News and Events
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Research Award: Effectiveness of Soybean-Based Sealant to Reduce Deicing Salt Damage in Concrete
Dr. Farnam receives a research grant from the United Soybean Board through the Indiana Soybean Alliance to evaluate the performance of soybean-based sealant to protect concrete structures. Phase I of this project, taking place during the first year, will be on “Effectiveness of Soybean-Based Sealant to Reduce Deicing Salt Damage in Concrete”. This phase will consist of (1) evaluating the effect of soybean-based sealant on the deterioration process of reinforced concrete slab as exposed to deicing salt and freeze-thaw cycles, and (2) evaluating the effect of soybean-based sealant on the formation of deteriorative calcium oxychloride in concrete exposed to deicing salt and freeze-thaw cycles. December 2019 |
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NSF Award: PFI-TT_Development of Scalable Lightweight Aggregate Manufacturing from Waste Coal Combustion Ash
Dr. Farnam receives an award from National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a scalable lightweight aggregate (LWA) manufacturing technology from waste coal combustion ash (CCA). This project will formulate, develop and validate an innovative scalable thermodynamic-based manufacturing technology that can be adopted with CCA chemical and physical properties to successfully produce LWA. Read More, July 2019 |
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Fadi Althoey Graduates with a PhD Degree from Drexel College of Engineering
Congratulations to Dr. Fadi Althoey for his graduation with a PhD degree in Civil Engineering! Fadi will start his new academic journey as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in Najran University, Saudi Arabia. Best wishes for your success from ASIM Family! June 2019 |
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Angela Mutua Graduates with a BSc Degree from Drexel College of Engineering
Congratulations to Angela Mutua (Wavi) for her graduation with a BSc degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering! June 2019 |
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Research Award: Manufacturing PA Innovation Program
Dr. Farnam receives an award from the Manufacturing PA Innovation Program in the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). This project will use additive manufacturing to engineer a novel fiber-reinforced cementitious composite with superior mechanical behavior. May 2019 |
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Mohammad Balapour Receives the Drexel College of Engineering 2018-19 Carleone Award
Congratulations to Mohammad Balapour, our ASIM Dragon Scholar, who has received the 2019-18 Joseph and Shirley Carleone Award from Drexel College of Engineering for his outstanding work in the Drexel ASIM lab. Dec 2018 |
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GAANN Fellowship Grant for Materials for Environmental Sustainability
Congratulations to Dr. Farnam and Drexel Faculty members on $1.3 Million Education Award from the Department of Education for Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) for projects related to "Materials for Environmental Sustainability". This award is led by Prof. Caroline Schauer from Drexel Materials Engineering Department. Read More, October 2018 |
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Dr. Farnam Receives Drexel Faculty Summer Research Award
On May 23, 2018, Dr. Farnam received Drexel University Faculty Summer Research Award in Drexel faculty recognition dinner for his research on bio-inspired microbial self-healing concrete. This award provides tenured and tenure-track faculty members with the opportunity to pursue research activities that will enhance recipient careers as well as increase their contributions to Drexel. Read More, May 2018 |
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Maissoun Ksara Graduates with a MSc Degree from Drexel College of Engineering
Congratulations to Maissoun for her graduation with a MSc degree in Civil and Architectural Engineering! She has made excellent contributions to ASIM group through her thesis entitled "Evaluating the Use of S. pasteurii on Mitigating the Damage Response of Cementitious Materials Exposed to Calcium Chloride". Best wishes for your success from ASIM Family! June 2018 |
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Dr. Farnam Gives a Talk to the Public on Snow-Melting Concrete in Taste of Science Program
Ice and snow are removed from pavements for safety. Usually we use deicing salts or snowplows. These are costly and labor intensive. They impact the environment and damage pavement. We are searching for an alternative, sustainable solution. I will explain how we can use phase change materials in concrete to remove snow. Read More, April 2018 |
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Weijin Zhao Graduates with a MSc Degree from Drexel College of Engineering
Congratulations to Weijin for his graduation with a MSc degree in Civil and Architectural Engineering! He has made excellent contributions to ASIM group through his thesis entitled "Evaluation of Potential Use of Spherical Porous Reactive Aggregate (SPoRA) for Internal Curing of Cementitious System". Best wishes for your success from ASIM Family! December 2017 |
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NSF I-Corps Award: Lightweight Aggregates from Waste Bottom Ash
Dr. Farnam receives an award from NSF to study the production potential of lightweight aggregates (LWA) from unused waste bottom ash of coal electric power industry. Each year in the United States around 120 million tons of coal combustion products (e.g., fly ash and bottom ash) are generated of which 37% is reused. This has led to a large historical stock of unused coal ash stored in on-site surface impoundments. Production of LWA from unused bottom ash will result in conversion of waste material to value-added product that can be used for concrete and geotechnical applications. Read More, November 2017 |
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K12 STEM Scholar Workshop: Engineer Your City with Self-Healing Infrastructure
ASIM Group in collaborations with Dr. Sales's group, Franklin Institute STEM Scholar Program, Drexel Library, and Elsevier conducted a 2-day K12 STEM Scholar Workshop entitled “Engineer Your City with Self-Healing Infrastructure”. During this workshop, a group of high school students worked in teams, searched for information from scientific literature, performed experiment, and learnt how to use this information to come up with technological solutions to solve problems in their community. Students were taught to present their outcomes with an innovative way of preparing graphical abstract. August 2017 |
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Yasmina Shields Graduates with a MSc Degree from Drexel College of Engineering
Congratulations to Yasmina for her graduation with a MSc degree in Civil and Architectural Engineering! She has made excellent contributions to ASIM group through her thesis entitled "Freeze-thaw crack determination in cementitious materials using 3D X-ray computed tomography and acoustic emission". Yasmina will join Clarks Foundations, LLC in Washington DC as a Project engineer. Best wishes for your success from ASIM Family! June 2017 |
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Evaluating the Potential Use of Alginate to Enable Microbial Self-Healing in Concrete
Dr. Farnam presented "Evaluating the Potential Use of Alginate to Enable Microbial Self-Healing in Concrete" by M. Ksara, S. Keshani, E. Mayerberger, F. Althoey, C. Sales, C. Schauer, and Y. Farnam in the 6th International Conference on Self-Healing Materials, 25 - 28 June 2017 Graf-Zeppelin-Haus, Friedrichshafen/Germany. June 2017 |
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NSF Award: EAGER_Spherical Porous Reactive Aggregates from Coal Bottom Ash
Congratulations to Dr. Farnam who will be the Co-PI on a NSF Award. This project will study thermodynamic-based conversion of waste material into value-added reactive aggregates that will improve the cracking resistance of concrete by strengthening the bonding between aggregates and hardened cement. This award is led by Prof. Sabrina Spatari from Drexel Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department. Read More, October 2016 |
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Dr. Farnam Joins Drexel University
Dr. Farnam Joins the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) at Drexel University as an Assistant Professor. Prior to starting his position in Drexel CAEE, he completed his postdoctoral appointment at Purdue University in July 2016 where he studied advanced cement-based materials. Read More, September 2016 |
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Melting Snow Using Phase Change Materials (PCM) in Concrete (Reference vs PCM-LWA, 7 °C to 2 °C)
Phase change materials (PCM) can be incorporated in concrete pavement as a novel methodology to melt ice/snow over the surface of the pavement. PCM is an organic material that can be designed to store energy from ambient, applied or solar sources and the stored energy can be used during cooling events to heat up concrete pavements. In this movie, PCM was incorporated in concrete slab using lightweight aggregate (LWA) and its potential to melt snow was compared with reference slab with no PCM when the ambient temperature varied between 7 °C to 2 °C. Watch Here, July 2016 |
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The Most Cited Article: "Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Impact Behavior of Ultra-High Performance Concrete" Is Among the Most Cited International Journal of Impact Engineering Articles Since 2010
"Experimental and numerical investigations of low velocity impact behavior of high-performance fiber-reinforced cement based composite" by Y. Farnam, S. Mohammadi, and M. Shekarchi is announced to be among the most cited International Journal of Impact Engineering (Elsevier) articles since 2010, extracted from Scopus. Read More, Nov 2015 |
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Road Salt is Worse Than You Think!
U.S. infrastructure continues to decay at an alarming rate, as exemplified by the low grades consistently awarded by the ASCE Infrastructure Report Card. While there are many contributors to the decay and degradation of our nation's transportation infrastructure, one that cannot be overlooked in many states is the annual winter application of deicing salts. We often use deicing salt to melt ice and snow after a snowstorm and to increase the safety, but is it bad for the environment? Read More for damage mechanisms, Watch Here for environmental impact, Oct. 2015 |
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Damage Development, Phase Changes, Transport Properties, and Freeze-Thaw Performance of Cementitious Materials Exposed to Chloride Based Salts
Dr. Farnam presented "Damage development, phase changes, transport properties, and freeze-thaw performance of cementitious materials exposed to chloride based salts" at Purdue University. Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in premature deterioration in concrete pavements and flat works that are exposed to chloride based salts. Chloride based salts can cause damage and deterioration in concrete due to the combination of factors which include: increased saturation, ice formation, salt crystallization, osmotic pressure, corrosion in steel reinforcement, and/or deleterious chemical reactions. Read More, April 2015 |
