To recognize and honor students supported by the University Transportation Centers (UTC) Programs, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology sponsors an annual awards banquet each January in Washington DC. Each UTC selects one outstanding student of the year from their Center to be recognized at the banquet. The TIDC Outstanding Student of the Year is awarded $1,000 and costs for the student to attend the award ceremony and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington DC. The decision is made based on technical merit, research capability, academic performance and leadership. The outstanding student of the year was recognized on November 30 at TIDC’s annual Student Poster Contest Award Ceremony.
William’s research with the TIDC focused on modeling of large woody debris buildup around bridges and the associated impacts on the scour and bridge safety. During storm or flooding events, trees or tree limbs can fall into rivers and collide with bridge piers. If the debris becomes entrapped, large formations can occur, which can pose a substantial threat to the bridge’s safety. Not only can the impact forces of the trees damage the bridge; the debris formations can also constrict the waterways, leading to increased water speeds which can wash away some of the foundation soils in a process known as scour. William has worked to create statistical simulations of the tree failures, debris entrapments, and resulting scour to better quantify the risk posed to the bridges under different environmental conditions. These models can then be used by decision-makers to predict the bridge failure probabilities to better inform decisions related to bridge safety, such as whether a bridge should be closed for an upcoming storm.
William comments on his gratitude to his mentors as well. "I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Wei Zhang, for nominating me and writing a letter of recommendation. His helpful mentorship has assisted me throughout the years, and this would not have been possible without him. I would also like to thank Dr. Nalini Ravishanker, who wrote an additional letter of support, and Dr. Ramesh Malla, who severed as co-PIs on the TIDC project. I would also like to thank the graduate students who helped with the research project, including Leana Santos, Qin Lu, Steven Matile, Sreeram Anantharaman, and Indrani Chattopadhyay. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who makes the TIDC and the outstanding student of the year award possible," William said.
