Civil engineering students Charles Hope and Bryan Wilson are the first recipients from the Pavement and Materials Endowed Mentorship fund, established by BYU alumni Wendy Thompson and Heather Burnham last year.
Nominated by Professor W. Spencer Guthrie, Hope and Wilson used the aid of the endowment, in addition to their earnings from the Portland Cement Fellowship Award, to travel to the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Conference in Washington, D.C. This one-week conference is the largest of its kind in the world, and hosts over 10,000 people, annually, to discuss all topics relating to transportation.
At the conference, both Wilson and Hope had the opportunity to present papers they had written, regarding research they had done with the help of Dr. Guthrie while at BYU. Wilson researched a new road construction technique in Wyoming.
"I was the first author on the two papers I presented, so it was a pretty unique experience to tell people about what I had been working on."
Similarly, Hope presented his paper on the comparison of dry cement powder and cement slurry, materials used in building the structural base layer of roads.
"One neat thing about our presentation was that we developed, at BYU, a patent-pending slurry spreader box,” Hope said. “This product was shared at the conference and it was a really special experience because we had developed this instrument."
Because Hope had a job lined up before the conference with ExxonMobil, he used his extra time to visit the conference's large exhibition hall. However, Wilson was able to take advantage of the networking opportunities to secure meetings and interviews with many companies, including the Texas Transportation Institute, who created a position specifically for him.
"It was the chance of a lifetime--a really great opportunity to be able to attend, especially as a graduate student," Wilson said. He will be leaving for Texas in June.
Hope feels the experience was irreplaceable.
"I believe going to the TRB was the culminating event of my entire undergraduate and graduate work, beyond presenting my thesis or even graduation. Throughout my work at BYU, I often quoted a lot of professionals who were at my presentation at the conference. It was an honor to present for these industry leaders."
Media Contact
Krista Tripodi; krista_tripodi@byu.edu
801-422-3948
krista_tripodi@byu.edu
Writers
Elizabeth Dabczynski-Bean