CEE professor Robert Bea and others mobilize UC response in Katrina research and recovery

Long before Bob Bea was a CEE professor and risk-assessment/management expert, he was a hurricane survivor. “It was September 1965,” he recalled. “I was chief engineer of offshore operations for Shell Oil, stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Betsy was headed to Florida, where my wife and four-month-old son were visiting. They evacuated, got on a plane, and met me in New Orleans. Well, Hurricane Betsy turned on a dime and followed the tail of that plane. We retreated to our house; it was too late to get out of the city. By midnight, the winds were 140 miles per hour. We decided to leave the house. So we wrapped our son in a blanket and got in the car and drove through the storm to my Shell office.”

“We rode out the hurricane under an office table,” he continued. “We escaped with the clothes on our back and some baby formula. The levees broke. I could just see the top of our house. It was under 12 feet of water. Everything was lost. There was no FEMA, no flood insurance. For the next month, we lived in my office, pinching food from vending machines. What is unfolding today . . . I guess the clock was ticking.” He shook his head. [FULL STORY]

Student Affairs keeps over 2,500 engineers moving toward graduation, one student at a time

Undergraduates: Are you familiar with 308 McLaughlin? If you can’t remember the last time you conversed with your student affairs adviser, it’s time to drop in or send an email.

“We have so many rules and regulations at the College, that it’s good to check in periodically,” says adviser Genie Foon, a 12-year veteran of student affairs. “This is the place where you can get answers or we can refer you to other resources.”

The Student Affairs Office is responsible for the academic progress of all engineering undergraduates. That means moving each class from Freshmen Orientation to Commencement in eight semesters. It seems easy enough: Just read the policies and follow them. But what if you want to double major? What if you want to take a graduate level course? What if situations in your life are affecting your academic work, and your grades are slipping? What if you’re not sure if engineering is for you? [FULL STORY]

New ASUC senator plunges into the roil of student government, keeps northside front and center

It’s 12:30 a.m. You’ve been working on problem sets in a Cory Hall computer lab for five straight hours. Your eyelids are drooping. Your stomach is rumbling. You need sustenance. The brown-spotted banana in your backpack won’t do. Where do you go? Brewed Awakening closed at 7 p.m., Nefeli Caffe closed at 9, and Top Dog closed at 11.

Those hours just don’t work for studious, burn-the-midnight-oil engineers, including Rita Encarnacion. A CEE junior, Encarnacion is the new ASUC senator, joining incumbents Igor Tregub and Chris Abad. The three engineering senators will again focus their attention on expanding northside business hours so restaurants and coffee shops are open later at night.

In addition, Encarnacion has other goals for her first year in government. “I’d like to increase the visibility of engineering groups by helping them collaborate with others on campus,” she says. “I’d also like to improve AirBears around northside and engage women’s engineering groups to do more active outreach to female students in K-12.” [FULL STORY]

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