Message from the Chair

Greetings! Another school year has arrived and we continue striving to make the Department the best it can be. I am humbled to see our students proving their worth, from Jiachen Zhang, a Ph.D. student advised by Dr. George Ban-Weiss, who received an outstanding student paper award from the Chinese-American Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern California, to Measrainsey Meng, a first-year Ph.D. student working with Dr. Kelly Sanders, who received a 2016 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Our new faculty has proven their mentoring skills by fostering the minds of these brilliant students. This does not surprise me since the faculty have already been demonstrating their talents with the large number of grants and awards received over the summer. From Dr. Qiming Wang receiving his first NSF grant, to Dr. Ketan Savla receiving three different grants, to Dr. Patrick Lynett being named the Outstanding Civil Engineer in Research of the Year by the Metropolitan Los Angeles Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers, I know our students are in good hands when it comes to their educational success. Dr. James Anderson's retirement party brought together successful CEE alumni, allowing me realize the incredible talent this school has produced.

One of the school's goals is to train students to become leaders in the engineering field, and this past semester has shown that we are prevailing in this goal. This semester, we continue to prepare our students to thrive as engineers by, not only encouragement, but by providing them with the best possible tools. We have nearly completed the construction on our new structures lab in the basement of Kaprielian Hall. It is turning out beautifully and I encourage all to come see it after its completion.

Lucio Soibelman, PhD