Rini Mitra (MS in CE student), and her faculty advisor, Dr. Ganesh Thiagarajan, placed first at the 2008 International Earthquake Prediction Competition .

A total of 57 participated worldwide (US, Japan, China, Italy, New Zealand and UK participated and there were 17 Researchers in their category). The award was presented to Dr. Thiagarajan in October 2008 at the 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Beijing, China.

With applications and admissions running significantly ahead of last year’s rate, the CME department is anticipating growth of approximately 80 students next year (25%), bringing the department FTE’s to almost 400 students.