Tag: Civil Engineering

I came to MTU in 2017 to pursue my Ph.D. with Dr. Alex Mayer in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. This has been a great experience because I learned a lot, but also because I collaborated with amazing people and made very good friends. My research focuses on hydrology modeling to assess the effects of the Payment for Hydrological Services program in Veracruz, Mexico. This is one of the longest operating payments for ecosystem services in the World and the scientific results produced by our research group, contribute to better understanding the connections between social and ecological systems and to make more informed decisions in terms of Water Resources Management. My thanks and gratitude to the graduate school and to the Michigan Tech Community for your support to complete my research.

I came to MTU in 2017 to pursue my Ph.D. with Dr. Alex Mayer in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. This has been a great experience because I learned a lot, but also because I collaborated with amazing people and made very good friends. My research focuses on hydrology modeling to assess the effects of the Payment for Hydrological Services program in Veracruz, Mexico. This is one of the longest operating payments for ecosystem services in the World and the scientific results produced by our research group contributes to better understand the connections between social and ecological systems and to make more informed decisions in terms of Water Resources Management. My thanks and gratitude to the graduate school and to the Michigan Tech Community for your support to complete my research. 

Dongdong (Alex) Ge
Civil Engineering

As a Ph.D. student, I am enthusiastic and work hard in my efforts in research works, I have assisted my supervisor to prepare about 5 proposals from agencies, and I was CO-PI of a few proposals submitted in the past year. I have also participated in several other research projects from DOTs. To date, my research has led to a number of papers including 21 published peer-reviewed journal papers, 3 conference proceedings, and 2 under-review paper. In addition, I am preparing 2 more journal papers to be submitted at this time. In the past few years, I have been supported with various project support as GRA and two semesters of GTA. My efforts in teaching made me earn the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award in 2018. I was also awarded the P.M. Thornton Endowed Fellowship in 2019.

Siyu Chen
Civil Engineering

Mr. Siyu Chen received his MS degree in Highway Engineering from South China University of Technology in China. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. degree at MTU from Fall 2015 under the supervision of Dr. Zhanping You. His Ph.D. research focuses on investigating the water permeability of asphalt mixture. After the completion of his Ph.D., he would be interested to work as a faculty in an academic institution in China.

Ruizhe Si
Civil Engineering

I came to Michigan Tech in Fall 2015 after finishing my undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at Changsha University of Science and Technology.

My research is focused on improving the performance of the geopolymers and analyzing the multiscale structure and chemical composition of materials. Geopolymer is a type of binder material similar to cement paste. The production of the geopolymer can potentially reduce up to 80% of CO₂ emission compared with that of ordinary Portland cement. However, large drying shrinkage of the geopolymer limited its application in construction industry. My research will help to understand the shrinkage mechanisms of geopolymer and provide the methods to reduce the shrinkage of the geopolymer. All these will facilitate the large application of geopolymer and also improve the service life of this eco-friendly construction material.

I am very grateful to the Graduate School for providing me the Finishing Fellowship, which helps me focus on finishing my dissertation during the summer semester. I also want to express my gratitude to my advisor Dr. Qingli Dai, who mentored me in my research and provided me many opportunities to collaborate with research groups from different universities to improve my research quality.

Shuaidong Zhao
Civil Engineering

I am honored to receive the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship. Thanks to the support from the Graduate School for enabling this opportunity. In August 2014, I came to Houghton as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan Tech after I obtained my Master degree in Urban Planning from Renmin University of China. At Michigan Tech, my primal research focus is to apply optimization, control theory, and data-driven methods to investigate dynamic transportation modeling of connected and automated vehicles, as well as interdependence between transportation network and power grid systems.

I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to work with my advisor, Dr. Kuilin Zhang in the emerging area of connected, automated, and electric vehicles in smart cities. His leadership and high standard of excellence has helped me grow into my potential. I also would like to give my special thanks to my dissertation committee members, other faculty and students in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan Tech for their big support throughout my journey of Ph.D. studies.