To say these past 12 months have been eventful would truly be an understatement — and I am proud to say the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering has only become stronger over the past year.

Hands down the biggest development was our merger with the Division of Construction Engineering and Management, a move that has brought about a new, incredible era for our school — and especially for our students. With this merger, 116 new students joined our program, bringing our total student roster up to 763 undergrads and 430 graduate students.

The fall semester marked the beginning of this new era for our school, and the overwhelmingly positive response — both internally and externally — exceeded our expectations. From the eager reactions of our students to the enthusiastic encouragement from our industry partners, the merger between such strong programs was seen as something both necessary and forward-thinking.

Overall, the merger has enabled new opportunities for research, education and experiential learning for our students, faculty and staff. It has also allowed us to better answer industry demands — both nationally and internationally — that call for graduates who have a greater understanding of the civil and construction engineering fields.

I am confident that benefits from this merger will continue to grow, and I look forward to sharing these stories in future messages.

Of course, that is not all that has been taking place at the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering — and we are very excited to share some of the latest developments and innovations in education and research in this edition of Impact Magazine.

Stories in this edition feature undergraduate student-assisted research that could positively impact both communities and environments around the world. This impactful research includes the innovation in structure retrofitting that will make buildings in developing nations significantly more resilient, the creation of a new hazardous material rapid-response method and innovations in urban forest management.

These are just a few of the global-impact endeavors taking place at our school. Even more stories can be found in the news section of our website, which I encourage you to visit to keep up on all the latest developments and innovations at the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering.

All the best,

Rao S. Govindaraju
Bowen Engineering Head of Civil and Construction Engineering and
Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering