News
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Alumni Profile: Laura Amundson, (BCE 1978) Vice President & Project Manager, WSP
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Laura Amundson has been designing, inspecting, and rehabilitating bridges for more than 40 years. She still remembers her first class.
Record Professors Vaughan Voller and Miki Hondzo
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These water and the environment researchers enjoy a fruitful collaboration that started with a project (sponsored by the Legislative and Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources) aimed at developing a barrier for carp.
Alumni Profile: Amy Vennewitz (BCE 1985), Deputy Director Transportation Planning and Finance, Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities
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The career path Amy Vennewitz followed might seem unconventional for an engineer. She has spent most of her career in government, involved in policy, planning and financing state and regional transportation systems.
Student Profile: Anna Liakou
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Anna Liakou (Ph.D. 2017) has big, expressive eyes, a husky, Greek-accented voice, and a ready laugh. She came to CEGE from Greece via Milwaukee with a degree in civil engineering and a strong desire to study mathematics.
Student Profile: Noah Germolus
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Noah Germolus (BEnvE 2018) is an engineer and a performing musician (mainly saxophone); he loves being outdoors as much as working out solutions on a computer; he’s comfortable in the Boundary Waters and, relatively so, when making a speech at commencement. Germolus tries a lot of new things just in case he might like them. But one thing is consistent: Noah Germolus is committed to environmental engineering.
Alumni Profile: Jane Lansing
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As the brand officer and vice president of marketing for a global company that employs about 55,000 people worldwide, Jane Lansing’s days are busy and varied. She travels about 75,000 miles a year, connecting with people from all over the world. She finds the most gratifying part of her job to be “developing a vision and a strategy and then implementing it in a big, global organization.” And she is very good at what she does.
Faculty Profile: Sebastian Behrens
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Microorganisms are the most diverse and abundant cellular life forms on Earth. They occupy every possible metabolic niche, yet the vast majority of Earth’s bacteria cannot be analyzed using classical microbiological methods, hence they remain mysterious, sometimes referred to as the “dark matter of biology.” Microbiologists have only recently become aware of this “biological dark matter” through modern DNA sequencing surveys based on conserved marker genes (chiefly small subunit ribosomal RNA; SSU rRNA) or through random shotgun sequencing (metagenomics). Analyzing the genetic makeup of “dark matter” microorganisms could unlock a vast repertoire of new and useful metabolic functions and chemical compounds.
Preparing a Global Work Force - Mariah Dooley
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In this issue we share perspectives of two students with global experience. Mariah Dooley, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has travelled, studied, and worked in Spanish-speaking countries. Edwin Jarquin Martinez earned an architecture degree in his native Nicaragua. He came to the University of Minnesota to earn his second degree in civil engineering.
The John T. Tate Hall Re-opens for Classes
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The newly renovated John T. Tate Hall reopens this fall. New students will surely enjoy the bright, new atrium and benefit from the up-to-date technology, classrooms, and instructional labs. But students and alumni who remember studying in old Tate, with its many levels and winding hallways, will really appreciate what the updates mean for students.
Assistant Professors Promise Bright Future for CEGE
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The Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering (CEGE) has a long history built on a deep foundation of distinguished and internationally recognized researchers.