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Awards & accolades


June 10, 2019

Ana Barros (Ph.D. ‘93) was one of 86 new members elected to the National Academy of Engineering. One of the highest engineering honors, new members are elected for distinguishing themselves in their field and advancing projects that use engineering and technology to enhance quality of life. The honor recognizes her work to predict precipitation dynamics and flood hazards in regions with complex, mountainous terrains. Learn more.

Kensey Daly, master's student, was the recipient of a 2019 Society of Women Engineers Outstanding Student Award for the CEE department. She was recognized for her dedication to helping improve water management strategies for Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake through her research.

MaKenzie Fockler, bachelor's student, is the recipient of a Bonderman Travel Fellowship, which supports eight months of solo travel in at least two major regions of the world. She will travel to Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Morocco, Jordan, Israel, Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar to explore themes of hope, or more specifically, to explore religion, feminism and progressive political ideas.

Mertcan Geyin (Ph.D. student) and Alex Baird (master's student) took second place, among 18 invited finalists, in ASCE's International Geo-Poster Competition, held in conjunction with Geo-Congress 2019 in Philadelphia, PA. Their work was titled "A Performance-Comparison of Relatively Simple and Complex Models for Predicting Soil Liquefaction using 15,000+ Case Histories from 24 Earthquakes."

Gabriela Giron-Valderrama, Ph.D. candidate, is the recipient of a 2019 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Senator Scott White Memorial Scholarship and the 2019 Eno Future Leaders Development Conference award. Both awards support her research to develop and implement new research methodologies, evaluate existing and new transporation policies, and model urban transportation problems.

Kateyna Gomozova, bachelor's student, is the recipient of a Society of Women Engineers Outstanding Student Award, for which she was nominated by faculty members. Gomozova is also a recipient of a Mary Gates Research Scholarship, which supports research undertaken with the Computational Hydrology Group to assess Seattle's future water availability.

Assistant professor Amy Kim was honored with a 2019 Husky Green Award for her efforts to create healthy building interiors and optimize workspaces. She worked with the UW Tower to implement sustainable lighting in building retrofits and was also involved in gaining Fitwel Certification for the first government building in Puget Sound. Kim has also developed two courses to provide students with opportunities to work on sustainability projects. Learn more.

Colin Kolbus, bachelor's student, is the recipient of a Mary Gates Research Scholarship for his research on ammonium remediation following Microbial-Induced Calcite Precipitation on the meter scale, working toward field scale application of the process.

Sara Lucero, bachelor's student, was selected as one of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) 2019 New Faces of Civil Engineering. Every year, ASCE recognizes 10 students who represent the future of the profession. The only student in Washington state selected for the honor, Lucero is vice-president of the student chapter of ASCE and also works as a research assistant in CEE’s Watershed Dynamics Research Group. Read more.

Justin Pflug, graduate student, was the recipient of a student paper presentation award at the 99th American Meteorological Society meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. The presentation focused on model representation of liquid water percolation in mountainous snowpacks and the sensitivity between snow climates and snow seasons.

Ryan Rasanen, Ph.D. student, received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which supports his research to reduce the seismic-hazard uncertainty of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Rasanen's goal is to inverse-analyze ancient evidence of soil liquefaction to back-calculate the ground motions experienced during past Cascadia earthquakes, thereby reducing the uncertainty of predictions in future events.

Alex Ratcliff, bachelor's student, received double honors: a College of Engineering Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence and Husky 100 recognition, which honors students for “making the most of their time at UW.” Through his involvement in UW Solar, a student-run organization, Ratcliff helped bring solar power to three residence halls on campus. Read more.

Assistant professor Richard Wiebe is the recipient of a 2019 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program Award in support of his research to improve the structural performance of aerostructures. Wiebe is researching the fundamental characterization of nonlinear structural dynamics of aerostructures, and the development of experimentally validated simulation tools to predict and improve the performance of aircraft structures. Learn more.