Welcome from the Department Chair

Dear Friends,

As I begin my tenure as chair of the UNC Charlotte Department of Civil and Environmental engineering (CEE), there is great excitement around the department for both where we are and where we are headed. This is a department that cares deeply about its students and the quality of education they receive. Further, the breadth of our department’s research efforts, spanning from airport pavement to surveillance of wastewater for COVID, demonstrates our commitment to creative and innovative solutions to real-world civil engineering challenges. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to work with this team of dedicated CEE faculty and staff. Together, we will continue to pursue the department’s mission of creating an “environment that supports growth of character, technical skills, critical thinking, and preparation for the profession” for our students.  I would also like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to Dr. Brett Tempest, who served ably as interim chair of the department during the search process and who continues to serve as my sounding board and advisor in his role as the department’s associate chair.

I join the department having previously been a professor at two other universities and with experience in several different federal government roles. Most recently, I served as the head for the Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, a research lab with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Before that position I was a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. At Virginia Tech I also served as the Director of the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Laboratory, located in Manassas, Virginia. I began my academic career at the University of Maryland (again in Civil and Environmental Engineering) where I was an assistant and (later) associate professor. I’ve had two other brief tenures in our federal government, first with the National Weather Service, Office of Hydrologic Development and later I spent a sabbatical with the US Geological Survey in their Office of Surface Water. I believe my experiences have given me a broad understanding of many institutions and a chance to observe the strengths and weaknesses of myriad organizational structures.

I invite you to take a brief “tour” of our department through the articles that appear in this issue. You will rejoice in the accomplishments and successes of our students, learn the latest news of faculty recognition and transitions, and hear the latest about several departmental events from this Fall 2023 semester. 

Glenn Moglen

Professor and Chair

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering