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ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ has been selected by the American Association of Colleges and Universities to participate in the 2025-26 Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum.

A damaged wheel knuckle proved to be a knuckle sandwich for the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ team competing at the national Baja SAE competition in Maryland June 12-17. The wheel knuckle, which connects the wheel hub to the suspension and steering components, was damaged while the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ team was competing on the suspension course at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville, Maryland, according to Matthew Anderson, president of Desert Hare Offroad Club.

High school students interested in the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Data Science Camp don’t need to have completed Balloon Twisting 101 or Introduction to Coding to enroll. But they will get plenty of experience in both. This year’s camp, June 23-26, drew a full computer lab of 20 high schoolers who may have learned as much from the balloons as they did from their leaders — professor Xijin Ge and lecturer Bill Alsaker, both from the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Gabby Robbins, an incoming junior construction management major at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ, has received the coveted Beavers Scholarship for students pursuing a heavy construction career. Created in 1977 by construction companies and individuals engaged in heavy engineering construction, the Beavers Charitable Trust will generate $1.8 million in grants in 2025. Some of that goes to support heavy construction education programs, such as the one at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ, and some goes directly to students like Robbins, who received a $10,000 award.

Tyler Wood spent the summer after high school graduation working on a concrete crew. Never once when he was setting forms, laying rebar and troweling concrete did he think about getting a doctorate in civil engineering by researching reinforced concrete.

ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ senior Emily Hofer recently represented South Dakota at the National Association for Music Education’s Collegiate Leadership Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., where she joined peers from across the country to promote the impact of music education.

Levi Minion, a construction and concrete industry management student from Wheaton, Minnesota, tested a new type of cement for its compatibility with various chemical admixtures as his Future Innovator of America project.

Two student engineering teams at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ spent their senior year on capstone design projects at Sanford Underground Research Facility. One team built a new mine rail cart for hauling liquid nitrogen underground. The other built a drone for inspecting hard to reach vertical shafts at the former gold mine at Lead. Both teams gained valuable experience they will take into their future careers.

The ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Robotics Club came home with best design honors after competing at the Vex Robotics World Championship in Dallas May 9-11.  VEX competitions make up the largest and fastest growing robotics engineering platform in the world with divisions for elementary and middle schools, middle and high schools and VEX U for colleges and universities. This year’s Vex U game involved placing rings onto various stakes — some stationary and others mounted on mobile goals that could be moved to corner zones to either double the team’s points or result in negative scoring,  In addition to winning the design award, the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ entry placed 13th out of 54 teams in the math division, one of two divisions in the Vex U competition.

ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ saw its first cohort of elementary education students graduate May 10, making history after the South Dakota Board of Regents approved the program at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ two years prior. The inaugural class included 11 women who started their studies in other programs but ultimately decided a major in elementary education at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ was the right fit for them.