Department of CEECivil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Summer 2009 Breaking ground CEE research helps shape FEMA’s earthquake preparedness plan Alumna works to bring water and hope to developing communities Department news and features C70 M50 Y30 K100 cee.illinois.edu CEE CEE is published twice a year for alumni and friends of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Amr S. Elnashai Professor and Head John E. Kelley Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations Celeste Bragorgos Director of Communications Carla J. Blue Program Coordinator Letters, comments and editorial submissions: CEE Magazine Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1117 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory MC-250 205 North Mathews Avenue Urbana, Illinois 61801 (217) 333-6955 [email protected] Advertising inquiries: Celeste Bragorgos Check out the new CEE website! It’s better than ever (217) 333-6955 [email protected] with a sleeker look and improved features. • Connect with your home department Front cover: ©spxChrome/istockphoto.com • Learn the latest department news • Update your alumni information • Watch videos about student life • Read the blogs • Give a gift to CEE 2 Visit CEE on the web at http://cee.illinois.edu SummerCEE 2009 4 Passing the reins/Robert H. Dodds Jr. 5 Uncharted waters/Amr S. Elnashai 7 New beginnings/Kenneth M. Floody (BS 83) 8 Yeh Student Center: Plans and Gifts 12 If not now, when?/Ann-Perry Witmer (BS 02) 12 15 MAE Center research informs FEMA’s earthquake plan 18 A win-win safety solution for a Chicago-area dam 21 Concrete canoe, steel bridge regional results 22 Department news 31 CEE displays win at Engineering Open House 32 2009 student awards 34 Alumni awards 35 Alumni news 38 In Memoriam 40 CEE alumni reception at TRB 18 41 Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting 42 Old Masters : William H. Rayner 31 8 Contents Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association—Summer 2009 3 Amr Elnashai named new Head of CEE rofessor Amr S. Elnashai of the struc- Ptures group is the new Head of CEE. Elnashai replaced Professor Robert H. Dodds Jr., who stepped down in June to return to research and teaching. “I am looking forward to serving the department, taking advantage of national Professor Robert H. Dodds Jr., outgoing department head, left, and international opportunities, and ad- with Professor Amr S. Elnashai, CEE’s new Head. dressing the challenges posed by the eco- nomic climate and the evolving require- ments for educating the engineers of the Passing the reins future,” Elnashai said. BY ROBERT H. DODDS JR. (MS 75, PHD 78) “Bob Dodds has set exceptionally high M.T. GEOFFREY YEH ENDOWED CHAIR IN CIVIL ENGINEERING standards with regard to all aspects of leading a top-ranked academic depart- he past fi ve years almost seem a blur ago. His many years of living in London ment. I can only strive to maintain these Tand it is time to pass on the reins of lead- while fi rst a student and then a faculty high standards.” ership in CEE to Professor Amr Elnashai. It member at Imperial College left him with Elnashai is the William J. and Elaine F. has been the greatest pleasure of my career a wonderful, if somewhat British, sense of Hall Endowed Professor in Civil and Envi- to serve as the Head of our outstanding de- humor. I still occasionally require an ex- ronmental Engineering and a Fellow of partment. I remain in awe of the relatively planation from him! the United Kingdom Royal Academy of very few faculty before me who have held As you will read in Amr’s fi rst message Engineering. He is Director of the Nation- this position, and who have led our depart- as the new Head, he has exciting plans for al Science Foundation (NSF) Mid-America ment successfully since its founding in 1871. programs to continue development and Earthquake Center and the NSF Network Over the past fi ve years, the national growth in education, research, and inter- for Earthquake Engineering Simulation spotlight on our profession increased national outreach. He has a clear and com- facility at Illinois, and Director and Chair sharply. This has produced a near dou- pelling vision not only for CEE at Illinois but of the College of Engineering Council on bling in the number of our CEE under- for our profession as well. Amr has extraor- Global Engineering Initiatives. He will step graduate students with another large dinary passion for the education of civil down from these positions to concentrate freshman class entering this fall. CEE at and environmental engineers to refl ect a on departmental aff airs. Illinois continues to attract the brightest global perspective, enabling development A graduate of Cairo University, Elnas- young people from Illinois, our nation of synergistic, multi-disciplinary teams to hai obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Im- and worldwide to prepare for entry into address wide-ranging infrastructure and perial College, University of London, UK. our profession. We are especially pleased environmental issues. He is already lead- Before joining CEE in 2001, he was Profes- to see the increasing number of women ing successful new eff orts in this direction sor of Earthquake Engineering and Head students entering our program (33 per- for the entire College of Engineering. of Section at Imperial College. cent of the incoming freshman class). I ask that each of you join me in welcom- “Amr Elnashai is a superb scholar and CEE has a young, creative and exception- ing Amr as the 14th Head of the depart- researcher, and an accomplished academ- ally entrepreneurial faculty whose talents ment. With the economic challenges facing ic leader,” Dodds said. “CEE is fortunate to have raised annual research funding to an our state and university, a strong depart- have such an outstanding member of our all-time record high. ment of faculty, staff and alumni united in faculty step forward into this key leader- Professor Elnashai assumed offi ce this support of the Head will be especially criti- ship position.” June and will carry on the great traditions cal to our success in the coming years. Dodds, who has served as Head for of leadership we enjoy at Illinois. Amr is In closing, let me thank all the CEE fac- fi ve years, will spend this coming aca- a superb scholar, thinker, researcher and ulty, staff , and alumni who have support- demic year in collaborative research at teacher. He has enjoyed great success in ed my tenure as the Head. I could not have the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- research leadership and research admin- asked for a more wonderful group of col- ministration Marshall Space Flight Center istration at Illinois. These experiences will leagues and friends. I will be on sabbatical in Huntsville, Ala., and at the Oak Ridge be invaluable in the coming years of lead- this coming year and look forward to be- National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. ership. Amr has been a valued, trusted ing back full time as a professor and teach- Elnashai will be the fourteenth Head colleague and personal friend since he ing in CEE in the fall 2010 semester. since the department’s founding in 1871. i joined the department almost 10 years Have a terrifi c summer and go Illini! i 4 Visit CEE on the web at http://cee.illinois.edu Uncharted waters BY AMR S. ELNasHAI, PROFessOR AND HeaD WILLIAM J. AND ELAINE F. HALL ENDOweD PROFessOR IN CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINeeRING The true strength of an academic de- view our curriculum, in order to provide a of many departments, thanks to our staff. partment is manifested by its broadly systems approach to problem solving and We want to continue to recognize their based talent and its ability to regenerate to inject enthusiasm about the role of civil contribution, provide them with every and reinvent itself to respond to prevailing and environmental engineering in serving possible professional development oppor- challenges and to take advantage of tran- society. We should emphasize that our role tunity and reaffirm how appreciated their sient opportunities. No other department is to oversee urban development and the contribution is. at Illinois or elsewhere has shown more re- achievement of economic prosperity while The past few years have witnessed ma- silience and regeneration capabilities than protecting and enhancing the natural envi- jor progress in the development activity CEE at Illinois. I therefore view the depart- ronment for future generations. We would and its positive interaction with the com- ment head position at Illinois as part of an like to provide our students with a systems munications group. The CEE magazine, the impressive whole, a ”first amongst equals” framework where all the various curricular website and the impressive increase in our and an implementor of internally gener- components fit to form the exciting mo- income from fundraising are testaments to ated and widely supported policies. saic that renders the study of our discipline the success of the expansion of our devel- When I was contacted by the Dean of so enriching and fulfilling. We should also opment and communications teams. We the College of Engineering regarding the extend such concepts to the graduate pro- will do more. We will strengthen the devel- outcome of the selection process for the gram and strive to enhance the apprecia- opment team with resources to enhance new department head, I was as excited tion of our graduate students for the syn- communications with our more than as concerned, in spite of mulling over the ergies among the various sub-disciplines 12,000 alumni, as well as with companies issue for several months.