Reeling in the awards: CEE students earn top CCAT posters, Mavis Fellowship

Roll out the red carpet for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student award winners Egemen Okte and Sachindra Dahal — both Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering doctoral students.

 

CCAT Student Poster Competition

Okte and Dahal are the graduate winner and runner-up, respectively, in the 2021 Center for Connected and Automated Transportation Student Poster Competition at the CCAT Global Symposium.

Okte and Dahal wowed the crowd with their impressive transportation posters entitled “A Framework to Determine Road Networks’ Platoonability” and “Passive Electromagnetic Signature of Roadway for Vehicle Lateral Positioning,” respectively.

Okte’s display investigated Illinois truck routes to assess whether or not they could be used for autonomous and connected truck platooning, whereby two or more trucks form a convoy and maintain a close distance to improve safety and fuel efficiency.

 

“It is a methodology that looks at the benefits of platooning under real-life scenarios, such as traffic jams or busy interstate connector routes.”

The result?

Most of Illinois’ interstates are suitable for platooning, “which is good news for our future,” Okte added.

“However, we need to pay close attention to routes with high traffic to make sure that platooning is still effective and safe,” he warned.

Dahal’s efforts also centered on autonomous and connected vehicles, specifically with how engineers will address vehicles drifting into other lanes during adverse weather conditions, like fog, rain or snow.

 

“Right now autonomous vehicles have (a) problem when there is adverse weather because onboard camera(s) cannot detect the lane markings,” Dahal said.

The solution?

An electromagnetic signature, or invisible lane markings, that sensors detect even in the midst of adverse conditions.

“This research/poster proposes creating electromagnetic signature on the road by strategic positioning of materials already used in pavement construction in addition to tradition(al) pavement requirements,” Dahal said. “Even with 2 inches of standing snow, sand, water or ice, the signal is not attenuated and can be easily detected.”

Dahal hopes such research can lead to creating “smarter” roads.

“It is high time that our infrastructures are designed to adopt to future demand and not just in a traditional way,” he added.

 

Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship

Okte has also been selected as one of the Mavis Future Faculty Fellows for the 2021-22 academic year. The Grainger College of Engineering program provides training for the next generation of engineering professors focusing on three areas of expertise — teaching, research and service.

“(The) Mavis Fellowship teaches fellows how to be a well-rounded academic,” Okte said. “I hope that I can sharpen my skills in all (of) these areas and gain tools to excel in this area that I am passionate about.”

The fellowship is named after Frederic T. and Edith F. Mavis. Frederic T. Mavis earned his bachelor’s masters and doctoral degrees — all in civil engineering — from UIUC. The endowment provides $2,000 to each fellow, all of whom must be doctoral students at The Grainger College of Engineering and wish to become engineering faculty.

In return, the fellows provide a one-year commitment of registering for one additional credit hour and meeting for one hour once a week during the fall and spring semesters.

Okte hopes his efforts during the fellowship payoff tenfold.

“Short term, it means that I will have more tools in my arsenal when it comes to looking for academic positions and making the most of my experience,” he said. “In the long term, it means that I will gain valuable knowhow and insight from fellow academics and students about being a successful teacher, researcher and mentor in the future.”

The thought of accomplishing all of that made him think of one person.

“My mom,” Okte said. “(She) is an academic, and she really inspired me to be one as well. I am extremely happy because I will get (to) learn more about being an academic and be more like my mom one day and get a chance to inspire others.”