More than 100 students, faculty and staff attended the inaugural CCEE Graduate Student Research Showcase and Poster Competition September 15, held on the second floor of Town Engineering Building. The event was solely run by graduate students.
Sixteen graduate students presented their research in many civil, construction and environmental engineering disciplines. Participants competed for the $150 top cash prize, which went to Jessica Garder for her project on supporting vertical loads in bridge foundations. Second place poster prize, at $125, went to Nishant Garg for his research on generating more fly ash in concrete by incorporating more nanomaterials, like nano-limestone and nano-clay. Ghada Gad earned third place and $100 for her presentation on dispute resolution methods when forming international construction contracts. People’s Choice Award went to Jun (Jeff) Meng for his research on Anammox, a bacteria that uses anaerobic ammonia oxidation as a more efficient and environmentally friendly way to treat wastewater, compared to traditional nitrification methods. Click the thumbnail images below to see all the posters that were presented.
The purpose of the competition was for students to practice presentation skills in a conference-like setting, share research and receive work feedback and critiques. With a public forum, the presentations also were meant to encourage undergraduate student interest in future research projects.
CCEE faculty, a graduate student and representatives of industry judged the presentations: Iowa Department of Transportation traffic safety engineer Mark Bortle, Iowa Department of Natural Resources environmental engineer Eric Evans, Construction Engineering Associate Professor Chuck Jahren, Institute for Transportation Director Shashi Nambisan, graduate student Nicole Oneyear and Structural Engineering Professor Kejin Wang.
PHOTO: A small group of CCEE students from the Graduate Student Council started the department Graduate Student Research Showcase and Poster Competition, which hopes to be an annual event. Left to right: Jeanna Schierholz, Teja Kilaru, Ashley Buss, Miguel-Andres Guerra, Nicole Oneyear and Joel Sikkema.
