News Archive 2012 In December 2012, Department Chair C. S. Papacostas was an invited participant at the "Every Day Counts" summit in Portland, Oregon that addressed new technology innovation initiatives of the Federal Highway Administration. [December 2012] Dr. Oceana Francis has joined the Department as an assistant professor in the area of hydraulic engineering. She is a member of a University wide cluster hire initiative in the area of coastal sustainability. [August 2012] Tensioned Slope and Rock Stabilization Systems Workshop, August 16, 2012 Professors Ron Riggs, Ian Robertson and Michelle Teng of UH, together with Prof. Sungsu Lee of Chungbuk National University in Korea, organized the 1st Joint Hawaii-Korea Workshop on Engineering of Coastal Structures for Tsunami and Coastal Storm Surge Hazards, which took place in Honolulu, June 12–13, 2012. The two primary objectives of the workshop were to present the current research and practice in the two locales and to provide a forum to initiate a long-term collaboration between UH and Korea in this area. [June 2012] Professor Ian Robertson and graduate student Stephen Peters were awarded the 2012 Dr. Arthur Chiu Hurricane Preparedness Award by Major General Wong and Vice Director Doug Mayne of the Hawaii State Civil Defense. The award was given in recognition of their efforts to design, construct and commission a windborne debris test facility for the State of Hawaii. This facility has been used successfully to develop economical safe room designs for new homes built in Hawaii. [May 2012] The College of Engineering has executed a partnering agreement with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands at a ceremony in Kapolei yesterday. Part of the agreement is: "The College of Engineering plans on incorporating engineering research and innovation to help DHHL identify any current and long-term infrastructure and maintenance issues on its homes and land. For example, students may take part in assessing rock fall mitigation concerns, drainage and water infiltration problems, or structural concerns with roadways." [April 2012] Department Chair C. S. Papacostas served on the panel of judges who selected the 2012 Engineering Excellence Awards for the American Council of Engineering Companies of Hawaii (ACECH) presented at the Annual Gala held at the Oahu Country Club on January 15, 2012. We congratulate SSFM and Moffat & Nichols Joint Venture for winning the Grand Conceptor Award for the Submarine Magnetic Silencing Facility at Pearl Harbor; the two Excellence Award recipients, AECOM (Kuahea Street Emergency Rockfall Mitigation) and Yogi Kwong Engineers and Oregon Woods, Inc. (Emergency Repair of the Kalaupapa Pali Trail); and the following winners of Honor Awards: Bowers & Kubota Consulting, Belt Collins Hawaii, Coffman Engineers, Masa Fujioka & Associates, and SSFM International. [January 2012] The Department has entered a memorandum of understanding with China's Zhejiang University to promote academic exchange. [January 2012] Prof. Albert Kim has recently been appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Environmental Engineering & Ecological Science, which covers topics ranging from water purification to eco-terrorism. He is also a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Energy Engineering, which reports on energy sustainability and efficiency with an emphasis on the civil engineering component of these issues, as well as the editorial advisory board for Recent Patents on Chemical Engineering, regarded as "essential reading for all researchers involved in chemical engineering science. [January 2012] 2011 Mr. Bill Wilson, President of the Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, was installed as the new president of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department's Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) at its November 30, 2011 meeting. Mr. Wilson succeeds Mr. Ken Hayashida, President of KAI Hawaii. On behalf of the CEE faculty and staff, Department Chair Constantinos S. Papacostas expresses appreciation for the valuable service rendered to the department by Mr. Hayashida as a member and Chair of the IAC and looks forward to continued collaboration with the profession under the leadership of Mr. Wilson, saying, "Town and gown collaboration is a win-win proposition. Our academic and research programs gain from the feedback and wise counsel we receive, and industry gains from better prepared future employees. The ultimate beneficiary, of course, is the general community." [December 2011] Prof. Adrian Ricardo Archilla and his co-author Luis G. Diaz received the 3rd Prize for the paper (in Spanish) "Evaluation of the Effect of Hot Mix Asphalt Characteristics in the Resistance to Permanent Deformation Using the Simple Performance Tester (SPT) and the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) at the XV Congreso Argentino de Vialidad y Tránsito, Mar del Plata, Argentina. In addition to the certificate, the prize included AR$5,000. [November 2011] SSFM International Inc. has established a $200,000 scholarship endowment to provide financial support to SSFM employees who are also full-time undergraduate students majoring in civil and environmental engineering. More information [November 2011] A paper authored by CEE doctoral candidate Lambros Mitropoulos, Prof. Panos Prevedouros, and University of Thessaly (Greece) Assoc. Prof. Teti Nathanail won the Sustainable Development Award from the World Road Association at the 12th World Road Congress in Mexico. The paper was titled "Life cycle assessment through a comprehensive sustainability framework: A case study of urban transportation vehicles." The Association paid for Mitropoulos' registration at the conference, travel and accommodation while in Mexico. [October 2011] Dr. Lin Shen has joined the department this semester as an Assistant Professor. He earned the doctorate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with specialization is concrete materials and technology. Dr. Lin has been invited to present a talk titled “Rheology of Robust Self Consolidating Concrete” to Hawaii's Cement and Concrete Procucts Industry (CCPI) group. His presentation will focus on testing methods we developed to quantify the segregation and robustness of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) and how these methods will help design quality SCC mixes; how aggregate packing affects the rheology and robustness of SCC; and his plan to design robust SCC using local basalt aggregates. "We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Shen join the department," said Chair C. S. Papacostas. "He offers a unique blend of academic and industrial expertise that will contribute significantly to both theory and practice." [September 2011]
Civil engineering students excel at 2011 Pacific Southwest Conference. [April 2011] Prof. Albert Kim has contributed Chapter 1, "Bias Monte Carlo Methods in Environmental Engineering," in "Applications of Monte Carlo Methods in Biology, Medicine and Other Fields of Science" edited by Charles J. Mode. The on-line book is an eclectic mix of various applications of Monte Carlo simulation methods. Dr. Kim's chapter emphasizes bias Monte Carlo, which allows directed importance sampling in the phase space and enhances simulation performance and accuracy. The book chapter contains a simple description of entropy and conditional probabilities with interesting examples and discusses hydrodynamic force-bias Monte Carlo for the behavior of nano- and colloidal particles in aqueous phases. [March 2011] Monday March 14, 2011 was "UH Day" at the State Legislature that showcased the excellence and diversity of programs and services throughout all 10 campuses of the University of Hawai'i to Hawai'i state legislators and staff. Among the featured projects were three conducted by our faculty and students and funded by the University's Office of Facilities and Grounds. They were: 1. "Drainage Systems Assessment," by Drs. Ray and Teng, researcher Philip Moravcik, and students Alvina Lutu, David Bushnell, Jodie Tsubone, and Vance Tomasu. 2. "Analysis of Seepage Flows," by Drs. Brandes and Nicholson with students James Ripple and May Liu. 3. "Water Sustainability Plan," by Dr. Babcock anbd students Kristen Au, Krishna Lamichhane, and Tyler Nethers. The three projects, dubbed by Chair Papacostas "actions toward campus sustainability," address the needs of the Manoa campus. [March 2011] CEE Chair C. S. Papacostas was the invited speaker at the meeting of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) - Hawaii Section on January 26. His presentation included new FHWA initiatives dubbed "Every Day Counts," the Hawaii Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), a technology transfer center he directs with funding from FHWA and the Hawaii DOT, and a new peer-exchange County Traffic Group he has organized within the state. [February 2011] Emeritus Professor Wai-Fa Chen has published a new book titled "My Life's Journey—Reflections of an Academic." According to a book review published by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), it "combines his personal life experiences and family history; a history of the intellectual and practical developments in structural engineering, engineering mechanics, plasticity theory, and geo-engineering in the past half-century; and philosophical comments on the past, present, and future of the civil engineering profession in general and the academic teaching/research community in particular." [January 2011] 2010 Prof. Ricardo Archilla, who is the faculty advisor of the student chapter of the Institute of Transportaion Engineers at the University of Hawai‘i, announced that a student proposal to collect trip generation data at a soccer complex was selected for funding by the National ITE Data Collection Fund committee. "This is great news! Led by Lambros Mitropoulos, the student team will contribute to the continuing update of ITE's Trip Generation Manual, an internationally recognized professional reference," Prof. Arcilla said. According to the notice of award "the selection process this year was even more difficult than usual. We received 18 proposals from 15 ITE student chapters, and only five projects can be funded." (December 2010) Congratulations to Professor Edmond Cheng who has been granted Emeritus status. (November 2010) CEE Chair Constantinos Papacostas has been invited by the Deputy Director of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Gregory G. Nadeau to participate in an "innovation summit" in early November in connection to FHWA's new efficiency initiative called "Every Day Counts" (EDC). Invited participants include "representatives from the FHWA Divisions, State departments of transportation and key highway program public and private sector stakeholders." (October 2010) CEE professor Ian Robertson is a member of a Hawai`i delegation of earthquake specialists participating (along with other US scientists and engineers) in discussions with Chinese colleagues on new research ideas to minimize future earthquake disasters. The October 18 to 22 meetings in Beijing are supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other groups. (October 2010) CEE Professor Amarjit Singh and Thomas Taam of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers published a monograph titled Area Cost Factors: Methodology in Preliminary Construction Cost Estimating. The publisher is Stipes Publishing, L.L.C. of Champaign, Illinois. (September 2010) H. Ronald Riggs leads an international team of researchers that was awarded a $965,000 grant by the National Science Foundation for a three-year study to improve our understanding of the effects of tsunami-driven debris, such as logs, utility poles and steel shipping containers on buildings and other structures. The team includes Marcello Kobayashi, professor of mechanical engineering at UH Manoa, and collaborators from Oregon State University, Lehigh University, Nagoya University and the Port and Airport Research Institute in Japan. As reported in Star-Advertiser. (September 2010) During a special ceremony held at the August meeting of the Hawaii Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers in the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building, ITE Western U.S. District President Edgar A. Perez has proclaimed August 18, 2010 as "Dr. Constantinos S. Papacostas Day to recognize him for his outstanding contributions, leadership, and dedication" in the betterment of the profession. The Institute of Transportation Engineers is an international educational and scientific association of transportation professionals who are responsible for meeting the mobility and safety needs of the population. (September 2010) Chittaranjan Ray has been elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, effective September 7, 2010. (September 2010) The United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation recently awarded a two-year project ($120,000) to assistant professor Dr. Tao Yan (US PI) and his Israel collaborator Dr. Cytryn Eddie (Israel PI). The research project, which is titled "Molecular evolution of antibiotic resistance in soil exposed to anthropogenic factors," will investigate how human activities, such as irrigation with reused wastewaters, would affect the development of antibiotic resistance in soil and the consequences to human health. (July 2010) Congratulations to Tianwei (David) Ma on his award of tenure and promotion to Associate Professor. (June 2010) The University of Hawai'i, American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Student Chapter Steel Bridge Team went to West Lafayette Indiana to compete in the 2010 National Student Steel Bridge Competition (NSSBC). The competition was hosted by Purdue University on May 28-29, 2010 and was attended by the top 46 steel bridge teams that previously had won regional events at which a total of 192 bridges were entered. The UH Student Chapter has been to NSSBC previously in 2006, 2008 and 2009. The 2010 team consisted of Eric Tomishima (captain), Reef Ozaki-Train, James Aoki, Melissa Yuen and Brent Ching. The steel bridge competition consists of 6 event categories, including lightness, stiffness, efficiency, construction speed, display and economy. The UH team had their best finish yet at the 2010 competition, placing 15th overall and notably winning 2nd place in lightness, 2nd place in efficiency, and 3rd place in display. The UH students enjoyed the Purdue campus and proudly brought home three plaques for their efforts at the 2010 NSSBC (on display outside the CEE office, Holmes Hall 383). (June 2010) Assistant Professor Tao Yan has received a Program Development Grant Award from the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program. These grants are awarded for extremely promising pilot studies or proof-of-concept work. Often this support will lead to a competitive biennium proposal submitted to Sea Grant or a foundation for an extramural grant. The project is entitled "A Novel Upflow Geofilter System for the Cost-Efficient Removal of Fecal Bacteria from Stream Water." The project will develop various low-cost geofilter configurations and test their effectiveness in removal of bacteria from Hawaii stream water. (June 2010) The CEE Department has recently awarded four scholarships. Two Structural Engineers Association of Hawaii (SEAOH) sponsored accolades went to graduate students Yuryi Mikhaylov (PhD candidate) and Nathan Powelson (MS candidate). For the coming academic year, the John S. Farmer Scholarship was awarded to undergraduate students Ethan Smith and James Aoki. (April 2010) The University of Hawaii, American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Student Chapter went to Las Vegas to compete in the 2010 Pacific Southwest Regional Conference. The annual conference was hosted by UNLV on April 8-9-10, 2010 and was attended by 1,100 students from 17 universities. UH took 39 students to compete in 15 events including concrete canoe, steel bridge, environmental, geotechnical, surveying, technical paper, quiz bowl, impromptu, mystery, scavenger hunt, tug-o-war, and several sports (soccer, basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, basketball). The UH team did very well in the steel bridge event, placing 2nd overall, thereby earning a spot at the National Student Steel Bridge Competition (May 28-29, 2010 at Purdue Univ). The steel bridge competition includes 6 events and the UH team (Eric Tomishima, Reef Ozaki-Train, James Aoki, Melissa Yuen, Brent Ching) placed first in stiffness, first in efficiency, and second in lightness. Megan Ueno placed fifth in the technical paper and presentation. UH placed 12th overall in the conference. The UH students enjoyed the Las Vegas attractions and made it back to Hawaii safely. (April 2010) Directed by Professor and CEE Chair C. S. Papacostas, the Hawaii Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) hosted its Region 9 annual meeting on April 15-16, 2010 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. States represented stretched from Hawaii to Alaska. For info about LTAP, see http://hltap.eng.hawaii.edu (April 2010) After the recent Chile earthquake and tsunami, Prof.
Robertson was invited to join an team of 30 researchers organized
by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, EERI, to survey
damage resulting from this event. Robertson and two structural
engineers from Honolulu, Gary Chock and Juan Morla, surveyed tsunami
damage along the coastline of Chile from Dichato to Llico, including
the major ports at Concepcion and Talcahuano. A short presentation
on their observations and field notes are available for download
at: CEE graduate student Hui Zhang won second place in the Student Vibration Design Competition at the 2010 ASCE Earth and Space Conference held in Honolulu, Hawai`i, March 15-17. A team from Rice University won first place. There were eight competing teams, including five from U.S. universities and three from Chinese universities. Hui is currently a second year PhD student under David Ma's supervision. (March 2010) L. Stephen Lau, emeritus professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, scholarship applications announced Details (February 2010) Constantinos S. Papacostas has been appointed chair
of Civil & Environmental Engineering 2009 Professor Peter Nicholson was recently elected to the Academy of Geo-Professionals (AGP) as a Diplomate, Geotechnical Engineering (D.GE). Details (December 2009) ASCE Student Chaper at UHM places 11th out of 47 teams in the 2009 ASCE/AISC National Student Steel Bridge Competition (NSSCB) at UNLV. Details (June 2009) ASCE has just published Prof. Bob Grace's new book, Marine Outfall Construction: Background, Techniques and Case Studies. Please see the ASCE bookstore for more details. (May 2009) Professor Amarjit Singh Receives Top Teaching Award Professor Amarjit Singh is a 2009 recipeint of the Board of Regents' Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The award letter states that "This award recognizes faculty members who have made significant contributions in teaching and student learning. The faculty honored exhibit an extraordinary level of subject mastery and scholarship, teaching effectiveness and creativity, and personal values beneficial to students." (May 2009) Two CEE faculty members received prestigious American Concrete Institute (ACI) awards at the ACI Spring Convention in San Antonio, Texas, this March. Prof. Ian Robertson was awarded the ACI Wason Medal for Meritorious Technical Paper for his co-authorship of a paper titled "Post-tensioned slab-column connections," published in the April 2007 issue of Concrete International. Prof. Farshad Rajabipour was awarded the ACI Wason Medal for Materials Research for his co-authorship of "Influence of SRA on development of plastic shrinkage cracks," a paper published in the March 2007 issue of ACI Materials Journal. (April 2009) Graduate student, Matteo D'Alessio, received a NSF sponsored scholarship from the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh to attend the Engineering Sustainability 2009 Conference, April 19–21, 2009. Matteo will present a poster that examines the sorption and transport of explosive chemicals to leaves and leaf litters of Hawaiian plants. (March 2009) CEE graduate student, Dustin K. Goto, was awarded a NSF EAPSI Fellowship this summer at Gwanju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea. He will investigate the abundance and genetic diversity of /E. coli/ in one Korean agricultural watershed in comparison with Hawaiian watersheds. The work is part of his MS thesis research at UH Manoa. (March 2009) College of Engineering alumnus Jeoffrey S. Cudiamat named 2009 Young Engineer of the Year by the Hawai`i Council of Engineering Societies. Details. (February 2009) 2008 Dr. Amarjit Singh has been named editor-in-chief of the American Society of Civil Engineers' Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction. (November 2008) Prof. Panos Prevedouros is taking a leave of absence to run as a candidate in the non-partisan race for mayor of the City and County of Honolulu. (July 2008) Seminar on Seismic Base Isolation. Earthquake Protection
Systems have installed the first CEE graduate student Dustin K Goto was awarded a PACE Summer Fellowship to study alternative energy and its commercial viability. The PACE Fellowships were established by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) at the University of Hawaii to promote scientific and technological innovations. The 2008 PACE graduate fellows include two MBA, one law, and one CEE students. (June 2008) On Thursday May 22, at Holmes Hall 244, guest speaker Associate Professor David Mukai, from the University of Wyoming, Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering, will present some of his recent research, "Test Methods for Determining Physical Properties of Hardened Self Consolidating Concrete (SCC)." Click here for the abstract. (May 2008) Prof. Jean-Louis Briad, Holder of the Buchanan Chair, Texas A&M University, will be giving a seminar "Case Histories in Soil and Rock Erosion" on May 14 from 10 to 11 am, in Holmes Hall 287. All are welcome. Click here for the abstract. (May 2008) Dr. Amarjit Singh has been named the winner of the 2007 best paper award by the ASCE Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice for his paper (sole author) titled "Civil Engineering: Anachronism and Black Sheep", Volume 133, Issue 1, January 2007, pp. 18-30. (January 2008) 2007 High Performance Computing: M.S. student Yuewei Liu's results of Monte Carlo simulations appear as a featured article of the High Performance Computing at UH <http://www.hawaii.edu/hpc/>. Her faculty advisor is Prof. Albert S. Kim (November 2007) Two new faculty members join the Department (August 2007) Professor Kim joins editorial advisory board of new journal in chemical engineering (August 2007) Recent graduate Timothy Lum-Yee honored with Undergraduate Leadership Distinction Award. (May 2007) Professor Ray receives Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) Grant. See story for details. (April 2007) Prof. Albert Kim is selected Researcher of the Month by High Performance Computing at UH. He recently solved a 2.3 billion element matrix. See story for details. (March 2007) Professor Nicholson receives the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the US Army for his work in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. (February 2007) Live on KHNL Channel 8 at 5 PM on Wednesday, February 28! CEE's Dr. Panos Prevedouros will join Hawaii's Department of Transportation, Honolulu's Department of Transportation Services and Oahu's Metropolitan Planning Organization directors in the NBC affiliate's "Talk Story" with Howard Dashefsky. The show will cover transportation issues in Honolulu and Oahu. (February 2007) Professor Singh elected Special Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building. See story for details. (January 2007) 2006 UHM Journalism/Comunications senior Tina Ng reveals CEE Professor Panos Prevedouros' hobby in her "Racing Professor" video (October 2006) Reconnaissance following the October 15, 2006 earthquakes on the Island of Hawaii (October 2006) Download PDF report (6 MB) Professor Albert Kim receives UH Regents' Medal for Excellence in Research (August 2006) Sanjay Mohanty Receives UH Recruitment/Retention Scholarship (August 2006) Prof. Singh Receives Surendranath Mukherjee Memorial Prize (May 2006) Research and Teaching Assistant Opportunities (May 2006) Bryce Toyama, CEE Undergraduate wins Undergraduate 2006 Summer Research Award (May 2006) UH Students Qualify for the 2006 AISC National Student Steel Bridge Competition (April 2006) Prof. Prevedouros organizes panel presentation for Hawaii Highway users Alliance (April 2006) Professor Brandes assists State in its investigation of the Ka Loko dam failure on Kauai (April 2006) The Department Alumni Page now lists all BS graduates going back to 1912 and graduate students going back to 1963! (April 2006) Emeritus Prof. Arthur Chiu passed away very suddenly January 30, 2006. Please see the article from the Honolulu Advertiser. (February 2006) 2005 Faculty working to keep our bridges safe (October 2005) Professors Archilla and Ooi Awarded $950K to Update the State's Pavement Management System and Pavement Design Practices (October 2005) NSF Supports Profs. Robertson and Riggs to Survey Damage from Hurricane Katrina (September 2005) Prof. Nicholson to Lead New Orleans’ Levee Assessment for ASCE (September 2005) Department Faculty Receive $1.3 Million from NSF for Tsunami Engineering (September 2005) CEE Ph.D. Graduate, Edison Gica, Receives American Geophysical Union (AGU) Outstanding Student Paper Award (July 2005) Doctoral Student Gaur Johnson awarded ARCS Kresser Foundation Scholarship in Engineering (June 2005) Professors Teng and Ray receive Defense University Research Instrumentation Awards (April 2005) CEE alumni Stanley Kawaguchi (BS '63) and John Katahira (BS '93; MS '95) win top honors from HCES (February 2005) Society of American Military Engineers Honolulu Post Scholarship (February 2005) Prof. Prevedouros on sabbatical with Attica Tollway in Athens (February 2005) CEE Prof. Albert Kim receives prestigious NSF CAREER Award (February 2005) Matthew Odo, a 2004 graduate of Pearl City High School, was selected as the Actus Lend Lease Outstanding CEE Scholar in August 2004 (February 2005). Alfred A. Yee has joined the Department as an adjunct faculty member (January 2005). Actus
Lend Lease has established the Actus Lend Lease Outstanding Civil & Environmental
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