Advisers for Civil Engineering Majors

Advisers are listed alphabetically. After reviewing the list, CEGE undergraduate students majoring in Civil Engineering can indicate their preference for an adviser on the Adviser Request Form (requires log in with your UMN ID).

Adviser Request Form

Advisers by Area

Environment Geomechanics Structures Transportation Water Resources
  • Bill Arnold
  • Sebastian Behrens
  • Michele Guala
  • Kimberly Hill
  • Miki Hondzo
  • Tim LaPara
  • Paige Novak
  • Boya Xiong
  • Stefano Gonella
  • Kimberly Hill
  • Joe Labuz
  • Tim LaPara
  • Catherine French
  • Stefano Gonella
  • Qizhi He
  • Tim LaPara
  • Jia-Liang Le
  • Lauren Linderman

 

  • Alireza Khani
  • Michael Levin
  • Tim LaPara
  • Mihai Marasteanu
  • Raphael Stern
  • Sebastian Behrens
  • Michele Guala
  • Kimberly Hill
  • Miki Hondzo
  • Tim LaPara
BILL ARNOLD

Bill Arnold 

Area of Emphasis: Environment

Statement: My interest in environmental engineering was built on an interest in chemistry. I liked chemical principles, but wanted to apply them to real problems. I eventually figured out that a way to do this was to focus on what happens to chemicals in the environment and to develop techniques to degrade water pollutants. 

Sebastian Behrens

Sebastian Behrens

Area of Emphasis: Environment; Water Resources

Statement: I am a biologist by training, not an engineer! My research focus is molecular microbial ecology and environmental biotechnology. My interest in bioremediation (use of microbes to clean-up environmental contaminants) brought me into this interdisciplinary department. Microbial ecology is the scientific foundation of environmental biotechnology. Environmental biotechnology manages and engineers microbial communities that provide services to society. Prominent and emerging services include removing contaminants from water, wastewater, sludge, sediment, or soil; capturing valuable products from waste streams, particularly energy but also nutrients, metals, and clean water; sensing and protecting the public from dangerous exposure to contaminants and pathogens in the environment.

Stefano Gonella

Stefano Gonella

Area of Emphasis: Geomechanics, Structures

Statement: My research areas of interest include solid mechanics, wave mechanics, smart materials and structures, and structural diagnostics.

My passion for solid mechanics was primarily developed during graduate school. The study of mechanics is concerned with the physical and mathematical description of the phenomena that control the motion, deformation, functional behavior, and failure of solid materials. What has drawn me to the field of mechanics is the possibility to master a scientific "language" that allows unlocking the complexity of materials behavior.

My interest in smart materials and structures is inspired by the possibility to obtain novel intelligent materials with unique properties that can achieve functionalities that are not attainable using conventional materials.

Michele Guala

Michele Guala

Area of Emphasis: Water Resources, Environment

Statement: I am interested in geophysical flows, turbulence, and renewable energies. These are three interconnected topics in the broad research area of fluid mechanics that are relevant for the sustainability and expansion of our society in natural environments. My goals are to provide a mechanistic understanding of river and atmospheric flows under complex boundary conditions, and to design and site energy converters for maximum efficiency and integration with the surrounding ecosystem. My approach is experimental at both laboratory and field scales.

Qizhi He

Qizhi He

Area of Emphasis: Structures, Geomechanics

Statement: My research has been focused on understanding and predicting the complex behaviors of materials through scientific computing. I am passionate about advancing the modeling and design capabilities for materials and structural systems by leveraging various mathematical, physics-based, and data-driven tools. Besides civil engineering, I received academic training in applied mathematics and computational science, so I like to look at engineering problems from different perspectives. I am happy to share my interests and discuss with you. 

Kimberly Hill

Kimberly Hill

Area of Emphasis: Water Resources, Environment; Geomechanics; Pavement Mechanics

Statement: My research interest lies in complex systems, both natural and engineered. These systems include sediment transport in rivers and associated stream restoration problems, debris flows and avalanches in steep regions from riverbanks to mountain slopes, and mixing and processing particles and fluids from structural materials like asphalt or powders and slurries in pharmaceuticals. In all these areas there is a significant overlap between natural complexity, which leads to fascinating pattern formation problems, and practical applications, which can be beneficial in supporting a more equitable society particularly in the face of changing climates.

Miki Hondzo

Miki Hondzo

Area of Emphasis: Water Resources, Environment

Statement: My research has been focused on developing mechanistic understanding of how moving fluids affect the growth, metabolism, and behavior of living organisms in lakes, wetlands, streams, and watersheds. My research group has been exploring emerging global environmental issues relevant to water quality in freshwater ecosystems and renewable energy production by microscopic algae.

Alireza Khani

Alireza Khani

Area of Emphasis: Transportation

Statement: I am interested in understanding how people get around in complex transportation networks, especially when different modes are available for their travel. I develop mathematical models to understand travelers' decision making in such networks. I also develop computer simulation tools to model their movement and interaction in the system. I use these tools to evaluate transportation projects and policies to improve quality of life for communities.

JOE LABUZ

Joe Labuz

Area of Emphasis: Geomechanics

Statement: My research activities have focused on investigating the mechanical behavior of micro-cracked solids at the material and system levels.

TIM LAPARA

Tim LaPara

Area of Emphasis: Environment, Geomechanics, Structural, Transportation, Water Resources

Statement: My teaching and research primarily focus on the treatment of public drinking water supplies and of municipal wastewater. At the undergraduate level, I teach CEGE 4502: Water and Wastewater Treatment. I have previously served as Director of Undergraduate Studies of the Civil Engineering major, during which time I advised 300+ students simultaneously, so I have a good deal of experience advising Civil Engineering students in all areas of the discipline.

Jia-Liang Le

Jia-Liang Le

Area of Emphasis: Structures

My interest is to develop new engineering models and tools for analysis and design of civil structures with an aim of improving their resilience and sustainability. I am passionate about the emerging trend of performance-based design methodologies, which have created many technical challenges and at the same time abundant exciting research opportunities in the field of structural engineering.

Michael Levin

Michael Levin

Area of Emphasis: Transportation

Statement: I am interested in designing transportation systems for emerging technologies. With the increasing availability of new fuel and computer technologies for vehicles, transportation engineering is becoming an innovative and exciting field. My primary research focus is how connected/automated vehicles affect traffic flow and traveler behaviors. I use mathematical and optimization techniques to modify existing tools and develop new models to plan for future transportation needs.

Lauren Linderman

Lauren Linderman

Area of Emphasis: Structures

Statement: My interest in structural engineering stems from a fascination with architecture and how things move. I am particularly interested in how we can use a structure’s vibration to understand its behavior and improve its performance. The application of techniques from electrical, aerospace, and mechanical engineering to large, unique, complex civil structures has the potential to improve the resilience of our civil infrastructure.

Mihai Marasteanu

Mihai Marasteanu

Area of Emphasis: Transportation

Statement: My interest in pavement engineering started in my teenage years, when I used to travel to various construction projects with my father, who was a pavement engineer. I also liked math and physics in high school and became very interested in materials and in experimental work to characterize them.

From 2012 to 2015, I was the director of undergraduate studies for the civil engineering degree program in our department, and I really enjoyed working with students and providing guidance.

PAIGE NOVAK

Paige Novak

Area of Emphasis: Environment

Statement: I love understanding how and why bacteria perform the metabolic functions that they do and using this information to actually solve environmental problems.

Raphael Stern

Raphael Stern

Area of Emphasis: Transportation

Statement: I am interested in the merging of technology and transportation. Specifically, I am interested in how sensing and control can be used to better understand our transportation infrastructure. My interest in transportation engineering originated in an interest in how people get from place to place, be it for a daily commute or a trip half-way around the world. Transportation of people and things is a critical part of our society. While the application is clearly well within the CEGE domain, methods for solving these problems can sometimes be borrowed from other domains. I think this interdisciplinary understanding will be critical for designing the next generation of civil, environmental, and geo- engineering systems.

Boya Xiong

Boya Xiong

Area of Emphasis:  Environment

Statement:  I am passionate about understanding the interaction between polymer and plastic materials that we make, use, and throw away every day, and our water quality and ecosystem health. I hope that with this understanding, we can design a future without pollution.