CEGE faculty and student honored by Ohio Society of Professional Engineers

Daniel Pradel, Professor of Practice and Cole Mertz, BS, Civil Engineering ('18) were recently recognized for their outstanding work at Ohio State, both inside and outside of classroom. They were named the Outstanding Engineering Educator and Outstanding Engineering Student, respectively, at the 2018 All Ohio Engineering Conference Awards luncheon which was held on Saturday, June 16, 2018.

Given annually by the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE), these awards recognize students' and educators' academic and scholarly excellence as well as their practical engineering pursuits and service to the professional community.

Cole Mertz, a native of Celina, Ohio, was an outstanding undergraduate student, receiving the Maximus Scholarship, the Cyrus A. Melick Scholarship and the Carolyn J. Merry Scholarship, among others. While maintaining a 3.94 overall grade point average, Cole participated in Ohio State's student chapters of the Professional Land Surveyors of Ohio (PLSO), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and American Concrete Institute (ACI). He also gained valuable, hands-on experience working for a construction services company and as a construction inspector.

Collaborating with Halil Sezen, Professor of Structural Engineering, Cole submitted a research proposal, "Life Cycle Assessment of Precast Parking Structures" to the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). PCI subsequently awarded him the organization's Daniel P. Jenny fellowship which will provide funding for his impending graduate studies. His research collaboration with Dr. Sezen will include CampusParc and other industry partners. He will begin his masters degree program in autumn 2018 and has been awarded a University Fellowship by the Graduate School at The Ohio State University. "I am excited to continue to work with Cole," stated Sezen.

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Professor Daniel Pradel received honors in the Outstanding Educator category. He has been instrumental in updating CEGE's geotechnical curriculum and laboratories where opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience have now dramatically increased. In addition to his regular teaching course load and impressive body of scholarly research, Pradel also volunteers as a consultant and mentor for various capstone teams and student organizations.

A geotechnical expert in the design of dams, levees, retaining structures and building foundations, Dr. Pradel has consulted on large-scale, international civil engineering projects from California to Ecuador, to Switzerland and Nepal. Recently, he performed engineering reconnaissance in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico as part of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) team, a program funded by the National Science Foundation.

In nominating him for this honor, David B. Williams, Dean of the College Engineering, stated that "Daniel Pradel is a dedicated Civil Engineering faculty and educator with an especially developed interest in service to community and in incorporating real-word experience into the curriculum." He has served in leadership roles such as Diplomate for the Academy of Geo-Professionals (AGP) and Commissioner for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and is very active member of the American Society of Civil Engineeers (ASCE) both at the Central Ohio and national levels, where he serves as a Fellow.