News archive: Academic Year 2014-2015

August 2015 — PCI Announces 2015 Big Beam Contest Results

The PCI Student Education Judging Committee recently selected the winners of the Engineering Student Design Competition, also known as the Big Beam Contest. The contest objective is for teams of students to fabricate and test a precast/prestressed concrete beam with the help of local precast concrete PCI Producer Members. Prizes are awarded to the top twenty (20) performers in consideration of efficient design, highest load capacity, and other categories. New judging criteria for 2015 eliminated zonal competitions and all entries competed in one North American competition. The NAU team finished 10^th in the nation, winning a $1000 prize. Prizes went down to 20^th place in the nation. Team members were Abdullah Alhaddad, Mingyang Chen, Brian Bloom, Catherine Irvine. 

April 2015 — CECMEE Students Win Golden Axe Award — Christina Holt, Chris Sobie, Diane Buzzard, and Sean Begay won the Spring 2015 Golden Axe Award. The Golden Axe Award is a prestigious award given to graduating seniors based on their outstanding contributions to the university in the areas of academic performance, service, leadership and participation in activities.

April 2015 — ASCE Concrete Canoe —This year, the ASCE Student Chapter took 3rd Place Overall in the Concrete Canoe Contest in the Pacific Southwest Regional Conference. This is the best finish for NAU in over 15 years in the most competitive conference! The team took 1st place in Final Product (i.e. they had the best canoe); 3rd in Oral Presentation, 4th in Design Paper, and 4th overall in paddling. One of the unique design aspects of the concrete mixture this year is that it used Fly Ash rather than more traditional Cement. Fly Ash is a waste byproduct. By substituting Fly Ash for cement, the final product had a 90% smaller carbon footprint. The students were the first team to use this innovative product. All in all, the team had a highly successful year as well as laid the groundwork for future success!

January 2015. Two NAU students presented their research project at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Sean Begay’s (CE and CM senior) project is to evaluate “Asphalt Binder Testing in Cold Weather Climates” while Mary Begay’s (ME senior) research is to conduct “Milton Road Dedicated Bus Lane Study.” Their projects under the supervision of Dr. Jun Ho have been sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration via NAU Dwight. D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship

December 2014. NAU students Leah Richardson (CE, bottom left), Makenzi Beltran (EnE, bottom center) and Clay Anderson (CE, top right) met up with engineering students at the Banaras University in India on their way to the Tibetan refugee camp in Mainpat India as part of an NAU team. The students worked with CECMEE faculty member Lar Reiboldt (bottom right) to sample water sources at the camp and to identify future projects in waste treatment for the camp.

December 2014. Civil engineering graduate Fahad Aloqaili was recognized as the CEFNS Standard Bearer at graduation. Fahad received an award as one of two Outstanding Seniors for the College.

November 2014. A group of 5 NAU students (3 CM: David Wilson, Jonathan Lance, and Jerson Hosteen, and 2 CE: Fawaz Almutairi and Fahad Aloqaili) participated in the 2014 International Concrete Construction Competition organized by the ACI and took overall 4th place (2nd place in the US). This was a great mix of NAU students and they worked hard together to solve a real world problem. All teams were given a problem statement and asked to submit their solution within two weeks. This year’s competition was to determine an appropriate concrete form and optimize construction costs based on students skills in engineering analysis, scheduling, takeoff, and cost estimate.

November 2014. Dr. Jun Ho was awarded the 2014 Pavements/Materials Community Service Award at the Arizona Pavements/Materials Conference in Tempe on 11/9/14. Dr. Ho is recognized for his significant contributions to the advancement of the pavement and materials technology. Three awards were given – one each in public sector, private sector and academia. Dr. Ho was the award winner in the academic division.

November 2014. A group of 9 NAU students (6 CE, 2 ME, and 1 CM) under the guidance of Dr. Jun Ho, Assistant Professor, CECMEE, participated in the Student Poster Competition at the 2014 Arizona Pavements/Materials Conference at ASU. Awards received:

First overall place (tie in an ASU PhD student): Fawaz Almutairi and Fahad Aloqaili (CE seniors). Research topic: “Evaluating Freeze-Thaw Durability of Fiber Reinforced Pervious Concrete Mixtures”
2nd place (undergraduate student category): Tassio Magassy, Tamyres Da Silva, and Joao Lima (CE seniors): Research topic: “Asphalt Mixture Beams in the Bending Beam Rheometer for Quality Control: Material Preparation, Testing Process, and Field Application”
3rd place (undergraduate student category): Kaiqi Zhang (CM sophomore): Research topic: “Quantifying Effect of Solar Radiation and Wheel Pressure on Performance of Asphalt Pavements”

The winners’ posters were displayed at the conference and NAU President Dr. Rita Chen), Provost Dr. Laura Huenneke, and VP for Finance and Administration Mr. Jennus Burton were at the venue while attending the Arizona Board of Regents Meeting. They had the opportunity to share in the students’ success.

October 2014. On October 10th, the newly renovated CECMEE Field Station (aka “Trotta’s Farm”) was formally “dedicated” to the students via a ribbon-cutting ceremony. New NAU President Rita Cheng, Provost Laura Huenneke and Dean Paul Jagodzinski were present, along with members of the CENE Industrial Advisory Board, faculty and students. IAB member and alumnus Jason Ramsey spoke in recognition of Dr. Paul Trotta, who assisted Dr. Cheng with the ribbon cutting. Renovations included a new access road, ADA compliance, and a renovated building with a large roll-up garage door, heated project space, an office, wireless internet, restrooms and storage. In addition to being a peaceful, scenic place amid the bustle of campus life, the Field Station will serve as a working lab for CENE and CM undergraduate and graduate student capstone and research projects.