Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Graduate Student Profiles

Mark Thompson

Mark Thompson

Mark, doctoral student and National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship recipient, is researching intelligent soil compaction technology. This technology, which gives real-time soil compaction results with 100 percent test coverage, indicates the level of soil compaction achieved with the roller and identifies localized areas that may be poorly compacted.

Working with industry and transportation agencies in the field, Thompson is correlating field spot test measurements and real-time readings from several companies’ machines. Preliminary statistical analyses show that strength and stiffness soil properties, when combined with moisture content, may better characterize the machine-soil interaction than measures of soil density.

A major component of the research is developing new quality control/quality assurance guidelines and specifications for earthwork construction, as measuring soil properties using compaction monitoring technology is considerably different from using few select spot measurements.

Danielle Wain

Danielle works with Associate Professor Chris Rehmann in studying Iowa's lakes. With the help of a new, highly competitive $482,115 National Science Foundation grant, Danielle and Dr. Rehmann are conducting tests on Ada Hayden lake in Ames, Iowa, and West Okoboji Lake in Dickinson County, Iowa. They're studying how fluid mixed boundaries move into the interior by tracking intrusions, as well as measuring the water temperature, wind speed, lake depth, velocity of particles in the water, and solar radiation.

So far, the thing Danielle likes best about her graduate work is being out in the field taking the measurements.

Fatih Bektas

Fatih Bektas

Fatih, doctoral student and 2005 Portland Cement Association Education Foundation Fellowship winner, is studying the effect of the fineness of ordinary portland cement on the accelerated mortar bar test used for predicting alkali-silica reactivity.

The interaction of concrete alkalis and reactive siliceous aggregates result in severe concrete cracking; therefore, testing is crucial to identify the potential reactivity. In the research program, portland cements with different fineness levels are produced in the laboratory. The results will be used to modify the standard testing procedure.

Khalil Ahmad

Khalil, a graduate student in environmental engineering, is using satellite images of soybean fields, remote sensing, and Global Positioning System (GPS), and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies to help create an early warning system to improve crop biosecurity in the United States. He was awarded first place for his poster "Development of Early Warning Systems to Improve U.S. Crop Biosecurity" that he presented at the 8th Biennial Iowa Geographic Information Council Conference in Sioux City, Iowa. The poster highlighted breakthroughs involving the analysis of satellite imagery to extract temporal and spatial patterns in diseased soybean fields that are unique to Asian soybean rust.

Khalil also received the student assistantship award for the 2007 Environmental Research Systems Institute (ERSI) Conference in San Diego, California. Nearly 14,000 software users gather at this conference to learn more about geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and remote sensing (RS) technologies and to share their ideas and knowledge. The award was based on Ahmad's research and experience in the area of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing.

John Kevern

John Kevern

John, a PhD student and 2005–2006 recipient of the P.K. Mehta American Concrete Institute scholarship for sustainable concrete development, developed a new kind of portland cement concrete mix: pervious concrete.

It’s designed to allow storm water to run through the concrete to the soil beneath and infiltrate back into the ground. It’s strong enough to withstand freezing and thawing. Pervious concrete also reduces pavement noise and provides skid resistance.

For his research, he built a machine to test the permeability and is experimenting with an asphalt compactor for the concrete. His concrete is being using in Sioux City, Iowa, with derivatives in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Illinois.


For information about our graduate programs in civil, construction, and environmental engineering, click here.