During the past year, the Department of Civil Engineering continued hosting the series of seminars for graduate and undergraduate students that was started in the Fall 2015. These seminars take place approximately every two weeks throughout each semester, on Fridays from 12:00 to 12:50 PM in the Soil and Rock Lab of the Swenson Civil Engineering Building. Speakers for the seminars are university faculty, professional engineers and graduate students. The seminars, which include a 40 minutes presentation and a 10 minutes slot for questions, allow students to learn about civil engineering applied research and practical projects on a variety of topics relevant to civil engineering. The seminars are also a social gathering opportunity for students to connect with speakers, with faculty and with students themselves in an informal and friendly atmosphere, which includes pizza and soda for all attendees. Below is a list of seminars offered during the last two semesters.
Fall 2017:
● “Post-Tensioning: The Incomparable Concrete Solution”, by Prof. Andrea Schokker, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (September 15).
● “After the Flood: Rebuilding TH210 Through Jay Cooke State Park”, by David Provost, Geotechnical Engineer, Barr, Duluth (September 29).
● “Alkali Leaching Properties of Waste Glass-Based Geopolymers”, by Corey Schlosser, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (October 13).
● “Shear Capacity of Hollow-Core Slabs with Concrete Filled Cores”, by Matthew McDermott, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (October 13).
● “Thermal Properties of Geopolymer Concrete at Elevated Temperatures”, by Casey Sundberg, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (October 13).
● “Performance of Nonrectangular Reinforced Concrete Walls subject to Multidirectional Loading”, by Prof. Catherine French, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering,
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (November 3).
● “Minnesota DOT Path from Prescription to Performance: How Do We Implement?”, by Maria Masten, Concrete Engineer, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Materials & Road Research, Maplewood, Minnesota (November 17).
● “Geotechnical aspects of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal”, by Prof. Deepak Chamlagain, Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal (December 1).
Spring 2018:
● “UMD’s Research Efforts in Improving the Performance of Roads”, by Prof. Manik Barman, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (January 26).
● “The UMD Heikkila Chemistry and Advanced Materials Science Building”, by Paul A. Johnson, Associate at Meyer, Borgman & Johnson, Duluth (February 16).
● “Historic Beaver River Bridge Construction”, by Brett Weybright, Project Engineer, Duluth Construction Office, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT District 1), Duluth (March 2).
● “Innovative Walls and Slopes in Minnesota including Successes and Failures”, by Blake Nelson, Principal Engineer, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), Maplewood, Minnesota (March 16).
● “Enhanced Biological Sulfate Reduction Coupled to Iron Electrolysis in a Flow-Through Bioelectrochemical Reactor”, by Tobin Deen, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (March 30).
● “Construction and Monitoring of Stormwater Biofilters in Minnesota”, by Chanelle Cruz, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (March 30).
● “The Effect of Glass Composition on the Alkali-Silica Reaction Mitigation Potential of Ground Glass in Concrete”, by Nathan Doolittle, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (March 30).
● “Effect of Ground Glass Composition on the Compressive Strength and Hardened Air Void System of Portland Cement Mortars”, by Colton Moore, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (April 13).
● “Geopolymers for Use in Nuclear Facilities and High Temperature Environments”, by Casey Sundberg, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (April 13).
● “Quality Control of Grouting for Post-Tensioned Tendons”, by Jacob Bray, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (April 27).
● “Flexural Performance of Nail Laminated Timber Crane Mats”, by Ethan Herberg, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (April 27).
● “Anchorage of Epoxy-Coated Rebar Using Chemical Adhesives”, by Connor Mills, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (April 27).
● “Deterioration of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Decks”, by Cori Treat, MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, UMD, Duluth (April 27).