Civil engineering graduate students awarded fellowships from U.S. Department of Transportation
Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019
Elliot Schrag, left, and Jack Cunningham, both graduate students in civil engineering at Kansas State University, are recipients of the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship for the second year in a row. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — For the second year in a row, two Kansas State University students from the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering are among those across the U.S. to be honored with 2019-2020 Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowships by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Elliot Schrag, master's student, Buhler; and Jack Cunningham, doctoral student, Roanoke, Virginia, will each once again receive $5,000 in support of their graduate studies in the Kansas State University Department of Civil Engineering.
The fellowships, awarded annually to 150-200 exceptional students around the country, recognize those pursuing degrees in transportation-related disciplines. The program advances the transportation workforce by attracting the brightest minds to the field through education, research and workforce development.
The Center for Transportation Workforce Development, a part of the Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, manages activities that integrate transportation into college and university programs with the aim to increase the number of postsecondary students interested in pursuing transportation-related careers as well as helping to retain top talent in the U.S. transportation industry.
Cunningham is working with Eric Fitzsimmons, assistant professor of civil engineering, on research focused on wrong-way driving crashes and countermeasures on Kansas highways. Schrag is working with Christopher Jones, associate professor of civil engineering, on improving the durability of concrete transportation infrastructure through application of self-healing materials.
"These awards are certainly a nod to the success of our transportation program in the civil engineering department," Fitzsimmons said. "Not only now have Elliot and Jack received this national recognition in consecutive years, but it is the third year running that we have had one or more recipients of the Eisenhower graduate fellowship from our program here at K-State."
"Investing in tomorrow's transportation workforce through these fellowships will pay dividends to society," Jones said. "A highly functioning transportation system is a critical prerequisite for globally competitive commerce, access to medicine, a strong national defense and production of energy resources. With our aging transportation infrastructure, maintaining this system is an increasingly important challenge."
