Dear Ole Miss Civil Engineering Alumni and Friends,
It has been a while since I last send you the Ole Miss Civil Engineering Departmental E-News. A lot of exciting things have happened! Due to the volume, I am presenting it in digest style here. You can pick the ones that interest you and follow the detail at the bottom:
1. Civil engineering undergraduate enrollment is up 23% from last year. It is a 72% growth since 5 years ago. Freshman class is 52 students.
2. Dr. Ahmed Al-Ostaz won the 2006 School of Engineering Alumni Outstanding Faculty Award.
3. Graduate student Bikila Wodajo, country origin Ethiopia, won the Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship from National Highway Institute.
4. Dr. Shyam Prasad, after 39 years of dedicated service to the department, has retired. His record was surpassed only by Dr. George, who retired two years ago after 41 years of service to the department!
5. Through a national search, the department has hired its first ever female tenure track faculty, Dr. Elizabeth Ervin, Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University, as Dr. Prasad’s replacement.
6. Sam Waggoner, BSCE 1943, former State of Mississippi Highway Commissioner, was named the 2006 recipient of the Ole Miss Engineer of Distinction Award.
7. Interstate 69 coming to Mississippi Delta: Senior Design class completed project on designing the approach road and the cable-stayed suspension bridge crossing Mississippi River.
8. Civil Engineering Department hosted two National Highway Institute short courses for certifying Bridge Inspectors.
9. Civil Engineering students took a field trip to US82 Greenville Bridge (under construction), the third longest span bridge of its kind in the US. The designer of the bridge, Mr. Steve Hague, VP and Chief Structure Engineer of HNTB, spoke to class.
10. School of Engineering is organizing a Mid-south Area Engineering and Science Conference, May 17-18, 2007, Oxford Conference Center
11. Dr. Uddin’s proposal on “Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) deployment for airport obstructions surveys” was selected by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies for funding ($350,000), after a national competition.
Civil engineering undergraduate enrollment has been experiencing a sustaining growth in the last five years. The current total enrollment is 155 students, with 52 freshmen, up almost 25% from last year. This is accomplished through increased number of applications and better retention.
With the growth of more than 70%, we are also experiencing growing pains, such as class size becoming too large and had to be divided into sections, and facilities no longer adequate. This is particularly critical for the hands-on laboratory and computer classes, such as AutoCAD and Surveying, etc. These are problems, but these are good problems to solve.
The Department and School of Engineering is proud of its tradition of intimate student-faculty relation. As the student faculty ratio is now more than 22 (with 7 full time faculty members), we are watching very closely and do everything we can to continue this tradition. If the growth trend continues, however, the department will need to look into long term planning of improving resources.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Ostaz, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, was awarded the School of Engineering 2006 Outstanding Faculty Member Award presented by the Engineering Alumni Chapter of The University of Mississippi at its Annual Awards Banquet held during April. The award is selected by a lengthy and elaborate process, involving peers, students, the dean, and representatives of the Engineering Alumni Chapter. Part of the student comments that led to the award:
“Dr. Al Ostaz makes sure each student understands the material. I really appreciate that in him. He goes out of his way to make sure each student knows the material. Grades are important but they don't take precedence over understanding. As a result of his tenacity, I have really developed a love for what I do. I have never had another professor of his caliber.”
“The best teacher I have had at Ole Miss. easily connected with students and worked together with them to facilitate learning. Relevant, interesting lectures. Kind, helpful teacher. Available even outside office hours.”
Picture with Chancellor Khayat and Dean Lee here: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/civil_eng/photo/al-ostaz.jpg
Refer to here for the full story:
http://www.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/news2000/display.pl?id=5194&mode=full
For Ole Miss Civil Engineering alumni younger than 60, you have attended Dr. Prasad’s class! That is how many generations? This is how long Dr. Prasad has served! This is the same for Dr. George, who served for 41 years.
We are sad to lose these two senior professors, who have become the symbol and a part of the tradition of the department, due to retirement. Both Profs. Prasad and George continue to be active in research and have been re-appointed as Research Professors, setting example for us “youngsters”.
Through a national search that attracted nearly 100 applications, we are pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Elizabeth Ervin as assistant professor in the department.
Dr. Ervin is a native of Millington, Tennessee. For her undergraduate degree, she attended Tennessee Tech and graduated with 4.0 GPA, winning all kinds of honors. She then attended Vanderbilt and obtained a Master degree with a near 4.0 GPA. Dr. Ervin started her professional career at Bechtel Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh. While working full time, she saw the opportunity of doing a Ph.D. degree at one of the nation’s top ranked engineering schools, at Carnegie-Mellon University. She enrolled as a full time student, while holding her full time job. She obtained her degree in 4 years.
We are quite pleased to have Dr. Ervin joining the faculty of civil engineering. In a short period of time she has already developed a rapport with students, and is introducing her innovative teaching in classroom.
See here for a short bio: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/civil_eng/ervin.html
See here for the full story:
http://www.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/news2000/display.pl?id=5184&mode=full
I-69, part of the interstate system that will connect Canada to Mexico via US, is coming through Mississippi Delta. This will bring unprecedented economic growth opportunity to Delta. Senior design class has chosen to design the 6 lane, cable-stayed bridge, and it approach road. Here is the winning team’s PowerPoint presentation:
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/civil_eng/design-06.pdf
See full story here:
http://www.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/news2000/display.pl?id=5282&mode=full
This is an amazing bridge with 60-story tall towers. You got to see it to believe it. Our alum HNTB site engineer Michael Caulfield hosted the visit, as well as Mississippi Department of Transportation. We also have the privilege of having the bridge designer himself to speak to class for all kinds of insight for designing a bridge.
See here for photos: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/civil_eng/field/greenville/
Dean Kai-Fong Lee invites your participation. See conference web site:
The project will use Lidar survey data for aeronautical obstruction surveys and airport layout plans. Faculty members continue to receive recognition by receiving research grants to conduct engineering research. In addition to Dr. Uddin’s project, Dr. Mullen continues his Disaster Resistant University project. See news here:
http://www.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/news2000/display.pl?id=5338&mode=full
The department also participates in nano-composite material research with Office of Naval Research (Al-Ostaz and Cheng), and conducts groundwater studies for the Mississippi-Tennessee-Arkansas tri-state area incorporating DeSoto County and Memphis (Cheng). For a full list of current research, see:
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/civil_eng/grants.html
Have a nice day!
Alex
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Alexander H.-D. Cheng
Professor and Chair
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Mississippi
P.O. Box 1848
University, MS 38677-1848
Tel: 662-915-5362
Fax: 662-915-5523
Email: acheng@olemiss.edu
URL: http://www.olemiss.edu/~acheng/
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/civil_eng/
