Civil engineering

Water researcher David Sedlak wins 2014 Clarke Prize

06/13/14 National Water Research Institute — The National Water Research Institute has named David Sedlak, Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering, as the 21st recipient of its Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for his pioneering research on advancing the way water resources and urban water infrastructure are managed.

Engineering social justice

05/02/14 — In a new course, "Engineering, the Environment and Society," Khalid Kadir is challenging his students to build more just and equitable systems by rethinking the role engineers play in social issues.

Water 4.0

05/02/14 — An excerpt from civil and environmental engineering professor David Sedlak's new book, Water 4.0: The Past, Present and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource, which calls for major changes in urban water systems.

Q+A on L.A. seismic study

05/01/14 — Jack Moehle, professor of civil engineering, talked to Berkeley Engineer about his recently completed seismic study of unreinforced concrete buildings in Los Angeles, and its impact.

Tundra scientist

05/01/14 — Geophysicist Susan Hubbard (Ph.D'98 CEE) leads a research team from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska as part of the 10-year Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiment.

Ashok Gadgil named an I-House alumni of the year

04/03/14 International House — Ashok Gadgil, a prolific inventor and Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering, and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt have been selected as Alumni of the Year 2014 by International House at UC Berkeley.

More woes for high-speed rail

03/31/14 San Francisco Business Times — The $68 billion cost estimate for a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail network is far too low, and the system may be eclipsed by emerging technologies before the 30-year project is completed, civil engineering professor C. William Ibbs warned the state Senate transportation committee last week.

Whatever floats their boat: Cal team designs canoe of concrete

03/27/14 California magazine — Fish got to swim, birds got to fly, and engineering students got to do wild and wacky things -- like designing, building, and racing canoes made of concrete. And nowhere do they do it better than at Berkeley Engineering, where civil engineering students are working overtime getting this year's canoe, Calamari, ready for the Mid-Pacific Regional Conference in early April.

Winners of DOE energy efficiency innovation award

Students’ energy-efficiency proposal wins ‘Most Innovative’ in DOE competition

03/26/14 Daily Californian — A team of four Berkeley Engineering undergraduates won “Most Innovative” in one of six categories at the Department of Energy's Better Buildings Case Competition for its proposal to improve energy efficiency at universities. Members of the Golden EnergTech team were Nanavati Low (IEOR '16), Daniel Tjandra (ChemE '14), Michael Chang (CEE '15) and Grace Vasiknanonte (MSE '16).

UC Berkeley taps its old mine shaft to study Hayward Fault

03/17/14 San Francisco Chronicle — More than 70 years after UC Berkeley's mining school was absorbed into the College of Engineering, earthquake researchers studying the Hayward Fault plan to install seismographs and high-frequency microphones inside the Lawson Adit -- a rocky mine shaft stretching east from Hearst Memorial Mining Building that was built by Berkeley students a century ago.

Indian company licenses invention for arsenic-free water

03/10/14 Berkeley Lab — Berkeley researchers, led by Ashok Gadgil and Susan Amrose of civil and environmental engineering, have developed technology that uses electricity to remove arsenic from groundwater, where it can be a silent killer. More importantly, they have created a business model and partnered with a company in India to improve the technology's chances for longevity.

Ashok Gadgil with his Berkeley-Darfur stove

Gadgil’s inventions win him spot in hall of fame

03/04/14 National Inventors Hall of Fame — Ashok Gadgil, professor of civil and environmental engineering, had been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Gadgil was honored for two inventions that have helped millions of people in remote areas: UV Waterworks, a low-powered water disinfection system that uses UV light to kill pathogens, and the Berkeley-Darfur Stove, which reduces fuel demands of those in displacement camps.

Reducing the risk of earthquake collapse in California cities

03/04/14 Contra Costa Times — In a guest commentary, four California professors, including Berkeley Engineering's Jack Moehle, write about their joint research into the seismic risks posed by older concrete buildings, and the methods and costs of mitigating that risk.

Portable potables: How to fight drought by reusing water

02/26/14 National Public Radio — David Sedlak, professor of civil and environmental engineering, talks with NPR's All Things Considered about the many methods of capturing and reusing drinking water.

Time is now for a new revolution in urban water systems

02/18/14 — As California grapples with what state water officials have called a drought of "epic proportions," UC Berkeley urban-water expert David Sedlak, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been watching for signs that people are ready for a water revolution.

Carlos Daganzo, J. Karl Hedrick and Jack Moehle

NAE adds three Berkeley faculty to its ranks

02/06/14 — Three Berkeley Engineering faculty - Carlos Daganzo (CEE), J. Karl Hedrick (ME) and Jack Moehle (CEE) - are among 67 new members and 11 foreign associates elected Thursday to the National Academy of Engineering.

CEE’s Sally Thompson on NSF-funded team studying watershed’s critical zone

01/15/14 — A team of UC Berkeley scientists, including Sally Thompson of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will receive $4,900,000 from the National Science Foundation to study the Eel River watershed in Northern California and how its vegetation, geology and topography affect water flow all the way to the Pacific Ocean.