CEAE Department News Highlights—Alumni Newsletter — Jan. 2026 | Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering

CEAE Department News Highlights—Alumni Newsletter — Jan. 2026

Professor Karl Linden stands on the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� campus with the Flatirons and campus buildings in the background.

Letter from the Department Chair

Dear Alumni and Friends of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering,

Welcome to our winter newsletter. Classes are back in full swing, we are enjoying some sunny Boulder weather and the buzz of a new semester, thoughtful of the challenges our society is facing, knowing our work is still important.�� Hope you all had some time to relax over the winter holiday.��

We are excited to announce a new��MS program in Sustainable Engineering, an intensive nine-month program designed for professionals who may be looking to expand their expertise in sustainable energy, infrastructure, materials or building design. This professional MS degree will kick-off in Fall 2026, and applications are open now.

We are also rolling out a Faculty Speaker series for our alumni that you will be able to access from the comfort of your office or home. You will be exposed to some of the impactful world-class research of our faculty and students in a forum uniquely tailored to keep our alumni in touch with the pulse of our department. Stay tuned for another communication soon outlining the details.��

On the national scale, faculty from our department are proudly hosting the (EMI 2026), and we’d love it if you’d join us on the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� campus, June 2-5, 2026. This international conference has more than 100 sessions being organized on topics including structural health monitoring/ sensing/resilience; AI-ML-data driven modeling; cementitious/pavement /wood/bio-inspired materials; industry challenges and much more! Abstracts are due Jan. 31. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Feel free to reach out to��Associate Professors Mija Hubler or Yida Zhang if you have any questions.��

Lastly, I have included links to news articles from our department that show the incredible breadth of our research and teaching impact, both locally and globally. Topics like how to trust AI, workplace safety, reconstructing the movement of an ancient civilization, and precision in flood prediction are just a few of the topics linked below to indepth news stories. I hope you enjoy reading them.��

We would love to hear from you!�� Email me at��ceaechair@colorado.edu with any questions, ideas or suggestions.

Kind regards,

��

Karl G. Linden, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Chair, and Mortenson Professor in Sustainable Development

Research Advances from CEAE

A worker in a high-visibility jacket and hard hat picks up cylindrical electrical transformers with a forklift

Professor Kyri Baker details growing crisis facing US power grid

In this Conversation story, the authors explain how two new data centers sit idle due to shortages of critical electrical equipment. These supply-chain constraints are delaying projects, increasing costs and adding strain to the reliability of the U.S. power grid.

Zhi Li in a button-down shirt with some trees in the background and a building behind the trees.

Why flood prediction in the US falls short and how researchers are working to fix it

Zhi Li, who joined ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� as an assistant professor in August 2025, leads the new Flood Lab, which develops high-resolution models to predict flood impacts with one-meter precision—technology not yet used in real time due to high computational demands.

Wide panoramic view of a river winding through a dry valley with patches of green vegetation, set against tall, rugged mountains under a bright blue sky with scattered clouds.

Reconstructing the ancient Indus River

By combining hydrology and paleoclimate modeling, Professor Balaji Rajagopalan and colleagues uncovered the long-standing mystery behind the disappearance of the Harappan Civilization.

Two story home with lots of windows at the end of a road in Alaska.

Homes that can withstand extremes: New study reveals pathways to housing resilience

Professor Abbie Liel and colleagues have identified building code features that have the biggest impact on hazard resilience and translated those features into tangible, practical building solutions. The findings were published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.

Faculty News

Zhi Lui and Laura Sunberg in side by side photos. Lee is wearing a button-down shirt with trees blurred in the background. Laura is next to a building

Meet our newest faculty

The Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering welcomes two new faculty members in Fall 2025. Meet Assistant Professors Laura Sunberg and Zhi Li—and see why we’re so excited to have these talented scholars on our team.

Matt Hallowell wrote a book on workplace safety. Industry made it a bestseller.

With fatalities unchanged for nearly two decades, industry has been hungry for clear, practical guidance rooted in solid research, says Professor Matt Hallowell. In his first book, Hallowell summarized the research of more than 100 journal papers in reader-friendly terms, providing the first comprehensive, evidence-based explanation of why serious worksite injuries persist and how to prevent them.

Evan Thomas and another man stand on a stage holding an award during a formal ceremony. A large screen behind them reads “Winner – IWA Water and Development Award – Research” and displays the name Evan Thomas, along with text honoring his contributions to sustainable water security.

Evan Thomas wins International Water Association Career Award for Global Water Impact

Professor Evan Thomas, director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience, received a major career honor from the International Water Association for his work that has reshaped how safe drinking water is delivered in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.

Check out these other stories about our department from the past few months

Mortenson Center innovations delivering clean water to more than 5 million worldwide

New research paves way for greener construction practices

A new way to fight allergies: Switch on the light

5 ways to make AI more trustworthy

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� professor joins global commission on indoor air quality

Introducing Sam Sohn, new CIEST director