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Fall 2020
While most instruction remains virtual, essential workers and researchers on campus are reminded of safety precautions with numerous signs posted around campus. Steve Zylius / UCI
Chair's Message
We began the new academic year with many uncertainties and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, CEE faculty and students have transformed those challenges into new research and innovation opportunities. This fall, CEE faculty members are leading important research projects in tracking the spread of COVID-19 through analysis of coronavirus in human wastewater. This project, which received funding from the Water Research Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will optimize sampling design to best capture SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. CEE faculty are also conducting NSF-funded RAPID response research to collect critical data for advancing our understanding of wildfire impacts on soil characteristics and post-wildfire compound hazards. To meet the remote instruction need, Joel Lanning, CEE professor of teaching, has created a homemade version of “Learning Glass” that transforms the online class into a near in-person instruction experience. 

In this issue of our newsletter, you will find the award of the prestigious Hydrologic Science Medal to Distinguished Professor Soroosh Sorooshian by the American Metrological Society and the award of third place in a video competition to UCI’s Global Engineering Brigades by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. CEE also is proud to share that our department has been ranked No. 5 in the U.S., and No. 14 globally, in the area of water resources, according to the Shanghai 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities by academic subjects.

Sincerely,
Sunny Jiang
Professor and Chair
Sorooshian Recognized with Hydrologic Sciences Medal
The American Meteorological Society has awarded Soroosh Sorooshian the 2021 Hydrologic Sciences Medal.

UCI Engineers Evaluate Snow Drought in Different Parts of the World
Environmental engineers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new framework for characterizing snow droughts around the world.

NSF Funds Research on Lower-Temperature, Renewable Cement Manufacturing Process
Researchers have received a Future Manufacturing Seed Grant ($500,000) from NSF for their project to substitute an electrochemical process for the combustion process in the manufacturing of cement, which would significantly reduce its manufacturing energy input and carbon footprint.

Shanghai Rankings Place UCI’s Water Resources Program No. 5 in US
UC Irvine has been ranked No. 5 in the U.S., and No. 14 globally, in the area of water resources according to the Shanghai 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities by academic subjects, released in June.  

Engineers to Look at Impact of New Transportation Modes on Communities
NSF has awarded a Smart and Connected Communities Planning Grant ($150,000) to a group of civil and environmental engineering faculty for a project aimed at helping community planners maximize the societal benefits of new innovations in transportation.

UCI Global Engineering Brigades Take Third Place in Video Competition
UC Irvine’s Global Engineering Brigades won third place ($500) in the 2019-2020 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors’ student video competition. 

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | (949) 824-5333 | cee@uci.edu | Website