Sondra Miller, assistant professor of civil engineering, is the recipient of the Foundation Scholars Service Award that celebrates a faculty member who has made substantial professionally related service contributions. The selection committee members were especially impressed by her enthusiastic and selfless devotion to student service while also providing exemplary service to her department, college, university, profession and community. As the first Faculty-in-Residence for the Engineering Residential College, she established a tradition of excellence for the program that has greatly contributed to its ongoing success. As the lead faculty adviser, professor Miller helped the 2010-2011 NASA Microgravity University team successfully design experiments and instrumentation that evaluate the effects of a microgravity environment on bone loss. See the story here.
George Murgel, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was appointed to a five-year term on the Idaho Board of Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors (IPELS) by Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter. The mission of IPELS is to safeguard life, health and property by assuring that those who practice the professions of engineering and land surveying attain and maintain competence in those professions. For more information about IPELS visit ipels.idaho.gov.
Venkat Sridhar, assistant professor of civil engineering, was featured in a KTVB story about his research on the warming climate. Sridhar noted that rising temperatures could cause more flooding in the Treasure Valley in coming years. See the story here.
Arvin Farid, an assistant professor of the Department of Civil Engineering and a group of his graduate students attended the ASCE GeoCongress 2012 Conference in Oakland, CA (March 25th to 30th, 2012) and presented their research results. He also served as the secretary and member of the ASCE Geoenvironmental Committee as well as a member of the ASCE Computational Geotechniques committee and the liaison between the two committees.
Farid also participated in a two-day long meeting between U.S. and Russian geotechnical engineering professors and researchers (The first U.S.-Russia Geotechnical Engineering Workshop) to discuss common geotechnical engineering problems, the state of the art, and the possibility of future collaborations between the two geotechnical engineering communities of the two countries.
Mandar Khanal, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, presented a paper titled “Sustainable Transport Development for Kathmandu Valley” at the International Conference on Sustainable Development of Transport System held in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 19-22.
The Environmental Research Building, the new home for the Civil Engineering program is located just east of the Engineering and Technology building. This structure houses all of the department’s personnel as well as extensive new laboratory space. In addition the Geoscience Department as well as the Public Policy program are hosed in the new facility.
Dr. Venkat Sridhar Inducted as a Diplomate in American Academy of Water Resources Engineers
The American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE) held a special 5th Anniversary Diplomate Induction ceremony as part of the EWRI 2009 World Water and Environmental Resources Congress on May 18 in Kansas City, Missouri. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) President — D. Wayne Klotz, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, Environmental & Water Resources Institute (left) (EWRI) President — C. Dale Jacobson, P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE (right) conferring the Diplomate Certification to Dr. Venkat Sridhar, Ph.D., P.E. (center)