Alumni

Video: Briana Santa Ana, Alumni Engagement Medal award recipient

Anonymous — Wed, 15 May 2024 16:00:22 +0000

Video: Briana Santa Ana, Alumni Engagement Medal award recipient Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/15/2024 - 10:00

The College of Engineering & Applied Science honors outstanding alumni every year at the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards Banquet, which took place this year on April 26.

At the 2024 banquet, Briana Santa Ana (CivEngr'20) was awarded the Alumni Engagement Medal award for organizing the Construction Diversity Summit, held in April 2022 and attracting nearly 200 attendees.

"Being engaged and paying it forward makes you feel grateful," said Santa Ana, a graduate engineer with Development Review for the City of Mesquite. "Seeing people succeed and the happiness that comes with it is such a magical feeling. It makes you feel empowered."

In an effort to bring attention and awareness to issues around discrimination and diversity in the construction industry, Santa Ana helped organize the Construction Diversity Summit. The summit enabled participants to learn new communication strategies and skills, recognize the importance of DEI work on the jobsite and better understand the challenges underrepresented populations face in the construction industry.

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Briana Santa Ana (CivEngr'20) was presented with the 2024 Alumni Engagement Medal award for organizing the Construction Diversity Summit, which took place in April 2022 with nearly 200 attendees.

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Briana Santa Ana: 2024 Alumni Engagement Medal Award recipient

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 19:29:18 +0000

Briana Santa Ana: 2024 Alumni Engagement Medal Award recipient Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/19/2024 - 12:29

The Alumni Engagement Medal (AEM) was established for college academic degree programs and the BOLD Center to recognize highly engaged alumni who impact their areas through volunteerism and philanthropic support.

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Alumni Volunteer Spotlight: Arthur Antoine, PhdCivEngr'17

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 20:44:10 +0000

Alumni Volunteer Spotlight: Arthur Antoine, PhdCivEngr'17 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/10/2022 - 14:44

Arthur Antoine (PhdCivEngr’17) is a proud Buff and an outstanding College of Engineering and Applied Science volunteer. Since graduating from CU Boulder, Antoine has established a successful career Shrewsberry & Associates, an engineering consulting firm, as a senior project manager.

As a CU Engineering Front Range Regional Network Ambassador, Antoine serves as a dedicated volunteer. He also contributes to the engineering community, serving as an active member and leader on numerous professional societies. We had the opportunity to sit down with Antoine to learn about his experience at CU Boulder and why he remains involved with his alma mater.

What are your fondest memories of CU Engineering?

My fondest memories of the college, and in particular of our Construction Engineering & Management (CEM) group, are of our research group meetings and regular camaraderie among grad student colleagues in our shared offices.

It was a welcoming experience to join the CEM group and the culture of supporting new grad students was genuinely maintained. Also, it was a pleasant surprise that the CEM group attracted US-based and international academics, contributing to a diverse mix of cultures while I was there.

You have served in executive roles with local trade associations such as vice president of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Denver Professionals chapter, and secretary for the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) babyֱ��app. Can you talk about why you choose to pursue leadership positions with each of the organizations and what they mean to you?

Fresh out of grad school in fall 2017, the first local trade association I got involved in was COMTO babyֱ��app. The experience served as a great way to get familiar with the local Denver-Metro Engineering/Construction professional community.

It was a pleasure to serve as Secretary for a term. Currently, I serve as the Chair of COMTO babyֱ��app’s Scholarship Committee, in which we aim to award up to 10 scholarships annually to students interested in pursuing college studies in a transportation-related field.

With the NSBE Denver Professionals chapter, I served as Vice President for one term and currently serve as the Corporate Sponsorship Liaison responsible for fundraising and fostering partnerships with corporate entities that wish to support our NSBE Mission, i.e. "to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community."

In summary, I chose those organizations and welcomed the leadership positions as a way to get involved and support the local community while contributing to my professional development.

Since graduating from CU Boulder, you have maintained a close connection with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. Can you talk about your experience as a student and the impact it had on you?

In my quest seeking a Construction Engineering & Management (CEM) PhD, I applied to multiple schools and CU Boulder’s CEM professors had the best personal approach to my interest in their program.

Beyond acceptance/entry, the program turned out to be more than I could have asked for – it was a comprehensive academic experience in my field of study. CU’s support of academic pursuits, financial and otherwise, was especially impactful on my experience.

With CU’s support, I got to attend and present my research at several significant industry and academic conferences. Additionally, through my advisor’s involvement in industry, I got to network and meet professionals who helped my research efforts and remain as professional contacts. Ultimately, I graduated feeling that the CEM program at CU Boulder surpassed my expectations.

Why did you choose to become a Regional Network Ambassador for the Front Range? Have there been any highlights to your role as an RNA since joining the program?

After graduating, I felt indebted to the institution as my alma mater and obligated to support the efforts of recruiting and retaining diverse students.

In this regard, I accepted the role of an RNA. The highlight for me is the random new connections made with prospective students and sharing knowledge about CU Boulder to aid them in deciding whether or not they pursue studies here.

What would you say to encourage alumni who are considering volunteering with their alma mater?

Ultimately, it’s a personal decision based on experiences and circumstances. Nonetheless, to anyone considering it I would say, think of your own achievement (BSc/MS/PhD or otherwise). Undoubtedly someone helped you along the way at some point, so consider being that person to help someone else on their academic journey.

Want to get involved as an alumni volunteer? Fill out our volunteer interest form or update your contact information to be notified of future CU Engineering alumni events.

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Civil PhD lead author on rural water infrastructure maintenance paper

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:31:37 +0000

Civil PhD lead author on rural water infrastructure maintenance paper Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/30/2022 - 09:31

Caleb Cord (PhDEnvEngr'22) is the first author on a new paper in Science of The Total Environment that looks at water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in developing countries from the systems level.

The work is part of the recently completed $15 million Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) on campus that was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). That overarching five-year project was run through the University of babyֱ��app Boulder’s Mortenson Center in Global Engineering. It coordinated the efforts of seven organizations in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia seeking to develop, test and document high-potential engagements with local WASH systems across multiple countries and contexts.

We asked Cord about the overall project, how his research in the paper fit into the larger discussion and where the work will go from here.

Question: You recently graduated with your PhD from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. How did you first get involved in the WASH and SWS research projects?
Answer: I joined the Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) in August 2018, and it has been so rewarding to collaborate with many great minds around the world on it. Looking back, I am beyond thankful for the lessons (academic, professional, and personal) I learned. Now that the project has wrapped up and my PhD is finished, I will be starting a job with Tetra Tech ARD as a deputy project manager and staff associate on their international water, sanitation, and hygiene programs.

Q: Can you explain what the USAID SWS project is at a high level and how this paper fits into it?
A: After decades of focus on constructing new water and sanitation infrastructure in low-income areas, we now face an immense global challenge in providing sustainable services and ensuring this infrastructure remains functional. Under SWS, eight partners across four countries (Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Cambodia) tested new ideas, approaches, and tools to build stronger systems for service delivery. When we talk about systems, we are referring to the actors and factors – institutional, social, environmental, technical, and financial elements – that influence service sustainability.

For example, one of our partners, Whave, is a rural water service provider in Uganda. Under Whave's approach, rural communities sign contracts and make regular, affordable payments in exchange for reliability assurance from Whave, who performs preventive maintenance and repair services on the hand pumps that communities use for water access. Building on over 12 months of my own fieldwork in Uganda and over three years of Whave's implementation, in this paper we examined 22 implementation cases from three districts to uncover the conditions that led to high levels of consumer contract retention. High levels of retention show there is consumer demand and that they are willing to pay for this service – an important indication of the social and financial sustainability of this system-strengthening approach.

Q: What are some real-world applications of this work?
A: Professional approaches to providing rural water services in low-income contexts are emerging and growing rapidly. Especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In the paper we provide targeted recommendations not only to service providers themselves, but also show that long-term success is going to rely on the efforts of many actors.

Caleb Cord

In the global WASH sector, we are continuing to move away from the voluntary, unsupported, unregulated, and underfunded arrangements of the past that have failed to improve sustainable services. As these important paradigm shifts take place, we need to build the body of evidence on what works and under what conditions. This study specifically sought to build evidence of the conditions needed for sustainable rural water service provision, and it is just one part of SWS's contributions to the global WASH sector as we shift our minds toward more sustainable service delivery.

Q: Was this a research question or area you were particularly interested in before joining the project?
A: Absolutely. I came to CU Boulder to connect with and be part of the thought-leading global engineering research that happens here. And since my background was in water supply systems, this line of work was a great fit.

That said, these specific problems and research questions emerged after I joined the project and learned more about the challenges facing the WASH sector today. I spent a lot of time working alongside our partners in Uganda and learning from their immense and dedicated efforts to build stronger systems for rural water services. This work stemmed directly from those interactions and would not have been possible if not for our close collaboration with the amazing minds behind Whave's work in the field and our other partners' work across SWS.

Q: What was it like working with professors Karl Linden and Amy Javernick-Will on this project?
A: They are the best advisors I could have asked for. They always pushed my work to be the best it could be and stood alongside me as I navigated some of the toughest situations I have ever been in, always providing the resources and room to grow. Managing SWS was no easy feat because there are so many partners with so many different interests, incentives, and ideas. In the end, the project – and my own success – has largely been a result of their dedication and personal investment in everything they do.

Read the full paper

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Grad heads research into ground improvement technique ahead of earthquakes

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 17:49:10 +0000

Grad heads research into ground improvement technique ahead of earthquakes Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/03/2021 - 10:49

Juan Carlos Tiznado (PhDCivEngr’20) is the lead author on a new paper in the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering that helps engineers better understand and predict the “liquefaction” hazard during earthquakes and more reliably mitigate it.

Every structure around us rests on soil or rock. In major earthquakes, loose saturated soils that normally behave as solids, such as loose sands below the water table, can transition into a semi-liquid state. That process is known as liquefaction, and factors like the intensity and duration of the quake along with the soil composition in the area play a part in the process.

Liquefaction remains one of the main causes of damage to physical infrastructure during earthquakes and can prevent community lifelines like healthcare, transportation, and power from being immediately restored afterwards, said Tiznado.

“This work focused on a ground improvement technique known as dense granular columns (DGC), which aims at mitigating the effects of soil liquefaction and improves structural performance during strong earthquakes,” he said. “Essentially, we developed the first probabilistic predictive models that help engineers evaluate the probability and expected degree of liquefaction in sites treated with DGCs. With this tool, we can now assess a site for a variety of mitigation scenarios, to help make informed decisions regarding earthquake risk reduction.”

Tiznado added that the work could be particularly useful when planning around important structures like road embankments and dams that are founded on saturated and relatively young (in a geological sense) granular deposits.

Tiznado started as a doctoral candidate in Associate Professor Shideh Dashti’s group in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, eventually graduating with a dual PhD from CU Boulder and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in December 2020. He then served as a postdoctoral researcher under Dashti briefly before taking a babyֱ��app position at Pontifical Catholic University, where he works today.

The authors used the geotechnical facility at CU Boulder – which includes three state-of-the-art centrifuges – to complete some of the work. They also benefitted from the super-computing facility (Summit) at CU Boulder to perform the extensive set of numerical simulations presented in this paper.

“In addition to physical and numerical modeling, we collected case histories from previous earthquakes using DGCs to validate our proposed model,” Tiznado said. “Consequently, we used machine learning techniques that helped us optimize the postprocessing of data required to develop our statistical design procedures.”

Dashti said this methodologically integrated approach will, for the first time, enable engineers to reliably evaluate the likelihood of liquefaction in stratigraphically variable liquefiable deposits that are treated with DGCs, contributing to the seismic safety of our critical infrastructure globally.

Read the paper online

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Nature paper takes initial steps towards high accuracy, low-cost occupancy sensors for residential settings

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 21:21:11 +0000

Nature paper takes initial steps towards high accuracy, low-cost occupancy sensors for residential settings Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/17/2021 - 14:21

Josh Rhoten

Margarite Jacoby

Margarite Jacoby (PhDArchEngr’21) is the lead author on a new paper in Nature: Scientific Data that describes the development of a data acquisition system that can be used to capture a range of occupancy information from single-family residences. The final publicly available dataset from the project could be used to train algorithms to predict when residents are home to better utilize energy intensive equipment, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Jacoby worked on the project as a part of Professor Gregor Henze’s lab within the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering while pursuing her PhD at CU Boulder. We asked about her current job, how this work fits into the larger energy efficiency discussion and more.

Question: Where are you working now?
Answer: I am now a data analyst at kW Engineering in Oakland, California. My work focuses on measurement and verification of energy efficiency measures implemented on large commercial and academic buildings.

Q: How would you describe the work and results of this paper? What are the applications?
A: This work was part of a larger project which sought to develop high accuracy, low-cost occupancy sensors for residential settings. The goal of knowing the occupancy of the home is to only run energy intensive equipment such as HVAC systems when people are home. Doing so would obviously reduce overall energy consumption. This paper in particular was focused on collecting occupancy relevant information from homes that we could use to train algorithms to predict occupancy.

The instrumentation and data collection part of the work turned out to be much more difficult than we expected, so that was challenging. And the work of developing a final occupancy detection system (of which this was a preliminary step), is still on-going.

Q: Is this a research topic or area you were interested in before joining the Henze Lab? If so, why?
A: It was very important to me to be involved in research related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The enormity of the climate crises means that we need to tackle this problem from all angles. Buildings are large consumers of energy, and so felt like a good place to focus my efforts.

Q: What was it like working with professor Henze?
A: The CEAE department at CU Boulder offered so many great opportunities for research and exposure to industry and other fields. Working with Professor Gregor Henze was truly a pleasure - speaking with him was always very inspiring, and I loved being a part of the great work that he is doing.

Read the paper

Margarite Jacoby (PhDArchEngr’21) is the lead author on a new paper in Nature: Scientific Data that describes the development of a data acquisition system that can be used to capture a range of occupancy information from single-family residences.

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NASA’s Calomino reflects on early education at CU Boulder

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 18:27:24 +0000

NASA’s Calomino reflects on early education at CU Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/10/2021 - 12:27

You never forget your home. And for Anthony Calomino, CU Boulder will always be home.

“When people ask about my education and background, my first thought is always where I began — CU Boulder,” he said.

Calomino (CivEngr’80) manages the space nuclear technologies for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. In that role, he guides the agency’s advancement of space nuclear fission power and propulsion capabilities to meet near-term human exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as for future robotic missions.

It’s his latest post in a career with the agency that began in 1985 and primarily focused on durability analysis and damage modeling of high-temperature materials and composites. Since around 2016, his area of focus has been in nuclear fission technology development.

Calomino joined NASA at a critical time, when the agency was becoming interested in advancing ceramic and refractory composite systems as heat-tolerant materials for use in aerospace vehicles. That type of research matched well with his foundational education in structural engineering.

From there, Calomino completed advanced degrees from Case Western Reserve University in engineering mechanics and Northwestern University in materials science through NASA initiatives. During that time, Calomino also served in many research leadership roles across the agency while developing, testing, and applying various heat-management systems for use in high-profile missions.

“That early experience with refractory composite systems for gas turbine engines led to working with hypersonic cruise and atmospheric entry vehicles where the external vehicle temperature is a big design concern,” he said. “Over the years, I began working on inflatable decelerators, which are essentially large, temperature resistant, inflated structures used as the heat shield to protect vehicles entering planetary atmospheres. Actually, NASA is currently using the inflatable decelerator as the baseline entry system for human exploration of Mars.”

Calomino is a babyֱ��app native and was one of the first in his family to earn a college degree. He originally wanted to be an architect because he liked working with his hands and was fascinated by large, complex structures such as bridges.

Calomino

The Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering provided a tangible entry into that field, showing him how math, physics, and various engineering design tools combine to make those structures possible and make them last. He said he found CU Boulder’s engineering program intimidating and demanding, but that there was an underlying electricity and energy about being in the program that propelled him forward.

After graduating, he accepted his first engineering job as a deep foundation engineering consultant with GRL Engineers Inc., in Ohio. It was an attractive early opportunity because he would be able to analyze stresses and stress waves in large structures using computational methods, a developing technological resource in engineering fields at that time.

A grant and research partnership with nearby NASA Glenn Research Center eventually led to a position with the agency in 1985, allowing him to pursue his key professional interest — how materials fatigue, fail, and change under extreme loading conditions and environments. Calomino eventually transferred to the NASA Langley Research Center in 2011 to lead the inflatable decelerator materials and structures development.

At first, Calomino said he did not realize how strong the undergraduate education he earned at CU Boulder was, but that changed quickly after he began his career.

“I paid to put myself through school, and I always had this idea that East Coast schools had an advantage in quality, but after moving east and working in engineering, I found that was just not the case,” he said. “Once I started working with other engineers, I found I was equally capable as anyone else. I realized how well prepared I was, and that was because of my time investment and learning opportunities at CU Boulder.”

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Olympian and Buff Magnus Boee Is National Nordic Skier of the Year

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 17:35:38 +0000

Olympian and Buff Magnus Boee Is National Nordic Skier of the Year Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/12/2021 - 11:35

When Magnus Boee was named National Men’s Nordic Skier of the Year in April, it was anything but unexpected. Boee won 10 of 12 races in 2021, including sweeping the regional and NCAA Nordic championships.

A dual citizen of Korea and Norway, Magnus Boee (CivEngr’23) eclipsed an incredible freshman season (highlighted by three wins and 10 top-10 finishes) with one of CU’s most dominant men’s Nordic ski seasons.

Boee was nearly unbeatable in 2021, winning 10 of 12 races. In the only two races he didn't win, he finished third and fourth. By March, he was the top seed in classic and freestyle disciplines at NCAAs, winning both events.

“I’ve improved a lot this year with technique and freestyle, plus my overall shape, endurance and aerobic capacity have gotten better,” Boee said.

Prior to CU, Boee skied for Korea at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics when he was just 19 years old. In July 2011, Boee settled in Norway and began skiing competitively — the same month PyeongChang was announced as the 2018 Winter Games host.

Despite his newness to Nordic, he and his mom thought, “Why don’t we aim for those Olympics?” Boee’s “hunger to get there” got him to PyeongChang. Two years later, he was winning races for CU.

When not skiing, Boee cross-trains by running, swimming and cycling. He credits his success to staying in Boulder last summer and training uninterrupted at altitude.

Even despite a major pre-season bike accident, which left him with a titanium plate to repair his broken jaw, Boee was undeterred. His attitude inspires teammates and coaches alike.

“He pushes everybody on the team to become better. He leads by example; the quality of the workout is most important, not quantity,” said Jana Weinberger, babyֱ��app’s Nordic head coach.

Boee hopes to bring home a 2022 NCAA team championship: “Beating [host and rival] Utah on their home ground. That would be the ultimate.”

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1922 civil grad inducted into CU Athletic Hall of Fame

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 16:11:39 +0000

1922 civil grad inducted into CU Athletic Hall of Fame Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/01/2021 - 10:11

Lee Willard enrolled at CU after graduating from Denver West High School in 1918 after he was unable to join the Navy due to a suspected medical condition. The Navy’s loss was babyֱ��app’s gain, as from 1918-22 he would go to earn 16 letters and be a 10-time first-team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic conference performer in four sports: four each in football, basketball, baseball and track (and was a captain for one or more seasons in all four sports) … No other student-athlete since has earned as many letters, even when freshmen could play participate for a brief time after World War II and permanently since 1972 … A 155-pound “battler,” he started his football career as an end, played mainly at halfback the next two seasons and finished at quarterback, earning All-RMAC honors his sophomore through senior years … Returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown at babyֱ��app College in 1918; it was the longest such play in school history at the time and stood for 20 years … He was equally outstanding in the other three sports: he led the basketball team in scoring for three years (the conference for two), and led the baseball team in hitting for three as well. Playing centerfield (and occasionally third base) and batting leadoff, he set a conference record with seven home runs in nine league games as a junior in 1921 (three leading off games); he concluded his career in 1922 by going 5-for-5 against babyֱ��app A&M, including a league record four doubles … He batted .546 as a junior and .525 as a senior … On the track, he specialized in sprints (career best of 9.8 in the 100-yard dash), relays and the broad jump while also throwing the javelin (winning multiple conference titles in all) … His speed made him a great breakaway runner on the gridiron, CU’s best at that point in its athletic history; he had a great arm that made him a fine passer and a great defensive centerfield in baseball … He helped rebuild CU’s athletic programs after the war, the three team sports combining for a 55-30-1 record, including two RMAC titles in basketball … He was also an excellent tennis player, but no way he could compete on three sports teams in the spring semester … His accomplishments extended off the field as well, as he was an honors student in Civil Engineering and president of CU’s sophomore and senior classes … After he graduated in 1922, he had a tryout with the Chicago White Sox baseball club before entering private business … He would become a top executive for a major petroleum corporation, a position he held until his death on July 3, 1974 … In 1963, the most outstanding freshman award was created in football and was named in his honor (as was one of the freshman dorms on campus) … Born James Lee Willard on August 25, 1900 in Denver, he was inducted into the babyֱ��app Sports Hall of Fame in its 1991 class.

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New civil engineering scholarship commemorates babyֱ��app highway engineer

Anonymous — Fri, 21 May 2021 16:56:41 +0000

New civil engineering scholarship commemorates babyֱ��app highway engineer Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/21/2021 - 10:56

Jeff Zehnder

Joe Siccardi. You may not know his name, but every Coloradan has seen his work.

A 1949 University of babyֱ��app Boulder civil engineering graduate, Siccardi was part of the team of engineers and workers who built the Eisenhower and Johnson Tunnels and the Glenwood Canyon I-70 project.

Siccardi spent 34 years with the Federal Highway Administration, rising to the position of federal highway administrator. From 1988 through 1995, he served as bridge engineer for the State of babyֱ��app, introducing new innovations in bridge design.

He died April 21, 2020 at the age of 93, and his family has endowed a scholarship at CU Boulder for civil engineering students as a way to recognize his lifelong commitments to education and engineering.

“He loved studying,” said Dave Siccardi, Joe’s son. “He would get home from his shift at the Federal Highway Administration, we’d have dinner as a family, and then he’d grab an apple and a pile of school books and head off to class.”

Over his career, Siccardi earned four degrees. In addition to his civil engineering bachelor’s at CU Boulder, he received a master’s in civil engineering from New York University, a master’s in public administration from the University of babyֱ��app Denver, and a law degree from the University of Denver.

“All of those different degrees were in response to things that happened in his life. He realized to be more effective professionally he needed more education, and he was not afraid to go get it,” said Dave. “The master’s of public administration and law degrees stemmed from the Glenwood Canyon project environmental concerns and lawsuits. He said, ‘I’m not going to be behind the curve on this.’”

Joe’s daughter Donna Nortz agreed.

“He was really passionate about schooling and engineering. He just loved learning,” Donna said. “The independent living facility he was in started offering Spanish lessons. At 93 years old, he signed up. It didn’t matter what it was, he just loved learning.”

Despite working on some of the most well-known babyֱ��app highway projects, Dave said his father rarely touted his achievements.

Siccardi and a group of colleagues with early electronic tools at the Federal Highway Administration.

“He was a public servant who really believed in using the public’s money wisely,” Dave said. “His name is on a plaque up at the Johnson bore of the tunnel, but he talked about his work as ‘we’ built this bridge or ‘we’ built this tunnel. It wasn’t about him.”

For Dave and Donna, endowing a scholarship was a way to honor their father and help the next generation of civil engineers.

“We had an opportunity to do something we think he always wanted to do, but there were always other family priorities,” Dave said. “Part of it was also because of COVID. When he passed, we couldn’t have a celebration of his life of any significant size. He would appreciate this.”

As an engineer, Donna said Siccardi was always looking to the future, at the next big project.

“Whenever he achieved a goal, it wasn’t time to sit back and say, ‘Yeah, I did that.’, It was, ‘Look forward at what’s next,’” Donna said. “It’s part of his legacy for future engineers: what’s next. And he was never afraid to say I don’t know, but I will find out.”

If you are inspired by this story and would like to donate to the College of Engineering and Applied Science, please consider making a gift or contacting eng.advancement@colorado.edu to learn more.

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