News

On May 23rd the Civil & Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Awards and Scholarships for 2023-2024 held place on Ghausi Hall.

The department chair Chris Cappa, the vice chair for undergraduate studies Colleen Bronner, and Professor Jason DeJong gave the awards to the graduating seniors in recognition of their outstanding academic achievement.

For more information visit: Student Awards | Civil and Environmental Engineering (ucdavis.edu)

Katherine Cheng is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis.

In this month's Graduate Student Spotlight, we'll learn more about Katherine Cheng and his research at UC Davis.

Professor Sashi Kunnath was recently honored as a distinguished member of ASCE for his contributions to civil engineering, ASCE, and mentorship. Professor Kunnath's outstanding dedication to earthquake engineering and collapse analysis has been instrumental to the advancement of the field. More information about his work and recognition by ASCE can be found on the ASCE website. Congratulations Dr. Kunnath!

Professor Geoff Schladow, Director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, appeared in the recent NPR Weekend Edition Sunday to discuss the presence of zooplankton in Lake Tahoe. He was interviewed by Ayesha Rascoe about the role of the microorganisms in the lake and their importance to the ecosystem. The interview and transcript can be found on the NPR website. 

Ivan Xiao is a Ph.D. student at UC Davis. 

In this month's Graduate Student Spotlight, we'll be learning more about Ivan and his research at UC Davis.

My name is Ivan Xiao. I come from Guangzhou, China. I studied Transportation Engineering for my Bachelor's degree at Southeast University and completed my Master's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at UC Davis. Currently, I am pursuing a Ph.D. in CEE.

Congratulations to CEE Professor Sashi Kunnath for being elected as a Distinguished Member of ASCE. He is one of only 12 inductees awarded this title this year out of a total membership of 143,000. Here are more details about the honor -

https://www.asce.org/career-growth/awards-and-honors/distinguished-members

He now joins two other ASCE Distinguished Members in our department, Professor Jay Lund and Professor Levent Kavvas.

Congratulations to CEE graduate Berkley Anderson on being selected to receive the American Water Works Association's Second Place 2023 Academic Achievement Award for the best Masters Thesis. AWWA is the main professional society covering drinking water treatment and this is a competitive award category. The award will be presented at the AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition in Toronto, June 11-14, 2023, during the plenary session on Monday, June 12.

Mohammad Rahman is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis working as a Graduate Student Researcher at the University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC). 

In this month's Graduate Student Spotlight, we'll be learning more about Mohammad and his research at UC Davis.

Congratulations to CEE Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou on receiving the 2023 Young Researcher Award (under age 40) from the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering's (ISSMGE) Technical Committee on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering. The award was just announced, with Katerina scheduled to receive the award and give an award lecture at the 8th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering in Osaka, Japan, in March 2024.

Past award recipients and award details are at:

Congratulations to CEE Professor Emeritus Deb Niemeier for her being awarded the 2023 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute! 

The Bower Award is a major prize, and Deb was honored "for pioneering the advancement and application of knowledge at the intersections among infrastructure, environment, public health, and equity through groundbreaking research on transportation systems and climate-related hazards."

Patrick Cunningham (he/him) has been studying at UC Davis for 5 years, first completing his MS degree and now completing his Ph.D. 

In this month's Graduate Student Spotlight, we'll learn more about Patrick and his research at UC Davis.

Currently, I'm doing research in Berlin, DE. I love cooking and I am fascinated by the towering role of concrete in our global society.

CEE Professor Alissa Kendall, along with graduate students Kristi Dayemo and Margaret Slattery of the Energy Graduate Group, and colleagues at Providence College and the Climate + Community Project have released a groundbreaking new report showing the lithium footprint of transport decarbonization. Decarbonization strategies rely on battery electric vehicles (EVs). This will create an unprecedented demand for critical metals such as lithium used in their batteries. Large-scale mining for metals creates numerous environmental harms and has major impacts on surrounding communities. Prof.

CEE Professor Jason DeJong has been awarded the inaugural Shamsher Prakash Award and Lecture from ASCE. This newly established ASCE award is to be given annually to a "younger" geotechnical engineer (50 years or less) for cumulative distinguished contributions.  

Congratulations!
 

Professor Michele Barbato's research group recently received the following two rewards for their research. 

Samantha Sharp (she/her) is a fifth-year Ph.D. Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a focus on Water Resource Engineering. 

In this Graduate Student Spotlight, we'll learn more about Samantha's journey and her research at UC Davis. 

Sampat Kedarisetty (he/him) is a sixth-year Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a focus on Pavement Management.

In this Graduate Student Spotlight, we'll learn more about Sampat's journey and his research at UC Davis. 

I'm originally from India and came to UC Davis for my Ph.D. I'm also newly married to the love of my life who I met here and am a cat-dad.