Welcome to the third edition of The Durham School e-newsletter, which is designed to provide periodic updates to alumni, friends, faculty and staff of the school. We hope you enjoy reading about our successes and activities. We welcome your suggestions and input for future editions.

Durham School Update

It hardly seems possible that one semester of the 2010-11 academic year has concluded and we are halfway through the second semester. On March 10, 2011, I celebrated one year of service as director of The Durham School. As I reflect on all of our accomplishments during this year, I am very thankful to all who have contributed to our success – students, faculty, staff and industry. We are eager to see what the future will hold and look forward to continuing to grow our relationships with all of you.

Over the last few months we have restructured the administrative structure of the school to better serve our stakeholders. We are operating as an integrated unit and our new motto is "3,2,1": 3 programs, 2 campuses, 1 school. We have also rolled out a series of new initiatives to foster innovation, including research seed grant competitions, a national Ph.D. symposium, and our innovative teaching initiative. We will keep you informed as these initiatives begin to provide tangible results. Our future is bright and the school is in a position to achieve the next level of performance. We want to become "the school of choice" in the country for both faculty and students interested in Architectural Engineering and Construction, and I am confident with your support and our hard work we will get there in the near future!

There are plenty of opportunities for you to collaborate with the school, so please contact me with your ideas and suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you. You may email me directly or use our online suggestion box: http://www.engineering.unl.edu/durhamschool/about/suggestionbox.shtml.

Sincerely,

Dr. Eddy M. Rojas
Director and Professor
The Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction
University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engineering

Congratulations to August and December 2010 Durham School Graduates

August 2010
The Durham School is pleased to announce 10 students received bachelor degrees (1- Architectural Engineering, 1 - Construction Engineering Technology, 1 - Construction Engineering, 7 - Construction Management). Two students also received graduate degrees (MAE and MEng Construction).

December 2010
The commencement activities in December were busy again for The Durham School. A total of 46 students received their bachelor's degrees (4 - Architectural Engineering, 37 - Construction Management, 5 - Construction Engineering). At the graduate level, seven students received their degrees (2 - MS in AE, 1 - PhD in AE, 4 - MAE, 1 - PhD in Construction). These students have shared their talents and resources in academics, research, student leadership, and community service during their careers here. We wish them the best in their future pursuits in academics, industry and the armed services.

Alumni involvement is the upmost importance to the Durham School, so we encourage all alumni to get involved in the school's Alumni Outreach Council: http://engineering.unl.edu/durhamschool/alumni/alumni-outreach.shtml.

Recent Faculty Research Activities

Jonathan Shi (PI) and co-PIs Chuck Berryman, Jim Goedert, Kevin Grosskopf, Gren Yuill, Clarence Waters, Avery Schwer, Haorong Li, Yong Cho, Mahmoud Alahmad, Terri Norton, Dale Tiller, and Zhingang Shen received support for their successful proposal to the DOE Building America Program to help improve the energy efficiency of American homes. This project has the potential to generate funding of up to $2.5M/year for four and a half years. UNL is one of the only 15 research teams across the nation selected by the U.S. Department of Energy. More information can be found on the DOE website: http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=370

Zhigang Shen (PI) and Yimin Zhu (PI) were awarded a grant for $200,000 from NSF to fund "Collaborative Research: Foster Complex Systems Thinking in Construction Engineering Education Using a Case-Based Multidimensional Virtual Environment (CMVE)." More information can be found on the NSF website:
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

Josephine Lau and Gren Yuill were awarded a $112,829 grant from ASHRAE to study "CO2-based Demand Controlled Ventilation for Multiple Zone HVAC Systems."

Clarence Waters and a team of faculty from architecture and interior design were awarded a $50,000 Nuckolls Fund grant to develop and deliver a project called "Lighting Across the [Design] Curriculum," which is a series of teaching modules and methodologies from both teaching and learning perspectives that are purposeful in the development of curricula across the disciplines within the building industries at the University of Nebraska, Miami University, Kansas State University and the University of Texas at Austin. This grant is scheduled to be completed in 2012. Additional information is online at: http://nuckollsfund.org/nf_annual_grants.html.

Mahmoud Alahmad (PI) was awarded a $10,000 award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for his project, "Real Time Monitor for Energy Conservation." His project's video is featured on Planet Forward ("Phantom of the Outlet").

Faculty Honors

Clarence Waters was named a Penn State Architectural Engineering Centennial Fellow. This honor was bestowed upon him as recognition of his exceptional contributions to the first century of architectural engineering and his potential to make equally significant contributions to the second century.

Stuart Bernstein was appointed affiliate director of Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a national initiative for the State of Nebraska. The first statewide event was successfully hosted at PKI in September. More than 100 high school and community college counselors from across the state gathered for the all-day event. For more information about PLTW, please visit:
http://www.pltw.org/university-nebraska-lincoln.

Clarence Waters and Michelle Eble-Hankins, Alvine Engineering, were awarded with the Illuminating Engineering Society's 2010 Taylor Technical Award for their paper, "Subjective Impression of Discomfort Glare from Sources of Non-uniform Luminance."

Industry and External Initiatives

We are pleased to announce that several industry professionals have joined us in a special partnership. The Industry Fellows Program was created to enhance the interaction, understanding and coordination between industry and academia. Through the expertise and experience from these industry professionals, we hope to bring cutting-edge design and projects to The Durham School students and faculty, and further enhance the readiness of Durham School students to enter industry. Michelle Eble-Hankins, Ph.D., PE, LC., an alumnus of our Architectural Engineering doctoral program and an architectural engineer at Alvine Engineering, has accepted our offer to be the Alvine Engineering - Durham School Industry Fellow of Lighting. Todd Feldman of HDR has accepted our offer to be the HDR - Durham School Professional of Structural Engineering. Michael P. Hamilton, AIA, of Leo A. Daly is now the Leo A. Daly – Durham School Industry Fellow of Architecture.

Mike McGinnis, executive director of The Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI), and Eddy Rojas, school director, attended the Nebraska Diplomats 43rd Annual Banquet at the Cornhusker-Marriot Hotel in Lincoln in September. The Peter Kiewit Institute was recognized with the "Power is in the Partnership" Award presented by Governor Heineman. The Nebraska Diplomats is the largest economic development organization in Nebraska, with more than 375 business and community leaders from across the state. This is a great honor that recognizes the efforts of McGinnis and the PKI staff in strengthening the partnership among the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the engineering/technology industry. The Durham School is an active participant in PKI initiatives and benefits greatly from McGinnis' leadership and vision.

L-R: Mike McGinnis, Governor Dave Heineman, Dan Koch, Eddy Rojas

The Durham School Career Fair was held October 5-7, 2010 on the Omaha campus. The schedule of events included a pre-fair reception and information sessions for employers, faculty and students, the day-long career fair event, and optional interviews with companies. There were 27 registered companies from Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Virginia and Texas. Approximately 265 students from Omaha, Lincoln and Kearney attended the events. The Lincoln campus also hosted an engineering career fair with 86 companies recruiting from all engineering disciplines. The dates for the 2011 career fair events will be announced soon.

Go Big...Green?

The Durham School has been involved in several events this semester to emphasize the importance of environmental conservation and initiatives to create efficient and sustainable design solutions in the building industry.

2010 Green Home Tour - Green Homecoming
The Durham School was a strategic partner with Kiewit Building Group, USGBC Nebraska Flatwater Chapter, Nebraska Solar Energy Society, and The Green Omaha Coalition (GOC) in organizing multiple activities on Oct. 2, 1010. The event showcased five midtown-Omaha homes, each with a different conservation theme. The headquarters for the home tour and vendor exhibition was Mammel Hall, UNO's newest academic building and first LEED certified building. Bill Moore, founder of EVWorld.Com, was the featured speaker during the kickoff presentation to the Green Homecoming. He has closely followed the development of electric, hybrid and fuel cell technologies for vehicles ranging from electric bicycles and scooters to hybrid and fuel cell buses and authored a book about his studies. This is an annual event that takes place in Omaha; more information about the 2010 event is available at http://www.greenomahacoalition.org/index.cfm?page=greenhomes2010. We want to extend special thanks to the faculty, staff, students and alumni who assisted with these events. Rosemary Edzie, Charity Stahl, Dr. Avery Schwer, Patrick Wheeler and Sarah Nieves (AE, '06) were key individuals in coordinating a successful green homecoming.

Green Schools Summit
In higher education, Green Schools Summit events have been created across the country to highlight institutions that have made strides in improving energy efficiency, conserving resources and enhancing environmental quality. In coordination with multiple state agencies, UNL and PKI hosted a Green Schools Summit in Nebraska to bring ideas and innovation together from education, government and industry. MAE student Matthew Hebert was invited to participate and shares the following perspective on his experience.

October 22-23, 2010 marked the first-ever Green School Summit in Nebraska. The summit, held on the University of Nebraska Lincoln City Campus, was overwhelmingly successful. Officials and administrators representing public school districts from across the state came together with building industry engineers, representatives of state and federal government, and other professionals to discuss sustainability in public school building projects.

Topics included how green systems can be used in new building projects, how these sustainable systems can also be retrofitted to benefit existing facilities, and how tenant behavior alone can produce sustainable, money saving results. Several case studies were presented as testaments to how manageable and beneficial these sustainable projects and practices can be. Because "Green Schools" were the focus of the convention, a presentation on innovative financing options for school administrations was given. The financing option that received the most credit was one in which the school system pays back the company implementing the green project with the money saved by the upgrade's efficiency.

Student Activities and Leadership
NSBE Community Leadership Conference - Terri Norton, faculty adviser of The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and Eddy Rojas, school director, joined Carl B. Mack, Executive Director of NSBE, at the Community Leadership Reception held at the East Campus Union in Lincoln Oct. 29, 2010. Mack served as keynote speaker and captivated an enthusiastic audience. Rojas emphasized that diversity is of paramount importance to the school because it has a significant impact on the educational experiences offered to our students. The goal of the school is to recruit the best and most diverse faculty and student population. As an illustration, the school is developing a scholarship program intended to enhance the diversity of our student population, and several corporations have already shown interest in participating in this endeavor.

L-R: Eddy Rojas, Carl Mack, Terri Norton

3 Days of Service - Twice during the academic year, UNO's Service Learning Academy coordinates civic projects that students, faculty, and community leaders volunteer to assist in renovating and revitalizing buildings and areas in Omaha. The Social Settlement and Viking Ship were selected as the projects for this fall's activities, held Oct. 18, 20 and 21, 2010 during UNO's scheduled fall break. Students from AESLAC, AGC, and Associate Professor Stuart Bernstein were among the volunteers at this semester's projects.

Associated Schools of Construction Region IV Construction Management Competition - Students and faculty in the construction programs in Omaha and Lincoln represented The Durham School at the 18th annual competition held Oct. 27-30, 2010. A total of 27 teams from 12 institutions competed in the Commercial, Design-Build, Heavy Highway, and Residential divisions. Industry sponsors provide real plans and specifications from projects that have already been or are currently under construction. Students are given an 18-hour timeframe to schedule, estimate and prepare a presentation. A panel of industry judges grades their proposals and presentations. Congratulations to students from the Lincoln campus for placing second in the Commercial division and Residential division. Faculty Kevin Grosskopf (Commercial) and Charles Berryman (Residential) coached the students throughout the semester in preparation for the competition.

PCI Big Beam Competition - Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) hosts an annual competition for engineering student design. Each team must work with a PCI Producer Member to build a precast concrete beam no more than 17 feet long. The beams are then tested and awarded prizes in zones and overall. Congratulations to The Durham School students on the Omaha campus and Professor George Morcous for placing first in their zone (3) and fourth nationally in the competition.

Howard Brandston Student Lighting Design Education Grant - Heidi Kuchta and Andrew Wiese (AE) were recognized at the 2010 Illuminating Engineering Society Annual Conference for receiving this grant. The Howard Brandston Student Lighting Design Education Grant was established to encourage and recognize students who have demonstrated exceptional professional promise through the presentation of an original and ingenious solution to a supplied design problem. This is the second award to The Durham School (Stephen Gollehon and Scott Lindgren, 2009) in this international competition.

Focus on DSAEC Study Abroad
A global perspective is important in today's society. The Durham School has been involved since 2005 in exchange agreements with three partner institutions - Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia; Leeds University in Leeds, England; University of Castille-La Mancha in Ciudad Real, Spain. In the history of these exchanges, 16 students have exchanged from The Durham School and we have welcomed 15 students from these countries.

Included are updates on students who have studied with us from abroad over the past two years.

L-R: Isabelle Davies, Sophia Tibbo, Iris Chan, Richard Colley

The four students from Leeds University posed together during their graduation in June 2010 with the caption "I'm an Engineer Mate" to share with those they met at The Durham School during their exchange.

• Isabelle Davies is living in London, United Kingdom. She is working for Price & Myers, a consulting structural engineer firm.
• Sophia Tibbo is working for a design firm and living in Plymouth, United Kingdom.
• Iris Chan is living in Hong Kong. She has done some traveling and is looking for a full-time position.
• Richard Colley is living in London, United Kingdom. He has done some traveling and is currently looking for a full-time position.

L-R: Andy Chu, Onesemo Moala

Onesemo Moala is finishing up his final semester at Victoria University and doing an internship at D.T Design in Maidstone, Australia. Andy Chu is finishing up his final year at Leeds University.

It is interesting to hear the perspective of these students who join us for six months to a year about their impressions of our educational system and the experiences and challenges they face while being thousands of miles away from home. The largest group to exchange to The Durham School to date - five from Australia and two from England - sat down in December to talk about their exchange experiences.

L-R: Brent Bransgrove (AU), William Linton (UK), Daniel Tasevski (AU), Tom Craig (UK), Christine Warren (The Durham School), David Hanna (AU), Alma Ramirez-Rodgers (UNL College of Engineering), Jordan Trist (AU). Not pictured – Vinh Dao (AU)

What are some educational differences you've noticed here compared to your home institution?
They all agreed that the course design and instructional style were very different from their home institutions. They are mostly used to a standard lecture with great responsibility placed on the students to understand the material outside of class. The classes at UNL (Omaha) have been smaller than what they are used to and provide more interaction with the instructors and fellow students. There are more frequent grading/measurement opportunities in our system compared to the abroad institutions. David Hanna said that in his classes in engineering at Victoria University, there are usually a couple projects and then one comprehensive test at the end. They all had to deal with measurement in a different way in their classes - metric versus imperial system. While challenging, the students agreed this exposure prepares them in career opportunities they wouldn't have experienced without the exchange program. Hanna and several other Australian students took a class that exposed them to Autodesk's Revit program. They would not have been exposed to this program at their home institution and were grateful for the opportunity here.

What things have you enjoyed the most here in Omaha/Nebraska/U.S.?
All of the students have been impressed by the hospitality shown them by faculty and staff both in and outside of The Durham School, as well as their fellow students who they've met in classes and at the residence halls. They reported that our facilities are updated, clean and welcoming. The dormitories at their home institutions do not have some of the amenities they experienced here (wireless internet, carpet in each room, large space for rooms). A group of the Australian students (Brent Bransgrove, Daniel Tasevski, Hanna, Jordan Trist) traveled across the United States during their semester. They began in August by visiting Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami. During the semester on longer weekends, they visited New York (fall break) and Chicago (Thanksgiving). Hanna said that each place they visited was exciting, but reminded them of how nice it was to return back to Omaha.

Would you encourage fellow students at your home institution to come and exchange here?
The students were enthusiastic about sharing their experiences with their classmates back at their home institutions. Tom Craig mentioned the value in studying in Nebraska - actual monetary costs versus the experiences gained - and he would encourage his classmates to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad. Jordan Trist and Brent Bransgrove both participate in athletics back in Australia. Despite having active schedules with those activities, they were able to arrange to study abroad and would encourage their fellow athletes to do the same if possible. Overall, these students will make great ambassadors for The Durham School and Nebraska abroad.

Upcoming Events

3/30 - 4/1/11: The Durham School Ph.D. Symposium
3/31/11, 4/7/11, 4/14/11, 4/21/11: The Durham School Explorer Post
4/6 - 4/9/11: Associated Schools of Construction International Convention in Omaha
4/16/11: Architectural Engineering Institute Golf Outing
4/20/11: Construction Programs Awards Banquet - Omaha
4/25/11: Construction Programs Awards Banquet - Lincoln

For further information about The Durham School events, please contact Cassandra Yates at cyates2@unl.edu.