The biosphere of the “Big Blue Planet” is dependent upon balance. From the land we inhabit to the atmosphere we breathe, everything matters. Balance is essential for maintaining a sustainable future for generations to come. So how do we keep our planet in balance? 

There are many ways, but Dr. Gang Chen, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is interested in how changes to land and climate affect the environment and its inhabitants.

Eight freshmen engineering students from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering won third place in the Advancing Minorities Interest in Engineering (AMIE) Design Challenge. The event was hosted at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) conference held in February, 2019 in Washington, D.C. A total of 11 teams from various Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) participated in the event. 

Our FAMU-FSU student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers-Florida Engineering Society includes some of our department’s most involved and high-achieving students. In the past several months, these students have also proven their ability to adapt and succeed among challenging new scenarios.

Weather forecasting is best left to the meteorologists, but other aspects of these destructive storms—such as wind damage, storm surge, evacuation, resilience, recovery and more—fall under the purview of engineering.

Florida was impacted by four hurricanes four years in a row—Hermine, Irma, Michael and Dorian. While devastating, these events provided a data-rich environment that researchers are mining for information.

A team of Florida State University researchers studying new methods to remove toxic heavy metals from biosolids — the solid waste left over after sewage treatment — found the key is a brief spin through a microwave.

Adult student Brian Coogan is anything but traditional. He has always forged his own path in life. “I did things a little out of order,” Coogan says. “But I would not change a thing, because the path I took, made me who I am today.”

A Florida State University researcher will lead a study into how bacteria can be used to remove carcinogens from groundwater thanks to a $1.4 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering will collaborate with Texas Tech University to investigate a bioremediation method that could remove health hazards like chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) and 1,4-dioxane more rapidly than current technology.

Raphael Kampmann, a civil engineering teaching faculty member in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, knows his class has a reputation among students for being rigorous and thorough.

So maybe, he wondered, the fact that he is the recipient of Florida State University’s 2021 Distinguished Teacher Award is a sign of encouragement from his students, a way to tell him to keep it up?

Engineering Senior Design Day 2021 was a virtual showcase of the engineering skills and talent in FAMU-FSU Engineering’s senior class. Two teams received top honors as Best Overall and Best Abstract awardees, out of the 86 engineering design teams made up of Florida A&M and Florida State university students.

This year’s winners are:

Five female students win Nestlé Waters prize

The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and local community partners recently recognized five young female alumnae for their work in designing a more sustainable Cypress Spring. On March 4th—during the first week of Women’s History Month—the students were acknowledged by Nestlé Waters and the NW Florida Water Management District on the College of Engineering campus.