CEE Ph.D. student Marcus Cheung (Structural Materials program at SEMM) and Professor Franco Zunino have received a 2026 Daniel P. Jenny Research Fellowship from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). The $50,000 award is for their project “Optimizing Low-Paste Volume Concrete via the Compressible Packing Model for Sustainable and Cost-Effective Precast Applications.” PCI’s Research and Development Council chose the proposal as one of this year’s Jenny Fellowships.

Professor Amy Pickering has received the Excellence in Research Award at the 20th annual Water & Health Conference, hosted by the University of North Carolina (UNC) Water Institute, October 26–30, 2026.

Professor Emeritus Nicholas Sitar has been named the recipient of the 2027 Karl Terzaghi Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Geo-Institute. The award recognizes Sitar for his “transformative contributions to geotechnical engineering and engineering geology, and for his work on the seismic design of retaining structures, including their behavior under dynamic conditions.” Presented every two years, the Karl Terzaghi Award is one of the ASCE Geo-Institute’s highest honors in geotechnical engineering.

Dr. Jasenka Rakas has been awarded funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) through its VINES (Vertical Integration of Next-Generation Networks) program to support research on AERONET (AI-enabled Orchestration of Heterogeneous Networks for Aviation Safety).

To mark what would have been CEE Professor Emeritus Carl L. Monismith’s 100th birthday this month, his family has launched a 1:1 Matching Gift Challenge up to $50,000 for the soon to be established Carl L. Monismith Endowed Graduate Fellowship.

For 60+ years, Carl shaped generations of Cal engineers. He always believed graduate students were the heart of CEE—driving innovation while mentoring the next wave of leaders.

Congratulations to PhD student Timothy Carlson who has been named the winner of the 2026 Robert J. Melosh Medal and Prize, an international competition recognizing the best student paper in finite element analysis.

Professor Evan Variano is exploring the potential of tidal energy as a renewable energy source. Through his latest research, Variano is studying how an underwater kite can harness the power of ocean currents to generate clean energy. In a recent interview with Berkeley Engineering, he discusses the technology’s potential and his goals for advancing tidal energy research.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Jasenka Rakas, Alexis Eskenazi, an undergraduate in the CE 157/257 Sustainable Aviation and Infrastructure class, placed second in the 2025–2026 Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs. The submission, “Nuclear for Airports: An Integrated SMR, Hydrogen, and Sustainable Aviation Fuel System at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport,” competed in the Airport Environmental Interactions d