Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering News

Author: College of Engineering

Sue Hill is the Digital Content Manager for the College of Engineering.

Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council Releases Culvert Pilot Report

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Two workers are measuring a culvert.

The Center for Technology and Training (CTT), part of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), assisted the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council (TAMC) with a local road agency culvert data collection pilot funded under House Appropriation Bill 4320 (S-3) which provided $2,000,000 toward the effort of estimating the quantity and condition of local road agency-owned culvert assets in the state.

The CTT worked with the TAMC Bridge Committee to develop a work plan that would establish the number of local road agency-owned culverts in the state, estimate the overall condition of culverts, estimate the cost to replace culvert assets, benchmark agency labor required for establishing a culvert inventory and estimate the agency labor associated with periodic condition evaluation of culverts.

The CTT worked with 49 local road agencies that collected data on nearly 50,000 culverts over a 13-week period. They also provided technical assistance and training on the Roadsoft Culvert Module and a modified Federal Highway Administration Condition Evaluation rating system. The CTT final report was recently submitted to the Governor’s office and is available on the TAMC website.

Read the Report

By the Center for Technology & Training.

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Brian Barkdoll Demonstrates for Day of Science and Engineering

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HOUGHTON — Even students growing up with Michigan Technological University in their backyard might not realize what options are available for science courses.

More than 100 Houghton Middle School seventh-graders got a look at ongoing projects at Tech Wednesday as part of the sixth annual Day of Science and Engineering.

Brian Barkdoll, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tech, showed students a simulated river he is using to study erosion. A pier sits in the middle, representing a bridge support.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.

Brian Barkdoll Demonstrates Brian Barkdoll Demonstrates Brian Barkdoll Demonstrates Brian Barkdoll Demonstrates

 

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Kris Mattila Oversees World War I Replica Trench Construction

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TrenchHOUGHTON — Construction of a replica World War I firing trench began Friday morning on the southeast corner of U.S. 41 and MacInnes Drive on the Michigan Technological University.

The replica trench is part of the centenary WW1&CC commemoration of the U.S. in the Great War, and particularly the Copper Country’s contribution to the war effort, and will be the feature of an exhibit designed to offer the public a glimpse of what life might have been like for the soldiers who lived in them.

Chris Mattila [sic], a civil and civil engineer at Michigan Tech is overseeing construction of the trench, and said he became involved with the project a couple of months ago.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Graham Jaehnig.

Related:

Michigan Tech Digs Deep Into World War I History

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Brian Barkdoll is an IDEAL Scholar

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IDEAL Scholars
IDEAL Scholars

In early August 2018 Professor Brian Barkdoll attended the Institute for Development of Excellence in Assessment Leadership (IDEAL). The four-day institute is part of professional development available for ABET administrators. It took place at the ABET headquarters.

Some of the IDEAL topics covered involved the evaluation of program educational objectives, development of measurable outcomes, and development of scoring rubrics. Leadership and facilitation skills were emphasized.

Many programs in the College of Engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.

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Zhen Liu on Intelligent Infrastructure

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Zhen Liu
(Zhen) Leo Liu

HOUGHTON — Technology is quickly changing the world. Soon, self-driving cars and smartphones could be joined by smart infrastructure, if one Michigan Tech professor has anything to say about it.

Zhen Liu, an environmental engineering professor with a focus on geotechnical engineering is currently exploring, and trying to get research funding for, the idea of intelligent infrastructure.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Kali Katerberg.

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Eric Seagren Selected as a Member of the Industry Advisory Board

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Eric Seagren
Eric Seagren

Eric Seagren (CEE) was recently selected as a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Nebraska. The Industry Advisory Board is comprised of professional civil engineers representing the various disciplines in civil engineering, and provides guidance and advice to the department of civil engineering related to the “academic and professional quality” of the civil engineering program at the University of Nebraska.

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Kelsey Fournier Named a Top 100 Intern

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Kelsey Fournier
Kelsey Fournier

Civil engineering undergraduate Kelsey Fournier was selected as one of WayUp’s Top 100 Interns. The winners were selected by 30 percent public vote and 70 percent by a judging panel comprised of human resources and industry experts. Fournier is an intern at Carmeuse Lime & Stone.

Applicants were considered based on the following criteria:

  • Quality of overall performance/work ethic—reliable, punctual, met or exceeded expectations, produced quality work with attention to detail
  • Projects—how he or she contributed to projects, either alone and/or in team situations
  • Learning—intern identified a new skill, abilities and understandings were attained
  • Reflection, personal growth and future plans—the intern is likely to apply how the internship impacted them once back on campus and in the future

WayUp is a job site and mobile app for college students and recent graduates.

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Amlan Mukherjee Receives Funding for Transportation Project

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Amlan Mukherjee
Amlan Mukherjee

Amlan Mukherjee (CEE/MTTI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $75,001 contract from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The project is “MnDOT EPD Study Phase 1.” This is a one-year project

New Funding

Amlan Mukherjee (CEE/MTTI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $46,999.94 contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation. The project is titled “A Survey of Best Practices and Opportunities in Using Digital Models for Highway Project Delivery.” This is a two-month project.

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NSF Funding for Daisuke Minakata

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Daisuke Minakata
Daisuke Minakata

Daisuke Minakata (CEE) is the principal investigator on a project that has recieved a $347,808 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. Paul Doskey (SFRES) is the Co-PI on the project, “Photochemical Fate of Dissolved Amino Acids in Natural Aquatic Enviroment.” This is a three-year project.

ABSTRACT

This award from the Environmental Chemical Sciences Program in the Division of Chemistry supports Profs. Daisuke Minakata and Paul Doskey from Michigan Technological University. They study the reactions of free amino acids in natural freshwater with light. Understanding and predicting these processes is important because nitrogen-containing free amino acids and their degradation products are involved in global nitrogen-cycling. They also affect biological activity in natural aquatic environments. The effluent of wastewater contains amino acids as one of the major components. The findings from this study address the impact of nitrogen-containing contaminants to aquatic systems that receive treated municipal wastewater. The project includes outreach activities to K-12 high school students in the Detroit region through a summer youth intern program. This program promotes the participation and retention of underrepresented groups in the environmental science field. A webinar is being developed based on the findings of this study to raise public awareness of water safety and security in freshwater systems and the importance of protecting ecosystems from contaminants.

This award supports computational and experimental research and education to predict the photolytic and elementary reaction pathways of free amino acid transformation. This transformation is induced by direct photolysis and indirect oxidation by photochemically produced reactive intermediates. The researchers use computational chemistry tools to identify the fundamental elementary reaction pathways of representative free amino acids transformation. The research team then predicts the kinetics information of each identified elementary reaction pathway. Finally, a kinetic model based on elementary reactions is developed to predict the time-dependent concentration profiles of free amino acids and their transformation products in environmentally relevant conditions. The predicted concentration profiles are compared to laboratory-scale experimental observations to validate the kinetic model.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.

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