ASCE 2021 Thompson Award Winners
The Thompson Award is the superlative for each of the Virginia Section Schools. This is for the most outstanding ASCE student graduate from each of the four Virginia Section schools as selected by the school, including Virginia Tech, Virginia Military Institute, Old Dominion University, and University of Virginia. Below are each of the 2021 Thompson Award winners:
Virginia Tech – Jessica Viehman
Jessica Viehman is the 2021 Virginia Tech (VT) Thompson Award winner. Jessica exemplifies the best characteristics of a collegiate student. She is academically strong in her coursework, and she is very active professionally. She has been a leader in the Virginia Tech Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), specifically with respect to the associated Concrete Canoe Design Competition team. Jessica has been a multi-year co-captain of the Concrete Canoe team, and she has led the mix design of the concrete canoe since 2019. In addition to a number of VT departmental scholarships, Jessica has been recognized with many ASCE awards including the 2019 VT ASCE Biscotte Family Scholarship, the 2020 ASCE VA Richmond Branch Scholarship, and the 2020 ASCE Virginia Section Scholarship. Jessica is well balanced with her genuine and affable personality, and when further considering her personal drive and work ethic, Jessica surely will be one of the next generation of leaders in civil engineering.
Virginia Military Institute – Cadet Erin Weible
Erin Weible is a senior in Civil Engineering at the Virginia Military Institute. She currently serves as the student chapter president for the 2020-2021 academic year. During this time she has been instrumental in converting the entire ASCE series of activities and events into virtual offerings. She attends ASCE meeting with great enthusiasm and works relentlessly to promote ASCE to underclassmen. During this unusual pandemic time, she has brought positive energy to the chapter and helped us creatively keep the ASCE chapter functioning.
Old Dominion University – Dania Dayab
Dania served as Old Dominion University ASCE Student Chapter president in 2020 and graduated with her BSCE degree in December 2020. She transferred to ODU from Thomas Nelson Community College in 2019 and was active in the two years that she attended ODU. Prior to her schooling at TNCC and ODU, she lived in the Middle East and graduated from high school in 2014 from the Arab Model Schools in Amman, Jordan. She was a Planning and Analysis intern at Hampton Roads Sanitation District while at ODU and recently accepted a Staff Engineer position with Fugro Atlantic in Norfolk. Her time as president largely overlapped the COVID-19 pandemic and through her leadership with the executive board she moved chapter activities to an online platform and provided communications and guest speaker presentations at pre-pandemic levels.
University of Virginia – Emma Stephens
Ms. Emma Savannah Stephens is a senior at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. She is graduating in May 2021 with a BS in Civil Engineering, focusing on environmental engineering. Emma served as the UVa ASCE Student Chapter President from November 2019 till December 2020. Emma has an outstanding academic record at the University, earning Dean’s List recognition every semester (3.5 minimum GPA) and earning Intermediate Honors after her second year (top 20% of peers in the School of Engineering). Emma is a very active member of the University community. She is always ready to help fellow students, faculty, and staff. She represents the very best in President Ryan’s vision for graduates who make a difference to those around them.
Emma is from Yorktown, Virginia, graduating from Tabb High School in 2017. She chose to pursue Civil Engineering at UVA initially because there was a concentration in environmental and water resources and she had a strong interest in coastal restoration from her time perusing the beach at home. She has had a very positive impact here at the University of Virginia. She clearly is interested in being more than a student. She has demonstrated time and again her genuine interest in aiding people; whether it is working with a professor on a project to provide clean drinking water to a remote village in a poor country or simply helping a fellow student with a problem set, Emma has always been there for people.