This spring, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering hosted a Water Engineering and Science seminar, bringing together engineering students, faculty, and industry experts to network and share knowledge. Graduate students had the opportunity to enroll to receive credit for attending the seminar, and attendees from across campus, the community, and even overseas participated in sessions.

Two current PhD students, Harshit and Joe Pugh, took the lead on organizing and providing the seminar under the advisement of CEE faculty, Associate Professor Peter Nelson and Professor Karan Venayagamoorthy.

Harshit is researching wall-bounded turbulence in open-channel flows. He plans to defend his dissertation early in the coming fall semester, and then seek faculty positions to continue in academia.

“Harshit is a man of many talents but at the core, he is a people person,” said Venayagamoorthy. “He thrives on challenges and activities that have a direct impact on education, and his energy and passion were driving forces behind the success of this seminar.”

Pugh’s dissertation topic is on the characteristics of curvilinear flows over weirs, and he plans to defend in spring 2025. He will then pursue a postdoctoral or research engineer position.

“Joe is such a thoughtful thinker and planner,” said Venayagamoorthy. “He goes above and beyond in ensuring whatever he puts his energy and time into ends up making a difference for others.”

“Joe and Harshit put in tremendous effort to make the WES seminar series this semester a success,” said Nelson. “I’ve been very impressed with their initiative and organization, and they have established an excellent foundation as we move forward with the seminar in the future.”

The seminar will continue in fall 2024, with Harshit and Pugh passing the seminar organization torch to PhD students Mauricio Romanello Ortega and Mike Talbot. Faculty advisors for the fall will be Nelson and Assistant Professor Ryan Smith.

To see the schedule of speakers including bios and lecture abstracts, please visit the spring 2024 seminar page: https://www.engr.colostate.edu/ce/events/water-seminar/

“A quick look at the list of speakers will reveal how much thought and effort both Joe and Harshit put into this seminar series,” said Venayagamoorthy. “I am so proud and grateful for their incredible dedication and service in leading and organizing the seminar.”