The coursework commitment to successfully complete an engineering degree can be overwhelming, yet some students still find the inspiration and dedication to be deeply involved in activities that round out their lives and give back to their fellow students and society. To recognize exemplary students, each Spring the faculty of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE) bestows four Senior Awards: Citizenship and Service; Humanities; Leadership; and Scholarly Achievement. The CCEE honorees are then considered for the same award at the College of Engineering level.
On May 5, 2016 CCEE graduating seniors Leah-Craig Fleming (Leadership Award), Yon-Soo Lee (Citizenship and Service Award), Jacob Monroe (Scholarly Achievement) and Morgan Westbrook (Humanities), were honored at the College of Engineering Senior Awards Banquet. Yon-Soo Lee was awarded the COE Engineering Senior Award for Citizenship and Service from among a dozen Engineering Departments representing several thousand students.
The Senior Award for Citizenship and Service recognizes significant humanitarian contributions that improve the welfare of fellow citizens and the community. Yon-Soo says that her greatest passion is raising awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault. She has also tirelessly advocated for inclusion and diversity through the Asian Students in Alliance. Many of her activities in the fight for Women’s Rights have been carried out as part of her Presidency and membership in Alpha Phi Gamma Sorority. In addition to organizing many campus wide events and campaigns, she’s also a diligent volunteer giving time to Habitat for Humanity, Boys and Girls Clubs, Animal Rescues, Adopt a Highway, and Women’s Shelters among others. In conjunction with her foster family, she worked with Gawad Kalinga an organization working in impoverished areas of the Philippines. Yon-Soo says her foster parents taught her the value of giving back.
Yon-Soo will begin a job after graduation at Uzun + Case, a Structural Engineering firm located in downtown Raleigh. She also hopes to pursue a Master’s Degree with a concentration in Structures.
The Engineering Senior Award for the Humanities is given in recognition of a student who in addition to high achievement and academic standing in engineering has shown equal commitment to a broad liberal education in the social sciences, arts, or humanities. This year’s recipient, Morgan Westbrook, acquired a second degree in Spanish Language and Literature. She spent a month the summer after her third year at NC State living with a host family in Valencia, Spain. While there, she completed two upper level classes taught in Spanish and focused on art history and the culture of Spain. Morgan says that because of her dual degree she’s been able to complete many more history and literature classes than most engineering students, and she believes it helped hone her writing skills, and learn to communicate and understand people better. “I’m able to put myself in other people’s shoes,” she says. As President of the student chapter of United Way from May 2012 – May 2014, Morgan planned and participated in many volunteer activities throughout the community including work with the Interfaith Food Shuttle, and Boys and Girls Clubs.
Morgan, who concentrated in structural engineering is headed to the University of Colorado at Boulder this Fall to pursue a Masters in Architectural Engineering.
Leah-Craig Fleming was the CCEE recipient of the Engineering Senior Award for Leadership. “No one has ever accused me of being quiet,” Leah-Craig relays, but says that winning the mini-concrete canoe design project early in her freshman year had a lot to do with catapulting her toward leadership roles. When she saw a flyer hanging in the hallway encouraging students to become involved with the ‘real’ concrete canoe competition sponsored by the Association of Student Civil Engineers (ASCE), she signed up to participate. The next year she became the Concrete Canoe Captain, and the next year she was voted the first female President of the student chapter of ASCE. Leah-Craig says the project management skills needed to get the canoe built and transported to the competition taught her invaluable lessons related to financing, acquiring materials, and assigning and organizing tasks. “I think the concrete canoe project helped me get a job. It’s the little things you don’t think about like time management, and learning to talk to all kinds of people.” She’ll be taking those skills to her job at Kimley-Horn and Associates where she will be involved with site development. Her area of specialty is Water Resources.
Leah was active in many other organizations including Women in Engineering, the Society of Women Engineers, and the Paul Zia Lecture Series Planning Committee.
Jacob Monroe was awarded the Senior Award for Scholarly Achievement. While this year’s class had several students with GPAs of 4.0 and above, Jacob has been active in industry and distinguished himself with his participation in undergraduate research. Among his projects was one that evaluated agent-based models to better protect water distribution systems from potential terrorist attacks. He secured funding both from internal competitive and nationally competitive sources for multiple research projects. He is a recent recipient of the coveted National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, as well as The Hood Fellowship awarded by NC State’s College of Engineering. He will be pursuing a Master’s Degree here at CCEE where he will work closely with Drs. Emily Berglund, Joe DeCarolis, and Fernando Garcia Menendez, blending atmospheric modeling with social science research.
“I felt a great sense of respect for my professors here. I’ve worked my hardest to show them that respect,” Jacob says.
CCEE is proud of these four exemplary May 2016 graduates. The Senior Awards carry prestige, and also a $300 award that is sponsored by Freese and Nichols, who have offices on Centennial campus.
