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Moving trucks won’t be needed when the new head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at �ձ�av��Ƶ moves into the third-floor executive suite in Crothers Engineering Hall. Guanghui Hua will only have to move a few doors down the hallway when the environmental engineering professor becomes department head June 22. Hua was notified Feb. 7 by Sanjeev Kumar, dean of the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, that his candidacy was successful.

With 635 students in attendance, the Feb. 12-13 Engineering Career Fair proved to be a great opportunity for student of all grade levels to meet prospective employers. There were 288 students on hand Feb. 12 and 347 on Feb. 13 while the employer count was 101 on Feb. 12 and 90 on Feb. 13. Twenty-five firms attended both days.

Ideas expressed by a �ձ�av��Ƶ sophomore for advancing sustainable practices within the concrete industry has earned him a $2,000 scholarship from an industry partner. Jakob Burckhard, a concrete industry management major from Brookings, was one of five essay winners selected by CarbonCure, a Canadian-based carbon solutions technology firm for concrete.

�ձ�av��Ƶ senior Kamal Albousafi is among 12 students chosen as Future Innovators of America by the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering. The fellowships were created to provide unique research opportunities for undergraduate students in the college. Any student is eligible to apply as long as they are attending full time and have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Recipients are awarded $5,000 with $4,500 as a stipend and $500 to cover the cost of lab supplies or travel to disseminate the results of their project.

Shyan Smith, a financial aid adviser for the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, has been named �ձ�av��Ƶ’s Civil Service Employee of the Month for February.

The annual �ձ�av��Ƶ Celebration of Faculty Excellence recognized 28 faculty members, researchers and scholars Tuesday. The event honors faculty members in the university's colleges for outstanding research, teaching and service.

Geb Bastian, assistant professor in �ձ�av��Ƶ's School of Health and Human Sciences, conducted an exploratory study aimed at improving nutritional outreach efforts.

High school students wanting to keep their feet on the ground while still getting a good feel for what it would be like to live on Mars are encouraged to participate in the South Dakota Space Design Competition at �ձ�av��Ƶ March 8-9. The contest is part of an international event sponsored by Industry Simulation Education, which has been designing aerospace engineering contests since 1984, and is being hosted in South Dakota by �ձ�av��Ƶ’s Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering.

Peter Benson, a concrete industry management major at �ձ�av��Ƶ, topped 13 other competitors to win the 2025 Weatherton Award at the World of Concrete contest in Las Vegas Jan. 20-21. The competition requires students to make an 8-minute presentation on an internship, capstone project or research project with judging done by a panel of industry experts. Benson, a senior from Sioux Falls, gave a presentation on his summer 2024 internship at Buffalo Ridge Concrete, a local ready mix concrete producer. He spent the summer delivering concrete, which, he noted, “is a bit out of the norm for internships.”

Grace Jensen has cemented her name in concrete industry management program history at �ձ�av��Ƶ. In January the sophomore from Glenwood, Minnesota, was notified that she is receiving one of the two $5,000 scholarships awarded annually by the American Society of Concrete Contractors. The �ձ�av��Ƶ program began in fall 2021 , and Jensen is the first Jackrabbit to receive the honor. Program director Tim Hostettler said he also never had a student win the award in the nine years he taught at California State-Chico.