Summer 2021
CEE alumnus Ramin Massoumi ’94 was inducted into the 2021 Hall of Fame by Samueli School of Engineering Interim Dean Michael Green.
Chair's Message
We are seeing the light! After 18 months of working remotely, CEE@UCI will reopen this fall to greet students and visitors in person, thanks to the wide implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine in our community. Over the past year, I have witnessed firsthand the impact of our department’s ongoing work to promote collaborative problem-solving, civic engagement and social justice. In this newsletter, we highlight several examples of achievements by CEE@UCI faculty in addressing greenhouse gas, aerosol emissions and wildfires. Our role as a research and educational institution where people come to embrace difficult conversations, argue divergent ideas with civility and grow together to design new solutions for complex problems is more important than ever. We are excited to announce that CEE@UCI, in collaboration with the Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, has proposed and been awarded funding under the Black Thriving Initiative Faculty Cluster Hiring Program and will begin to recruit for a faculty hiring cluster in environmental health disparities this fall. Finally, please join me in congratulating CEE alumnus Ramin Massoumi ’94 who has been inducted into the Samueli School’s 2021 Hall of Fame.

Sincerely,
Sunny Jiang
Professor and Chair
Greenhouse Gas and Aerosol Emissions are Lengthening and Intensifying Droughts
Greenhouse gases and aerosol pollution emitted by human activities are responsible for increases in the frequency, intensity and duration of droughts around the world, according to researchers at UC Irvine.
California’s Wildfire Season Has Lengthened, and Its Peak is Now Earlier in the Year
California’s wildfire problem, fueled by a concurrence of climate change and a heightened risk of human-caused ignitions in once uninhabited areas, has been getting worse with each passing year of the 21st century.
Largescale Wetlands Construction Seen As Effective Treatment for Farm Runoff
Wetlands constructed along waterways are the most cost-effective way to reduce nitrate and sediment loads in large streams and rivers, according to scientists at UC Irvine, University of Kansas, the University of Minnesota and other institutions.
CEE Researcher Wins DOE Early Career Award
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science has awarded funding to Mohammad Abdolhosseini Qomi.
Adeleye Named Hellman Fellow for Food and Environmental Safety Study
Arsenic in babies’ rice cereal? Not if Adeyemi Adeleye can help it.
Undergraduate Earns 2021 ASCE Scholarship
Amy Anhthu Le, a UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering sophomore with a dual major in civil engineering and mathematics, has won the national American Society of Civil Engineers 2021 Lawrence W. and Francis W. Cox Scholarship.
Alumna Elizabeth Gayle Reflects on Returning Home to Guam, Breaking Barriers and Anteater Life
Elizabeth “Betty” Gayle ’87 didn’t set out to shatter thick glass ceilings. 
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | (949) 824-5333 | cee@uci.edu | Website