'Good' to be back: CEE students ready for in-person semester
7/20/2021
A semester brings new hopes and ambitions. But this semester is all the more special for our hardworking University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate students with in-person learning resuming.
Check out their ongoing research efforts at Illinois Center for Transportation’s Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory, fun summer activities and aspirations for Fall 2021 in this Q&A.
Without further ado, let’s meet those hardworking CEE students!
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Lama Abufares, master’s student
Q: What were some of your summer highlights?
A: “For this summer, I’m trying to learn how to do a handstand walk, and the highlight is I’m getting really close! I’m also exploring new restaurants in town — this is one of my new hobbies.”
Q: How does it feel returning to an in-person semester this fall?
A: “I joined the university at a very difficult time. COVID-19 was really hitting, and it was so hard to communicate and meet people. Now it’s much better, and I’m so happy that we’re back to work in person in the lab. I’m so happy to actually meet the staff and colleagues that I’ve been talking to only via email or Zoom for the past year.”
Q: What’s at the top of your to-do list at ATREL?
A: “My research is focused on ground-penetrating radar. With my colleagues, we are working on developing a new technique to monitor the curing of cold-in-place recycling pavements and predict density of wet asphalt concrete. Both applications are breakthrough in this technology”
Q: What do you hope to accomplish in Fall 2021?
A: “In this upcoming semester, I hope to write a big part of my thesis and overcome the challenges we face in the research projects. Well, some if not all.”
Q: What advice do you have for others?
A: “I would advise my fellow students to take advantage of these summer days, enjoy them as much as they can while nice weather is around! It won’t be long before snow hits again!”
Yusra Alhadidi, doctoral student
Q: What was the best part of your summer break?
A: “I took three days off and went on a road trip to Louisville, Kentucky. It was super fun. Regarding Urbana-Champaign, (I) finally got the chance to mingle with the community on several occasions and of course, COVID-19 precautions were applied.”
Q: How does it feel to be in person this semester?
A: “Last semester, we used to work with masks on and no direct connection, even at lunch breaks. It was hard for me as a new student who wants to socialize with everyone.
“But now it is getting better as everyone is coming back to ATREL after the full vaccination. I admit that face-to-face interaction is better — way more than the virtual (learning).”
Q: What projects are you working on at ATREL this semester?
A: “I am investigating the compatibility of using plastics with bitumen for asphalt pavement roads. The work has potential environmental and economic impacts. My goal is to reduce the emission by using less binder in pavements and repurpose non-recyclable plastics into pavements through chemical and rheological investigations.”
Q: What do you aspire to accomplish this semester?
A: “I hope by the end of the summer I can integrate the practical learning I had so far with the theoretical knowledge to some of the objectives I already have in my booklet.”
Q: What advice would you like to share?
A: “I always tell everyone, even myself, to avoid comparing the first chapter of your journey with others’ whom (are) already at half of the book.”
Sachindra Dahal, doctoral student
Q: What fun things did you do over the summer break?
A: “I learned 3D printing as a hobby at the end of Spring 2021 from a workshop organized by ACI (American Concrete Institute) and T&DI (The American Society of Engineers’ Transportation and Development Institute). It was surprisingly very useful, (and I went) immediately to applying (it) in my research project. I 3D printed a lot of brackets to solve one of the problems in my research.
“I also went camping with my friends to Michigan, which provided (a) much needed break from (my) hectic schedule.”
Q: How does it feel to be back in person?
A: “I am excited to have less COVID-19 restrictions and enjoy the things around (the) Champaign-Urbana area. With restrictions there was very few things that could be done last year.
“I am planning to try different restaurants, and enjoy camping/picnics with friends and family, which was not possible last semester.”
Q: What projects are you working on at ATREL?
A: “Autonomous vehicles are getting smarter with numerous sensors and implementing cutting-edge technology. However, the roads are still designed in a traditional way to be physically strong for the vehicle loads and to minimize damage.
“My ongoing research proposes creating (an) electromagnetic signature to assist autonomous vehicles (with) stay(ing) in the lane during adverse weather, such as snow, water, sand, fog, etc., when (the) onboard camera cannot detect the lane markings. Lab results showed successful implementation of the proposed approach for snow, sand, water and ice.
“At ATREL, I will mount sensors onto (a) car, create the electromagnetic signature on the pavement and perform large-scale testing for the idea implemented in (the) lab. After successful implementation in large-scale testing, the proposed method has potential to provide weather independence for future autonomous vehicles for lane keeping and improving safety.”
Q: What’s on your to-do list this semester?
A: “I hope to finish the current experiment at ATREL this summer and write a paper with the data. The goal is to achieve enough progress to complete my Ph.D. by (the) end of this year.”
Q: What’s your advice for a successful semester?
A: “Develop different hobbies and keep yourself occupied. Do not forget to take time to enjoy while working hard.”
Mingu Kang, doctoral student
Q: What was one of the highlights of your summer break?
A: “I had a short trip to Chicago during the summer break. It was amazing to see again crowded streets and restaurants packed with people without masks (for the) first time in almost two years. I was able to revitalize myself with good food and energetic city vibes.”
Q: How has it been with in-person learning resuming?
A: “ATREL has been used by only a few people who are working on laboratory research for almost one and a half years. As many students are coming back to ATREL this semester, the beginning of this semester reminds me of my first semester at UIUC.”
Q: What research project are you working on at ATREL?
A: “I am working on a bender element sensor technique to investigate the new way to measure the modulus of the unbound aggregate layer of pavement. This semester, the main projects I will be working on are the investigation of the small-strain and large-strain modulus correlation and the utilization of the bender element sensor for the railway ballast modulus characterization.
“In pursuing my Ph.D., I am working on a Federal Aviation Administration project to analyze field sensor data from bender element and coil field sensors installed in FAA’s National Airport Pavement Test Facility Construction Cycle No. 9 pavement tests in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I originally worked on the development of these new bender element pavement sensors in a Smart Runway project in 2019 through 2021 funded by the U.S. Army Engineer Research Development Center.”
Q: What do you hope to achieve this semester?
A: “From the laboratory test and data analysis, I would like to establish a method to connect the small-strain modulus to the larger-strain modulus to make the bender element field sensor more useful.
“In addition, my personal goal this semester is to work out often to maintain my healthy lifestyle.”
Q: What’s your advice for your fellow Illini this semester?
A: “We are about to (be) back to normal, and it is exciting to get back to campus activities! Although most students and university staff are fully vaccinated and the COVID-19 safety restrictions have been somewhat relieved, let’s be responsible for our own health while enjoying a normal life.”
Asad Khan, master’s student
Q: What was a fun experience for you over the summer?
A: “I went to explore Chicago with my wife and two kids on a weekend. It was a great experience.”
Q: How does it feel to be back in person this semester?
A: “It is psychologically relieving that the COVID-19 restrictions have lightened. A sense of normalcy is back, and it is great to see everyone back in person.”
Q: What project are you working on at ATREL this semester?
A: “I will be working on the energy harvesting project as part of the I-ACT (Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track). I, along with my team, will be exploring and introducing technologies that could be incorporated in our pavement system to harvest energy.”
Q: What do you hope to accomplish this semester?
A: “I intend (to) enhance my knowledge to better understand concepts related to pavements and simultaneously do research as part of my project.”
Q: What advice do you have for your ATREL peers?
A: “I would advise them to keep on working hard. Work as a team as everyone achieves more once all the energies are synergized towards one goal.”
Yujia Lu, doctoral student
Q: What was the highlight of your summer break?
A: “Because of the pandemic, I (could) not get back to my home country in (the) summer, but there is a lot of fun in Champaign. I used the weekends to go to a strawberry farm. So I enjoyed locally grown produce with some of my friends.”
Q: How does it feel to be back in the swing of things this semester?
A: “Yes, I feel like we are back since we can have meetings in person and see many colleagues face to face. (Most) importantly, I got to conduct my in-person research experiments.”
Q: What projects are you working on at ATREL?
A: “This semester, I worked on testing asphalt binder and figuring out the fatigue life of samples. Our goal is to relate fatigue life of binder specimens and that of asphalt mixtures.”
Q: What do you hope to accomplish this semester?
A: “I hope I can finish my current research part and get good grades for the classes I (will) take.”
Q: What advice do you have for your peers?
A: “Trying our best to plan and finish our work in advance so that we can have enough flexible time for unexpected things or improving our work.”
Faisal Qadri, doctoral student
Q: What were some of your favorite moments from summer break?
A: “During the summer break, I have more time for sport activities, (like) playing tennis and gathering with friends more frequently. I also planned to visit my family in Palestine.”
Q: How are you feeling with learning returning to in person?
A: “I’m very happy that everything is getting back to its normal situation.”
Q: What are you working on at ATREL?
A: “I’m working with Dr. Nishant Garg (CEE assistant professor) as a Ph.D. student. We are doing a project with IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) to reduce curing times for concrete used in the transportation infrastructure. At ATREL, we routinely perform destructive as well as non-destructive tests for our investigation.”
Q: What do you hope to accomplish this semester?
A: “I’m having project-related site visits. I’m willing to collect enough data that helps me to publish something very soon.”
Q: What advice do you have for others before the semester begins?
A: “I advise everyone to enjoy the summer activities and use (their) time wisely in the summer, especially in the research work. It is a good chance to achieve good progress (in) their projects prior to (the) fall semester beginning.”
Abdulgafar Sulaiman, doctoral student
Q: What have been some of your best memories from the summer break?
A: “Going kayaking at Kickapoo (State Park) with the ASCE T&DI members. I also plan to go to Chicago and Indianapolis at some point. I am also taking some very good machine-learning courses online during the weekend, and it’s been interesting.”
Q: How does it feel to be back in the swing of things this semester?
A: “It feels really good. I resumed last fall, and I missed all the resumption activities I was looking forward to when applying to (the) U of I, especially Quad Day. I’m hoping it’s in person this year. So it’s really good. I got to play ball at the turfs and watch the EUROS (The Union of European Football Association’s European Championship) with friends at the Union.”
Q: What are you working on at ATREL?
A: “We are working on optimizing the use of local Illinois aggregates in stone mastic asphalt. SMA requires high quality and strong aggregates that we import from other state. We are studying the use of local aggregate to improve our roads while reducing the impact on the environment.”
Q: What do you hope to achieve this semester?
A: “I hope to take and pass my qualifying exams, work and learn more on asphalt binder and start to think towards thesis ideas.”
Q: What advice do you have for your peers in getting through the semester?
A: “To plan well and start early.”