Civil and Environmental Engineering

2009-2010 Annual Report

Department Overview

The department of Civil and Environmental Engineering had a banner year of its own, with research funding at its all-time high of $4.1M (11% increase over the previous year, and representing an average $256,250 per tenured/tenure-track faculty), degrees awarded at its all-time high of 127 (14% increase over the previous year), and student enrollments at its all-time high of 807 (15% increase over the previous year, and increasing for the fifth consecutive year). The department is well poised to be the leading program in the entire state.

Faculty and Research Highlights

Dr. Nakin Suksawang received the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Young Member Award for Professional Achievement “for contributions to concrete technology, including technical publications, convention presentations, service as an ACI chapter member, and on technical committees.” The award was presented to Dr. Suksawang at the ACI 2010 Convention in Chicago, IL on March 21st, 2010.

Dean Amir Mirmiran was named the 2009 Engineer of the Year by the ASCE Miami-Dade Branch.

Dr. Berrin Tansel received ASCE Edmund Friedman Professional Recognition Award for her outstanding contribution to educational outreach and engineering activities.

Dr. Albert Gan secured over $1.326M of research funding in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

Dr. Arindam Chowdhury received an NSF award for a project on Large-Scale Simulation of Wind Effects on Low-Rise Buildings to Reduce Wind-Induced Losses.

Drs. Chowdhury, Bitsuamlak, Mirmiran, and Tao received $300,715 for their NSF proposal titled “MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation to Create a Transformative Large- and Full-Scale Wind Testing Capability in Support of Sustainable Windstorm-Resilient, Energy-Efficient Communities.”

Student Activities and Achievements

The ASCE Student Chapter was one of only 47 chapters invited to the national competition of steel bridge held in May this year at Purdue University. This was based on their high placement in the southeast regional competitions.

The ITE Student Chapter again won the District 10 Best Student Chapter Award.

The Engineers Without Borders, under the advice of Dr. Fuentes, is working on a water project in Costa Rica this summer.

Two of our undergraduate students, Alvaro Quinonez and Marina Acevedo, were awarded the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship. The fellowship will provide support for them to complete a doctoral degree. Alvaro is currently doing his second summer internship at MIT. He has written a paper, titled “Small-Scale Models for Testing Masonry Structures”, and will present it at the 7th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historic Constructions, Oct. 6-8, 2010, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. Marina is also going through a summer internship at MIT, having worked at a NASA internship the previous summer.

Two environmental engineering undergraduate students, Kerim Dickson and Viviana Villamizar, are currently carrying out their summer internships with the U.S. EPA in Washington DC, while a third environmental engineering student Emma Lopez is participating in an Honors College summer program in the Peruvian Amazon. Her task will be to implement a rainwater harvesting program in the local school.

MS student Huijing Qiang won the First Place in the Poster Competition at the 2010 ITE District 10 Annual Meeting. Huijing has graduated last fall and is now working in a consulting firm in Virginia. MS student Huijing Qiang won the 1st place ITE Gold Coast Spring 2010 Book Scholarship; doctoral student Patricio Alvarez the 2nd place; and doctoral students Chenxi Lu, Jinyan Lu, and Li Tang the 3rd place.

Ph.D. student Chenxi Lu received ITE’s 2010 Daniel B. Fambro Student Paper Award. He has completed his doctoral program and has taken a position in the Ningbo Institute of technology in China. Ph.D. student Yan Xiao received the Best Student Paper Award, ITE District 10. She is also won the ITE District 10 Bill McGrath Scholarship Award.

Alumni In the News

CEE Alumnus, Robert T. Carballo, President & CEO of C3TS, was inducted into the Miami-Dade College Hall of Fame in the Engineering category in 2010. CEE Alumnus, Alfred Lurigados, Director of Engineering, Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, was also conducted into the Miami-Dade College Hall of Fame in the Transportation category in 2010.

CEE Alumnus, Javier Rodriguez, Executive Director of Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX), received the Project of the Year Award from the Cuban-American Society of Civil Engineers on behalf of MDX for the project SR-874 Flyover Ramp at Kendall Drive.

CEE Alumnus, Sergio Alfonso, Vice President of Marlin Engineering, received Francisco de Albear Award from Cuban-American Society of Civil Engineers. He also became President-Elect of the ASCE Miami-Dade Branch.

CEE Alumnus, Javier Manso, received the Young Engineer of the Year Award from the Cuban-American Society of Civil Engineers.

New Infrastructure

The Structures and Construction Testing Lab received a generous gift of $250,000 from Titan America LLC, the premier cement and building materials producer in the eastern United States, and was renamed Titan America Structures and Construction testing lab. The gift is eligible for $125,000 matching by the State of Florida.

Fall Term Enrollment

Five Year Fall Term Enrollment CEE

Degrees Awarded

Degrees Awarded CEE