The most destructive and costliest wildfire in California’s history, the Camp Fire, killed 85 people and destroyed nearly 19,000 structures in November 2018. A year later, crews were still collecting and carrying away piles of wood, metals, appliances, contaminated soil, toxic household chemicals, and other debris and waste totaling more than 3.2 million metric tons – roughly the weight of 2 million cars.
In 2018, Hurricane Michael was a near-Category 5 hurricane when it hit the Florida Panhandle. The massive storm left thousands of residents without housing, power, food or water. The small coastal town of Mexico Beach was devastated along with many small towns that were in Michael’s path. In the wake of the hurricane, researchers started looking at how rural areas faired compared to urban populations after the storm. They discovered there was a “resilience divide” between urban and rural communities.
The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering’s annual Green & Gold 2019 Tailgate party was a big success this year with more than 400 people in attendance. This is the second year of the festive event that celebrates the partnership between the two universities.
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering recently honored six graduate students with the CEE Graduate Students Research Excellence Award. Each recipient will receive up to $1,000 that may be used for presenting a paper at a conference.
Sungmoon Jung is an associate professor of civil engineering and graduate advisor for Mohammad Reza Seyedi, one of the recipients of the award. Jung said the award is given out by the CEE graduate committee and recognizes students who have shown exemplary achievement in their research.
The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering earned a Bronze award and Exemplar status from the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) in the inaugural year of the ASEE Diversity Recognition Program.
The college is one of only two engineering programs in Florida to earn the distinctions.
Numerous CEE students, faculty, and alumni were recognized for their contributions to the field of engineering by local professional organizations at the annual Engineers Week Banquet, held in February at the University Center Club in Tallahassee.
“Imagine a giant moving toward a tall building,” FAMU-FSU Engineering professor Sungmoon Jung said. “He takes his large hand and pushes the tall building, then lets it go. What happens? The building vibrates. The vibration is one of the responses we study regarding wind effects on high-rise buildings.”
FAMU-FSU Engineering and Florida A&M University graduate student Olumide Abioye was recognized for outstanding student paper this week at the 44th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Colorado.
Over the years, the cataclysmic nature of hurricanes has resulted in devastation throughout Florida.
Immediately after a storm, road closures in metropolitan areas due to fallen power lines and large trees increase the amount of time it takes first responders to reach a destination during natural disasters, when lives are at stake.
