AHMED MOUSSA AWARDED 2021 VANIER CGS SCHOLARSHIP
The Department of Civil Engineering is proud to announce that Ahmed Moussa, PhD student, has been awarded the 2021 Vanier CGS Scholarship. Named after Major-General Georges P. Vanier, the first francophone Governor General of Canada, the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) is awarded to top ranking doctoral students who demonstrate academic excellence, research potential, and leadership.
Student Bio
Ahmed Moussa is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering at McMaster University who has always been passionate about civil engineering. He graduated with an honours Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the German University in Cairo, where he then worked as a teaching assistant in their Civil Engineering department. Ahmed, determined on leaving a footprint in the Civil Engineering field, decided to apply to graduate studies and started his Masters at McMaster University in September 2020. Based on his academic excellence and to further his research impact, Ahmed transferred to the PhD program in Civil Engineering at McMaster University in January 2021.
Title of Research Proposal
Hyper Resilience for Hyper Risks: A Solution for Canada's Critical Infrastructure Networks Joint Restoration Problem under Climate Change
Overview of Proposed Research
Under the supervision of Dr. Wael El-Dakhakhni and Dr. Mohamed Ezzeldin, Ahmed’s Ph.D. research focuses on the interconnectivity of Canada’s infrastructure network (telecommunications, water, electricity, transport, healthcare, and more) and the possibility of cascading failures. His research aims to optimize our spending to know which critical assets and which infrastructure systems we should prepare to mitigate.
A paper by Paul Steneker, recent PhD Graduate of the Department of Civil Engineering, has been selected as the Best Paper in Analysis & Computation for 2021 by the Journal of Structural Engineering! The paper, titled “Integrated Structural-Nonstructural Performance Based Seismic Design and Retrofit Optimization of Buildings,” was based on research conducted under the supervision of Dr. Lydell Wiebe in collaboration with Adjunct Professors Andre Filiatrault (IUSS Pavia) and Dimitrios Konstantinidis (UC Berkeley).
Congratulations to all for their achievements!
McMaster Civil Engineering Graduate student, Ahmed Foda had been announced as a winner of the Transport Canada Scholarship
Left (Moataz Mohamed), Middile (Ahmed Foda), Right Steve Pratte, CTRF President
McMaster Civil Engineering Graduate student, Ahmed Foda has been announced as a winner of the Transport Canada Scholarship in Sustainable Transportation from the Canadian Transportation Research Forum (CTRF). The total value of the scholarship is $6,000. His research focuses on developing generalizable models for optimizing electric mobility systems configuration: Battery Electric Buses (BEBs) and autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) “drones.”
“I am extremely honored to receive the Transport Canada Scholarship award. Knowing that it is my first participation, it is just a surprise. I sincerely appreciate the recognition I have received for my work. I want to express my gratitude to the Canadian Transport Research Forum and Transport Canada committee members for their great support. I am also particularly appreciative for the support I receive from my supervisor (Dr. Moataz Mohamed) and McMaster University.” -Ahmed Foda
Transport Canada Scholarship from the Canadian Transportation Research Forum is an international scholarship program for graduate students to specialize in the transportation field. The scholarship is awarded in three disciplines; Economics, Efficiency, and Competitiveness in Transportation; Transportation Safety and Security; and Sustainable Transportation.
“The annual Canadian Transportation Research Fourm attracts top schoalrs in Candada and internationality to share knowledge related to all aspects of transportation system. This year, my research group at McMaster Civil Engineer, was honoured to present five accepted research papers. The Transport Canada Graduate Scholarship is a remarkable achievement for Ahmed to advance their e-Bus research and to inform the Canadian transition towards Zero Emission Vehilces in all mobility domains.” -Moataz Mohamed
Dr. Ahmed Abdel Maksoud selected to recieve Student Best Paper Award of ICOSSAR2021-2022 International Conference
Our recent PhD graduate, Dr. Ahmed Abdel Maksoud, was selected to receive the Student Best Paper Award of the ICOSSAR2021-2022 International Conference for his pioneering work on incorporating epistemic uncertainty in bridge management decisions. This research was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Georgios Balomenos.
The prestigious ICOSSAR International Conference of the International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability takes place every four years and promotes the study, research, and applications of scientific principles of safety, risk and reliability in the analysis, design, construction, maintenance and operation of structures and other engineering systems.
Congratulations to Drs. Abdel Maksoud and Balomenos on this terrific achievement!
Welcome Dr. Awolayo and Dr. Hisseine!
On behalf of all Students, Staff and Faculty, I would like to welcome Dr. Ousmane Ahmat Hisseine and Dr. Adedapo Noah Awolayo who will be joining the Department of Civil Engineering at McMaster University as Assistant Professors on July 01st, 2022.
They are exceptional colleagues who bring outstanding talent to strengthen our department in the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and service, and in achieving our vision of “building healthier communities to create a brighter world”.
Dr. Hisseine, who is an expert in sustainable and novel construction materials with focus on civil infrastructure sustainability and resilience, joins us from Laval University where he has been a FQRNT Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr. Awolayo specializes in reservoir engineering and simulation, enhanced oil recovery, and geochemical modeling transport in porous media. He comes to McMaster from the University of Calgary where he has been a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Geosciences.
Drs. Hisseine and Awolayo will make our department more diverse, enrich experiential learning, and enhance the overall student experience in our department. They will also instill excitement into our already vigorous research programs.
I look forward to their bright scholarly contributions and academic growth at McMaster Engineering. Ousmane and Dapo: Welcome to the Fireball Family!
Moncef L. Nehdi, PhD, P. Eng., FCAE, FEIC, FACI, FCSCE
Professor and Chair
Mac Eng faculty, alumni elected as fellows of Canadian Academy of Engineering
Six McMaster Engineering-affiliated professionals, including professors and alumni, have been elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering in recognition of their outstanding contributions to their fields.
Please contact the following staff with any questions you may have:
Olivia Pare, Undergraduate Administrative Assistant
pareok@mcmaster.ca
Amelia Brook, Graduate Administrative Assistant
brookam2@mcmaster.ca
Sarah Sullivan, Academic Department Manager
sullivsb@mcmaster.ca
Kent Wheeler, ADL Supervisor/Senior Lab Technician
wheelek@mcmaster.ca
Monica Han, Environmental Lab Technician
hanm7@mcmaster.ca
Michael Fox, Geotechnical Lab Technician
foxm11@mcmaster.ca
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your patience and take good care!
Provost Susan Tighe wins top civil engineering award
Canada’s top civil engineering award in transportation is coming to McMaster.
Provost and vice-president (Academic) Susan Tighe was presented with the Sandford Fleming Award on May 27 at the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) 2022 Annual Conference in Whistler, B.C.
We have updated our website with resources available to you that you might find useful during these times and moving forward.
That includes our updated FAQs and technology resources for students.
Please have a look at https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/civil/questions
We have also updated our Course Conflict Form and Engineering Permission Form and made them fillable for your convenience in submitting them virtually. You will find those forms on our Resources page.
We are pleased to announce the winners from our 2022 Graduate Seminar Day. Congratulations to the winners – you set the bar high!
SESSION 1 |
SESSION 2 |
SESSION 3 |
1st - Crystal Ni |
1st - Kianoosh Koocheki |
1st - Amir Banihashemi |
2nd - Pouneh Pakdel |
2nd- Mahyar Malekzade Kebria |
2nd - Abdul Razak Alozi |
3rd - Mouna Reda |
3rd - Ashkan Irannezhad |
3rd - Michael De Coste |
Thank you to everyone who participated. We look forward to seeing you in person at next year’s event!
Congratulations to our MCAA Team!
Congratulations to our MCAA team, who recently placed first at the Mechanical Contracting Association of America Student Chapter Competition! Representing McMaster Excellence on an international level, the team worked to prepare a 90-page report and were selected as one of four teams to present to 3 mech contracting professionals (including the VP of the company that completed the project), and in front of several hundred audience members from across Canada and the USA, and beat 23 teams from universities across America to secure the top spot.
Team Members:
Dr. Stephen Veldhuis (Faculty Advisor)
Leisha Fernando (Final Year Mechanical Engineering)
Nathalie Sa'adeh (Final Year Mechanical Engineering)
Nicole-Marie Sa'adeh (Final Year Mechanical Engineering)
Andrew Wahba (Final Year Mechanical Engineering)
Gavin Boyd (Final Year Civil Engineering & Scty)
Brooke VanBuskirk (Final Year Civil Engineering & Scty)
Scott McDougall (Final Year Civil Engineering & Mgmt)
Welcome Dr. Moncef Nehdi!
Dr. Moncef Nehdi has joined McMaster University and the Department of Civil Engineering as of January 1st, 2022, as a tenured Professor and the new Department Chair. Dr. Nehdi’s research focuses on sustainability and resilience in civil infrastructure, computational intelligence modeling, and the use of innovative materials for construction and energy storage. In addition, he has great interest in university governance and experiential learning, as well as in equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in higher education. Dr. Nehdi joins us from Western University in London, where he served as Associate Director for Environmental Research Western.
He received his bachelor’s from Laval University, his master’s from Sherbrooke University, and his PhD from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Nehdi is also the Founder and Director of NCS Inc., and previously was Technical Director for Imasco Minerals Inc., and Technical Manager for BCS, and for Modern Technology Laboratories. Dr. Nehdi is a fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, the American Concrete Institute, and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. Dr. Nehdi has provided consulting services for high profile construction projects in Canada and abroad and has been an active member on numerous technical committees od the American Concrete Institute and the Canadian Standards Association, as well as being a member of the editorial boards of several technical journals. He is a prolific author with more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and was listed among the world’s most cited civil engineers by Elsevier and the Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, and in the Stanford University ranking. He served as Chair of the ACI committee 555 on recycled materials, chair of the CSCE committee on cement and concrete, vice-chair of the CSCE Mechanics Division, and was co-chair of the Infrastructure Division of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant Committee 1509.
Dr Nehdi has received numerous awards, including the Engineering Medal for Research and Development from the Ontario Professional Engineers, the Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the ACI Award for Professional Achievement, the CSCE Horst Liepholz Medal, the CSCE Whitman Wright award, the Bill Curtin Metal from the UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers, the ASCE Faculty Fellow Award for Excellence in Engineering Education, the Mohan Mathur Award for Excellence in Teaching, along with several best paper awards and other recognitions.
Siyavash Filom Awarded the 2021-22 Kanaroglou Memorial Graduate Scholarship
Siyavash Filom is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Saiedeh Razavi. His Ph.D. research is focused on leveraging Synchromodal freight transportation operational decisions through hybrid machine learning and operation research model. The model will contribute through better utilization of all transportation modes which lead to reduce environmental emissions, alleviate congestion, and increase safety through shifting the road transportation share to other more sustainable modes such as rail and marine. Other areas of his research include applications of machine learning in port operations, blockchain technology in supply chain management, and renewable energy (wind, tidal, and solar). He received his B.Sc. degree from the University of Tehran, Iran and his M.Sc. from University of Antwerp, Belgium. During his master’s degree, he developed a blockchain model for shipping documents, which enhances overall document workflow, brings trust and privacy for stakeholders, and leverages traceability of the cargo. Congratulations Siyavash in receiving this well-deserved scholarship.
ABOUT DR. KANAROGLOU
Dr. Pavlos Kanaroglou was a Professor Emeritus in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences. He was also the founder and director of the McMaster Institute of Transportation and Logistics. An expert on transportation and predicting human behaviour, Dr. Kanaroglou aided in the formulation of public policy on issues such as housing for the elderly and evaluated transportation projects for vehicle energy consumption and associated air pollution. This scholarship was established in 2016 to honour Dr. Pavlos S. Kanaroglou, professor emeritus, for his invaluable contributions to research and education in the study of Geography and Earth Sciences at McMaster University.
WTS International 2021 Women in Transportation Awards
Jing Li (left) – Focused Scholarship
Jing is a first-year Ph.D. student at McMaster University and a researcher with the AI-enhanced Mobility Lab at McMaster. Her research focuses on machine learning-enhanced traffic prediction, analysis of the spatial-temporal impact of traffic incidents, prediction of traffic incidents’ risk and severity, all under the supervision of Dr. Hao Yang. She has published three journal papers and holds two patents. Jing has received several awards and recognitions, the most recent is the 2021 WTS Toronto Area Chapter Scholarship and the Outstanding Graduate Student award. Jing’s career goal is to be a transportation professional leading research teams that promote safe and efficient trips based on connected and autonomous vehicles.
Olivia Wiper (right) – Undergraduate Scholarship
Olivia is a second year Civil Engineering & Society student. She is passionate about incorporating sustainability into her work and hopes to improve transportation infrastructure in her future endeavours. She also enjoys learning languages in her free time. Olivia has studied French extensively in high school and on exchange in Geneve, Switzerland and is currently learning Mandarin on an application known as Duolingo. Some of her other hobbies include baking, and animal care. At school, she has participated in clubs such as the McMaster Solar Car Project where she helped the chassis sub team, the McMaster Engiqueers, and the Welcome Week group known as the RedSuits. She is very excited to have been awarded the 2021 WTS Toronto Area Chapter Scholarship and looks forward to meeting everyone within this wonderful community.
Ahmed Badr Awarded 2020 Vanier CGS Scholarship
The Department of Civil Engineering is proud to announce that Ahmed Badr, PhD student has been awarded a Vanier CGS Scholarship. Named after Major-General Georges P. Vanier, the first francophone Governor General of Canada, the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) is awarded to top ranking doctoral students who demonstrate academic excellence, research potential, and leadership.
Student Bio
Ahmed Badr is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Civil engineering at McMaster University. Ahmed was born and grew up in Egypt. Inspired by his father and empowered by ambition and hard work, Ahmed was granted his B.Sc. degree with excellence (Grade: 95%, Ranked 2nd of 400 students) in Civil Engineering at Cairo University in 2016. Ahmed was awarded 1st place of the best graduation projects all over the Egyptian universities from the Egyptian Engineering Syndicate. Based on Ahmed's academic excellence, He was qualified to work as a teaching and research assistant in the Civil Engineering department at Cairo University. Eager to learn and expand his knowledge, Ahmed decided to pursue his graduate studies and got his M.Sc. degree in steel structures from Cairo university in 2019 with a GPA of 4.0/4.0. Based on the high quality of his research work, Ahmed published multiple research articles out of his M.Sc. in key journals and top conferences in the field. In order to extend his research impact beyond structure-level performance enhancement, Ahmed was admitted to the Ph.D. program in Civil Engineering at McMaster University as a member of INTERFACE Institute for Multi-Hazard Systemic Risk Studies.
Title of Research Proposal
“Canada’s Hydropower Infrastructure Resilience Under Climate Change”
Overview of Proposed Research
Under the supervision of Dr. Wael El-Dakhakhni and Dr. Zoe Li, Ahmed’s Ph.D. research focuses on the resilience of hydropower dam systems under multi-hazards. His research aims to develop a resilience-guided digital dam twin that able to improve resilience-guided hydropower dam operation standards, saving the community from the severe consequences of catastrophic dam failures and supporting clean energy reliance to reduce the rapid changes in climate conditions.
Moustafa Naiem Awarded 2019 Vanier CGS Scholarship
The Department of Civil Engineering is proud to announce that Moustafa Naiem, PhD student has been awarded a Vanier CGS Scholarship. Named after Major-General Georges P. Vanier, the first francophone Governor General of Canada, the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) is awarded to top ranking doctoral students who demonstrate academic excellence, research potential, and leadership.
Student Bio:
Moustafa Naiem is a graduate from the Structural Engineering department in Cairo University in Egypt, earning his B.Sc. degree in 2016 and graduating first-of-class. He worked as a Teaching Assistant while earning his Masters degree in Structural Topology Optimization and Steel Structures Design at the same university in 2018. Moustafa's passion went beyond academia - he was involved in reshaping the extra-curricular community at Cairo University during his undergraduate years. He was the co-founder and license holder for TEDxCairoUniversity for over three years, held a TEDx conference, and later became a mentor for the TEDx Community - and other organizations - in Egypt. At McMaster University, Moustafa has been developing measures to quantify critical infrastructure network resilience in cities under climate change-induced systemic (cascade) risks. His work has the potential to save billions of dollars.
Title of Research Proposal:
"A Resilient Canada in the Face of Climate Change-Induced Systemic Risks"
Lay Abstract of the proposed research:
In the past decades, Canada has witnessed a continuous increase in the frequency and magnitude of climate change-induced natural disasters. These events include droughts, floods, wildfires, and most recently, tornadoes. In 2016, climate change induced damage was estimated to be $8.6 billion in Canada, while in the United States of America, floods are becoming one of the costliest and highest in occurrence of all climate change induced hazards, costing an average of $8 billion dollars annually. Also, hurricanes such as hurricane Sandy cost over $67 billion dollars of total damage, while more recently. hurricane Florence resulted in an estimated damage of $5 billion so far. It is thus clear that the effect of climate change is already costing Canadians billions of dollars annually, at an increasing rate. Given the effect of these events on cities, there is yet to be a clear methodology to quantify a city’s resilience in the face of such hazards, and predict the losses, that also takes into account the interdependence of different infrastructure networks. Although there have been multiple frameworks in literature, none has been comprehensive for a large-scale city. As such, the proposed methodology introduces the utilization of several Machine Learning techniques to propose a 4-steps framework that quantifies city resilience under floods.