Chair’s Message

Spring 2021

headshot of Zhihui Sun

Dr. Zhihui Sun

I am deeply thankful and proud of our students, faculty, and staff for a quick and smooth shift into a very new and different teaching and learning mode.  2020 was certainly a challenging year, but we have conquered so many obstacles together and we flipped it into another productive year.

The student population of CEE has grew a lot. We ranked the top 6 most-grown programs among all UofL programs that grant BS degrees in the past 5 years.  As we continue to graduate high quality undergraduates and graduates in Civil Engineering, our graduate placement rate is continue to be the highest within the Speed School of Engineering. I would like to encourage all CEE alumni, faculty, and students to send in valuable advices to help us keep expanding the network and strengthening the relationship with our community.

We marked 2020 with many great events. Our ASCE student chapter had won national recognition for their growth and expansion and our student officers were given national titles for their great leadership and dedication.   With the helps from our faculty, alumni, and students, we held our first-time summer seminar series for our sophomores to help them better envision their future years within the department. Working with US Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District, we continued our seminar series for senior students and we welcomed Colonel Crispino’s visit to the department. We are completing the remodeling project of our structural lab with a brand new testing frame that allows us to test structural elements with real sizes. The renovation is projected to complete in early 2021. By that time, we will host a ribbon cutting event and all of our friends are invited to attend. The lab will be named after the Dahlem family to honor Mr. Bernie Dahlem, a CEE alumni and donor.

Let’s put the overwhelming 2020 behind us, looking forward, 2021 will be a year to celebrate a return to our normal lives. Our faculty and staff will keep the momentum to provide high quality teaching and research to better serve our students and our community. Hand in hand, we will move forward together to create another busy but productive year!