Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Student News Briefs

Grad Student Honored
Iowa State CCEE graduate student Mustafa Birkan Bayrak recently received first place at the Midwest Transportation Consortium’s Transportation Scholars Conference for his paper on the use of neural networks in pavement design.

The conference is part of Iowa State’s Transportation Scholars program for exceptional students in transportation-related fields. Papers presented at the conference represent the best of student research projects in transportation-related fields. The Transportation Scholars program is sponsored by the Midwest Transportation Consortium, a U.S. DOT University Transportation Center; the consortium is led by Iowa State and housed at Iowa State’s Center for Transportation Research and Education.

Transportation Students Win Awards
The Iowa State Transportation Students Association (TSA) was selected as the student chapter of the year by MOVITE, the Missouri Valley Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Last year’s TSA treasurer Eric Petersen (MSCE 2006), who now works for the City of West Des Moines Public Works Department, prepared the award-winning application. The student association was awarded a $500 prize. TSA has won best MOVITE chapter six of the last seven years.

Additionally, MOVITE gave CCEE PhD student and TSA member Josh Hochstein the Thomas J. Seburn Student Paper Award. His paper entitled “Potential Rural Expressway Intersection Safety Treatments” earned a $500 cash award and travel expenses to present the paper at the September 28 MOVITE meeting in Topeka, Kansas.

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is an international educational and scientific association of transportation and traffic engineers, transportation planners, and other professionals who are responsible for the safe and efficient movement of people and goods on streets, highways, and transit systems. The Missouri Valley Section covers Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Professors Reg Souleyrette and Ed Kannel are the student chapter advisors.