Featured Alumni from the Class of 2016

Marie Baietto '16
September 2019

I was drawn to civil engineering while I was growing up in Queens. I relied on buses, trains, bridges, tunnels, and other civil infrastructure for my daily needs. I was fascinated by what made our seemingly mundane world function. After graduating with a specialization in Water Resources engineering, I accepted a full-time position at General Dynamics: Electric Boat. I performed structural analysis for the U.S. Navy’s Columbia Class submarines. I learned the mechanics of fluid systems that allow the submarine to withstand immense pressure and temperatures. The systems I helped analyze are used by sailors every day for the duration of their deployment- from where they sleep to where they eat.

After spending 2 years at Electric Boat, I returned to New York City and now work as a Jr. Staff Engineer at Posillico Inc., a multi-disciplinary contractor based in Long Island. I am currently working on a Brownsfield Cleanup site in Island Park, in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). My duties include general site oversight, coordinating with subcontractors and vendors, and documenting daily work progress. My main on-site responsibility is remotely monitoring airborne particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using state-of-the-art environmental monitoring equipment. I make sure that particulate and VOC levels do not exceed safe thresholds established by the NYSDEC and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH). My work is essential for the sustainability and progress of the project due to the reporting requirements placed on us by these agencies.

I am looking forward to pursuing my graduate degree and obtaining my Professional Engineer license over the next few years. I would like to further develop my skills in project leadership and management. I also want to connect with the public and help educate others on why it is so important to have reliable safe water, proper building codes, and ethics oversight bodies. Civil engineering can be accessible to everyone, regardless of background.

To me, the beauty of civil engineering is that it's one of the most intuitive kinds of engineering. It can be difficult to visualize electrons travelling as electrical current through wire, and seemingly impossible to imagine how to create an effective pharmaceutical drug, yet people will easily recognize when a concrete building is cracking or when beams on a bridge are corroding. My experiences in the field have allowed me to help people appreciate what makes our world truly work.

 

Dr. Morgan DiCarlo '16
May 2022

After I graduated from Stony Brook University with my BE in Civil Engineering in 2016, I was a research intern with NASA where I contributed to a project about land-atmospheric models and climate science. That summer was my first experience in conducting research and learning to code. From there, I started a masters of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech. For my research, I worked with the Department of Environmental Quality exploring trends in agricultural water withdrawals, identifying climate and economic factors that predict increased water use.  The most memorable course from my time at VT was engineering ethics, an immersive course taught by Dr. Marc Edwards, in the midst of the Flint lead in water crisis. Speakers visited our class and spent time with us, including residents from Flint Michigan, even kids, who talked with us about how their health and lives have been altered because engineers failed to control the corrosion of lead pipes in their community’s water system.

The timing and context my graduate training with one of the biggest failings in recent engineering history has changed me as a researcher and an engineer. Civil Engineers especially have high calling to service, and we must be uncompromising in the quality of work we provide.

Also, my initial graduate training emphasized for me that diverse perspectives are invaluable in engineering and science. It was community advocates, including mothers, people experiencing poverty, and other marginalized groups, who uncovered and fought for solutions in Flint, not your typical scientist or engineer. Without increasing the engagement of many voices in STEM, the US cannot innovate, and we will grow stagnant in our ability to solve existing problems and address future ones.

Diversity of thought is desperately needed in the field of civil engineering and can only be brought forth by better including people who have historically been marginalized in STEM fields. We need to build networks, support, and retrain each other. The energy invested to help someone feel more included and uplift them in your classes, clubs or activities will come back to you tenfold. For example, my commitment to outreach was acknowledged and rewarded when I was selected for National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship program. This opportunity to complete a PhD with full funding valued at more than $150,000 changed my life and helped me on my way to earning the first doctoral degree in my family.

I made the important decision to move with this funding award from Virginia Tech to North Carolina State University. This decision was hard, and confusing, but I had to get honest with myself about where I wanted to live for a long-term commitment (4 or more years!), and also realized that I needed change of pace.  My most important advice for students considering grad school is that three things that must align for you to have a good experience: funding, mentor, and location.

At NC State, I felt that all three areas were finally coming together. While here, I’ve been able to pursue research that involves both human behavior and water systems as a member of the social technical systems analysis lab, bringing me back to the roots of why I decided to become a civil engineer. It is a myth that engineers deal with math, not people- you will write, present, network, and engage with people every day! Even the word civil comes from the Latin word for people (think civilization). Our field is inherently tied with serving and meeting the needs of the public. I love a project that helps me see the human implications of my research. My dissertation has involved building a simulation model of behaviors during hurricane Florence and analyzing trends in people’s water use for a local water utility in North Carolina.  Most recently, I surveyed 500 water utilities around the US better understand what community water systems are doing to manage customer complaints. Approximately 60 million Americans don’t trust their tap water, increasing since Flint, and this project allowed me to develop an understanding of how community water systems in the US are responding to issues of customer dissatisfaction. This project was recently selected from an Outstanding Student Presentation Award from the American Geophysical Union, and I’ll be presenting it at the Water Distribution Systems Analysis conference in Spain this summer (2022).

I’m near the end of my PhD journey and I’m so excited for my next step. I was selected as a Voice for the Future of Water from the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science and am invited to speak on water futures at the Frontiers in Hydrology meeting San Juan this summer.  I recently passed my PE exam, and have several offers to kick off my career, with my final decision still pending!

To learn more, and to contact Dr. DiCarlo for advice especially about graduate school, please check out her personal website!

 

Judy Li '16
October 2016

When we heard that Judy had landed a job at the Department of Transportation for NY State, we just had to catch up with her and find out all about her new position.  We are very proud of her and all of our graduates who are making a difference in their communities. In Judy's own words:

I work in Highway Design in NYSDOT as a Junior Engineer.  We support the team by project-related tasks such as CAD/plans reviewing and editing, estimate reviewing, and compiling package for deliverables, etc. Because there are all kinds of projects that the NYSDOT handles, I get to learn a bit of everything. For my group, I’m currently helping with 2 projects – pavement preservation for hot mixed asphalt pavement and concrete pavement. Both projects are similar in nature. We identify the problematic area on the pavement (cracks, difference in elevation between slabs, etc.) by going out in the field. Then we work with the surveyors to get the data of the highway. After that we will start to devise a plan to fix the problem. From these 2 projects, I get to learn a bit about MicroStation, a CADD software similar to AutoCAD, estimate, and plans reviewing. Aside from projects that span over months, we also get to do work orders, which are smaller projects that often involve quick fixes on the highway. Work orders are good for junior engineers in a sense that you get to look at the many different aspects of the highways and the projects would be done in a few days or weeks so it’s a quick way to learn.

 

 

Gabriela Saenz '16
February 2018 

Gabriela Saenz graduated in May 2016 as a part of the inaugural class of civil engineers. Since graduation, Gabriela has been working for Prime Engineering, P.C. Her ambitious attitude is inspiring and we look forward to seeing what else she accomplishes in the future.

In her own words: "I am a Design Engineer for Prime Engineering, P.C. My work primarily consists of civil engineering designs and permitting various residential and commercial projects on Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City. Civil engineering is a diverse field that allows me to work on many different aspects of construction projects. Utilizing CAD, I produce plans for site layouts, grading & drainage, soil erosion & sediment control, sanitary systems, backflow preventers, and more. However, my work does not end at the office. At the start of every project, I am sent out to the job site to observe existing conditions and take any measurements we may need. Depending on the scope of the project, I may be sent back to the job site to perform inspections. My current focus project is a proposed supermarket in Glen Cove. There is an existing daycare on the same lot which will remain open during construction and it has been challenging to design and ensuring there are as little disturbances as possible. Every project requires me to coordinate with various professionals such as architects, structural / mechanical / geotechnical engineers, and surveyors. The exposure I received at Stony Brook University to all of these fields has been vital to my success as a Civil Engineer."

 

Christopher Zaverdas '16
November 2017

After graduating in May 2016 as part of the inaugural class of civil engineers at Stony Brook, Christopher is continuing his studies as a Ph.D. candidate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Some of the graduate courses he has completed includes structural dynamics, nonlinear structural analysis, earthquake engineering and wind engineering. After discovering a passion for structural dynamics and earthquake engineering, he decided that his research will be focused on supplemental framing systems that protect structures from damage induced by seismic loading. The specific problem Christopher wants his research to address is the cost-effectiveness of seismic protection systems. By employing a new approach to the design, analysis and implementation of these systems, his research will help determine if the current devices used in seismic protection systems can be replaced with already manufactured, off-the-shelf style products that are mechanically similar but are currently used for other purposes.

Thus far, he has considered vehicle shock absorbers and their potential to protect relatively smaller, light-framed buildings, such as wood framed houses. In August 2017 he presented his research for the first time at the 3 ^rd Huixian International Forum on Earthquake Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This year, Christopher is focusing on shake tables to determine the viability of using vehicle shock absorbers to prevent damage during an earthquake. The results of these tests will be presented at the ASCE/SEI Structures Congress in April 2018. At SBU Christopher was a member of the Seawolves ice hockey club, and has continued to play on the RPI ice hockey club team, which he argues has a much better name, the Engineers. Christopher has found that his civil engineering education at SBU has created a solid foundation of technical knowledge and problem solving skills, both essential to pursuing a Ph.D.                                                                                           
Christopher playing hockey on  RPI's team.