Excellence in civil engineering education: Capstone course wins 10th and 11th NCEES Awards

The Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department recently accepted its 10^th and 11^th Engineering Education Awards from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) in recognition of two projects completed in the department’s Senior Capstone Design course.

Now in its 25^th year, this award-winning course utilizes a community-based learning approach that pairs student teams with professional mentors and real-world clients. Over the course of a semester, student teams tackle complex projects that bring civil, environmental, and geological engineering concepts to life.

“While other classes do a great job teaching you the fundamentals, capstone teaches you how to apply the fundamentals to create a final project deliverable. It pushes the students to think through the project as though they were professional engineers, considering real-life impacts and solution feasibility,” says Isabelle Bierbach, a 2024 environmental engineering graduate.

Since its inception, approximately 2,300 students have taken the course, and more than 500 projects have been completed for clients across Wisconsin and beyond. Long-term clients include Taliesin Preservation, Clean Lakes Alliance, the City of Madison, and UniverCity Alliance, which has connected over 24 Wisconsin communities with the program.

Each project integrates at least four civil engineering disciplines—such as construction, environmental, geosystems, and structural—reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the profession. Students collaborate to produce three major deliverables and present their work to a diverse group of stakeholders and industry professionals, gaining valuable experience in communication and problem-solving.

The course’s comprehensive project-based approach, combined with connections to professional practice and an emphasis on public health, safety, and welfare, has caught the attention of the NCEES award jury, which evaluates projects without any identifying source information. Since the department began entering the competition, their projects have garnered one $25,000 grand prize and 10 honorable mentions that each received a $10,000 prize.

This year’s award-winning projects focused on revitalizing the Historic Riverview Terrace designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and modernizing a public transit facility for the city of Wausau, Wisconsin. Each project received a $10,000 prize that will be invested back into the program to support hands-on learning experiences, software tools, and professional development opportunities for course instructors.

Department Chair Greg Harrington credits the capstone program’s success to its strong network of alumni and industry mentors. Over 200 licensed engineers, architects, and landscape architects have volunteered since the program began, with each mentor contributing an average of 50-100 hours of their time per semester.

“The key to this program is Badger pride. Our alumni and industry partners are supportive and eager to give back to help the next generation launch their careers. We now have mentors that took the course themselves 10 to 25 years ago, and it’s often described as a challenging yet transformative experience,” he says.

With a growing support network and tradition of excellence through community-based learning, Harrington looks forward to seeing what the future holds for the course and its students.

“The Capstone instruction team upholds high standards for the course. Their commitment to continuous improvement keeps it aligned with what’s going on in the field to prepare our students for modern engineering practice. Capstone is a pinnacle experience that binds every CEE alum together regardless of their degree program or the path that they took to get here and that is something worth celebrating.”

Riverview Terrace Team (left to right)

Ray Polkinghorn, PE, Carlos Gallegos-Coronado, Garrett Dolan, Ava Petitjean, EIT, Jacqueline Brady, Benjamin Simplot, and Charlie Quagliana.

Wausau Transit Facility Team (left to right)

Evelyn Hietpas, Tyler Curtis, Tunmi Omoloja, Isabelle Bierbach, Jack Donahue, Justin Stuehrenberg, and Rahel Desalegne, PE, PTOE.

Featured image: Rahel Desalegne, Tunmi Omoloja, Tyler Curtis, Jack Donahue, Isabelle Bierbach, Evelyn Hietpas, and Derek Hungness pose with the Transit Facility project award.