We are pleased to report an in-progress research project involving Dr. Stephanie Ivey, Ms. Anna Lambert, and Dr. Charles Camp from Civil Engineering, along with Jeff Marchetta (Mechanical) and Aaron Robinson (Electrical). This project is an extension of the work seeded with Stephanie’s 2004 mini-grant money, and its aim is to further investigate correlations between learning styles and retention in engineering studies.

Dr. Paul Palazolo presented a paper entitled "Lessons Learned Through Listening: Engineering Outreach with Community and Industry Collaboration" to the American Society of Engineering Education South East meeting at UT-Chattanooga last spring. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Paul Palazolo, Dr. Martin Lipinski, Dr. Stephanie Ivey, and Ms. Anna Lambert Dr. Palazolo was elected the VicePresident of the Civil Engineering Division at the meeting.

Last year Dr. Shahram Pezeshk published four papers in prestigious national and international journals on topics related to seismic hazard and site specific studies.  He was invited to make a presentation at a national workshop on “Ground Motion Attenuation in the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS),” sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and US Nuclear Regulatory Commission which was held in Menlo Park, California.  Dr. Pezeshk has also received several grants to perform research on seismic bridge monitoring and seismic site characterization from the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the U.S. Geological Survey.  Dr. Arzhang Alimoradi, who worked with Dr. Pezeshk on his Ph.D., graduated in December 2004 and is currently working for John A. Martin and Associates, Inc. in Los Angeles, California as a Senior Seismic Research Engineer.

Dr. Martin Lipinski took a breif respite from his pursuit of wild dingos across Australia and New Zealand to instruct two natives in the proper dress code for senior design.

Actually, Dr. Martin Lipinski presented a paper, “Road Safety Audits in the U.S. – State of the Practice,” at the International Meeting of the Institute of Transportation Engineers in Melbourne, Australia in August. In addition, he gave an invited seminar to the engineering faculty at the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, on the topic of “Workforce Development of Transportation Engineers in the U.S.” He also presented a lecture to the senior transportation engineering students in Civil Engineering at the University of Auckland.