For the past eight years, I have had the privilege to serve as the department head of the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University. As I step down from this position, it is good to know that Dr. Zachary Grasley assumes leadership as the 18th department head.
Despite the challenges of a global pandemic, the faculty continued their exciting research efforts. One faculty member was involved in developing a dashboard to predict supply chain threats from the COVID-19 pandemic with the potential for global applications. Another, inspired by a contagion model, developed a model to predict flooding in urban road networks. Building a better world is our motto and using bacteria that eat sludge to produce bioplastic is a sustainable solution saving valuable resources. Another multidisciplinary project brings together engineers and historians using drones and GIS mapping to image grave markers to create an interactive map to memorialize veterans in national cemeteries.
The support of tomorrow’s students by today’s former students, whose education opened doors to professional success, has no better exemplar than the JQ Engineering Fellowship in Sustainability. These are but a few of the many impactful projects that the faculty and students have underway.
Sincerely,
Robin Autenrieth
Former Department Head
Professor
A.P. and Florence Wiley Professor III