Wisconsin Southwest Branch

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+)

GRAEF

TOWN & Country Engineering, Inc

Sustainer ($250-$499)

KL Engineering

Rick Engineering

Kenny's Canoe & Kayak Shop

HNTB

Patron ($150-$249)

Kelly Trac

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!

PayPal Donation

Contacts

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.

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.

President-elect: 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.

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.

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.

Director/YMG Co-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.

Director/YMG Co-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]

Director: Nathan Rullman, EIT, is a design engineer at KL Engineering in Madison, WI. He is a 2021 graduate of UW-Madison with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. He was involved with concrete canoe for two years in undergrad through ASCE. In his free time, his interests include golf, volleyball, and being with friends and family

Director: Tyler Krystal, P.E., is a construction engineer at HNTB in Madison, WI. He graduated from UW-Platteville with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 2019. Tyler was involved with ASCE as a student and has remained a member after graduation, getting involved with the SW Younger Members group. In his free time, Tyler enjoys bike rides, playing the drum set, and spending time with his family.

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.

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.

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.

Events

About

The SW Branch holds regular monthly meetings, usually from September through May. All members and non-members are welcome, and students are usually free to attend. Come back to our website often for details of upcoming meetings and other announcements. We also send out electronic invitations to ASCE members in our area for our monthly meetings (if you are registered through ASCE National with a current email address).

Our monthly meetings typically include project tours in the local area, or presentations of diverse topics that impact the civil engineering profession. We also occasionally organize social and networking events for our members and community service opportunities.

The SW Branch Board includes both elected and non-elected volunteer board members. We are always looking for new members who are interested in getting more involved with ASCE, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if that describes you! We meet three to four times per year as a board, and we are responsible for setting up all the SW Branch meetings and other events. We also take turns hosting the ASCE Wisconsin Section Spring Technical Conference and Annual Meeting with the other Wisconsin Branches.

Home

Branch Social Event August 2024

Thank you everyone for joining us for our August Social, the Forward Madison FC Soccer game at Breese Stevens Field. The weather was great and not only did we unknowingly pick "bark in the park night" with a sighting of Bluey (and everyone else's puppies) but it was a winning night for the team!

Branch Social Event June 2024

Thank you everyone for joining us for our June Social to watch Madison's new women's softball team, the Night Mare's at the Duck Pond. The evening may have started out a bit wet, and the out come not so great for the ladies, but the food a company was great =)

NightMares 2024

Branch Social Event April 2024

Thank you everyone for joining us for our April Social Bowling at Ten Pin Alley! There were plenty of strikes and maybe a few gutter balls...a great time was had by all, hope to see more faces at our upcoming events!

Volunteering at MathCounts Feb. 2024

Branch Members came together to help with the scoring of MathCounts tests. (MathCounts is a Math based competition series for held in all 50 states for students in middle school. Local schools bring teams to compete both as a team and individually, with the hopes to move on to the state competition and then to nationals, where that compete for college scholarships.) Thanks to all those who volunteered this year!

20th Annual YMG Badger Hockey Game Feb. 2024

Southwest Branch members and Students from UW-Madison & UW-Platteville came together to cheer on the Wisconsin Badger Hockey team against Notre Dame Fighting Irish. We met first and networked/socialized with food at drink, then headed to the game.

YMG Social Event Jan. 2024

The Younger Members Group was sick of the snow and cold, so we brought the tropics to Wisconsin with our Tropical themed bar crawl - all were invited. We had a great time with drinks and appetizers. Thanks to everyone who came out to meet new people an explore downtown Madison. Hope to see everyone at the next one!