By Cailyn Kennedy
Four CCEE Ph.D students — Gunay Gina, Nancy Ingabire Abayo Leah Weaver and Pegah Ghasemi — have been accepted into NC State’s Preparing for the Professoriate (PTP) program. The nationally recognized, highly competitive program is designed to give doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars an immersive mentoring, teaching, and future faculty preparation experience.
“I’m really excited to participate in PTP next year,” Weaver said. “This program will give me the opportunity to learn how to be a better professor, and to make some structured changes to a course I’ve been teaching the last two years. I’m also looking forward to learning about what it takes to be a successful professor and how I can become one.”
Established in 1993, the one-year program has two major components: regular workshop meetings and a mentoring relationship with a faculty member. Gina will be mentored by Dr. Abhinav Gupta, Weaver will be mentored by Dr. Tarek Aziz, Abayo will be mentored by Drs. Brina Montoya and Ashly Cabas, and Pegah Ghasemi will be mentored by Dr. Rudi Seracino. Fellows teach alongside their mentor, complete a peer observation and refine their academic job market materials.
At the end of the program, each fellow completes a portfolio detailing his or her work and program reflections. It is one of only two professional development programs that recognize successful fellows with a formal transcript notation.
“PTP is a premiere program in The Graduate School’s slate of professional development initiatives and has been nationally recognized as an example of best practices in graduate education,” said Peter Harries, dean of NC State’s Graduate School, in a letter to participants. “Such recognition is due largely to the quality, commitment, and engagement of the participants.”
Gunay Aliyeva
What is your research focused on?
I’m a Ph.D. student at the Center for Nuclear Energy Facilities and Structures and working on modeling and simulating the effects of Alkali-Silica Reaction in concrete structures. This reaction has proven to cause damage and loss of strength in concrete structures over decades. My research aims to model and quantify the damage caused by this chemical reaction.
Why do you want to go into education?
Teaching has always been a pleasing aspect in my life. After joining Dr Abhinav Gupta’s research group to pursue my Ph.D., I learned that being a professor is such an honorable responsibility. With his constant encouragement, guidance and inspiration, I try to make myself better at it by revising my technique, adapting, and learning new skills. I believe in the power of knowledge. And knowledge can be made even more powerful by effectively transferring to the younger generation coherently, so that they can carry the baton forward.
Nancy Ingabire Abayo
What is your research focused on?
My research focus is on improving our predictions of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading from seismic events. When soils behave as a liquid due to repeated shaking from an earthquake, they can lead to consequences such as lateral spreading which can manifest as a series of ground cracks. These can be very detrimental to communities and the build environment. My research addresses the need to better predict the magnitude and extent of these “ground cracks” from a geological point of view and geotechnical point of view among others.
Why do you want to go into education?
So many reasons come to mind, but I will summarize it this way: At each stage of my educational career, I have had at least one instructor impact my life greatly both in academics and elsewhere, and it’s been a more than a decade-old passion of mine to do the same for the next generations.
Leah Weaver
What is your research focused on?
My research is focused on evaluating the use of fungal bioremediation for treatment of neonicotinoid pesticides in stormwater. We are currently investigating whether Phanerochaete chrysosporium grown on wood chips can quickly and effectively remove imidacloprid from synthetic stormwater, and what transformation products it produces in the process. We are hoping to begin work with real stormwater and pilot systems soon.
Why did you want to go into education?
I love mentoring and teaching, as well as the problem-solving that comes with research. I enjoy the combination of responsibilities that grad school has, and being a professor would include a similar mix of roles.
Pegah Ghasemi
What is your research focused on?
In my research, I use microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) technique to increase the strength parameters of soil to be used for a wide range of geotechnical applications. My research involves laboratory and field-scale implementation of bacteria to stabilize coastal deposits such as dunes. During my Ph.D. program, I have led two field/large-scale MICP-application experiments. In the first study, MICP technique was implemented by three application methods in a side-by-side field experiment on a coastal sandy slope in North Carolina. The field work was supported by numerical simulations and experimental element tests on MICP-treated soils. Tests were conducted to design and optimize the application methods, targeted soil strength, treatment recipe, and number of treatments. The successfully stabilized slope was monitored in situ for over one year subjected to heavy rain, freeze/thaw, hurricane, and strong winds. In the second experiment, the developed treatment protocol was applied to a sand dune constructed in one of the largest wave flumes in North America, the NEHRI Large Wave Flume at Oregon State University. The model was subjected to Hurricane Sandy wave conditions and exhibited minimal strength loss and beach morphology changes.
Why do you want to go into education?
Learning and sharing my knowledge has always been my passion. It gives me great satisfaction and fulfillment to share my experience to facilitate others’ development and growth. Having a career where I could teach and mentor others and conduct research to enhance sustainability and resiliency of infrastructure has inspired me to pursue a career as a faculty member.