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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Rutgers logo
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Graduate Student Jingnan Zhao Receives Research Awards

Rutgers students Jingnan Zhao standing between two people and holding an award

Jingnan Zhao received the TRB ACRP Graduate Research Award (2018-2019) which includes a $12,000 fellowship. The competition is nationwide and only 10 recipients are selected each year. Zhao works under CEE professor Hao Wang. Their area of focus is in energy harvesting, a promising technique that can help solve global energy challenges without depleting natural resources. Their particular emphasis is on the energy harvesting performance of piezoelectric transducers in airfield pavements.

Piezoelectric materials have the ability to produce electrical energy from mechanical stress or strain, which has been widely used in roadways and bridges. Airfield pavements are designed to carry repeated loading of heavy aircraft. Therefore, research is needed to explore the potential of harvesting energy in airports using piezoelectric technology.

Zhao also received the Outstanding University Student in Transportation Award by NJDOT in 2018 (pictured), which is awarded to one student annually from among all New Jersey universities.