A matching opportunity from the Purdue Research Foundation enables Civil Engineering to expand diversity.

In May 2015, thanks to an amazingly generous anonymous donor, Purdue University was able to offer $5 million in matching funds for donors wishing to establish scholarships for underrepresented minority and women undergraduates. In a little over a year, the Lyles School of Civil Engineering has raised $600,000 in scholarship pledges to boost diversity, one of the primary goals set forth in the College of Engineering's Strategic Growth Initiative.

To help meet that key goal, several CE alumni and friends doubled their gifts — and doubled their impact. The generosity of these individuals is enabling more minority and female students to afford a Purdue Civil
Engineering degree.

Lorel Bloom Au (BSIDE '73, MSCE '75) and Roger Au (BSCE '73) are among those who have pledged to allocate more of their funds to ensure Purdue Civil Engineering can provide opportunities to a more diverse group of students. Lorel says that she and Roger believe one of the greatest ways to bring in new ideas and deepen civil engineering’s talent pool is to ensure all sources for promising CE students are thoroughly tapped.

"It was always our desire to give back to the Lyles School of Civil Engineering as a way of expressing our gratitude for the transformative education we both received," Lorel says. "The PRF matching scholarship program provided a unique opportunity for us to participate in the mission of the school and double our financial impact toward helping others experience the same world-class education that we did."

The $600,000 in PRF-targeted scholarships is enabling many more students, especially underrepresented students, to study civil engineering at Purdue. The goal of improving diversity aligns with those of affordability and accessibility, key components to the Purdue Moves effort initiated by President Mitch Daniels.

Don Fry, managing director of development for the Lyles School, says, "Student support is obviously important and diversity is a priority for all of us. Going forward, we will seek donors excited to help boost our school's diversity and help fund our efforts to recruit the very best students who see a civil engineering education as the best path to their future."