October 2022

• The 10th Graduate Engineering Research Showcase was held on October 21. Jamie Newsome won an honorable mention ($350 prize), and Md Fahim Salek is CEE departmental winner ($250 prize). 
• Jeff LaMondia and the research team received a nearly $500,000 NSF grant from the Innovations in Graduate Education Program.  He was working with colleagues in Aerospace, Biochemistry, Biosystems, and The University Writing Center on our "Writing SySTEM: A Systemic Approach to Graduate Writing Instruction and Intervention".  They are extending his Graduate Research Methods course out to all Engineering departments on campus and developing an equitable multi-level program for students to engage with and improve their writing skills
• Yury Morales will join our Department as Accountant III and be responsible for CEE finances including travel.

August 2022

• Matthew Yarnold – will join our Department as new Associate Professor and Director of the Advanced Structural Engineering Lab
• Lauren Beckingham has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure
• Jack Montgomery has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure
• Molly Hughes has been promoted to Senior Lecturer
• Adriana Vargas has been promoted to Associate Research Professor
• Fan Yin has been promoted to Associate Research Professor
• Katie Falls is a new Administrator II/III, Academic Programs, in our Department.  Her main responsibility is the supervision of the CEE Departmental office in addition to other job duties that were previously assigned to Debbie.
• Dongye Zhao retired from his active faculty position in our Department on August 16, 2022.  Our Department greatly benefited from his dedicated service over 21 years.  
• Gerald John resigned from his position in our Department as of August 1, 2022.  Our Department greatly benefited from his dedicated service.  He considerably improved our environmental labs, they are now more functional and safe.  He also helped the Department by teaching important courses. 
• Fabricio Leiva (Assistant Research Professor) resigned from his NCAT position effective July 22.
• Lauren Beckingham received an Early Career honor from the Department of Energy.  As announced in Auburn News, she was awarded $749,999 toward her research into subsurface hydrogen storage—a promising means of large-scale, long-term energy storage that could boost renewable energy and reduce atmospheric CO2 emissions. 
• Ben Bowers, Brian Anderson, Jose Vasconcelos, and Frances O’Donnell have received a Federal Highway Administration 2022 Environmental Excellence Award in conjunction with NOAA and the research team from the University of New Hampshire. This is for their NOAA research project entitled “Surface Transportation, Sea Level Rise, and Coastal Storms: A Sustainable Path to Increased Resilience” which is examining pavement resilience benefits of natural and nature-based features in Fort Morgan, AL with respect to sea level rise and major precipitation events (i.e., hurricanes). This award is being given to NOAA, Auburn University, the University of New Hampshire (the second NOAA-funded project), USA, UW-Madison, and the Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization.

April 2022

• Brie Palmer has been selected as the 2022 Outstanding Student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Dr. Jeff LaMondia was selected as a recipient of a William F. Walker Superior Teaching Award for Excellence.   The Spring Student, Faculty, and Alumni Awards Ceremony was on April 8, in the Grand Hall of the Brown-Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center. 
• Dr. Jeff LaMondia also received the 2022 CEE Outstanding Faculty Award.
• Debbie Tidwell has resigned of her position as Office Supervisor as of 6-1-22

• Sherry Smith has resigned of her position as Financial Associate I-HRC as of 4-8-22.
• Yukun Song, Ph.D. student in Transportation Engineering, has been selected for a 100+ Women Strong Graduate Leadership Award
• Bo Borden has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 Charles E. Alexander Memorial Transportation Scholarship Award
• AU ITE student team won the second place of Southern District ITE traffic bowl competition. The team members include Anthony Aspito, George Cowles, Fangjian Yang, and Bo Borden.
• Three transportation engineering Ph.D. students won the 2022 Southern District ITE  technical paper competition awards: (1) Best YOUNG MEMBER TECHNICAL PAPER by Beijia Zhang; (2) BEST STUDENT PAPER Award by Beijia Zhang; (3) RUNNER-UP BEST YOUNG MEMBER TECHNICAL PAPER by Yukun Song; and (4) BEST INDIVIDUAL MEMBER TECHNICAL PAPER by Qing Chang.
• Will Beattie, CEE undergraduate, was selected as the undergraduate student best poster from the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering for his presentation titled “CO₂ storage in geological formations: Impact of formation characteristics” at the AU Research Symposium.
• Dr. Brian Anderson has been selected for the SEC Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program for 2022-2023. The SEC Faculty Travel Program was established in 2012 and aims to foster relationships that stimulate collaboration between SEC member universities relative to exchanging ideas, developing grant proposals, presenting lectures, conducting research and delivering performances.
• Sheng Dong is the winner of the 13^th Annual Geosyntec Student Paper competition and Pengfei Yan is awarded the second-place. Their advisor is Dr. Natalie Capiro.
• Dr. Anton Schindler has been elected to serve as Director on the Board of Direction of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) for a three-year term that started at the conclusion of the Spring 2022 ACI Convention.  Members of the ACI Board of Direction are the elected representatives of the entire membership of ACI, and have the charge to manage and oversee ACI’s properties, activities, and affairs. The ACI Board of Direction meets at least twice each year with other ACI leadership including the ACI Executive Vice President and ACI staff.

February 2022

• Dr. Jose Vasconcelos has been recognized with the 2022 Outstanding Associate Editor Award by the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute. Dr. Vasconcelos serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, one of the world-leading publications in Civil Engineering Hydraulics. The award will be presented at the 2022 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress in Atlanta, Georgia, June 5-8, 2022.
• Dr. Rod Turochy, the Committee and ATAP staff organized a very successful conference.  Alabama Transportation Conference has an established position as a major transportation event in the Southeast.  This year’s program was very interesting, with a good balance between academic research and practical engineering.  In spite of the pandemic, the attendance was not much smaller than in previous years.
• Debbie Tidwell, CEE Office Supervisor, decided to retire from AU as of June 1, 2022.
• Dr. Anton Schindler was appointed to serve a three-year term as Chair of TRB Standing Committee AKM50, Advanced Concrete Materials and Characterization.   The scope of this committee is to cover basic research and emerging technologies related to hydraulic cement and other materials used in concrete. This includes nanotechnology, alternative cements, and the technologies used to evaluate and define concrete characterization, including non-destructive testing.  TRB is one of seven program units of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and provides leadership in transportation improvements and innovation through trusted, timely, impartial, and evidence-based information exchange, research, and advice regarding all modes of transportation.
• Four civil engineering graduate students (Qing Chang, Md Mahmud Hossain, Yukun Song, and Beijia Zhang)  have been named 2022 Lifesavers Traffic Safety Scholars and will attend the Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities, March 12-15, and see more information here.

January 2022

• Dr. Ali Khosravi is joining our Department as a new Assistant Professor in Geotechnical Engineering
• Dr. Don Zhao is chosen as a 2021 Highly Cited Researcher
• Dr. Natalie Capiro gave a virtual seminar at MIT in their “Future Leaders in CEE” seminar series
• Dr. Rod Turochy was interviewed by the Montgomery Advertiser about the USDOT RAISE planning grant “Step Up Alabama”.  The article that appeared in the December 6, 2021, edition, discussed the communities involved, state of their current pedestrian infrastructure, and what the grant will provide to plan and design for upgrading that infrastructure.
• Dr. Jack Montgomery has been elected to the Board of Directors for the United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER).  USUCGER is a national organization focused on advancing high quality geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering research and education at US academic institutions. Membership is limited to geotechnical and geoenvironmental faculty and the organization represents more than 100 universities. Eight members are elected by the membership to serve four-year terms on the Board of Directors.
• Kelly Roberts (CEE alumna – undergraduate and graduate) was selected by Building Design+Construction to their 40 Under 40 Class of 2021. She is a principal and project manager, Structures Group at Walter P Moore.
• Dr. Shiqiang Zou will receive a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) - National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI). The overall budget for this 3-year project is $2.5 million. Auburn University will receive $400K from DOE and match another $133K as cost share. This project is led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, with three universities (Stanford /Auburn/ Rice) receiving subawards. The project title is “Direct electrochemical reduction of selenium to achieve A-PRIME water treatment.” Our lab will be leading the experimental effort to develop energy-efficient electrochemical systems to remove selenium pollutants from industrial and agricultural wastewaters.