Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Student Awards

Graduate Student Awards

Khalil Ahmad, graduate student in environmental engineering, was awarded first place for his poster "Development of Early Warning Systems to Improve U.S. Crop Biosecurity" that he presented at the 8th Biennial Iowa Geographic Information Council Conference April 23-26 in Sioux City, Iowa. The poster highlighted breakthroughs involving the analysis of satellite imagery to extract temporal and spatial patterns in diseased soybean fields that are unique to Asian soybean rust.

Ahmad also received the student assistantship award for the 2007 Environmental Research Systems Institute (ERSI) Conference in San Diego, California. Nearly 14,000 software users gather at this conference to learn more about geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and remote sensing (RS) technologies and to share their ideas and knowledge.  The award was based on Ahmad's research and experience in the area of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing.

Mary Rasmussen, PhD student in environmental engineering  and biorenewable resources and technology, was recognized  for earning the top score on course evaluations at the Intensive Program on Renewable Biomaterials in Toulouse and Tarbes, France,  May 21 to June 1. The two-week program brings together students from universities in the United States and Europe for 50 hours of lectures given by international experts, pilot plant demonstrations, group presentations, and an examination.

Mark J. Thompson (on the ground), NSF Graduate Fellowship recipient, and Dr. David White place grout during pile installation.

Mustafa Birkan Bayrak, graduate student in geotechnical and materials engineering, received first place at the 2006 Midwest Transportation Consortium’s Transportation Scholars Conference for his paper on the use of neural networks in pavement design.

The conference is part of Iowa State’s Transportation Scholars program for exceptional students in transportation-related fields. Papers presented at the conference represent the best of student research projects in transportation-related fields. The Transportation Scholars program is sponsored by the Midwest Transportation Consortium, a U.S. DOT University Transportation Center; the consortium is led by Iowa State and housed at Iowa State’s Center for Transportation Research and Education.

Josh Hochstein, PhD student in transportation engineering, was named the Midwest Transportation Consortium's Student of the Year. Hochstein also won the Missouri Valley Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers' (MOVITE) Thomas J. Seburn Student Paper Award earlier in 2006. His paper entitled “Potential Rural Expressway Intersection Safety Treatments” earned a $500 cash award and travel expenses to present the paper at the September 28, 2006 MOVITE meeting in Topeka, Kansas.

Mark Thompson is one of four Iowa State graduate engineering students to receive a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship in spring 2005.

Thompson was selected on the basis of his intellectual merit and potential impact on education and benefit to society. For three years, Thompson will receive a $2,500 monthly stipend, and Iowa State will receive an annual $10,500 allowance for educational and research expenses.

Thompson researched micropiles and slope remediation for his MS thesis and will continue working with pile-stabilized slopes. He will also pursue research regarding lateral soil stress measurement with in-situ testing devices and lateral stress influences on foundation engineering design/performance. His major professor is David White.

Thompson also won the $1,000 award for his paper, "Experimental Load Transfer of Piles Subject to Lateral Soil Movement," at the Transportation Scholars conference at ISU in November 2004.

John Kevern, master's student in geotechnical engineering, was awarded the ACI 2005–2006 P. K. Mehta Scholarship ($3,000) for graduate study in the field of concrete and sustainable development.

Angela Kolz's thesis, "Degradation and sorption of tylosin in swine manure lagoons," was selected by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors selected as the best master's thesis in the environmental science and engineering field for 2004. Kolz received $2,250 and a plaque. Tom Moorman with the USDA Soil Tilth Lab and Say Kee Ong were Kolz's major professors.

Fatih Bektas

Fatih Bektas, doctoral student in geotechnical engineering, is one of only seven students from around the country to receive the $20,000 Portland Cement Association's (PCA) Education Foundation award.

He'll be working with Kejin Wang and Halil Ceylan on the Determination of the Effect of Ordinary Portland Cement Fineness on ASTM C 1260 Expansion. The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of the fineness of ordinary portland cement on the accelerated mortar bar test used for determining potential concrete deterioration.

Tom Stout, PhD student in transportation engineering, was named a finalist in the 2005 Philip E. Rollhaus, Jr. Essay Competition. Stout won $1,000 for his essay called "How Road Authorities and Insurance Companies Should Work Together to Improve Highway Safety."

The competition was so fierce and the quality of the essays so high that Quixote Corporation, the contest sponsor, increased the number of awards from four to ten.

Stout also won first place in the Missouri Valley Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers student paper competition this year for his paper on "Before and After Study of Some Impacts of 4-lane to 3-lane Roadway Conversion." The award includes a certificate and a check.

He also received an ISU Teaching Excellence Award in Spring 2005.

Justin Doornink was named the 2004 Midwest Transportation Consortium’s student of the year. Doornink, structural engineering graduate student and two-time Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship winner (2003 and 2004), was selected based on a number of criteria including scholarship (papers and presentations), quality of academic work, and involvement in student organizations.

Hillary Isebrands was awarded an ISU Teaching Excellence Award.

Shilpi Singh received the Barbara Ann Herum Memorial Scholarship Award.

Undergraduate Student Awards

The Iowa County Engineering Association (ICEA) presented scholarships to eight Iowa State University students in civil and construction engineering at the association's annual banquet December 6, 2006. Each recipient receives $500 from the ICEA. The Iowa State College of Engineering then matches the scholarship amount, for a total award of $1,000 per student. This year's award winners are:

  • Adam Miller, senior, civil engineering
  • Andrew Goodall, junior, civil engineering
  • Ben Vierling, junior, civil engineering
  • Matt Bauer, senior, civil engineering
  • Adam Clemons, senior, construction engineering
  • Matt Ludwig, senior, civil engineering
  • Trent Barnes, junior civil engineering
  • Jordan Denman, junior, civil engineering

Eric Borchers won first prize at the ASCE Mid-West Regional Conference paper and presentation contest for his paper titled "Protecting Professional Standards in the Computer Age" in March 2005.

The following students received the outstanding member award at the fifth Annual Engineering Leadership Banquet on February 23, 2005, for their work in their organizations:

  • Christine Allen, Alpha Sigma Kappa
  • Matthew Bauer, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Steel Bridge Club
  • Karen Bodach, Society of Women Engineers
  • Stephanie Brodersen, Engineer Week
  • Tom Bruton, Society of International Engineers
  • David Carroll, ASCE
  • Mitch Holtz, Chi Epsilon
  • Josh Miltenberger, Associated General Contractors
  • Ty Murray, Mechanical Contractors Association
  • Will Treasure, Sigma Lambda Chi