Page 3 - Demo

Dear Alumni and Friends,Our vision for Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering is %u201cinspired and innovative engineering for society.%u201dEach of those words was carefully chosen. The phrase %u201cfor society%u201d is very real to us. And in this issue of CEGE magazine we focus on stories of how our faculty, students, and alumni engineers serve our society. We see it in our students who come to CEGE looking for a career with impact. We see it in the research that our faculty do, beginning with real problems and creating real solutions. We see it in the work that our alumni and industry partners do that make our everyday world safer and healthier through the use of new materials and new processes, and through the solutions they design and build for our society to use every day. Engineering for society is woven through everything we do.In addition to highlighting our vision and theme for this issue, I also want to highlight a few celebrations and new faces! Our faculty have been honored with an impressive number of prominent awards. Two of our young faculty, Raphael Stern and Boya Xiong, were chosen for NSF CAREER Awards, Miki Hondzo was named MN ASCE%u2019s 2025 Outstanding Engineer of the Year, and Stefano Gonella was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). More honors are listed in our News section, which I encourage you to check out. We are also thrilled to have two new faculty joining CEGE this fall, Guanyi Lu (experimental geomechanics) and Hudson Borja da Rocha (physics and mechanics of materials).Finally, I%u2019m really pleased that the number of undergraduate students coming to us this fall is up%u2014creating even more opportunities to serve society into the future. The work we do here in CEGE makes a difference, and we could not do it without your involvement and support. With gratitude,Paige NovakDepartment HeadJoseph T. and Rose S. Ling Chair in Environmental EngineeringMessage from the Department HeadCollege of Science and EngineeringDEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND GEO- ENGINEERING%u00a9 Copyright 2025 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.CEGE Magazine is published twice a year by the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering College of Science and EngineeringUniversity of Minnesota 500 Pillsbury Drive SEMinneapolis, Minnesota 55455Merry Rendahl, editor.Layout by Printing Services. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.Cover art: Ray Hozalski's research includes sampling water and biofilms from city water mains.Marcelo Garcia, NAE 2New Faculty 2Ray Hozalski and the Case of the Opportunistic Pathogens 4Warren Distinguished Lecture Series 7Community Voices Really Speak to Craig Vaughn 8Back to School 10Mollie Mockert's Service in Appalachia 12News 14Scholarships and Awards 18Two Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards 20FALL 2025CEGEConnect with us:cse.umn.edu/cege 3