Kennedy Harper Awarded 2026 Civil Engineering Student of the Year
September 21, 2026
Mississippi State University junior civil engineering major Kennedy Harper received the 2026 Civil Engineering Student of the Year Award during the American Society of Civil Engineers Mississippi Section annual meeting held Sept. 9-11 in Vicksburg.
“Kennedy received the award in recognition of her outstanding academic achievements and contributions to civil engineering,” said Mohammad Khalid, assistant teaching professor and faculty co-advisor for the Richard A. Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in the Bagley College of Engineering.
Harper is the ASCE student chapter president.
The chapter officers who attended the meeting in Vicksburg, from left, are Sydney Howell, Haley Ewing, Kennedy Harper, Lucy Kent and Michael Jernigan. (Submitted Photo)
Recruiting efforts from Kennedy and chapter officers, along with updates to competition policy, have led to an increase in attendance and student participation on competitive teams this semester.
“Kennedy seems to have that drive to improve organizations without anyone having to initially provide encouragement to do so,” said Thomas Lynn, associate clinical professor and faculty co-advisor for the ASCE.
The chapter is set to compete in six competitions at the 2027 ASCE Gulf Coast Student Symposium, which will be co-hosted by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and McNeese State University.
Events include the American Institute of Steel Construction/ASCE Student Steel Bridge; ASCE Concrete Canoe; ASCE/Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute Surveying; ASCE Sustainable Solutions; Timber-Strong Design Build; and Paper & Presentation Competition.
Mississippi State’s ASCE Concrete Canoe team attended the national competition at Fairmont State University in West Virginia this summer. From left are, Brooke Vasuta, Kennedy Harper, Sienna Steinke, Jacob Fox and Josh Artman. (Submitted Photo)
Captains for these teams are Cody Cook, Sarah-Kathleen Cousyn, Sydney Howell, Lia Knighten, Sienna Steinke and Brooke Vasuta.
Roles are limited on major competition teams. Undergraduate students enrolled in any degree program at MSU who are interested in participating in less planning-intensive competitions at the symposium should contact Khalid at khalid@cee.msstate.edu or Lynn at tlynn@cee.msstate.edu.
The Richard A. Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is online at www.cee.msstate.edu and can be found on Facebook and X.
The Bagley College of Engineering is online at www.bagley.msstate.edu and can be found on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and YouTube at @msuengineering.
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