A recent publication by Mo Chen, a PhD candidate advised by both Dr. Kelly Sanders and Dr. George Ban-Weiss, has been listed among the 2020 Altmetric Top 100 most-discussed articles. Chen’s paper, titled “Utilizing smart-meter data to project impacts of urban warming on residential electricity use for vulnerable populations in Southern California”, addresses the effects of intensifying heat waves on … Read More

In a recent video “The heat gap of dividing a major US city”, BBC Reel interviewed Dr. George Ban-Weiss about the Los Angeles heat gap that describes an unequal distribution of heat across urban neighborhoods. Dr. Ban-Weiss shares his expertise on the urban heat island effect, heat mitigation strategies, and the socioeconomic disparities that result in uneven vegetative cover. This … Read More

Burcin Becerik-Gerber, Dean’s Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was featured in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) podcast on November 3. In the interview, Becerik-Gerber, co-director of the Center for Intelligent Environments (CENTIENTS), discussed her work on intelligent threat-sensing buildings–structures that employ AI technology to keep people safe during emergencies, including fires or active shooters.

Costas Synolakis, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was awarded the 2020 Hamaguchi Award by the National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology. The award ceremony was held on November 4 in Tokyo. The Hamaguchi Award is given for individuals and/or organizations that have made significant scientific or pragmatic contributions to the enhancement of coastal resilience against tsunami, storm … Read More

In response to the devastating numbers of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., Professor Ghanem and doctoral student Xiaoshu Zeng have developed a reliable COVID-19-predicting model that can create a “forecast” for the number of cases on a certain day. This model can be a new tool to help track the effectiveness of the U.S.’s ongoing and future health/viral containment policies. … Read More

Fred Champion Estate Chair in Engineering and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Spatial Sciences Institute Lucio Soibelman was elected to the Pan American Academy of Engineering. Read more here.

Dr. Daniel McCurry received a grant from the NSF Division of Chemistry to study the fate of parabens, which are common preservative chemicals used in personal care products, during recycling of greywater. The grant, in collaboration with Drs. John Sivey and Keith Reber at Towson University in Maryland, will be used to study how parabens react with common disinfectants used … Read More

Congratulations to Dr. Syeed Md Iskander who recently accepted a Tenure Track Assistant Professor position in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at North Dakota State University.  Dr. Iskander worked as a postdoctoral research associate with Profs. Adam Smith and Amy Childress at USC from May 2019 to Aug 2020. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech Civil and Environmental … Read More

Congratulations to former PhD student, Dr. Ashrant Aryal, who recently accepted a position as a tenure track assistant professor at Texas A&M University.  Ashrant recently received his PhD degree this spring from the USC Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, under the supervision of Professor Burcin Becerik.  As he begins this new position, we wish him an amazing … Read More

Associate Professor, Dr. Adam Smith, recently received media coverage on both KCRW and NBC-LA News. He discusses his research on wastewater and how it can serve as a potential early warning system for community spread of COVID-19. To see the interviews, please click on the links above.