Spring 2021
The newly opened Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building is designed to foster collaboration and will house more than two dozen engineering faculty.
Chair's Message
Spring is here at UC Irvine! We welcome you for a virtual visit to our blossoming campus and the newly opened Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) through the above video tour. ISEB is designed to foster collaboration and will house more than two dozen engineering faculty. This includes the cluster of CEE environmental hydrology faculty who will work closely with faculty from the School of Physical Sciences and School of Biological Sciences to tackle research questions on global climate change and water resources. This spring, CEE welcomes our newest faculty member, Christopher Olivares Martinez, who is further strengthening our research and educational focus on environmental quality and environmental justice. I also proudly present the many awards received by our faculty and students and call your attention to the research highlights on wildfires and climate change. CEE’s achievements have not gone unnoticed. According to the newly released U.S. News & World Report graduate program rankings, our civil engineering program is ranked 34th in the nation in 2020, an improvement from 38th in the previous year. The environmental engineering program is ranked 28th in the nation in 2020, a jump of seven positions from 2019. Judging from the increases in first quarter grant funding, this positive momentum is continuing. 

Sincerely,
Sunny Jiang
Professor and Chair
Foufoula-Georgiou Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
UC Irvine’s Efi Foufoula-Georgiou has been honored with the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS), an international scientific organization.
Man on Fire
In southern New Jersey, deep in an isolated, desolate forest known as the Pine Barrens, a small group of men trudge through the woods, behind them a charred trail of smoldering underbrush.
UCI Researchers: Climate Change Will Alter the Position of the Earth’s Tropical Rain Belt
Future climate change will cause a regionally uneven shifting of the tropical rain belt – a narrow band of heavy precipitation near the equator – according to researchers at UC Irvine and other institutions.
Naeim Wins Housner Medal
The Earthquake Engineering Research institute (EERI) has awarded its 2021 George Housner Medal to Farzad Naeim, UC Irvine adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering.
AghaKouchak Named Highly Cited Researcher
Two Samueli School faculty members have been named to the 2020 Highly Cited Researchers global list by Web of Science group, joining 15 other UC Irvine professors on this year’s list.
Watershed Research Attracts National Notice
In 2017, UC Irvine graduate student Matthew Brand was working toward his doctorate in civil and environmental engineering when he attended the California Water Boards’ Water Data Science Symposium in Sacramento.
CEE Graduate Student Wins Department of Defense Scholarship Award
Eric J. Shearer, a UC Irvine doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering, has been awarded a Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation Scholarship from the Department of Defense. 
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | (949) 824-5333 | cee@uci.edu | Website