More than just bragging rights were up for grabs for this semester’s Senior Design Class.

The Senior Design course is seen as both a rite of passage and the culmination of what a student at the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering has learned over the past four years. For decades now, all students who have earned their BSCE at Purdue University have at least this one shared experience.

“This course aims to have students draw on all that they’ve learned over the years and apply it in a real-world scenario,” said course instructor, Civil and Construction Engineering Professor Robert Jacko. “It also teaches them the importance of teamwork and collaboration.”

The course puts seniors with a typical range of civil and construction engineering specialties together into semester-long teams where each team forms their own company, decides on a company name and logo, elects a project manager and an assistant project manager and are introduced to a real-world, on-going project in collaboration with a consulting engineering firm who are the official engineers of record on the project.

The projects have traditionally covered the entire scope of what civil and construction engineers will encounter upon graduation. Past projects have included a multistory engineering building at the University of Nebraska, an expressway in Indiana, and a baseball park in Illinois.

For the 2024-25 school year, the Senior Design class collaborated with Kiewit Engineering of Omaha, NE, on the $2.1 billion rebuild of the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Baltimore harbor which was destroyed in March 2024 by a cargo ship collision. Kiewit provided specialty bridge design lecturers and pertinent engineering data for the students’ use. Moffatt and Nichol Engineering of Raleigh, NC provided a pier protection lecture and engineering data.

And this semester, Magnusson Klemencic Associates Chairman and CEO, and alumnus Ron Klemencic (BSCE 1985, HDR 2025) further amplified the significance of the project though an endowment where the winning Senior Design team will be awarded $8,000. Klemencic said he decided to establish this endowment to both reward the students’ incredible work and to further emphasize how important it is for future engineers to understand the importance of teamwork and collaboration.

“After 40 years in the industry, what I have learned that it’s not always the best presented design that wins these big contracts, it’s which team worked together the best,” Klemencic said. “I had been wondering for a while now how I can further support Purdue and my school, and I believe further emphasizing to students just how vitally important collaboration is for success in the industry is the right way to do it.”

The team this semester that proved they demonstrated the greatest teamwork and collaboration was team #3: Boilermaker Bridge Builders (B3). The team members were Delaney Bochenek, Sean Bruch, Keegan Connors, Alana DeVilbiss, Christian Falcone, Isabella Goss, Catherine Granum, Brian Kang, Jonah Messina, Chainery Kylie Mojica, Sabrina Starkweather, and Ethan Trepal.

B3 project manager Jonah Messina said he never expected to learn and gain as much experience as he did through the Senior Design course.

“Honestly, I think this was my favorite class out of all the others I’ve taken while at Purdue,” Messina said. “It really forced us to focus on developing a strong team because a project of this size was so much bigger than any one of us alone could accomplish.”

B3 team member Alana DeVilbiss echoed Messina, adding that she felt she was that much more prepared to succeed as a professional due to her experiences.

“Not just having to work with a team and conduct research, but being able to learn from experienced professionals really put into perspective what being a professional engineer is all about,” DeVilbiss said. “And then having to present in front of them and 200 other students really pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow.”

In addition to the incredible guidance he received throughout the semester, Messina also said he was especially thankful to Klemencic for his support of the school and its students.

“It really is a tremendous honor to be the first team to win this award,” he said. “I’m sure I speak for my whole team when I say we are so very grateful and proud to have the support of such incredible alumni.”

To learn more about the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering and its courses, visit the school’s website at https://engineering.purdue.edu/CCE.