Ayumi Manawadu
Washington State University
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Structural) expected Summer 2022
We are excited to introduce our FY22 GradSWE Diversity and Inclusion Team Lead, Ayumi Manawadu! Ayumi formed a team to create blog posts, scholarship awareness, webinars, and outreach events to raise awareness about challenges faced by diverse groups and ways to overcome them. Ayumi is also the Director of the GradSWE group at WSU, which she founded last year. She also has experience as the Internal International Graduate Liaison, the Industry Mentor Program Coordinator, and the Vice President of the WSU SWE section. Stay tuned for her upcoming document containing best practices to promote D&I to distribute among GradSWE groups!
Ayumi has received many awards including the WE21 Outstanding Collegiate Member Award “for creating opportunities for women, underrepresented students, and international students in STEM; for strong leadership and compassionate mentoring; and for increasing graduate-level involvement and service to SWE.” She also received the WE20 GradSWE Outstanding Collegiate Member Award “for commitment to SWE at Washington State University, STEM outreach, and community and cultural engagement.” Outside of SWE, Ayumi received the Karen DePauw Leadership Award from the WSU Association for Faculty Women and WSU Graduate School in 2021 and the WSU President’s Award for Leadership in 2019 (she is also nominated for it in 2022)! Ayumi represented WSU at the National three-minute thesis (3MT) showcase held by the Council of Graduate Schools, and she won co-first place of the Western Regional 3MT Competition held by the Western Association of Graduate Schools.
Ayumi’s research topic is “Mechanics and durability of concrete-shotcrete interface bond.” Shotcrete or high-velocity sprayed concrete is often used to repair vertical and overhead concrete surfaces. However, the bond between the new shotcrete layer and the old concrete substrate is the weakest link in such repaired composite structures. In her research, she is analyzing this interface bond using strength and fracture tests to determine how substrate surface properties affect the quality of this interface bond. She is also developing a mode-II fracture mechanics-based test method to analyze cementitious bi-material interfaces (including the shotcrete-concrete interfaces) to analyze the long-term durability of this bond when subjected to freezing and thawing cyclic weather.
After graduating, Ayumi plans to pursue a career in academia with a focus on structural mechanics and intelligent infrastructure systems.
Ayumi’s hobbies include traveling, being outdoors, playing basketball, cooking, and watching mystery films!
Fun fact: For a person who has played basketball for more than 15 years, Ayumi’s height is still 15 inches shorter than where she’d like it to be!
Find Ayumi on Instagram as @ayu_kay and on Twitter as @AyumiManawadu!
Washington State University
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Structural) expected Summer 2022
We are excited to introduce our FY22 GradSWE Diversity and Inclusion Team Lead, Ayumi Manawadu! Ayumi formed a team to create blog posts, scholarship awareness, webinars, and outreach events to raise awareness about challenges faced by diverse groups and ways to overcome them. Ayumi is also the Director of the GradSWE group at WSU, which she founded last year. She also has experience as the Internal International Graduate Liaison, the Industry Mentor Program Coordinator, and the Vice President of the WSU SWE section. Stay tuned for her upcoming document containing best practices to promote D&I to distribute among GradSWE groups!
Ayumi has received many awards including the WE21 Outstanding Collegiate Member Award “for creating opportunities for women, underrepresented students, and international students in STEM; for strong leadership and compassionate mentoring; and for increasing graduate-level involvement and service to SWE.” She also received the WE20 GradSWE Outstanding Collegiate Member Award “for commitment to SWE at Washington State University, STEM outreach, and community and cultural engagement.” Outside of SWE, Ayumi received the Karen DePauw Leadership Award from the WSU Association for Faculty Women and WSU Graduate School in 2021 and the WSU President’s Award for Leadership in 2019 (she is also nominated for it in 2022)! Ayumi represented WSU at the National three-minute thesis (3MT) showcase held by the Council of Graduate Schools, and she won co-first place of the Western Regional 3MT Competition held by the Western Association of Graduate Schools.
Ayumi’s research topic is “Mechanics and durability of concrete-shotcrete interface bond.” Shotcrete or high-velocity sprayed concrete is often used to repair vertical and overhead concrete surfaces. However, the bond between the new shotcrete layer and the old concrete substrate is the weakest link in such repaired composite structures. In her research, she is analyzing this interface bond using strength and fracture tests to determine how substrate surface properties affect the quality of this interface bond. She is also developing a mode-II fracture mechanics-based test method to analyze cementitious bi-material interfaces (including the shotcrete-concrete interfaces) to analyze the long-term durability of this bond when subjected to freezing and thawing cyclic weather.
After graduating, Ayumi plans to pursue a career in academia with a focus on structural mechanics and intelligent infrastructure systems.
Ayumi’s hobbies include traveling, being outdoors, playing basketball, cooking, and watching mystery films!
Fun fact: For a person who has played basketball for more than 15 years, Ayumi’s height is still 15 inches shorter than where she’d like it to be!
Find Ayumi on Instagram as @ayu_kay and on Twitter as @AyumiManawadu!
