Santa Clara University

A Message from the Chair

Dr. Steven Chiesa, P.E.

Another academic year is rapidly coming to a close and there is good reason to look back fondly on this year’s accomplishments while looking ahead to an even brighter future. Undergraduate enrollment in the program continues to increase with next September’s entering freshman class potentially being the largest in the last 10 years. This year the program will graduate 24 civil engineers (with employment opportunities for these students continuing to be very strong. All graduates will don the traditional orange hardhats on June 17th when they walk across the stage in Buck Shaw Stadium as part of the University’s 155th commencement exercises. This year’s graduating class includes recipients of the School of Engineering’s Raymond Galantine M. Award for community service (Catherine Cote) and the Research Excellence Award for undergraduate students (Gregory Vering).

The ASCE student chapter has had a banner year in getting our undergraduate students involved and interacting with their professional counterparts. Chapter members participated in both the concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions at the recent ASCE Mid-Pacific Regional Conference and, with student interest running high, will hopefully compete in both events again next year when Santa Clara co-hosts the conference with San Jose State University. Chapter members also had outstanding success in the 2006 ASCE San Jose Branch Essay Scholarship Competition. Competing against other local engineering schools, chapter members took fourteen of the nineteen scholarships, including all the top scholarships.

The annual Senior Engineering Design Conference was held this past May 4 with students once again presenting their capstone design projects to panels of alumni judges. Two civil engineering sessions plus a new session on Sustainable/Interdisciplinary Engineering were included in the program. Judges evaluated projects using criteria covering technical content and presentation skills. Best of Session awards were presented to the team of Ryan Benevedes, Tania Gharechedaghy, and Deanna Perdiguerra for “Design of Dual Entry Taxiway ‘F’ for the San Francisco International Airport” and the team of Jackson Dovey and Henry Qi for “AISC Student Steel Bridge Design & Fabrication.” The Sustainable/Interdisciplinary Engineering session included projects focusing on cob design for residential structures and improved seismic resistance design for mixto structures in Central America.

Alumni Bring Practical Experience into the Classroom

This past year, the department was fortunate to have two former graduates, Ziad Dweiri (class of 1998) and Nick Pera (class of 1995), return to teach courses in AutoCad Design and Construction Engineering, respectively. We would like to thank Ziad and Nick for sharing their enthusiasm and practical experience with our students, and wish them continued success in their careers.