Meet Our Undergraduates
Renee Sailor
Civil Engineering, 2021
Renee Sailor has an analytical mind and an interest in science. Engineering has been a way for her to apply those natural attributes. Sailor was introduced to various types of engineering while attending a camp sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She began to explore how she could fit into those fields. Her interest in civil engineering was piqued when she began to realize the unseen but significant impact of infrastructure on our everyday lives.
Juan Lopez
Civil Engineering 2021
Juan Lopez transferred from a community college. Before coming to the U, Lopez completed an Urban Scholars internship, working with Fleet Services in a municipal public works department. Another part of the program was learning public speaking. “I realized it is a skill to become accustomed to speaking with people.”
Celina Tragesser
Civil Engineering, 2020
Celina Tragesser completed her degree online in the midst of the pandemic and began working full-time in August—also online. She was grateful to have had some previous experience working with the company in person as an intern. Here she shares her gratitude for the program and the scholarships she received.
Keane Nowlan
Civil Engineering 2020
Keane Nowlan developed an interest in structural engineering while working in his father's cabinet shop. Keane was involved in many activities on campus and travelled to Tanzania to work on a water project.
Kat Hetico
Geoengineering 2019
In addition to completing a rigorous major in geoengineering, Kat Hetico was a Division 1 athlete competing on the UMN Women’s Crew Team.
Diego DeBedout
Civil Engineering 2018
Diego DeBedout developed a personal philosophy that helped make him one of CEGE’s most successful students. Ironically, dealing with failure is his key to success.
Mariah Dooley
Civil Engineering 2018
Mariah Dooley grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where only about 4% of the population speaks Spanish at home (StatisticalAtlas.com), yet somehow Dooley caught a passion for studying Spanish language and culture. She has nurtured that interest and is now completing a double major in civil engineering and Spanish studies. At UMN, Dooley has taken advantage of programs that are preparing her to be part of a global workforce.
Noah Germolus
Environmental Engineering 2018
Noah Germolus is an engineer and a performing musician (mainly saxophone); he loves being outdoors as much as working out solutions on a computer; he’s comfortable in the Boundary Waters and, relatively so, when making a speech at commencement. Germolus tries a lot of new things just in case he might like them. But one thing is consistent: Noah Germolus is committed to environmental engineering.
Emily Erhart
Geoengineering 2017
Emily Erhart has been a rock hound since childhood. When she learned she could combine her interests in engineering and geology in a Bachelor of Geoengineering, she was all in! She completed her degree with minors in chemistry and geology. She continued into the Master’s program. "A geoengineering degree opens up so many possibilities — hydrogeology, mining, earth materials. I'm looking forward to exploring more areas during my master's program."
Edwin Jarquin Martinez
Civil Engineering 2017
Edwin Jarquin Martinez earned an architecture degree in his native Nicaragua. He came to the US with experience in working with structural engineers, but due to differences in education and credentialing, he returned to school. He enrolled in the University of Minnesota to earn his second degree in civil engineering. He's enthusiastic about the role that engineers will play in the future.
Rena Weis
Environmental Engineering 2017
Growing up on a hobby farm in New Prague, Minnesota, Weis developed an interest in how things grow and how people interact with the earth. In eight grade, she began researching biochar, a charcoal-like soil amendment produced from organic waste products, and how it led to fertile crops in the Amazon Basin. Her parents helped her set up some test plots where she could grow corn with charcoal. Her homegrown research grew well and developed into a four-year project that carried her to several international science fairs and to a high school internship at a USDA Soil Science Laboratory on the St. Paul campus of UMN.