Dear all:

Spring 2017 saw the continuation of the celebration of the Division of Construction Engineering and Management’s 40^th Anniversary, culminating with the Spring Internship Banquet cohosted by Beta Tau Honor Fraternity on April 4, 2017. We had a larger than normal turnout this year, including many distinguished guests alongside some very impressive alumni and industry representatives.

I am proud to congratulate once again our very first CEM Outstanding Alumni Award recipient, Anne Bigane Wilson. Ms. Wilson was also the recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award this year. She has been pivotal in the advancement of the construction engineering profession, especially among young women.

In 2013, along with Lindsay Gray and Peggy Newquist, Ms. Wilson helped launch our Women in Construction (WinC) mentoring program. As a result of the WinC program, we have seen higher retention rates in young women in the program as well as an increase in the number of recent CEM women graduates who turn from mentee to mentor upon graduation. The benefits our mentees receive from their mentors has been instrumental for our young women. 

Sadie Argus, one of our undergraduate women who has been part of the WinC program, has shown impressive initiative this semester by taking on a graduate-level Human Journey to Mars course reliant on multidisciplinary and concurrent engineering methodologies. I encourage you to read about her growth through this challenge and learn about the challenges construction engineers face in Mars exploration.

The final spotlight of this issue is on CEM alum Mark Cvetkovich, who recently completed phenomenal work with the Bowen Engineering technical team, helping save our local City of West Lafayette $5.5M on an interceptor project east of campus. Cvetkovich was the project manager, helping the team finish the project not only under budget but also ahead of schedule. This kind of success for our graduates, making a difference in the communities in which we live, is why we are here serving and learning alongside our students in CEM. 

I hope you enjoy this issue of our newsletter. As always, we welcome any feedback you would like to offer.

With best regards,

Makarand (Mark) Hastak, PhD, PE, CCP

Professor and Head
Division of Construction Engineering and Management