Student Engineering Teams Rack Up More Awards

Students in Seattle U’s Civil and Environmental Engineering program continued their long-running winning ways with two more awards from this year’s NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying) Education Awards. Two senior capstone projects completed at the end of the 2018 academic year were selected by the organization’s jury—out of 51 entries—and each earned $10,000 awards.

Snohomish County Public Works sponsored one of the two winning projects. A team of five students worked under the supervision of a professional engineer and an aquatic biologist from the county and a faculty advisor with dual licenses in professional engineering and land surveying. The team improved a roadway to handle increased traffic and replaced a culvert to improve fish passage. The second winning project, sponsored by King County, involved the seismic assessment of the Black River Pump Station. A team of four students were guided and supervised by a professional engineer from the county, a structural engineer and a faculty advisor who is a professional engineer.

Since the inception of the NCEES Engineering Education Awards program in 2009, Seattle U civil engineering and electrical engineering department teams have won 19 awards, about 28 percent of all of the awards given by the organization.

These projects came out of the university’s Project Center, now in its 32nd year,  that links student teams with businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations who provide complex, real-world assignments. All graduating seniors in civil and environmental engineering, environmental science, computer science, electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering complete a senior design project.

NCEES recognizes college engineering programs for engaging their students in collaborative projects with licensed professional engineers. It was established to promote understanding of the value of licensure and to encourage partnerships between the engineering profession and education.