the Office of Research announced today (Sept. 15). Kendall succeeds founding director Dan Sperling, who has led the institute since its establishment in 1991.
Prof. Jason DeJong has been honored as one of two extraordinary faculty members receiving this year's Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentorship Awards. These awards shine a light on the power of mentorship in shaping the academic and professional journeys of UC Davis graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
Professor Miguel Jaller is appointed chair of the UC Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Jaller is the co-director of the Institute of Transportation Studies' Sustainable Freight Research Program, where he researches sustainable transportation systems and humanitarian logistics.
Lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries are crucial for the transition to electric vehicles, and global demand for lithium is set to grow rapidly over the next 25 years. A new analysis from the University of California, Davis, published May 29 in Nature Sustainability, looks at how new mining operations and battery recycling could meet that demand. Recycling could play a big role in easing supply constraints, the researchers found.
The CEE Department recently celebrated our amazing undergraduate and graduate students with student scholarship and fellowship awards. Congratulations to all our awardees!
Undergraduate Awards:
Department Citation 2024-25
Given to graduating seniors in recognition of their outstanding academic achievement. This year we have ten recipients:
We spoke with the environmental engineering major to learn more about how her dad's background in electrical engineering sparked her interest in engineering, the value of independent research and where she sees herself after graduation.
We spoke with the civil engineering major to learn more about his interest in geotechnical engineering, advice he would give to incoming first-years and what he aims to accomplish as an incoming master's student at UC Davis.
The University of California Pavement Research Center, or UCPRC, in collaboration with CalRecycle and Caltrans, repaved 1.1 miles of road on campus last week with innovative pavement materials made from end-of-life tires.
A paper by former UC Davis graduate student Sumeet Sinha, along with Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou and Professor Emeritus Bruce Kutter, has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the ASCE Norman Medal. The Norman Medal recognizes one paper from across all ASCE publications that makes a contribution to either practical or research aspects of engineering disciplines, with the practical value of the work and its impact on practice particular considerations.
Picnic Day 2025 brought excitement, innovation, and hands-on learning to Ghausi Hall, where students, faculty, and visitors gathered to celebrate engineering in action. The day featured a series of engaging exhibits and interactive experiences both inside and outside the hall.
The festivities kicked off at 9:00 AM outside the front of Ghausi Hall, where guests enjoyed morning activities, student showcases, and refreshments in a relaxed, social atmosphere.
Now you have yet one more reason to clean your house. In recent work, former UC Davis postdoc Christoph Moschet and Prof. Tom Young showed that household dust contains hundreds of chemicals, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, and organofluorine compounds. Around 90% of the chemicals they identified are human-made. Prof.
UC Davis researchers have developed low-cost, portable sensors to help California communities detect harmful air pollutants. Their goal is to provide real-time data on toxic metals, empowering residents and regulators to identify pollution sources and push for cleaner air.
Dean Corsi and his team have tested the durability and effectiveness of his codesigned Corsi-Rosenthal Box, a low-cost DIY filter that removes harmful air particles from wildfire smoke and indoor air pollutants. He’ll share his team’s new findings at the ACS Spring 2025 Spring Digital Meeting.
