Pictured above, Anuj Sharma is giving snowplows the power to “see” in a wall of white snow.
Read the full story.
2024 Impact Report
Letter from the chair
Another big year has passed here at Iowa State University’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. Included in the many accomplishments, The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and American Institute of Steel Constr
uction (AISC) has selected Iowa State University to host Steel Bridge Nationals. We hope to see you this May!
Our continued emphasis on hands-on undergraduate and graduate education is seen in our 2024 positive career outcomes for graduating civil, construction and environmental engineers reporting 97%, 100% and 100% respectively—with nearly all CCEE students experiencing a formal internship or co-op before completing their program. We strive to create an innovative environment that increases the number of people around the table and fosters new ideas. Our department is home to exceptional individuals: 31 tenure/tenure eligible faculty, 10 term teaching and research faculty, 14 staff, 2 affiliate faculty, plus 6 adjunct and courtesy faculty.
In 2024, our research has flourished, with faculty securing over $19.6 million in funding from local, national, and international organizations. Our research community spans beyond the walls of Town Engineering, with 6 affiliated centers/labs propelling opportunities for our faculty and students.
We are still progressing towards the Town Engineering Renovation and Expansion goal of $33 million, which would expand the department’s footprint from approximately 110,500 to 128,000 gross square feet. We are excited to see this project come to fruition for current and future students!
The road ahead is bright. As always, it’s a great time to be a Cyclone!
David H. Sanders
Greenwood Department Chair & Professor
Town Engineering: Renovation and Expansion
The Town Engineering Building project focuses on the student experience whether they are a prospective student or an existing student. The project greatly expands informal spaces for students, staff and faculty, creates breakout spaces for teams and study sessions to occur, adds three team-based classrooms and one team-based environmental laboratory, and brings our advising center to the first floor. The first-floor advising center makes it easily accessible for all students and creates a department presence on the first floor. The project also provides an open computing space for all students. The project will enable a grand entrance into the building that brings light into all parts of the project as well into the existing building on the first and second floors.
Going back to school gave me the opportunity to broaden my expertise—it opened my world, and I never went back.
Advancing visualization research
In the Surprenant Interaction Visualization Lab (SIVL), a push of a button can take you anywhere. You can walk around, interact and explore as if you were actually there in person. Using visualization technology, Assistant Professor Yunjeong (Leah) Mo’s team conducts expansive data collection and experimentation, creating virtual interactive environments from scratch.
A pair of Virtual Reality (VR) goggles take graduate student Divine Agbobli into his apartment building simulation. As he interacts with the environment, data is captured based on his gaze, touch, and reaction to the virtual environment.
The team uses this data to inform projects like designing energy control interfaces and measuring the efficacy of building layouts.
Most recently, Agbobli used his VR experience to publish a literature review on utilizing Extended Reality (XR) in Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) education. His piece proposes a unified approach to leverage XR for both educating AEC professionals and promoting energy-efficient behaviors, with future research focusing on comparative and longitudinal studies.
The SIVL team continues to work on their individual visualization research projects, the implementation of this technology, and the distribution of information for the overall advancement of the field.
“We are using technology to further inform decisions, create excitement about research, and discover the depth of impact it can have on AEC education, training, and processes.”
-Leah Mo
Cytown: Built by Cyclones, for Cyclones
The CYTown Project broke ground in 2023, steadily making progress toward a hub of business, arts, community, and events near Jack Trice Stadium. Leading important project aspects are two CCEE Cyclone Engineers: Andrew Gatto (B.S., M.S. ConE 2024) and Brandon Neibuhr (B.S. CE 2015).
“My CCEE education built my skills all the way through the Capstone course. I had everything I needed to handle a project of this size when I entered the field,” said Gatto.
“The project provides a great meeting place, attracting new students, enhancing the use of CyRide, and bringing together members of the Ames and Iowa State communities,” Niebuhr said.
Opening for Cytown is targeted for early 2025, built for future Cyclones and built by Cyclone Engineers.
The power to “see” in a wall of white snow
Iowa winters are known to be unpredictable, with snow, ice, and extreme cold challenging the productivity of each day. Snowplows keep the state moving as they clear the roads. How do snowplow drivers stay safe and on the right path when the landscape is entirely white with extremely low visibility?
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Pitt-Des Moines, Inc. Professor in Civil Engineering Anuj Sharma and his team at Iowa State’s Institute for Transportation are currently working with the Iowa Department of Transportation snowplow drivers on a solution.
Collecting data simultaneously with RADAR, LiDAR, road sensors, thermal imaging, and computer learning, Sharma is working towards a fleet of smart snowplows.
“The idea is that we use tools already unlocked and available but informed by data for this use-case and integrate them into the machines to do things like ‘lane assist’ or ‘blind spot detection,’ increasing the safety of the driver and lowering hazard risk,” said Sharma.
These solutions support drivers in making confident driving decisions by giving them access to all the data around them— seen and unseen.
“From a direct request for support by the snowplow drivers, I am enhancing the machines to meet their needs, reduce their workload stress, and maximize the efficacy of each plow.”
-Anuj Sharma
Credits
David Sanders, Greenwood Department Chair
Writing: Anna Keplinger
Design and Illustration: Madeline Willits
Photography: Ryan Riley and Sarah Hays
Web Design: William Beach and Madeline Willits