A Rising Star in Civil Engineering
Each year, the American Society of Civil Engineers selects 10 civil engineering students from across the nation whom they believe “represent the future of the profession.” The list is known as the New Faces of Civil Engineering – Collegiate Edition. According to ASCE, “the 2019 honorees are rising stars, inspired and inspiring, many of them drawn to the profession by a desire to help others and protect the planet.” This year, Jude Arbogast of Northeastern University’s Department of Civil Engineering was named to the list. “This award represented an opportunity to step back and appreciate what I’ve done in the last 5 years of school,” said Arbogast. “I struggled with balancing life and school/work for a while and this award has helped me to pause a minute and say ‘Good job, all the effort has been worth it.’”
Arbogast, a New England native from Hanover, NH, will graduate in May of 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. His graduation will culminate five years of study in a field he has fascinated him since childhood. “I grew up always being the kid itching to play with trucks in the sandbox and recreating construction sites or making my mom pull over the car to look at huge buildings and bridges,” he said. “The scale of the projects bewildered me and it never made any sense how humans could build the infrastructure that we do.” He learned about civil engineering his freshmen year at a previous institution before transferring to Northeastern University. After “…getting a thorough understanding of how integrated civil engineering was with society, I knew I had found my passion.”
Upon arriving at Northeastern University, Arbogast immediately got involved in the school’s ASCE chapter. He became the club’s community service liaison, then was elected program coordinator and became a project manager for an 8-member team designing a pedestrian footbridge in Milton, MA. His junior year he became vice president, and president his senior year. “I was thrilled to have the opportunity to be the point person for a substantial organization and put my own flair on things,” said Arbogast. He put his stamp on the organization, overseeing a large influx of first-year membership signups. For Arbogast, the leadership position gave him valuable perspective on the importance of nurturing younger club members and the significant role that all participants play in the success of an organization. “I wouldn’t trade that experience or knowledge for anything.”
Beyond ASCE, Jude has also served as an officer for Peace Through Play and Chi Epsilon Honor Society’s Northeastern chapter. During his middler year, he worked alongside Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Mehrdad Sasani and helped revise several of his proposals and experiments on seismic considerations in reinforced concrete design. He also assisted Professor Sasani in his work to develop a design framework for multi-hazard resilient and sustainable buildings.
His experience at Northeastern wasn’t limited to the classroom or student clubs. He participated in two co-ops at Suffolk Construction, a national construction firm headquartered in Boston. While there, he served first as a scheduling and staffing co-op and then as a project engineer co-op, helping to coordinate the on-site operations for a $10 million construction project. When he graduates, Arbogast will continue his work at Suffolk Construction as a full-time employee.
Source: News @ Northeastern
He’s taking a people-first approach to civil engineering
Recent graduate Jude Arbogast has helped to build schools, directed student groups, and worked with children to improve their cognitive and physical development. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University
by David Harbeck, May 8, 2019
Jude Arbogast has helped to build schools, hospitals, and affordable housing complexes in Boston while working on co-op as a project engineer for Suffolk Construction. He’s directed the development of a footbridge in Milton, Massachusetts, as a leader of Northeastern’s student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He’s worked with children in Boston to improve their cognitive and physical development by playing fun games with them as a volunteer for a student group called Peace Through Play.
And now he’s among 10 promising engineers in the United States who have been recognized by the American Society for Civil Engineers for achieving academic excellence and serving people in his community.
“That was a huge honor. I didn’t expect any recognition for the work I’ve been doing,” says Arbogast, who was named one of the New Faces of Civil Engineering in February and then graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. “I really had to push myself to make these opportunities happen.”
Arbogast credits working at Suffolk Construction, volunteering at Peace Through Play, and taking a leadership role in Northeastern’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers with helping him find his career path. He plans to start working full-time at Suffolk Construction in July, when he will begin to help coordinate the development of large-scale construction projects in the education sector.
“By tackling new leadership challenges, planning events that I had no experience with, or communicating with everyone from students to industry professionals, I feel very confident transitioning into a new employment environment,” he says. “I realized all these successes weren’t flukes, but I had to earn them.”
His toughest challenge at Northeastern, he says, was managing his time and his well being. He says he stayed grounded by joining the club lacrosse team.
“I had to take a step back and figure out the human component to doing all this,” says Arbogast. “It’s not just about building a resumé.”