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ASCE Honors UT Tyler with Distinguished Chapter Award

ASCE Canoes Graveyard on campus The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently recognized UT Tyler’s ASCE student chapter with a 2021 Distinguished Chapter Award for Region 6, which includes all of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Mexico.

A recommendation for this award was made by the Committee on Student Members based on 2020 activities. This is the eighth time since 2009 that the university’s ASCE chapter earned this distinction.

This achievement results from the countless hours of hard work put in by the student leadership, according to chapter co-adviser Dr. Michael Gangone.

“I am so proud of our ASCE student chapter,” said Gangone, a UT Tyler associate professor of civil engineering. “They worked extremely hard last year – and during an unprecedented pandemic – to create the same student experience that continues to benefit our civil engineering community here at UT Tyler. Our ASCE student chapter is truly the heartbeat of our student experience.”

Chapter events include resume workshops, technical speakers, field trips and networking socials with industry professionals, as well as social events and outreach activities. After spring break of 2020, the chapter had to cancel a full semester of planned events that put them behind their normal schedule. Because the group quickly transitioned to a hybrid style chapter in the fall 2020 semester with both in-person and online activities, they were able to make up for most of the events they had missed the previous semester.

Cardona Leading those efforts was past chapter president and May 2021 graduate Luisa Cardona Suarez of Longview, who learned how important it is to be a strong leader when “everything is falling apart.”

“I cannot stress how much I learned by leading the team of officers during the pandemic,” said Cardona Suarez. “This achievement means a lot to me because it shows that perseverance combined with hard work and true desire to excel does pay off. I’m very proud of the team for never giving up.” The award also recognizes UT Tyler’s chapter for their achievements during the 2020 ASCE Texas Student Symposium and Conference, she added.

Aside from the ASCE student chapter, Cardona Suarez also was a member of the concrete canoe team and UT Tyler civil engineering honor society. She plans to further her education and pursue a career in urban development.

Concrete Canoe team members at competition Tyler campus civil engineering students interested in joining the ASCE may contact Gangone, mgangone@uttyler.edu, Tyler campus co-adviser Dr. Michael McGinnis, associate dean and McNally Professor of Civil Engineering, or current chapter president, Benjamin Boardman, bboardman@patriots.uttyler.edu.

Those students based at the Houston Engineering Center may contact ASCE HEC president Osvaldo Diaz at odiaz2@patriots.uttyler.edu or ASCE HEC faculty adviser Dr. Shariful Huq, lecturer in civil engineering, shuq@uttyler.edu.

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