Page 6 - CEGE Magazine Spring 2021

Ph.D. 1988) was named Chief Techni- cal Officer (CTO) for Power Solutions
International (PSI), effective March 15, 2021. Xykis will be responsible for the oversight and man- agement of PSI’s advanced product development, engi-
neering design and analysis, on-high- way engineering, applied engineering, emissions and certification, engineering operations, program management,
and product strategic planning. Xykis served as Vice President of Engineering for PSI since 2010. He has more than 30 years of professional experience
in multi-disciplined engineering areas including senior management and executive positions at companies like Cummins and Generac Power Systems, and he served as Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Xykis served on CEGE’s advisory board for the last eight years.
STUDENTS
Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP). Balster spent his summer identifying improvements for water use efficiency and wastewater treatment processes. At the end of
his internship, Balster presented his findings and recommendations, which would result in potential savings totaling more than $200,000 annually. His story was featured on the CSE website.
DAN KENNEDY, advised by Bojan Guzina and Joseph Labuz, was awarded the ADSC-IAFD (International Association of Foundation Drilling) graduate scholarship for the third year in a row. In 2018 and 2019 he received the ADSC-IAFD’s Michael W. O’Neill
6 CEGE | CSE.UMN.EDU/CEGE
the ADSC-IAFD’s Ohio Valley Chapter Thomas A. Buzek Scholarship.
Graduate student NICHOLAS TECCA, advised by John Gulliver, presented at the Minnesota Water Resources Conference in St. Paul, October 20-21, 2020. His presentation was “Infiltration Measurement Accuracy in the Field and in Numeric Simulations.”
VINICIUS TAGUCHI, Ph.D. candidate advised by John Gulliver, moderated
a 90-minute panel at the 2021 Upper Midwest
Stream Restoration Symposium on Feb- ruary 24. The session was called “Urban Stream Restoration: Opportunities, Lim- itations, and the Drive for Environmental Justice.” About 100 people attended. Panelists Josh Burch (D.C. Department of Energy and Environment), Paul Kov- alcik (Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District), Ed Matthiesen (Stantec), and Patrick Elliot (Mil-
these complex challenges.”
XINLIN YU (Ph.D. 2020, advised by Alireza Khani) has taken a faculty position at Southeast University, which is one of the top transportation pro- grams in China.
FADILA ZIDANI
(BCE 2021) is a recipient of CSE’s Chieh and I-Fei Ouyang Schol- arship in Civil Engineering. Zidani is also a participant
in the President’s Emerging Schol-
ars Program (PES), which supports underserved, high-achieving students at the University of Minnesota. “I like the academic advice. That is the reason I got my research position two years ago,” said Zidani, who also credits PES advising for her knowledge of campus resources and financial help. After one year in the program, Zidani became a peer mentor.
MASON BALSTER
(BEnvE, 2021) had a summer internship with August Schell Brewing Com- pany through the University-based
waukee Metropolitan Sewerage District) discussed what makes a stream restoration project successful, how to make the project process more inclu- sive and represen- tative of community desires, and how to gain support from property owners. Taguchi said, “To me, this was both a powerful opportunity to bring attention to the human element of engineering that often gets over- looked and an excellent chance to learn about what many practitioners, professionals, and
SEEN ON LINKEDIN | RENA WEIS (BEnvE 2017)
CEGENEWS CONT ...
DINO XYKIS (BCE 1981, MSCE 1983, Scholarship and in 2020 was awarded regulators are already doing to tackle