ISU Civil Engineering Students Win Competitive Scholarships

Two senior undergraduate students, Samantha Kerr and Rachel Brownell, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Idaho State University won the 2020-2021 Academic Year American Society of Civil Engineers Southern Idaho Section (ASCE SIS) Scholarships. The amount of each scholarship is $1,000 and there were two scholarships awarded this year. 

Kerr and Brownell are members of the executive board for the ASCE Student Chapter at ISU. Both students are also accomplished athletes. Kerr plays on the ISU Rodeo Team and Brownell plays on the ISU Women’s Soccer team. The students have been working in the structural and earthquake engineering research group in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering under the supervision of ISU Associate Professor, Mustafa Mashal.

Mashal, who is also the Faculty Advisor for the ASCE Student Chapter at ISU, supported Samantha and Rachel’s applications for the ASCE SIS Scholarships.  

“Samantha and Rachel have strong academic records. They have maintained high GPAs. As the research supervisor for Samantha and Rachel, I am amazed at how well they have performed academically while working on several projects, and simultaneously playing on the ISU athletic teams and doing other extracurricular activities," Mashal said. "Samantha and Rachel are very hard-working student employees and I found them highly dedicated to their research projects. We should all be proud of having students such as Samantha and Rachel in ISU”

The ASCE SIS has established the scholarship for civil engineering students currently enrolled in the civil engineering curriculum at Boise State University, Idaho State University, Brigham Young University – Idaho, the College of Southern Idaho, and College of Western Idaho. The purpose of the scholarship program is to recognize, encourage, and assist promising students who have expressed interest in pursuing a career in the field of civil engineering and to recognize students who have been active in ASCE Section and Student Chapter activities.