Page 5 - CEGE Magazine - Fall 2016

Research Board; and “Understanding Impacts of Salt Usage on Minnesota Lakes, Rivers, and Groundwater,” Legislative and Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources. You can see several other recently funded projects led by CEGE faculty at cege.umn.edu, under Research, Research Areas.
SEBASTIAN BEHRENS authored an article in Scienti c Reports (June 2016) on an
environmental survey that provides new insights into processes that form and degrade halogenated organic com- pounds. He led an international team of researchers who sifted through the complete genomic inventory of a pristine forest soil to uncover the diversity, abundance, and distribution of genes encoding for halogenating and dehalogenating enzymes. The results have implications for the use of halogens as a tracer of soil-water, represent a step toward increased understanding of natural sources and sinks of organohalogen compounds, and raise questions about the impor- tance of natural microbial halogen cycling for atmospheric chemistry, earth climate, and bioremediation.
Two CEGE
professors awarded chairs. GARY DAVIS has been named the Richard P. Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation Engineering. PAIGE NOVAK has been named the Joseph
T. and Rose S. Ling Chair in Environmental Engineering. Each professor will hold the named chair through June 30, 2021.
Three traf c research- ers were featured in the CSE publication Inventing Tomorrow (Winter 2016). Experts JOHN HOURDOS, DAVID LEVINSON, and CHEN-FU LIAO describe their efforts to improve our transpor- tation networks—from monitoring our busiest roadways to apps for blind pedestrians to imagining a world without traf c. John Hourdos, Director of the Minnesota Traf c Observatory, was also quoted in Traf c Technology Today,
explaining the establishment of a testbed on I-94 for developing and testing connected vehicle technologies and applications, including speed harmonization and queue warning, as part of a project funded by the Roadway Safety Institute.
MIKI HONDZO is leading research using new, advanced water quality monitoring equipment in Madison Lake, Minnesota, to track the weather,
environmental conditions, and lake processes that produce, sustain, or prevent harmful algal blooms. The research will bring researchers one step closer to algal bloom prediction and prevention.
RAYMOND HOLZALSKI
serves on the United States Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board’s Drinking Water Committee. Hozalski
was selected for his expertise in envi- ronmental and chemical engineering, and biological treatment processes for drinking water.
TIM LAPARA was among several presenters at the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria on Wednes-
day, June 21, 2016. A recording of the meeting is available at www.hhs.gov.
Transportation on Tap is a happy
hour event in Minneapolis that gets people together to talk about current transportation issues. In July, panelists Leili Fatehi, John Levin, and DAVID LEVINSON, and a lively crowd dis- cussed changes coming with driverless vehicles. The biggest take-away was that autonomous vehicles are coming fast—and regional planning is not keeping up.
PAIGE J. NOVAK has been approved as a World Environment Federation (WEF) Fellow. The WEF Fellows Program rec- ognizes the professional achievement, stature and contributions of WEF mem- bers to the preservation and enhance- ment of the global water environment. A WEF Fellow must demonstrate ten years of professional experience; ve years of active membership in WEF; professional achievement, stature,
and contributions to preserving and enhancing the global water environ- ment; contributions to the profession through participation in professional organizations and community involve- ment; and must have the recommen- dation of fellow WEF members.
VAUGHAN VOLLER
recently visited Uni- verzitet Cme Gore (University of Mon- tenegro) where he shared his expertise on graduate engineering
programs. Montenegro is interested in providing masters and doctoral studies that are sustainable and of high quality. Igor Vušanović, Dean of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering University of Montenegro, invited Voller, a renowned
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering | DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND GEO- ENGINEERING 5