Louisiana students awarded scholarships by SASHTO and DOTD
Tuesday, January 08, 2019 at 2:00:13 PM
Baton Rouge, LA – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) and the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC), in association with the Southeastern Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (SASHTO), have awarded scholarships to 26 students from five Louisiana universities. The $1,000 scholarships are given to civil engineering juniors and seniors with a professed interest in the transportation field, and students must apply each year to be considered. SASHTO provides the funding for the scholarships.
“Each year we are pleased to award these scholarships to civil engineering majors attending various Louisiana universities,” said DOTD Secretary Shawn D. Wilson, Ph.D. “These students are passionate about the transportation field, and we have no doubt that they will one day become our state’s transportation leaders.”
Students who receive the scholarships must be in good academic standing at their respective universities, and their grade point averages are taken into consideration when their applications are reviewed. Each prospective scholarship recipient must also submit a one-page description stating how their university courses reflect their interest in transportation. Those students who have participated in DOTD’s summer engineering and co-op programs receive extra credit.
The students who received scholarships are the following:
- Louisiana Tech University – Garrett Anders, Dillon Benoit, Samuel Bourgeois, Johne Brooks, Gabriel Clottey, Dayne Ghormley, Olivia Gremillion, Colton May, Seth Mosley, Cameron Polk, Benjamin Robins, Sydney Thibodeaux, Mark Veasey, and Jodie Whitcher
- Louisiana State University – Hassan Abedi, Logan Betzer, Eve Blakemore, Joseph Cotten, Matthew Loker, Sujay Mondal, Nicholas Smith, and William Warwick
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette – Jacob Moreau and Anna Paddock
- McNeese State University – John Ange
- University of New Orleans – Jamaal Dejean
Fourteen of the 26 scholarship recipients are enrolled at Louisiana Tech University. Dr. Les Guice is the president of LA Tech.
“We are proud of these scholarship winners and their commitment to excellence in the classroom and beyond,” he said. “Scholarships are crucial for ensuring that our students can be successful in their studies, and are also important in attracting & retaining talent for the transportation field. By choosing to work in transportation, these future engineers will have the opportunity to shape their communities for decades to come.”
“We appreciate the DOTD, the Louisiana Transportation Research Center and the Southeastern Association of State Highway Transportation Officials for selecting a McNeese student for this award, said Dr. Daryl Burckel, president of McNeese State University. “Providing scholarships to civil engineering students encourages those students with an interest in the transportation field to pursue their career goal. McNeese has an exceptionally strong engineering program and we are proud of the many graduates that are working for the DOTD.”
“We are proud of Jamaal’s well-deserved achievement,” said Carolyn Golz, associate vice president and dean of students at the University of New Orleans. “The University of New Orleans is the only institution in greater New Orleans that offers a degree in civil engineering, and the influence of our graduates on the profession is significant. We look forward to seeing how far Jamaal’s engineering degree from UNO will take him.”
Louisiana participates in the scholarship program as a member state of SASHTO. In addition to Louisiana, SASHTO is comprised of the departments of transportation from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The association was organized to encourage a balanced transportation system across the southern United States.