Idaho State Civil Engineering Student Lands American Concrete Institute Foundation Fellowship

Recently, Katie Hogarth, a doctoral student studying civil engineering from McKinney, Texas, was named the winner of the Charles Pankow Student Fellowship by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Foundation. For earning the fellowship, Hogarth will receive a $10,000 educational stipend, paid travel and attendance expenses for ACI’s two upcoming conventions in Boston and New Orleans, recognition in ACI’s “Concrete International” magazine and on the ACI Foundation website, and more.

“It is an honor to receive the Charles Pankow Student Fellowship, and It is amazing to see my work over the past few years recognized by the American Concrete Institute,” said Hogarth. “I look forward to being more involved with ACI and seeing firsthand how the code for concrete buildings and bridges is created. ACI members are the leaders in concrete, and I hope to one day contribute to the industry in the same way they have.”   

Hogarth’s new fellowship is the latest in a string of awards to ISU civil engineering students from the ACI Foundation and the regional ACI chapter. Last year, Mahesh Acharya, doctoral student, was named one of two winners of the ACI Foundation Scholarship, and Jose Duran, master’s student, nabbed a scholarship from the ACI’s Intermountain Chapter. In 2023, master’s student Aashish Deo was awarded a scholarship by the Intermountain Chapter. The four students have been part of the structural and earthquake engineering research group and working under the supervision of Mustafa Mashal, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 

“We are very proud of Katie's achievements,” said Mashal. “She has been a driving force for several of our research projects that focused on the seismic resilience of buildings and bridges and required large-scale experimental testing in the Structural Laboratory. Katie is an excellent doctoral student, and we are very fortunate to have her in our research group. We are also lucky to have students such as Mahesh, Jose, and Aashish in our program. They have all been wonderful to work with."

Hogarth’s doctoral research is one of many cutting-edge concrete research projects at Idaho State University. She is testing bridge piers that have been retrofitted with ultra-high performance concrete for their ability to withstand earthquakes for the Idaho Transportation Department. As an undergraduate student and in addition to playing goalie for the Bengal Soccer team, Hogarth was part of the group of students who helped rebuild the “I” on Red Hill on ISU’s Pocatello campus. 

“Working on these projects has been wonderful,” Hogarth said. “I have learned so much from the hands-on experience, and the support from the faculty and staff in the civil engineering department is like no other in the country, in my opinion. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work in a lab and on real-world projects like the Red Hill "I" and ITD’s Precast Pier project. I am forever grateful for my Idaho State University experience and would not trade it for anything.” 

For more information on Idaho State University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, visit isu.edu/cee. 

Prospective students can schedule a campus tour at isu.edu/visit.