5th Annual EKS Retreat
On the weekend of February 7th-8th, graduate students gathered at Allerton Park in Monticello, IL for the 5th annual EKS (Dr. Elnashai, Dr. Kuchma, and Dr. Spencer) retreat. The weekend included presentations by students, a poster session, keynote lecture by Larry Novak, and social activities. Keynote lecturer was Mr. Larry Novak, formerly an associate partner with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP and now working as the Manager of Building Structures for the Portland Cement Association. Mr. Novak gave an extremely interesting talk on the “Philosophy of Structural Engineering for the Burj Dubai Tower.”
Students’ presentations and posters, ranging over a variety of research topics, were reviewed by their peers and awards were given considering quality of presentation, substance of research, and ability to answer questions posed by their colleagues regarding their work. The first place award for outstanding presentation was given to Bora Gencturk (Dr. Elnashai) for his presentation on “Optimized Sustainable Structural Systems for Improved Seismic Performance Using Engineered Cementitious Composites.” Second place was awarded to Ken Marley (Dr. Kuchma), and third place to Curtis Holub (Dr. Elnashai). The first place award for poster presentation went to Jennifer Rice (Dr. Spencer), second place to Thomas Frankie (Dr. Elnashai), and third place was a tie between Do-Soo Moon (Dr. Elnashai) and David Bennier (Dr. Elnashai/Dr. Spencer). In addition, Sukit Yindeesuk (Dr. Kuchma) received recognition as the most outstanding participant during the question and answer sessions that followed each presentation.
The retreat program is available for download here.
