Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Fatih Bektas, doctoral student in geotechnical engineering, is one of only seven students from around the country to receive the $20,000 Portland Cement Association's (PCA) Education Foundation award. He'll be working with Kejin Wang and Halil Ceylan on the Determination of the Effect of Ordinary Portland Cement Fineness on ASTM C 1260 Expansion. The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of the fineness of ordinary portland cement on the accelerated mortar bar test used for determining potential concrete deterioration.

John Kevern, master's student in geotechnical engineering, was awarded the ACI 2005–2006 P. K. Mehta Scholarship ($3,000) for graduate study in the field of concrete and sustainable development.

Angela Kolz's thesis, "Degradation and sorption of tylosin in swine manure lagoons," was selected by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors selected as the best master's thesis in the environmental science and engineering field for 2004. Kolz received $2,250 and a plaque. Tom Moorman with the USDA Soil Tilth Lab and Say Kee Ong were Kolz's major professors.

Tom Stout, PhD student in transportation engineering, was named a finalist in the 2005 Philip E. Rollhaus, Jr. Essay Competition. Stout won $1,000 for his essay called "How Road Authorities and Insurance Companies Should Work Together to Improve Highway Safety."
The competition was so fierce and the quality of the essays so high that Quixote Corporation, the contest sponsor, increased the number of awards from four to ten.

Stout also won first place in the Missouri Valley Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers student paper competition this year for his paper on "Before and After Study of Some Impacts of 4-lane to 3-lane Roadway Conversion." The award includes a certificate and a check.