September 2016
Dr. Sayed Bateni receives major award from USDA’s Conservation Innovation Grants.
Dr. Bateni will be the principal investigator of Real-time Optimization of Irrigation Scheduling for Farmlands in Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa. The $980,000 grant over three years proposes to demonstrate optimal irrigation management strategies.
A robust approach will be developed to optimize irrigation scheduling in intensive vegetable production systems across diverse climatic zones in the Pacific Islands. The University of Hawaii team will expand on proven technology developed in California and modify it for climates, soil types, and crops in the Pacific Islands. The objectives are to 1) develop a weather-based irrigation scheduling system to improve water use efficiency for selected vegetable crops, 2) design an online tool to enable real-time irrigation scheduling on a field-by-field basis, and 3) implement an outreach program targeting farmers and other agriculture professionals to enhance their awareness to adopt an irrigation management strategy that conserves water resources and enhances farm productivity.
Dr. Bateni’s partners include CTAHR and WRRC from the UH campus as well as collaborators from the University of Guam and the American Samoa Community College.
Congratulations to our faculty and staff who won awards for their distinguished service and contributions to the College of Engineering. This was COE’s 10th annual award ceremony. CEE recipients include the following professors: Dr. Ian Robertson, recipient of the 2016 Hi Chang Chai Excellence in Teaching Award, Dr. Roger Babcock, recipient of the 20 Year Service Award and Promotion for full professor, and Dr. David Ma, recipient of the 10 Year Service Award.
Dr. Panos Prevedouros was extensively quoted in the headline article Road Woes Roll On of the September 28, 2016 edition of the Honolulu Star Advertiser, the main newspaper in the state of Hawaii.
Recent PhD graduate was awarded a WRI scholarship! Michael Bell earned his BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Ohio State University and Stanford University, respectively. He was admitted to our PhD program in Fall 2012. During his study at UH, he worked under Dr. David Ma’s supervision on bridge monitoring. Dr. Bell’s research has led to the development of a new method that can be used to determine bridge deflection profiles in real time without using external references which are expensive and necessary in other methods.
The September meeting of ITE Hawaii speaker is Mohammadreza (Pasha) Hashemi, Ph.D. student and Research Assistant for Dr. Ricardo Archilla. His presentation is on potential-factors-affecting-roadway-departure-crashes-on-oahu-Hawaii , September 28 at 11:45am – 1:00PM at Wilson Okamoto Corporation.
CEE Professor Ian Robertson gave a presentation on the Development of Tsunami Design Provisions for the ASCE 7-16 Standard at the Symposium on Communicating Disaster Science which was held at University of Hawaii at Manoa on September 16 -17, 2016. Japan’s House of Representatives Teru Fukui addressed in the Opening Ceremony.
CEE Assistant Professor Dr. Gaur Johnson who currently serves as the chairman of state Building Code Council addressed issues of Hawaii’s building code in Storm Warning in the September 2016 issue of Hawaii Business Magazine. Distinguished CEE alumni Gary Chock and Ken Hayashida were also featured in the detailed article.
Professor Panos Prevedouros joined state DOT Director Ford Fuchigami and Public Utilities Commissioner Delmond Won in a three hour session on transportation challenges in Hawaii during the 2016 annual conference of the Hawaii Transportation Association at the Waikiki Marriott Resort on September 15.
Dr. David Mukai, an associate professor of Civil and Architectural Engineering from University of Wyoming, is visiting our department in fall semester 2016 for teaching and research. Prof. Mukai’s research focuses on theoretical fracture mechanics, reinforced concrete, and structural rehabilitation and monitoring. Information on Dr. Mukai’s research can be found at his University of Wyoming faculty profile.
Related Posts
