This lectureship was founded in 2013 by Steve and Sylvia Burges. The purpose of the endowment is to support an annual public lecture by distinguished practitioners in the field of Civil and Environmental Engineering to broaden the horizons of engineering students and professionals beyond the purely technical challenges of our times.
Speakers include faculty members in the department as well as experts identified by faculty as possessing perspectives, expertise and/or experience of particular importance and interest to the field of civil and environmental engineering.
2026 lecture
Thursday, March 12 | 3:30 p.m. | Alder Hall Auditorium
Reception with light food and drinks to follow in Alder Hall Commons.
The lecture will be in-person, and a recording will be available online following the event.
This lecture is open to the public. Prior registration is encouraged but not required.
Featuring Dr. Yinhai Wang
Thomas and Marilyn Nielsen Endowed Professor in Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
About the speaker
Dr. Yinhai Wang is a professor in transportation engineering at the University of Washington and the founding director of the Smart Transportation Applications and Research (STAR) Lab. He also directs the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans), the USDOT University Transportation Center for Federal Region 10, and leads the Northwestern Tribal Technical Assistance Program (NW TTAP) Center and the Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC). His research focuses on traffic sensing, transportation data science, AI and edge computing applications, transportation safety, and smart urban mobility. His honors include the ASCE Francis C. Turner Award (2023), the USDOT Build a Better Mousetrap Innovative Project Award for the MUST pilot with the Yakama Nation (2023), and the Institute of Transportation Engineers Innovation in Education Award (2018).
About the donors
Sylvia and Steve Burges have been associated with the University of Washington since September 1970, when Steve joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. Shortly thereafter, Sylvia earned two University of Washington master’s degrees: a Master of Education (Educational Psychology Counseling) in 1973 and a Master of Science (Civil Engineering Department) in 1976. During her career, Sylvia conducted water quality and environmental studies for consulting engineering firms. She joined Region 10 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1988, where she spent the rest of her professional career as a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act enforcement officer. Steve spent his career as a University of Washington faculty member attaining the rank of Professor in 1979. He became a registered Professional Engineer in 1980, a Professional hydrologist in 1990 and a Diplomat Water Resources Engineer in 2005. Steve retired from the university in 2010 with the title of Professor Emeritus.
View past lectures