Jeremiah Fasl, a doctoral student in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, and a Graduate Research Assistant at the Ferguson Lab, is the recipient of the Nevada Medal for Distinguished Graduate Student Paper in Bridge Engineering for 2010.
The University of Nevada, Reno established the award to recognize outstanding graduate student contribution to state-of-the art bridge engineering. Student papers are solicited from all accredited civil engineering programs in the United States. The original papers must be authored by the student and address innovative approaches or concepts applied to bridge engineering with potentially important impact in bridge design.
The selection committee is composed of bridge engineering researchers and designers world-wide who make the selection based on the originality of the research, potential impact on bridge engineering design and construction, and clarity of presentation.
The title of Jeremiah's paper was: "Development of Rapid, Reliable, and Economical Methods for Inspection and Monitoring of Fracture-Critical Steel Bridges." Identifying possible safety problems in the approximately 600,000 bridges across the country is generally accomplished through labor-intensive, visual inspections. However, the recent development of wireless technology makes real-time monitoring of bridges possible. Rainflow counting data was analyzed to understand the fatigue implications of using Palmgren-Miner's rule.
The award includes a plaque, an engraved 14-K gold pin, and a $1,500 check. The funding for the award is provided through an endowment established by Simon Wong Engineering of San Diego, California.
Nevada Medal For Distinguished Graduate Student Paper In Bridge Engineering 2010, University of Nevada, Reno.