Latest News

CEE Undergraduate Scholarship Awards Ceremony

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)

May 2023 Graduate Student Spotlight: Katherine Cheng

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

Read on to learn about Katherine's adventures up and down the West coast and her passion for machine learning in earthquake engineering.

Sashi Kunnath recognized as an ASCE Distinguished Member

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 Appears in NPR Weekend Edition

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

April 2023 Graduate Student Spotlight: Ivan Xiao

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

Read on to learn some words of wisdom from Ivan regarding the challenges of graduate school. 

    Tell us about yourself in few words?

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.

CEE Professor Sashi Kunnath elected as a Distinguished Member of ASCE

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.

CEE Graduate Berkley Anderson receives the American Water Works Associations Academic Achievement Award

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.

March 2023 Graduate Student Spotlight: Mohammad Rahman

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.

CEE Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou awarded the ISSMGE TC293 Young Researcher Award

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:

CEE Professor Emeritus Deb Niemeier awarded the 2023 Bower Award

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."

February 2023 Graduate Student Spotlight: Patrick Cunningham

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.

Tell us about yourself in a few words.

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.

Prof. Alissa Kendall co-authors landmark study showing how to shrink the lithium footprint of electrifying the transportation sector

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.

UC Davis Researchers Explore Environmental Benefits of Soil-Stabilizing Microbes

Naturally occurring microbes could help stabilize the ground under buildings during earthquakes due to the way they reduce the water content in soils, according to new research. One existing approach to stabilizing liquefaction-prone soils known as grouting is to inject concrete into the soil under vulnerable structures to cement the ground together.

January 2023 Graduate Student Spotlight: Samantha Sharp

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. 

Still recovering from COVID-19, US public transit tries to get back on track

U.S. commuters take approximately ten billion trips on public transit each year, but the industry is still recovering from the hits it took during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kari Watkins, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, was interviewed by The Conversation to discuss what cities can do to increase public transportation ridership and how people can make better use of this environmentally friendly mode of transportation.