Joint Meeting
Joint Meeting
Thursday, November 21, 2024 - 06:00 PM
Annual Joint meeting to be hosted by the UW-Platteville students
2024 Night Mare's Social
2024 Night Mare's Social
Friday, June 21, 2024 - 05:00 PM
Please join us on Friday, June 21st for our early summer social at Madison's first softball team, the Night Mares! A portion of the tickets will be subsidised by ASCE with each ticket totaling $17! Kids and significant others are welcome to attend!
Tickets include:
1-Game Ticket
All-you-can-eat (90 minutes at gate open)
Bottomless soda/water (90 minutes at gate open)
3 Tickets for beer/wine/seltzers or kid zone tickets
Registration and additional information will be sent in a separate email later this week! Please feel free to forward the event to other colleagues as we hope to bring a big crowd to the Night Mares inaugural season!
Hope to see you there!
ASCE WI SW Branch
Habitat for Humanity
Each year our branch organizes at least one Habitat for Humanity work day with the Dane County Habitat for Humanity group. It is always a great opportunity to get to know your fellow ASCE members while giving back to your community.
Engineers Without Borders
ASCE National and our branch actively support Engineers without Borders USA, a volunteer organization that works to create a more stable and prosperous world by addressing people’s basic human needs, providing necessities such as clean water, power, sanitation and education.
At the local level, we provide financial and technical support to the UW-Madison and UW-Platteville student chapters, and they keep us up-to-date on their activities and progress.
For more information
Job Opportunities
Here we post positions of potential interest to our members. Please contact us if you have a local engineering job you would like us to post.
Younger Members
In 2011, the Southwest Branch formed a Younger Member Committee dedicated to providing opportunities for the Branch’s Younger Members (those 35 and younger) to socialize, network, learn, and volunteer.
If you are interested in being on the YMC to come up with ideas and help us plan these events, please contact us by clicking here
Looking forward to meeting you!
Harry Tran
Blake Junak
ASCE WI Southwest Branch YMC Co-Chairs
Awards
Scholarships
The Robbie Sivak Memorial Scholarship
presented by the ASCE Wisconsin Southwest Branch
Every year the Southwest Branch has provided scholarships to students at UW-Madison and UW-Platteville who exemplify their passion and involvement in both ASCE and in their academic lives. These scholarships are funded both my the branch as well as the generous donations of the local business listed below:
Visionary ($500+)
Sustainer ($250-$499)
Patron ($150-$249)
2023 Award Winners
Adam Bird, UW-Madison
- Joined ASCE as a freshman and has been an active member ever since, including serving as the social chair.
- Interned with WisDOT as a student work zone engineer.
- Plans on graduating in spring 2025 with a BS in Civil Engineering and Structural Engineering emphasis.
Austin Cooper, UW-Platteville
- Involved with Steel Bridge Team and Concrete Canoe.
- Served as president of the Chi Epsilon honor society.
- Graduated in spring of 2024 with a structural emphasis.
Courtney Hietpas, UW-Platteville
- Active in Concrete Canoe, ACI, and Institute of Transportation Engineers.
- Has worked as a WisDOT civil engineering intern.
- Her goal after graduation is to work in the transportation industry.
Vince Vanmieghem, UW-Madison
- Joined ASCE as a freshman and has previously served as the program director and president of the UW-Madison chapter.
- Also an active participant in the Concrete Canoe team.
- Working with HNTB in their water resource/drainage team.
Please click here for any questions/comments/concerns regarding our scholarship!
You may now donate to our scholarship fund online!
Just click below – thanks!
Contacts
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President: Blake Junak, P.E., is a civil engineer working for Rick Engineering with a home office in Tucson, but remotely in Madison, WI. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University in August 2015. After graduation Blake was active in the Southern Arizona Younger Member Group as a member, and then eventually held the position of Vice President on the ASCE Southern Arizona Chapter Board. Blake was active in fundraising and being an active member of the Mathcounts Committee, as well as an active member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arizona. Blake moved to the Madison area in the spring of 2021 and enjoys golfing, running, and traveling with his wife and two dogs as time allows. |
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Past President: Terry Armstrong Jr., P.E., is a Director of T-Line Engineering at Dashiell Corporation in Fitchburg, WI. He has received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from UW-La Crosse. Terry began his involvement with ASCE as an officer for the Student Chapter at UW-Madison and continued as a professional with the SW Branch Board holding positions as YM Committee Co-Chair, President-Elect, and now as acting President. During his free time Terry enjoys camping, hunting, and fishing, as well as many other outdoor activities. He also likes to golf, play softball, and has fun tinkering with computers and electronics. |
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President-elect: Vacant |
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Secretary: Ann Thielmann, P.E., is a structural engineer at WisDOT in Madison, WI. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison in June 2006. While a student at UW-Madison, she was actively involved with several student chapters. Ann was a contributing member of the Concrete Canoe team and Steel Bridge team, and held several officer positions for ASCE including President. After graduation Ann was active with Southeast Branch Younger Member Group, serving as the Social Chair prior to moving back to the Madison area. In her free time, Ann enjoys playing kickball, golfing, bowling, running and reading. |
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Treasurer: Kelly Trac, P.E., PTOE, is a traffic engineer at KL Engineering in Madison, WI. She is a 2008 graduate of UW-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. Kelly has been actively involved with ASCE since she was a student at Wisconsin. Currently, she is an active member of both ITE and ASCE, serving on the ITE Wisconsin Board and as a Director for the ASCE Southwest Branch Board. In her free time, Kelly enjoys participating in sports with friends, playing piano, and enjoying time with her family. |
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Director/YMG C0-Chair: Jordyn Benn, EIT, is a Roadway Engineer at EMCS, Inc. in Middleton, Wi. She received a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison in 2023. During her time there she was an active member of the ASCE student chapter and spent two semesters as outreach chair. Since then, she has been involved in ASCE as YMG co-chair and in WTS. When Jordyn isn't working, she enjoys reading, running, and traveling. |
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Director/YMG C0-Chair: Claire Steines is a Roadway Engineer at HNTB Corporation in Madison, WI. She graduated from UW-Madison in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering. Claire was involved with the student chapter of ASCE at UW-Madison and helped plan for the annual Western Great Lakes conference. Since graduation, she has been co-chair of the SW Younger Members group. Claire enjoys hiking, reading, running, and playing soccer in her free time. |
| Programs & Arrangement Chair: Vacant Please email the Branch President if you are interested in volunteering for this position. [email protected] |
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Director: Harry Tran, P.E., is a highway engineer at EMCS Inc. in Middleton, WI. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering in 2013 from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. At the University of Minnesota, Harry was involved with the ASCE student chapter, serving as Vice President as well as coordinating the annual ASCE career fair which brings in 30+ companies to the University. Since graduating, Harry has been involved with the Wisconsin Southwest branch serving as the Program and Arrangements Chair. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, hiking, camping, and cheering for his beloved Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Golden Gophers. |
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Scholarship Chair/UW-Madison Liaison: Kyle Busch, P.E. is a Structural Engineer at WisDOT in Madison, WI. He graduated from UW-Madison in 2013 and obtained his Masters in Structural Engineering from UT-Austin in 2014. |
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UW-Platteville Liaison: Noah Hofrichter, P.E. is a Transportation Engineer at IIW, P.C. in Dubuque, Iowa. Noah’s childhood fascination with construction sites and “diggers” directly led him to his career assisting communities, counties, and state DOTs with design and construction of road, bridge, bike trail, and stormwater projects. Noah earned a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he was an active Student Chapter member. Noah led the Benchmark Open Golf Outing Committee and served as the Student Chapter Treasurer. Since graduating in May 2013, Noah has served as the Practitioner Advisor to the UWP Student Chapter, mentoring the student leaders of the Benchmark Open and the executive board, encouraging student involvement in ASCE activities at UWP and beyond, and serving as the liaison to the Wisconsin Southwest Branch. In his free time, Noah enjoys traveling, following Wisconsin sports, and can often be found with a camera (or drone controller) in his hand pursuing his interest in photography. |
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EWB Liasion: Brad Hughes P.E., is a Senior Engineer at Shive-Hattery, with over 25 years of experience as a structural engineer and structural project manager. He is a registered professional engineer in multiple states. Brad earned a BS in Civil Engineering from UW-Platteville and an MS in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University. He has been involved with Engineers Without Borders USA since 2009, providing mentorship to students and has served as President of the Madison Area Professional Chapter. |
UW-Madison Faculty Advisor: Gustavo Parra-Montesinos
Professor Parra’s main research interests include the behavior and design of reinforced concrete, fiber reinforced concrete, and hybrid steel-concrete structures. In the past few years, Prof. Parra’s research has focused on structural applications of fiber reinforced concrete, with particular emphasis on earthquake-resistant construction as a means to simplify reinforcement detailing and increase deformation capacity. Applications investigated include structural walls, coupling beams, and beam-column and slab-column connections. Prof. Parra has also conducted research on shear behavior of reinforced concrete and fiber reinforced concrete members, as well as on bond between fiber reinforced concrete and either prestressing strands or reinforcing bars. Prof. Parra also led the effort that resulted in the incorporation, for the first time, of fiber reinforcement as minimum shear reinforcement in the 2008 ACI Building Code.
UW-Platteville Faculty Advisor: Phil Parker
Dr. Parker earned his PhD and Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Clarkson Univeristy. Dr. Parker directs the activities of the Center for Infrastructure Transformation and Education (CIT-E), an international online community of practice and funded by the National Science Foundation. He conducts research in the area of agricultural runoff and has supervised undergraduate research assistants. Dr. Parker is also the program coordinator for the online Master of Science in Engineering program.
Social Media: Vacant
Please email the Branch President if you are interested in volunteering for this position.