Walking the walk . . .

Summer is coming to an end, and our graduates knocked it out of the park!

All of our University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign doctoral students earned a doctorate in civil engineering from The Grainger College of Engineering, which is one of the world’s top-ranked engineering programs.

Now let’s talk about some of our graduates. Batter up!

Seunggu Kang

First up to bat is Seunggu Kang, a South Korean native who moved to the U.S. after his high school graduation. Growing up, he dreamed big and aspired to be a scientist, lawyer or even a professor.

Kang earned a bachelor’s from Syracuse University before going on to receive a master’s from UIUC — both in civil and environmental engineering.

His inspiration for pursuing such a prestigious degree?

An honest curiosity in the subject matter.

“There are limited courses and research opportunities that civil engineering undergraduate students can take,” Kang said. “As an engineer, I believe that it is important to explore more topics in depth through advanced courses and research in a graduate school to understand what engineering is really about.”

Outside of the academic world, Kang is a fan of traveling. In fact, in the U.S. alone he hopes to take a cross—country road trip and visit all major national parks.

Kang recently accepted an offer as an assistant professor at Merrimack College, where he will focus on teaching transportation-related courses and continuing his research in sustainable transportation infrastructure.

As Kang reflects on his time at Illinois Center for Transportation, he said “ICT is a state-of-the-art transportation research facility that provides many valuable research opportunities. I have observed ICT’s noticeable growth in research accomplishments under the leadership of Professor (Imad) Al-Qadi supported by other faculty, staff members and students.”

“I have been proud of being a part of ICT,” he added, “and my entire time here as a research assistant has been my favorite moment at ICT.”

Saleh Yousefi

Next in the lineup, Saleh Yousefi was born in Tabriz, Iran, where he lived for 15 years and as the youngest of three brothers prior to moving to Tehran. Here he attended the University of Tehran, Iran’s oldest university, and pursued a bachelor’s in civil engineering.

Of his undergraduate classmates, Yousefi was the second to leave Iran to study abroad at the University of New Mexico, where he pursued a master’s in geotechnical engineering.

After finishing his master’s, Yousefi had two choices: “Go for industry or continue to get my Ph.D” he said.

Yousefi decided to go after his doctorate and applied to several top programs. He had a difficult decision to make in choosing which university to attend, but after a visit to ICT Yousefi felt confident in attending UIUC.

“The day I left my interview with Professor Imad Al-Qadi (ICT director and UIUC Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering professor) in February 2011, I knew which one I (would) choose if I received admission,” Yousefi said. “I knew (at) ICT (I would) not only get a Ph.D., but (it) also (would) train me for my profession.”

In Yousefi’s personal life, he cannot live without, music, literature and movies — “whatever tells you a story,” he said.

“If I was not a pavement engineer, I would have loved to be one of the key actors in Broadway shows or had my own radio station and be the anchorman,” Yousefi said.

Today, Yousefi works for one of the leading industries of pavement preservation, Crafco, Inc, in Chandler, Arizona, where he hopes to help the industry catch up with the latest pavement preservation developments.

“This will end up helping cities save more money and improve the roads’ qualities more than before, so people will enjoy their trips,” he said. “Roads takes us to places, (they) take us to each other, and I feel productive when I think I am part of this system and may have an impact on improving them.”

Issam Qamhia

And our last batter to bring it home is Issam Qamhia. Qamhia was born in Nabulus, Palestine, but grew up in Ramallah. As a child, he had several extended family members who were architects, and he would observe them working at their draft tables, using tools. So naturally, this was his dream as he entered college.

Shortly after he began his bachelor’s at Birzeit University, he discovered he was more passionate about infrastructure design and evaluation, so he picked it up and ran with it.

Prior to graduation Qamhia accepted an internship. At first, he was very excited about his internship, but to his surprise the work all too quickly became mundane.

Shortly after the beginning of his internship, a former professor of Qamhia’s said he was contacted by a U.S. professor seeking potential graduate students. Qamhia leapt at the chance, and the rest was history.

Once Qamhia began his research in the U.S., suddenly everything clicked.

“I realized that I am passionate about it (research in civil engineering), and this is what I wanted to do in my life . . . so going in the Ph.D. route made perfect sense,” he said.

Outside of the classroom, Qamhia enjoys traveling, playing board games and watching comedy series.

Recently, he accepted an UIUC post-doctoral research associate position with Erol Tutumluer’s, an UIUC Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering professor, research group.

And before he makes the switch from student to researcher, Qamhia couldn’t resist reflecting on his favorite UIUC moments.

His favorite?

“My graduation (and Ph.D. hooding ceremony) was definitely one of the most memorable,” Qamhia said.

Well, that and his ICT and UIUC families, among which many became friends for life.

“One thing I will definitely not forget is the number of smart and hardworking people that I had the chance to work and interact with at UIUC and ICT on a daily basis — both professors and students,” Qamhia said. “I appreciate all our talks and many of them had a great impact on my way of thinking and how I approach my career.”

*****

ICT is forever grateful for the hard work and dedication each graduate provided during their time at UIUC. We wish each of you great success in all of your future endeavors. It is not a goodbye, but a catch ya later!