Construction engineering students are gaining valuable hands-on experience with modern heavy equipment thanks to a major industry partnership supporting the future of sustainable construction education.

On April 23, representatives from UConn Engineering, Tyler Equipment Corporation, and the Connecticut's Local 478 Operator's Union gathered outside the Castleman Building to celebrate the donation of a Volvo Electric L20 Wheel Loader to the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s construction engineering and management (CEM) program.

The donated equipment will provide students with direct experience operating modern heavy machinery while learning about emerging technologies transforming the construction industry.

“As the construction industry continues to evolve toward more sustainable and technologically advanced solutions, it’s critical that students gain hands-on experience with the equipment shaping the future of the field,” said Tyler Equipment Marketing Coordinator, Courtney Rush. “We’re excited to partner with UConn to help prepare the next wave of engineers and construction professionals.”

The electric wheel loader is being integrated into an operator training course offered to students pursuing the construction engineering and management minor. Through the course, students gain experience with machine operations, safety procedures, digital controls, and intelligent onboard systems increasingly used on construction sites.

“We are incredibly grateful to Tyler Equipment for this impactful donation,” said Kay Wille, director of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We want our students to be educated on the latest industry trends and technologies. Through generous partners, we can ensure our students are ready to make positive contributions to the engineering and construction fields.”

The initiative is also supported by Connecticut's Local 478 Operator's Union, which is assisting with course development and providing heavy equipment simulators for student instruction.

Students begin by training on simulators before progressing to hands-on operation of the electric loader. The experience helps students better understand equipment operations on active construction sites while emphasizing vehicle safety, sustainability, and intelligent construction systems.

The donated Volvo Electric L20 Wheel Loader also reflects the industry’s growing transition toward quieter, more efficient, and lower-emission equipment solutions.

The School’s construction engineering and management programs continue to expand, with approximately 40 students currently enrolled in the CEM minor. Leadership are also pursuing approval for a future bachelor’s degree program in construction engineering, management, and intelligent systems (CEMI), which would combine traditional construction engineering principles with data analytics, artificial intelligence, and modern project delivery methods.

The future degree program would emphasize construction methods, project and safety management, structural analysis and design, and both horizontal and vertical infrastructure systems to prepare graduates for evolving workforce demands.

The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is proud to congratulate Emmanouil Anagnostou on receiving a 2024–2025 NASA Honor Group Achievement Award for his contributions to the BioSCAPE Airborne Remote Sensing Observations Team.

The prestigious NASA honor recognizes outstanding teamwork, dedication, and scientific contributions in support of NASA Earth science research initiatives. Anagnostou was selected as part of the interdisciplinary BioSCAPE team, which focuses on advancing airborne remote sensing observations to better understand ecosystems, environmental change, and Earth system processes.

In a congratulatory message from NASA Ames Research Center, Project Coordinator Brianne Milano noted that the award recognizes “outstanding contributions and dedication to BioSCAPE.”

“This was a uniquely collaborative project, with about 15 independently submitted proposals figuring out how to work all together,” said Cory Merow, principal investigator on the project. “It's a testament to the leaders of this project — including UConn EEB alum Adam Wilson — and the collaborative commitment of the individuals involved that the project has been so successful.”

The research team’s work focuses on understanding the resilience of South African fynbos ecosystems — some of the most biodiverse plant communities on Earth — in the face of climate change. Researchers are developing new theories related to plant traits across thousands of species and testing them using extremely high-resolution airborne imagery collected during a special NASA field campaign.

The Cape Floristic Region in South Africa contains nearly 10,000 plant species within an area roughly the size of Maine, making it one of the world’s most significant biodiversity hotspots. Researchers involved in the project are working to identify and map climate refugia that may help protect vulnerable ecosystems from increasing temperatures, drought, and environmental change.

The project combines ecological theory, trait-based biodiversity science, and NASA remote sensing technologies to better forecast how ecosystems may respond to global climate pressures. The work also aims to improve conservation strategies by identifying locations where species and ecosystems may remain resilient in the coming decades.

The recognition highlights the impactful research and collaboration led by Anagnostou in the fields of remote sensing, hydrology, and environmental monitoring. His work continues to contribute to global scientific efforts focused on understanding climate and environmental systems through advanced observation technologies.

This award further reflects the school’s growing involvement in internationally recognized research partnerships and innovative environmental observation initiatives.

On April 8, graduate students from across the University gathered at the Dodd Center for Human Rights for UConn’s annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition—an event that challenges participants to distill years of complex research into a compelling three-minute presentation.

Among the standout competitors was civil engineering Ph.D. candidate Meshach Ojo, who earned first place in the STEM Ph.D. category for his presentation, “From Decades to Weeks: Tackling Connecticut’s Crumbling Foundations.”

Hosted by the UConn Graduate School as part of Graduate Student Appreciation Week, the 3MT competition highlights the importance of clear, accessible communication in research. Participants are tasked with presenting their work in a way that can be understood by a general audience—an increasingly valuable skill for engineers and researchers whose work has broad public impact.

Ojo’s award-winning presentation focused on one of Connecticut’s most significant infrastructure challenges: deteriorating concrete foundations caused by pyrrhotite. His research explores ways to dramatically accelerate the timeline for identifying and addressing these failures, reducing what has historically taken decades down to just weeks.

According to Ojo, he was first selected as a semifinalist from the initial round of applications and then advanced to the finals as one of the top ten presenters in the STEM Ph.D. category. He delivered his final presentation on April 8 before a live audience of peers, faculty, family members, and judges.

The UConn Today recap of the event notes that the competition challenged graduate students and Ph.D. candidates to summarize their theses and dissertations in just three minutes. Winners were selected across three divisions, with Ojo taking the top prize in the STEM Ph.D. category.

The Three Minute Thesis competition, originally developed at the University of Queensland in 2008, has grown into a global program that encourages graduate students to communicate the significance of their work clearly and concisely. At UConn, the event showcases the breadth of graduate research taking place across disciplines while also celebrating students’ ability to connect with broad audiences.

Ojo’s achievement reflects both the strength of his research and his ability to communicate a complex engineering problem in a clear and engaging way. His success also highlights the important work being done by graduate researchers tackling critical infrastructure issues in Connecticut and beyond.

Read more about the event and see the full list of winners in UConn Today.

The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is proud to recognize five doctoral students who have been awarded the Summer Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the UConn Graduate School.

This competitive fellowship provides important support to Ph.D. candidates as they focus on completing their dissertation research during the summer months. By helping ease financial pressures, the award allows recipients to dedicate more time and energy to advancing research that addresses pressing challenges in civil and environmental engineering.

This year’s fellowship recipients are:

• Mandip Dahal
• Sampa Akter
• Makduma Badhan
• Meshach Ojo
• Mohammad Behbahani

Each recipient was selected through a competitive process that recognizes academic achievement, research progress, and the potential impact of their dissertation work.

Their research contributes to important areas within civil and environmental engineering, supporting solutions that improve infrastructure, sustainability, and environmental resilience. The fellowship reflects both recognition of their accomplishments and an investment in the successful completion of their doctoral studies.

Please join us in congratulating these outstanding scholars on this achievement. We look forward to seeing their continued impact in the field and beyond.

SoCEE is proud to announce that Dr. Emmanouil Anagnostou has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s most prestigious scientific societies.

Anagnostou, a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and the Eversource Energy Endowed Chair in Environmental Engineering, is among nearly 500 scientists, engineers, and innovators recognized in this year’s AAAS Fellows class. Election as an AAAS Fellow is a lifetime honor that acknowledges scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.

A leader in environmental engineering research, Anagnostou’s work focuses on satellite and radar remote sensing of precipitation, distributed hydrologic modeling of complex terrain floods, and the integration of earth observations with predictive models. His research has advanced understanding of severe weather events and their impacts on communities, infrastructure, and natural systems, while improving the predictability of hydrologic processes at a global scale.

His recent research continues to address pressing challenges at the intersection of climate, infrastructure, and data science. Recent publications include work on improving prediction of extreme weather-induced power outages using spatially aware graph neural networks (read article here), the development of a nationwide dataset linking power outages with National Weather Service warnings to better assess grid resilience (read article here), and new machine learning approaches to model rare but high-impact hazard events (read article here).

This recognition builds on a series of recent honors, including his election as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), which recognized his pioneering contributions to remote sensing hydrology and hydrometeorology.

In addition to his research contributions, Anagnostou serves as executive director of the UConn Tech Park and the Institute of Environment and Energy. He is also the founder and former director of the Eversource Energy Center and one of the applied research directors of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA), where he has helped lead efforts to strengthen climate resilience across the region.

Founded in 1848, AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the Science family of journals. The organization includes more than 250 affiliated societies and serves a global community of millions of scientists and engineers.

Anagnostou’s election to AAAS Fellow reflects both his outstanding research contributions and his continued leadership in advancing environmental engineering and climate resilience. His recognition highlights the strength of SoCEE’s faculty and their impact on addressing critical global challenges.

We congratulate Dr. Anagnostou on this well-deserved honor and celebrate his continued contributions to research, innovation, and education.

Read more on UConn Today | Explore the Hydrometeorology and Hydrologic Remote Sensing Research Group

SoCEE is proud to announce that Ph.D. student Xingyue Wang has been selected as a recipient of the Brigette Beato Leadership Legacy Scholarship, awarded by the Connecticut Chapter of WTS.

The scholarship was presented at the WTS Connecticut Annual Awards & Scholarship Banquet, held on April 2, 2026, at St. Clements Castle in Portland, Connecticut.

This scholarship recognizes outstanding graduate students pursuing careers in transportation and related fields who demonstrate strong leadership potential, academic excellence, and a commitment to advancing innovation in transportation systems.

Wang’s research focuses on the application of quantum computing to stochastic transportation networks, an emerging area at the intersection of transportation engineering, operations research, and quantum computation. Using quantum algorithms, her work explores new approaches and frameworks to improve network performance and support decision-making under real-world uncertainty. Her broader goal is to develop more adaptive, reliable, and sustainable mobility solutions.

“Receiving the Brigette Beato Leadership Legacy Scholarship is a significant honor and a meaningful encouragement. This recognition motivates me to continue exploring innovative strategies for modeling and optimizing transportation systems and contribute to a more resilient and sustainable mobility future.”

The Brigette Beato Leadership Legacy Scholarship is part of WTS International’s broader mission to advance women in transportation and support the next generation of leaders in the field. Through programs like this, WTS recognizes students whose work and leadership show promise for shaping the future of mobility.

Wang’s recognition highlights the strength of SoCEE’s graduate community and its commitment to research that addresses complex transportation challenges through innovative, interdisciplinary approaches.

To learn more about the WTS-CT scholarship program and this year’s recipients, visit the WTS Connecticut Annual Awards & Scholarship Banquet page.

You can also learn more about the WTS Connecticut scholarship program here.

The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SoCEE) is proud to recognize Surendra Bhatta and Aagya Dahal as recipients of support through the school’s Graduate Student Leadership Initiative.

This initiative is designed to recognize, motivate, inspire, and support graduate students who excel not only in their studies, but also in leadership and service to the graduate student population and their field of study. Through the program, the school provides fellowship support that can be used for conference participation, professional development opportunities, and other activities that help students grow as leaders.

By supporting graduate students in both academic and professional development, the initiative reflects SoCEE’s commitment to preparing future leaders in civil and environmental engineering. The recognition of Bhatta and Dahal highlights the strength of the school’s graduate community and the important role students play in advancing scholarship, leadership, and service.

SoCEE congratulates Surendra Bhatta and Aagya Dahal on this achievement and looks forward to their continued success and contributions to the field.

The School of Civil & Environmental Engineering (SoCEE) is proud to announce that Dr. Alexander Agrios and Dr. Sarira Motaref have been selected by the senior class to serve as the 2026 Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering Commencement Marshals.

This honor recognizes their exceptional dedication to students, contributions to engineering education, and commitment to mentorship. Both faculty members have made lasting impacts on the student experience through their teaching, advising, and engagement within the School.

As Commencement Marshals, Dr. Agrios and Dr. Motaref will play an integral role in leading the Class of 2026 during the graduation ceremony, reflecting their outstanding leadership and dedication to student success.

Congratulations to Dr. Alexander Agrios and Dr. Sarira Motaref on this well-earned recognition, and thank you for your continued contributions to the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering!

Click here for more details about 2026 commencement.

SoCEE is proud to celebrate outstanding achievements by its graduate students at the recent College of Engineering Graduate Poster Competition, where students from both Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering earned recognition at the departmental and college-wide levels.

In the first round of judging, Ana Carolina Vieira Rocha and Dahye Kim were selected as departmental winners for the Civil Engineering program, and Samuel Rothfarb was selected as the departmental winner for the Environmental Engineering program. In the final college-wide competition, Rothfarb earned first place overall, and Vieira Rocha earned third place overall, giving SoCEE two of the top three awards across all College of Engineering graduate programs.

The event highlighted the depth of graduate research taking place across UConn Engineering, while also recognizing students’ ability to clearly communicate complex ideas to a broad audience. For SoCEE, the results reflect excellence across multiple areas of research, from infrastructure durability to transportation optimization and autonomous scientific discovery.

Departmental and College-Wide Recognition

Because of the high number of participants and the strength of the presentations, two students were recognized in the Civil Engineering category during the first round of judging. Vieira Rocha and Kim were both named departmental winners, while Rothfarb advanced from the Environmental Engineering category and ultimately earned the competition’s top overall award. Vieira Rocha’s third-place finish in the final round further underscored the strong showing by SoCEE students in this year’s competition.

Photos from the event also capture the energy of the competition, including poster presentations, conversations among participants, and the award ceremony itself.

Samuel Rothfarb Earns First Place Overall

Rothfarb’s poster, “Autonomous Discovery of Energy Materials with Large Language Model Agents and First-Principles Simulation,” focused on the growing role of artificial intelligence in scientific discovery. His research introduces Materials Agents for Simulation and Theory in Electronic-structure Reasoning (MASTER), an active learning framework in which large language models autonomously design, execute, and interpret atomistic simulations.

Rather than simply automating routine tasks, the framework is designed to engage in higher-level scientific reasoning. Across two chemistry applications, the system significantly reduced the number of required atomistic simulations compared to conventional trial-and-error selection, helping accelerate materials discovery while also producing reasoning trajectories grounded in chemical principles. The work points toward a new model for autonomous scientific exploration.

Ana Carolina Vieira Rocha Earns Third Place Overall

Vieira Rocha’s poster, “Influence of Matrix Composition and Surface Treatments on Iron Sulfide-Induced Concrete Deterioration,” examined a major infrastructure challenge associated with pyrrhotite-bearing aggregates in concrete foundations. Her research explored how both the internal composition of concrete and external surface treatments affect the rate of oxidation-driven deterioration.

The study found that concrete matrix properties, including cement type and lower water-to-cement ratios, can help delay the onset of damage. It also showed that external protective treatments, especially polymer coatings, can slow deterioration and improve the long-term performance of affected concrete. Together, the findings support a combined strategy of material design optimization for new construction and protective interventions for existing foundations.

Vieira Rocha’s work contributes to ongoing research in this area at UConn. You can learn more through the Crumbling Concrete research website.

Dahye Kim Recognized as a Departmental Winner

Kim was recognized as one of the Civil Engineering departmental winners for her poster, “A Novel Constraint-Aware Quantum Algorithm for Transportation Routing Problems.” Her research focuses on transportation optimization using quantum algorithms, with particular attention to feasibility constraints that make routing problems especially difficult to solve.

In this work, Kim introduced a constraint-aware variant of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm, designed to preserve feasibility during quantum evolution. By comparing several formulations across small-scale transportation routing problems, the study demonstrated that embedding feasibility directly into the quantum process can improve performance in constrained optimization tasks. The research highlights the promise of quantum computing approaches for complex transportation and logistics problems.

Celebrating Research Excellence Across SoCEE

The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering congratulates Ana Carolina Vieira Rocha, Dahye Kim, and Samuel Rothfarb on these outstanding accomplishments. Their success in the poster competition reflects the high quality of graduate research taking place across SoCEE, as well as the importance of communicating that research clearly and effectively.

Additional photos from the event are available through the UConn Engineering Flickr album.

Shah Saki, a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Connecticut School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has received Second Prize for Oral Presentation in the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Energy and Renewable Energy Committee Student Award Competition.

Saki earned the award for his presentation titled “Projecting Power Outage Risk from Compound Heatwave–Storm Events in the ERCOT Region Under Future Climate Conditions.” The award recognizes outstanding student research presented at the AMS meeting and highlights work that advances understanding of weather and climate impacts on energy systems.

The student competition evaluates presentations across several criteria, including presentation clarity, scientific quality, and aesthetic quality. According to the AMS Energy and Renewable Energy Committees, Saki’s work stood out among student competitors for its strong scientific contribution and effective communication of complex climate risk analysis.

Saki conducts his doctoral research in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UConn, where he is also a Graduate Research Assistant at the Eversource Energy Center. His work focuses on understanding how extreme and compound weather events affect energy infrastructure and power system reliability, an increasingly important topic as climate change intensifies weather-related hazards.

His award-winning presentation examined how combined heatwaves and storm events may influence power outage risk in the ERCOT region, the electricity market that serves most of Texas. By projecting future climate conditions and analyzing compound event scenarios, the research helps identify potential vulnerabilities in energy systems and supports improved resilience planning.

Saki credited the mentorship and support of his research collaborators and advisors as instrumental in his work and presentation.

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the leading professional organization for atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its student awards recognize emerging researchers whose work demonstrates excellence in advancing scientific understanding and communicating research to the broader community.

The UConn CEE community congratulates Shah Saki on this recognition and looks forward to his continued contributions to research on climate, weather extremes, and energy system resilience.