News
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Moving with the Flow: Nature-driven approach to control the spread of zebra mussels
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Minnesotans who love to go fishing or boating and those who follow the news have likely heard a lot about invasive zebra mussels. Zebra mussels are infesting Minnesota’s beloved lakes. Miki Hondzo, Jessica Kozarek, and William Herb are researching a new old tool to protect our beloved lakes and streams from the spread of zebra mussels.
CEGE research is surging ahead
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Six recent projects characterize the reach and import of CEGE faculty research. From circularity ($3 mil) to water distribution systems ($2.1 mil), from mineralized carbon storage ($10.95 mil) to PFAS ($560K), from snowfall ($2.9 mil) to Zebra mussels ($500K), CEGE is facing grand challenges and ensuring human health and welfare.
Study explores impacts of a warming climate on global snowfall patterns
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NASA awarded Ardeshir Ebtehaj $2.9 million to provide the longest and the most accurate satellite record of global snowfall. Ebtehaj is an associate professor and researcher in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering (CEGE) at the University of Minnesota.
Summertime is fieldwork time: Stream sampling
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Summertime is fieldwork time! Here researchers and students step into a stream for a lesson on the United States Geological Survey protocols for stream sampling. Students learned how to collect samples from the thalwag, the line that connects the deepest points of the stream. They also learned how to measure a stream's velocity, depth, cross-section, and how to log that information into a mobile GIS data collection program.
Trees affect stormwater
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Have you noticed trees in St. Paul parks wearing foil cumberbunds? The foil is protecting instrumentation designed to monitor the flow of sap within the trees. That data, along with several other data points about the trees, will help researchers learn more about the role trees play in urban watersheds.
The next generation of transportation engineers: Ben Rosenblad
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Starting at the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering, Benjamin Rosenblad (BCE 2023) was not even aware that transportation was a specialty within Civil Engineering. Four years later, he found himself heading off to graduate school to study Next Generation Transportation Systems with the benefit of a competitive and highly prestigious fellowship from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP).
Protecting Clean Water: Faculty awarded $2.1 million to study opportunistic pathogens and disinfection byproducts in US drinking water systems
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Pathogens (i.e., microorganisms that can make people sick) and disinfection byproducts (DBPs; potentially toxic chemicals formed when disinfectants like chlorine are added to water) are two classes of contaminants that are of concern in public water systems. Hozalski, et al., will examine opportunistic pathogens or OPs and contaminants that occur as byproducts of disinfection.
Ketson R. M. dos Santos joins Structural Faculty
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CEGE's strong commitment to educating structural engineers continues with a new additionof Ketson dos Santos to the structural faculty. He comes to UMN from the École Polytechnique Féderale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, where he was a Post-Doctoral Researcher. His expertise lies in uncertainty quantification and computational engineering dynamics/mechanics.
CEGE leads $11 million project to advance mineral carbon storage
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New US DOE-funded Energy Frontier Research Center led by University of Minnesota faculty
A transportation engineer travels to the medical school
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If you want to get the attention of an engineer, all you need to say is, “I think this could work better…” John Hourdos, a transportation engineer by training, embraces that engineering mindset.
When confronted by something that is not working, he says, “Let’s fix it!”