April 2024 Statler Circuit: Department Digest and Awards

Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Katelyn Pepe, a senior civil engineering student, was awarded the 2024 Stafford E. Thornton Outstanding Senior Award at the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Virginias Regional Conference. The conference was hosted at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on March 28-30. Pepe currently serves as the the president of WVU’s student chapter of ASCE and is a member of the Concrete Canoe Team. During the conference, the WVU team competed against seven schools in the concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions.  

Although they did not win the overall competition, the team — comprised of eight students, participated in the Steel Bridge competition placing first in the Lightness category, third for Stiffness category, third for Structural Efficiency category. In the Transportation Competition, Pepe and Hannah Workman a senior civil engineering student achieved second place. Additionally, Pepe placed third in the Hardy Cross Competition.

Kevin Orner, assistant professor and Maurice and JoAnn Wadsworth Faculty Fellow in the civil and environmental engineering department, was selected as one of the 2024 40 Under 40 Recognition Program by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES). This program recognizes talented individuals who have, either personally or as part of a team, been responsible for helping to advance the fields of Environmental Science or Environmental Engineering within the last 12 months. Winners are chosen by a panel of past recipients who weigh equally business successes and civic/philanthropic activities.

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