7 Civil Engineering Technical Areas
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering
Fall 2019 - Enrollment of Civil Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering
Fall 2019 - Enrollment of Environmental Engineering
Construction Engineering & Management Minor
Environmental Engineering Minor
7 Civil Engineering Technical Areas
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering
Fall 2019 - Enrollment of Civil Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering
Fall 2019 - Enrollment of Environmental Engineering
Construction Engineering & Management Minor
Environmental Engineering Minor
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Undergraduate Research

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is pleased to announce the Undergraduate Research and Innovation Program. Through this program, undergraduate students will gain valuable work experience while exploring their areas of interest in research.

As an Undergraduate Research Assistant, you will:

  • Receive a competitive hourly rate (minimum of $16 per hour) for your work on research projects during the academic year (https://studentjobs.uconn.edu/employment-guide/ provides info on job descriptions and pay rates) 

  • Earn a competitive summer stipend for part-time or full-time employment (20 to 40 hours per week for 10 weeks) for work on your research project. 

  • Earn a $250 award when you co-author a journal paper related to your research (upon notice of submission). 

  • Receive funding for travel to attend professional conferences in an area related to your undergraduate research. 

  • Receive priority consideration for a graduate assistantship if you decide to pursue graduate school. 

Program Requirements:

  • Be an undergraduate student in Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering
  • Undergraduate student applicants must have completed their freshman year. 

  • All students are invited to submit an application, regardless of GPA.  

  • As part of a wider initiative on Antiracism and Equity in Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Department invites US underrepresented minority students (Black or African American; Hispanic or Latino/a/x; Native American, Pacific Islander, or other Indigenous Identities; Multiracial) to serve in Undergraduate Research Assistant positions. 

Application Process: 

  • Contact the CEE faculty you are interested in working with – you may choose one of the open positions below OR contact any CEE faculty whose area of research is of interest to you 
  • Provide your resume and discuss the potential project and scope of work with the faculty member – they will then submit the application on your behalf 
  • Deadline to submit proposals for Summer 2023 is April 15th
  • CEE Faculty: please fill out this form .

For general information about the program, contact Dr. Marisa Chrysochoou at marisa.chrysochoou@uconn.edu.

 

Open Positions

Structures

Infrastructure monitoring using wireless smart sensors
Advisor: Shinae Jang
Expected hours: 10 hours per week for June and July (9 weeks)
Description: The goal of this project is to collect data from an in-service bridge in Connecticut using a novel wireless smart sensor to monitor the static and dynamic behaviors of infrastructure under environmental variations. The undergraduate student will work closely with the faculty advisor and graduate students to compare the measured data with hand calculations and the results from the finite element models and study how to improve the design of our infrastructure details, for example, selected from the superstructure parts (decks and girders), connections (expansion joints, bearings, and other connections), and substructures. The findings will be published in UConn’s Open Commons as a technical report at the end of the project.

 

Creation of a Bridge Information Model (BIM) of an in-service bridge
Advisor: Shinae Jang
Expected hours: 10 hours per week for 2 months (can be extended)
Description: The goal of this project is to create a sophisticated Bridge Information Model (BIM) using finite element software for an accurate representation of the actual structure. The undergraduate researcher will work with the faculty advisor and a graduate student 1) to get training on the specific software, MidasIT CIM, 2) visit the bridge site and investigate the details and current status of the bridge thoroughly, and 3) create a BIM model for the target bridge. The bridge model will be shared with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and the results can be published as a technical report, as well as presentations with the DOT technical experts.

 

Non-proprietary Ultra-High Performance Concrete
Advisor: Kay Wille
Expected hours: 10 to 40 per week up to 10 weeks
URA duties and responsibilities: The URA will work with two graduate students to assist with material testing & characterization of Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) samples. Depending on the student's interest, this might include mixing of concrete and testing of fresh & hardened material properties, such as flowability, compressive strength, tensile strength, Modulus of Elasticity, hardness, or resonance frequency. It might also include data organization & analysis, as well as preparation of laboratory experiments at larger scale. 

 

Pyrrhotite Oxidation in Crumbling Concrete Foundations 
Advisor: Kay Wille, Marisa Chrysochoou
Expected hours: 10 to 40 per week up to 10 weeks
URA duties and responsibilities:The URA will work with a group of graduate and undergraduate students to assist with various laboratory analyses of concrete samples, as well as preparation and execution of laboratory experiments. Depending on the student's interest, this might include crushing, pulverizing & sieving of material, mixing of concrete, material mechanical characterization such as compressive strength, or material chemical characterization, such as total sulfur analysis. 

 

Applications of Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Material Behavior Modeling
Advisor: Vahid Morovati
Preferred Student Program: Civil Engineering
Total hours expected over the summer: 20-30 hours per week for 12 weeks
Hourly rate: $16/hr
Scope of work: The main objective of this study is to explore the applications of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINN) for modeling material behavior. By incorporating physics-based knowledge into the neural network architecture, PINN can provide more accurate and efficient modeling compared to traditional finite element methods. The study highlights the advantages of using PINN for material behavior modeling, including better predictions of long-term deformation and material performance. In this part of the project, student will be trained to use NN to solve partial differential equations and use this knowledge to develop a simple model to predict viscoelastic behavior of elastomeric materials.

Date posted: 2023/03/17

 

Environmental

Weather impact modeling
Advisor: Diego Cerrai
Preferred Student Program: Environmental Engineering
Total hours expected over the summer: 200
Hourly rate: $16/hr
Scope of work: The student selected for this project will be able to work with machine learning tools to predict the impact of weather on the infrastructure and on the natural environment. The student will work in the UConn Outage Prediction Modeling team. Possible projects include: Power Outage Prediction for the Electric Distribution System; Transmission System Damage Prediction; Wildfire Ignition Prediction; Power Grid Resilience Assessment.
Date posted: 2023/03/14

 

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) system development and novel electrode/membrane development
Advisor: Baikun Li
Preferred Student Program: Environmental Engineering
Total hours expected over the summer: 20 hours for 12 weeks
Hourly rate: $20/hr
Scope of work: The undergraduate will closely work with graduate students for hands-on experiments of CO2RR system development and electrode/membrane novel material development. The student will present in the weekly group meetings and participate in journal paper writing.
Date posted: 2023/03/18

 

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) system development and novel electrode/membrane development
Advisor: Nefeli Bompoti
Preferred Student Program: Environmental Engineering
Total hours expected over the summer: 240
Hourly rate: $17/hr
Date posted: 2023/03/20

 

Transportation

Improving Traffic Operations and Equity in Connecticut Using Autonomous and Shared Autonomous Vehicles
Advisor: Fatemeh Fakhrmoosavi
Preferred Student Program: Civil Engineering
Total hours expected over the summer: 20 hours per week for 12 weeks
Hourly rate: $16/hr
Scope of work:The research team will be working on creating a transportation network for the state of Connecticut that is compatible with the POLARIS traffic simulation tool. OpenStreetMap data was used to extract transportation nodes and links. The research team will add complementary information to this data, such as intersection types, trip generation locations, and parking spots. Statewide Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) will be engaged at different steps of this research to share feedback and provide data for travel choice modeling, including but not limited to the mode choice, destination choice, vehicle ownership, trip purpose, and travel party size models. The developed network will be used as an input to the POLARIS traffic and activity simulator to simulate trips in the future when autonomous and shared autonomous vehicles are on the market and compare scenarios to improve mobility and equity. This part of the research will be mostly conducted on the QGIS platform and its plugins.

Date posted: 2023/03/14

 

Evaluating the Impacts of Real-Time Warnings and Variable Speed Limits on Safety and Travel Reliability during Weather Events
Advisor: John N. Ivan
Preferred Student Program: Civil Engineering
Total hours expected over the summer: up to 40 hours per week for 12 weeks
Hourly rate: $15/hr
Scope of work: The student researcher will assist in collecting data about vehicle speeds, weather conditions, and actual warnings and variable speed limit implementation before and during weather events. He/she will download the data from crowdsourcing and probe vehicle dta portals and archives from transportation agencies. After downloading the data he/she will format the data to compare vehicle speeds before and during weather events at locations with and without warning signs and/or variable speed limit implementation to compare driver response. 

Date posted: 2023/03/20

 

Equity in livability: An exploratory analysis of spatial equity in roadway safety and driver behavior using naturalistic driving data
Advisor: Davis Chacon-Hurtado
Preferred Student Program: CEE or Geography
Total hours expected over the summer: 120
Hourly rate: $15/hr
Date posted: 2023/03/20

 

Excess commuting burden: A metric to assess variations in journey-to-work across income categories
Advisor: Davis Chacon-Hurtado
Preferred Student Program: Civil Engineering
Total hours expected over the summer: 120
Hourly rate: $15/hr
Date posted: 2023/03/20

Past Participants

2022

Faculty Sponsor Student Name Student Degree Project Title
Ramesh B. Malla Max Mendoza Raha Civil Engineering Analysis, Modeling, Testing, and Monitoring of Railroad and Highway Bridge Infrastructure
Baikun Li Jason Contreras Environmental Engineering Water sensor development continuous monitoring of water quality
Guiling Wang Nicholas Morillo Civil Engineering Cold season stream flow and flooding
Davis Chacon-Hurtado Leo Gomez,

Sophia Fenn

Civil Engineering,

Civil Engineering

Transportation Equity and the Clean Energy Transition in Latin America: Challenges and Opportunities.
Nefeli Bompoti,

Marisa Chrysochoou

Smriti Hamal Environmental Engineering Contaminant fate and transport studies

2021

Faculty Sponsor Student Name Student Degree Project Title
Norman Garrick Luke Lombardo Civil Engineering Impact of the pandemic to traffic patterns in the state of Connecticut
Norman Garrick Carina Scher Civil Engineering Assessment of best practices for policies and systems to promote Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the State of Connecticu
Malaquias Peña Julia Jackson Environmental Engineering Image registry for geophysical flow forecasting for the analysis and prediction of offshore wind, sea waves and currents
Tim Vadas Ben Manoli Environmental Engineering Water reuse in greenhouse agriculture from stormwater, wastewater and lagoon water sources
Jin Zhu Kaitlyn Kondos Civil Engineering Data collection, running simulation experiments, and result analysis for resilient infrastructure planning 
Davis Chacon-Hurtado Avishan Montazer Civil Engineering Short term (revealed) and long term (stated) impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transportation in Connecticut and underlying socio-economic factors influencing changes in the travel behavior of people using transit service
John Ivan Torail Murphy Civil Engineering Using crowdsourced traffic data from StreetLight and Inrix for estimation of models of vehicle speed as a function of volume.
Ramesh B. Malla, Ph.D., F. ASCE, F. EMI Kelly Voong Civil Engineering Analysis, Modeling, Testing, and Monitoring of Railroad and Highway Bridge Infrastructure
Marina Astitha Henry Carrington Environmental Engineering Extreme weather forecasting - data analysis and model development

 

2020

Faculty Sponsor Student Name Student Degree Project Title
Diego Cerrai Sita Nyame Environmental Engineering Development of Fire Ignition model using weather forecasts and analysis, land cover, tree types and leaf conditions datato forecast the location of possible wildfires
Wei Zhang Liam Hanley Civil Engineering Damage Modeling for Communities due to Nature Hazards
Marina Astitha Matthew Boehmer Environmental Engineering Extreme weather forecasting - data analysis and model development
Baikun Li Clifford Otis Environmental Engineering Development of a microbial fuel cell to convert CO2 to organic carbon
Nefeli Bompoti/Maria Chrysochoou Alex Robotham Environmental Engineering Nickel complexation through adsorption to iron oxide coated quartz sand
John Ivan Vincent Huang Civil Engineering Model development to predict pedestrian countrs using  parcel level land use, population and employment data from online sources
Norman Garrick Luke Lombardo Civil Engineering Analysis of the effect of various factors on the rist in pedestrian fatalities in CT

2019

Faculty Sponsor Student Name Student Degree Project Title
Jin Zhu Huang Xinyan Civil Engineering Application of biomimicry principles to models of disaster resilience for civil infrastructure
Manos Anagnostou Genevieve Rigler Civil Engineering Can understanding the self-efficacy of female citizen science data collectors improve food and water security in the Blue Nile River Basin, Ethiopia?
Norman Garrick Anne Quevraux Civil Engineering Evaluating the Factors Contributing to the Increase in Pedestrian Fatalities in Hartford
Christine Kirchhoff Reginald Denny Environmental Engineering Challenges faced by water systems threatened by increasingly toxic harmful algal blooms
Marisa Chrysochoou Leana Santos Civil Engineering Investigation of clay soil stabilization mechanisms by cementitious materials 
Nick Lownes Akira Dunham Civil Engineering examination of U-PASS data collected by the Public Transportation Systems research group and how this system can be used to expand mobility options across the state
Wei Zhang Yiannis Bagtzoglou Civil Engineering Finite element analysis modeling of transmission tower and power lines udner coastal environmental conditions