Program

ICESA 2023 Keynote Lecture - Physical

December 05 | 09:15 AM - 10:00 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Mehrab Mehrvar, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

Organic Wastes: Is It Really Waste?
Dr. Elsayed Elbeshbishy, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

Dr. Elsayed Elbeshbishy is an Associate Professor and the Associate chair of the undergraduate program at Civil Engineering Department at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the President of the Canadian Association on Water Quality (CAWQ) and a member of the Canadian National Committee of the International Water Association (CNC/IWA). He is a Governing Member-IWA Canada. Dr. Elbeshbishy has extensive experience on developing new technologies for value-added products recovery from wastes. His areas of expertise include wastewater treatment processes, anaerobic digestion, pretreatment technologies, fermentation process, and solid waste management. He is the director of Water Research for Resource Recovery (WR3) Group at Toronto Metropolitan University.

ICESA 2023 Plenary Lecture - Virtual

December 05 | 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Mehrab Mehrvar, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

Innovative Use of Recycled Materials in Infrastructure Projects
Dr. Hany El Naggar, Dalhousie University, Canada

Dr. Hany El Naggar, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a Professor of GeoStructural/Geotechnical Engineering at Dalhousie University with more than 25 years of experience in civil construction, geotechnical and structural engineering and research in Canada and overseas. He has participated in several geotechnical and structural investigations and is experienced in the analysis and design of foundations and soil-structure interaction of buried infrastructure. Dr. El Naggar and his research team have investigated the SSI effects around buried infrastructure and explored innovative uses of tire derived aggregate (TDA) as a buffer zone to create stress arching and reduce demand on rigid pipes and culverts. They also proposed an earth pressure reduction system using a geogrid reinforced platform bridging system to reduce stresses on buried utilities and studied the effects of high-rise buildings on pre-existing tunnels. Likewise, they conducted several slope stability assessments for high embankments and dams and developed a new sand-coated glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) pile with an enhanced friction performance. Dr. El Naggar’s research findings have been reported in more than 170 technical publications covering both experimental and numerical work in the fields of SSI, resilient buried infrastructure, and concrete pipes. His research work on the seismic performance of corrugated metal culverts led to changing the seismic provisions of the new version of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (2019) to include rigorous dynamic analysis for flexible buried structures in high seismicity zones. Besides, his work on the modelling of rigid pipes is featured in the CHBDC (2019) as an example of the best practice in modelling buried concrete structures. These research efforts received worldwide recognition.

Session

December 05 | 11:05 AM - 12:45 PM | Session Chair: Dr. Paulo Martins - Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Portugal

Civil Engineering II

ICCEFA 2023 Plenary Lecture - Virtual

December 05 | 1:45 PM - 02:35 PM | Session Chair: Dr. Paulo Martins - Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Portugal

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Smart Transportation
Dr. Sanjay Ranka, University of Florida, USA

Sanjay Ranka is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Information Science and Engineering at University of Florida. From 1999-2002, as the Chief Technology Officer at Paramark (Sunnyvale, CA), he developed a real-time optimization service called PILOT for marketing campaigns. PILOT served more than 10 million optimized decisions a day in 2002 with a 99.99% uptime. Paramark was recognized by VentureWire/Technologic Partners as a Top 100 Internet technology company in 2001 and 2002 and was acquired in 2002. Sanjay has also held positions as a tenured faculty member at Syracuse University, academic visitor at IBM and summer researcher at Hitachi America Limited.

Research in high performance computing and bigdata science is an important avenue for novel discoveries in large-scale applications. The focus of his current research is the development of efficient computational methods and data analysis techniques to model scientific phenomenon, and practical applications of focus are improvements to the quality of healthcare and the reduction of traffic accidents. A core aspiration of his research is to develop novel algorithms and software that make an impact on the application domain, exploiting the interdependence between theory and practice of computer science.
He has coauthored one book, four monographs, 300+ journal and refereed conference articles. His recent coauthored work has received a best student paper runner-up award at IGARSS 2015, best paper award at BICOB 2014, best student paper award at ACM-BCB 2010, best paper runner-up award at KDD-2009, a nomination for the Robbins Prize for the best paper in the Journal of Physics in Medicine and Biology in 2008, and a best paper award at ICN 2007.

ICCEFA 2023 Keynote Lecture - | Virtual

December 05 | 02:35 PM - 03:20 PM | Session Chair: Dr. Paulo Martins - Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Portugal

Sustainable Design for Wind Turbine Foundations
Dr. Hesham El Naggar, Western University, Canada

Dr. El Naggar is a Distinguished University Professor of Western University, Canada. He is Editor-In-Chief of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering and past Associate Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal. He published more than 450 technical papers/book chapters on foundations, soil-structure interaction and geotechnical earthquake engineering; and consulted on major projects worldwide. He is the main developer of software DYNA6 used worldwide for design of foundations for dynamic loads. He received numerous awards including: Geosynthetics, Stermac, Meyerhof, Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium Speaker, Western University Distinguished Professorship, Faculty Scholar Award, Outstanding Teaching, and Research Excellence Awards as well as the 2015 Ontario Professional Engineers Medal for Engineering Research & Development. He is an elected Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineers, Engineering Institute of Canada and the American Society for Civil Engineers.

ICESA 2023 Lecture - Physical

December 06 | 8:30 AM - 9:15 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Paulo Martins - Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Portugal

Decarbonizing Surgeries: Anesthetic Gas Mitigation Strategies
Dr. William A. Anderson, University of Waterloo, Canada

William A. Anderson is a Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research activities have frequently concentrated on photochemical and biological processes for environmental control and contamination detection, especially in the field of air pollution control. His recent research projects focus on photochemical air treatment, fluorocarbon emissions mitigation, antimicrobial materials and UV disinfection for infection transmission reduction, and the treatment of microplastics pollutants. He is an editorial board member of the journal Environments and consults for several established and start-up companies on technology innovation for environmental control and pathogen detection.

ICESA 2023 Plenary Lecture

December 06 | 9:15 AM - 10:00 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Paulo Martins - Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Portugal

Water and Wastewater Engineering: Advancements, Challenges, and Future Needs
Dr. Mehrab Mehrvar, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

Dr. Mehrab Mehrvar, Ph.D., P.Eng., joined Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada, in 1998, where he is now Full Professor and Associate Chair, Graduate Studies, in the Department of Chemical Engineering. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Mehrvar has a strong commitment to research. His main research interests include the integration of advanced oxidation technologies and biological processes for the treatment of water and wastewater as well as photochemical reaction engineering. Recently, he was awarded two Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships funds (QES); the first one in 2017 and second one in 2023, for a total of more than $800,000, in collaboration with the University of Cartagena, Colombia, to work on the effects of climate change on the quality of water in northern Colombia. He has authored/co-authored more than 127 refereed journal papers, 6 book chapters, 36 papers in conference proceedings, and more than 200 presentations/abstracts; and conducted more than 30 international invited seminars and workshops. He has also supervised/co-supervised more than 50 graduate students in both master’s and doctoral levels as well as more than 70 research assistants, exchange students, postdocs, and visiting scholars. He has been the guest editor and the editorial board member of several refereed journals. Dr. Mehrvar has served as the chair as well as organizing and scientific committee member of several international conferences. He has taught many courses in Chemical and Environmental Engineering in both undergraduate and graduate levels and served as the Chair of the Department for a couple of years. Dr. Mehrvar was the recipient of several prestigious teaching and research awards at both University of Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan University.

Session

December 06 | 10:20 AM - 12:05 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Mehrab Mehrvar, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada & Dr. William A. Anderson, University of Waterloo, Canada

Environmental Science II

ICESA 2023 Keynote Lecture

December 06 | 01:05 PM - 01:50 PM | Session Chair: Dr. William A. Anderson, University of Waterloo, Canada

The Potential of Nanomaterials in Agriculture
Dr. Vicente Rodríguez-González, Institute for Scientific and Technological Research of San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Dr. Vicente is Senior Researcher at IPICyT (Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica A.C,). He has published more than 135 papers, cited 2845 times H index 32 scopus (cited 3345 times H index 34 google scholar), directed 5 postdoctoral fellows, 8 PhD thesis, 15 M.Sc. thesis, 5 review papers and 5-chapter book.

Research Interests: New nanostructures for green chemistry: heterogeneous catalysis, AOPs for water treatment; renewable energy and environment; Photocatalysis; nanomaterials for inactivation of pathogens and agricultural applications. He is a member of the editorial board of the Chemical Engineering Journal and was guest editor for journals such as Catalysis Today, Topics in Catalysis, and the Journal of Hazardous Materials.