Colorado State University

Dr. Hussam Mahmoud Joins the Department

Dr. Hussam Mahmoud joins the department as an Assistant Professor in the structural engineering program. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

Hussam’s Ph.D. study focused on conducting system-level seismic assessment of steel frames with energy dissipative connections using hybrid simulation and nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis.

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Prior to starting his Ph.D., his involvement at UIUC with the Mutli-Axial Full-Scale Sub-Structured Testing and Simulation (MUST-SIM) facility as manager had been a great addition to his academic and research experience. Hussam’s work included conducting various small-scale and large-scale experimental testing and evaluating complex control algorithms and loading protocols used in the tests. Before arriving at UIUC, he worked as a research scientist at the ATLSS Research Center at Lehigh University. His work at Lehigh focused on fatigue and fracture evaluation of steel bridges. The work included material testing, fractographic analysis, field instrumentation and monitoring, weld simulation, and nonlinear finite element analysis. He proposed proto-type retrofits that have successfully been implemented on major bridges in the US.

Hussam is currently teaching Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering and will be teaching Design and Behavior of Steel Structures. He is also interested in developing new courses including Structural Stability and Fatigue and Fracture. He intends to align his teaching goals with that of the department and the college to further increase multidisciplinary studies. He will do so through enriching course material with relevant subjects from different engineering disciplines as well as disciplines in the area of architecture, human psychology and behavior, and economics with the latter two being essential components when covering hazard loss assessment in the Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering course he teaches.

Hussam has many publications ranging between journal, conference, and technical reports. He is a technical reviewer for various journals and is involved with many technical committees including ASCE on steel bridges and Eurocode Committee on Seismic Design-TC 13, among many others.

Energy-Water Consortium at Colorado State University

Dr. Ken Carlson in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Dr. Reagan Waskom, Director of the Colorado Water Institute are leading the Energy-Water Consortium at Colorado State University. The consortium is a public-private partnership between CSU and the oil and gas industry that is working to solve important issues related to water and the production of oil and gas in Colorado.

Colorado State University has long been involved with many aspects of oil and gas production including exploration, production, end use, environmental solutions, and policy/regulatory issues.   

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Evan Vlachos receives Honorary Doctorate of Civil Engineering

Evan Vlachos, Professor, received an Honorary Doctorate from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in March of this year in his home country of Greece.

Aristotle University Rector Yannis Mylopoulos and CSU President Tony Frank combined Vlachos' award ceremony with a signing of an International Memorandum of Understanding between the two universities.

The memorandum creates a partnership between the two universities that will focus on:

  • Water diplomacy involving multiple countries;
  • Water resources planning and management with emphasis on new techniques and models;
  • Exploration of extreme hydrologic events such as drought and floods and their consequences for water-scarce and water-stressed hydrologic regimes;
  • Exchanges of graduate students and faculty; and
  • Comparative drought and desertification studies involving the agricultural economies of Colorado and Greece.

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"Greece, like the United States, faces overpopulated urban areas with a limited water supply, but it also struggles with water agreements since it is a downstream country," Vlachos said.

Vlachos, an expert in water resources and planning management, is retired from the Department of Sociology at CSU and currently coordinates the North American UNESCO water center, approved by the United Nations, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. CSU's International School for Water Resources in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering serves as the host organization for the UNESCO center. Also participating from Colorado State are the Colorado Water Institute and the Department of Sociology. The other institutions participating are the University of Arizona, the University of New Hampshire, Oregon State University, and Florida International University.

As a founding member of the UNESCO center, CSU boasts that approximately 120 professors conducting water-related research at Colorado State will also help provide guidance on issues largely facing the world including hydrologic and hydraulic engineering, water planning and systems management; water policy development and governance; ecosystem sustainability; socioeconomic analysis; conflict resolution; and global change.

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New Faculty in Civil & Environmental Engineering

The Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering is excited to welcome ten new faculty members: Dr. Tom Sale, Dr. Kimberly Catton, Dr. Susan De Long, Dr. Jose Luis Chavez, Dr. Pinar Omur-Ozbek, Dr. Rebecca Atadero, Dr. Karan Venayagamoorthy, Dr. Domenico Bau, Dr. Sybil Sharvelle and Dr. Mazdak Arabi. Each brings with them a diverse set of expertise to our already strong team of professors and researchers. We expect great things from each of them and look forward to their many contributions in the years to come.


Dr. Tom Sale joined the Department this Fall as an Associate Professor and is continuing on in his role as the Director of the Center for Contaminant Hydrology in Civil and Environmental Engineering. His Research and consulting focus on innovative solutions for groundwater contaminants in source zones and plumes. Dr. Sale received his Ph.D. from Colorado State University, M.S. Degree from the University of Arizona, and B.A. degrees from Miami of Ohio.


Dr. Kimberly Catton is a research scientist/professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CSU. Her area of expertise is in biological fluid mechanics. She earned a B.S. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering. Her master’s research was on effectiveness of biofilters to remove low concentrations of nitric oxide from engine exhaust.


Dr. Susan De Long is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her area of expertise is environmental biotechnology and she obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley in Environmental Science. While at UC Berkeley, she discovered a fascination with molecular biology and she decided to pursue a second bachelors' degree in molecular and cell biology.


Dr. Jose Luis Chavez is an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. He earned his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal da Paraiba (Paraiba Federal University) at Campina Grande, Brazil, in 1992. In 1999 Dr. Chavez received his M.S. degree in Irrigation Engineering from Utah State University. His Ph.D. was in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from Utah State University in 2005.


Dr. Pinar Omur-Ozbek is a Research Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. She received her M.S. degree at Virginia Tech where she focused on taste-and-odor problems related to algal products in source waters and then received her Ph.D. for her interdisciplinary research to investigate the metallic flavor of drinking water caused by iron and copper.


Dr. Rebecca Atadero joined our faculty as an assistant professor in July 2008. Rebecca earned her bachelor's degree in civil engineering from CSU in 2002 and then went on to the University of California, San Diego to earn a M.S. and Ph.D. in structural engineering. Rebecca first returned to CSU in 2006 as a research scientist/instructor and taught Structural Analysis and Steel Design to undergraduate students. She and her husband Todd are excited to continue living in Fort Collins.


Dr. Karan Venayagamoorthy joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as an assistant professor in January 2008. Karan received his B.S. in civil engineering and master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa in 2000 and 2002 respectively. Karan then received his Ph.D. in 2006 from Stanford University specializing in environmental fluid mechanics and hydrology.


Dr. Domenico Bau is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Bau received his degree in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering of the University of Padova, where he also worked as a research scientist following graduation. His work experience on the impact of anthropogenic activities on the environment prompted him to enter the PhD program in Environmental Engineering at MTU, which he completed in 2006.


Dr. Sybil Sharvelle is an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and is a member of the Environmental Engineering focus area. Dr. Sharvelle attended the University of Colorado for her B.S. and M.S. degrees and received her doctoral degree from Purdue University, where she developed a biological processor for treatment of graywater for potable reuse during long duration space missions.


Dr. Mazdak Arabi is a Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. He is teaching and actively conducting research in the water resources management and planning and environmental engineering areas. After receiving his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran, Mazdak became a graduate research assistant and then a received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2005.