Monday, April 20, 2020

CEES Doctoral Student Trevor Looney Receives SMART Scholarship-for-Service Award






CEES doctoral student Trevor Looney has been awarded a SMART Scholarship-for-Service from the Department of Defense.  According to the DoD web site, “The SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program was established as a concentrated effort to enhance the Department of Defense (DoD) workforce with talented, innovative and brilliant scientists, engineers and researchers. For over a decade, SMART Scholars have been working within labs and agencies of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Additional DoD to support the warfighter and create an impact to secure our nation.”  https://dodstem.us/stem-programs/scholarships

In addition to the scholarship, Looney was offered his first choice in position; working at the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) of the US Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), located in Vicksburg, MS. “I’m very excited about this opportunity.  It’s my dream job!” said Looney. The scholarship pays full tuition and fees, health insurance, textbook and laptop allowance, and a stipend.

Looney received his Bachelor of Science degree with Summa Cum Laude honors and his Master of Science degree both in civil engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2010 and 2012, respectively.  Looney worked towards his master's degree under CEES professor Jeffery Volz on the effects of bond strength of high-volume fly ash concrete and self-consolidating concrete for infrastructure applications.  He is currently working towards his doctoral degree under the guidance of professor Volz concentrating on the optimization of ultra-high performance concrete for strength, durability, and structural applications, as well as developing its multi-axial tensile failure criteria.