Minert, Schellpeper, Munson chosen to Young Alumni Academy
Oct. 4, 2024 – The Nebraska Alumni Association announced that College of Engineering alums Brock Minert (2007, mechanical engineering) and Andrew Schellpeper (2011, construction management) and Nebraska Engineering recruitment coordinator Oliva Munson (2020, psychology) are among the 32 University of Nebraska–Lincoln graduates selected to the 2024 class of the Young Alumni Academy.
The academy provides an in-person experience dedicated to enhancing the connection and engagement of young alumni with the university. It offers participants exclusive opportunities for professional development, network-building with other successful alumni, personal meetings with university leaders and behind-the-scenes access to new campus facilities and initiatives. Members meet each month for an eight-month period.
Durham School teams earn two awards at ASHRAE student competition
Aug. 8, 2024 - Two teams of students from the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction earned awards at the 2024 ASHRAE international design competition:
HVAC Systems Selection, first place: Benjamin Bugenhagen, Katie Frey, Reece Fuchs, Solana Honda and Will Randby.
HVAC Design Calculations, second place: Espen Avenson, Lynnae Bennett, Aidan Bertucci, Izzy Eltze and Eliott Meyer.
The teams, comprised of fourth-year architectural engineering students, were advised by David Yuill, Richard L. McNeel associate professor in architectural engineering, and mentored by Pete Uhing.
"I’ve been asked: why is UNL so unusually successful in these competitions? It’s the students. We have amazing students, who are passionate about sustainable HVAC design. Their coursework gives them strong fundamentals and theory. Almost all of them have internships, giving them real-world experience. The fundamentals plus practical experience seems to be a winning combination for the student design competition," Yuill said.
Durham School's Wang, Underwood co-author paper featured in Acoustics Today
Aug. 2, 2024 - Lily Wang, director of the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, and architectural engineering doctoral candidate Samuel Underwood, are co-authors of a paper that is featured in the July 23 edition of the journal Acoustics Today. Titled, "Autism and Indoor Sounds," the paper explores acoustic accessibility for autistic individuals in the built environment and ways to incoporate the perspectives of neurodivergent individuals into the design process.
Durham School MAE team chosen as finalists for AEI Student Design Competition
March 29, 2024 - A team of Durham School Master of Architectural Engineering students - Nick Abbott, Anna Diederich, Jillian Dlouhy, Blaine Kaup, Peyton Leute (team lead), Trevor Mensch, Jace Pauli, Drue Pecquet and Taytum Vance - have been selected as a team finalist in this year's AEI Student Design Competition.
The team, with mentorship from Clarence Waters, Aaron Douglas Professor of Architectural Engineering, and industry fellows Todd Feldman, Ericka Nienhueser and Pete Uhing, will travel to the AEI Forum 2024, held April 8-10 in San Jose, California, where it will compete.
Alsaleem co-authors paper on solar-powered air conditioner that is published in Solar Energy journal
March 29, 2024 - Fadi Alsaleem, associate professor in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, is co-author of a paper - "Experimental Evaluation of a Solar-Powered Air Conditioner" - that was published in the April 2024 edition of the journal Solar Energy.
Ho, Ren receive Best Oral Presentation at International Conference on Big Data Analytics
March 29, 2024 - Chun-Hsing (Jun) Ho and graduate student Kewei Ren received the Best Oral Presentation Award at the 9th International Conference on Big Data Analytics, held March 14-16 in Tokyo, Japan. The paper Ho and Ren presented was titled, "Vibration Data Minking and Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection of Cycling Trails Using Instrumented Bike."
Asay honored by UNO as Academic Advisor of the Month for March
March 26, 2024 - Mallory Asay, academic advisor in the College of Engineering with emphasis on programs in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, was recently named Advisor of the Month by the University of Nebraska Omaha Academic Advising Council (AAC) for the month of March. The award will be presented to Asay at the March Academic Advising Council meeting.
Waters named 2024 Nebraska Engineering Champion
Jan. 26, 2024 - Clarence Waters, Aaron Douglas Professor in the Durham School, was named the 2024 Nebraska Engineering Champion by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Nebraska. The award recognizes outstanding individuals and teams who have collaborated with the council to contribute significantly to the engineering profession.
Sanderson selected to receive ASHRAE David C.J. Peters Scholarship
Sept. 1, 2023 - Geoffrey Sanderson, a sophomore majoring in architectural engineering, was chosen to receive the David C.J. Peters Scholarship, given annually by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
The one-year, $5,000 scholarship is awarded annually to a qualified undergraduate mechanical or architectural engineering student enrolled full-time in a four- or five-year bachelor degree program at a qualifying institution. The scholarship was created by Southland Industries in honor of David Peters, a tireless advocate of recruiting quality and an ASHRAE member.
Sanderson, a sophomore from McKinney, Texas, said the scholarship was both a surprise and a relief.
"Two or three months after I applied, I was playing in a tennis tournament. I had just lost a match, and I was feeling embarrassed as I had played far from my best. When I walked over to check my phone, I saw that I had an email from ASHRAE. I had won the scholarship," Sanderson said.
"Being in the 4+1 program (the accelerated Master of Architectural Engineering program in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction), my goal is to enter the master's year without student loans. This award gets me closer to that personal financial goal and helps me focus more of my attention on my studies and everything else the University of Nebraska has to offer."
Nebraska Engineering researchers win ASCE INSPIRE Best Paper award
Nov. 22, 2023 - A team of Nebraska Engineering researchers from the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction and Civil and Environmental Engineering won the Best Paper award at the ASCE Infrastructure Innovation & Adaptation for a Sustainable & Resilient World (INSPIRE) Conference, held Nov. 16-18 in Arlington, Virginia.
The paper, "Driving Factors of Rural Social Vulnerability for Communities at High Risk of Riverine Flooding in the United States," was co-authored by Ph.D. students Yasaman Ahmadi from the Durham School and Gabriela Gonzalez from civil engineering, and advisors Jennifer Lather, assistant professor in the Durham School, and Christine Wittich, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.
The team examined the differences in factors of social vulnerability and flooding risk between rural and urban areas in the U.S. Their findings show that rural counties with a high risk of riverine flooding have higher percentages of vulnerable populations, such as those living in poverty, without a high school diploma, over 65 years old, with disabilities, and living in mobile homes, compared to their urban counterparts.
This work was supported through a UNL Grand Challenges Planning Grant that Lather is leading - "Serving At-Risk Communities in Disasters."