Page 4 - CEGE Spring 2023

Minnesota, their car loaded with
an earthquake simulator and some hands-on bridge-related activities. They had been invited to the Fond Du Lac Indian School to present to 7th graders who were studying earth- quakes and bridges. The students built structures and tested them on
a shake table. UMN students also shared their journey to college and their experience.
XIATING CHEN, a Ph.D. student advised by Xue Feng, studies how vegetative covers and built infrastruc- ture alter the way that water moves through
an urban environment and how urban hydrology informs engineering and management decisions in communities. Her work was picked up in the August 28, 2022, issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press article, “U of M researchers in
St. Paul study how urban trees affect environment.”
DANIEL KENNEDY graduated with a Ph.D. degree in December 2022. He was co-advised by Bojan Guzina and Joe Labuz. An article about Kennedy’s Ph.D. research, which was supported by a MnDOT project, was published by MnDOT.
It begins, “A new testing method will allow MnDOT to deter- mine the underground foundation pile depths
of high-mast
light towers
(HMLTs) without digging or dismantling. HMLTs need to meet design standards to ensure load-bearing stability. By using the new method to evaluate
pile depth, MnDOT could avoid costly retrofits or replacements, and priori- tize light towers in need of redesign” (https://z.umn.edu/DOTresearch_ Kennedy). Kennedy now works at
Barr Engineering.
4 CEGE | CSE.UMN.EDU/CEGE
TIANYI LI (graduate student advised by Raphael Stern) was awarded the prestigious Dwight David Eisen- hower Transportation Fellowship Program
(DDETFP) Graduate Fellowship from
the Federal Highway Administration for 2023. Li had also received the award for 2022. As part of the fellowship, Li attended the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, in January through a Transportation Research Board (TRB) Student Travel Award from UMN’s Center for Trans- portation Studies. Li was also honored with a 2022 ITS Minnesota Educational Scholarship, which comes with a $1000 scholarship, and he received an NSF Travel Award that supported his trip to the NSF AI in Transportation Workshop at the University of Florida.
SHI’AN WANG, a Ph.D. student advised by Michael Levin, defended his doctoral research on Planning, Operation, and Management of Automated Transporta- tion Systems. Wang joined the faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso in the spring of 2023 at the rank of Assistant Professor.
ALUMNI
Alumni of the UMN Geoengineering program are leaders in the field. The four keynote speakers for the 57th
US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium boasted three graduates from the Minnesota Geoengineering program: MARK BOARD (retired from Hecla Mining Company, “Develop-
ment of a Mining Method to Control Fault-Slip Seismicity at the Lucky
Friday Mine”), CHRISTINE DETOURNAY (Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., “The
Joy of Geomechanical Modeling”), and EMMANUEL DETOURNAY (University of Minnesota, “Insights into Mechanics of Drilling”). The fourth keynote speaker, John McLennan (University of Utah, “Geothermal Energy – An Opportunity at Any Temperature”) was advised by UMN alumnus JEAN-CLAUDE ROEGIERS (now deceased). The conference chair, HAIYING HUANG, is another CEGE graduate.
BERNIE BULLERT’S work to establish the Minnesota Water Research Fund (MWRF) was highlighted in the Fall 2022 issue of the American Water Works Association Minnesota newsletter,
The Breeze. The article is part of a series related to the MWRF.
RICHARD W. CHAMBERS (BCE 1965) passed away in December 2022. He was living in California with his wife Magdalena Chambers.
Where is he now?
ANTHONY ELIAN
(BCE 2022) delivered the student perspective at CEGE’s 2022 winter graduation celebration. He recently started a
new position as a Water/Wastewater Designer at Stantec. Elian reported, “The past four weeks at Stantec have been a wonderful experience with a diverse and energized water team.
I look forward to many more proj- ects. Shout out to my supervisor ASH HAMMERBECK (BCE 2011) for a smooth start and a warm welcome!”
MONICA HEIL (BSCE 2003), WSB’s Vice President of Municipal Services,
is the 2023 president of American Public Works Administrators Minnesota Chapter (APWA-MN). The president serves a one-year term. In addition to chairing meetings, duties include being the chapter’s spokesperson to and representative from APWA, coordi- nating with the Awards Committee, and promoting public works.
STEVEN L. KUMMER, PE (BCE 1999) was recently promoted to a Principal Contract Administrator at the Metro- politan Council Environmental Services (MCES). Kummer provides construc- tion contract administration services for various wastewater interceptor,
lift station, and treatment plant proj- ects throughout Metropolitan Council Environmental Services’ seven-county service area. His civil engineering career spans 23 years and includes stints at BKBM Engineers, the City of Maple- wood, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
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