Mariana Benitez
Mariana graduated from UTEP with her BS in May of 2018 where she was awarded both the Herbert H. Bartel Service Award and the Department of Civil Engineering Academic Achievement Award. She was awarded the prestigious Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate award which provides support for her first two years of doctoral studies. She is exploring ways to improve resilience in areas of low probability, high consequence hazards. She will defend her thesis in Summer 2022.
Jin Collins
Jin Collins has a BS Degree in Civil Engineering from UC Riverside and in Physics from UTEP. She graduated with her MS Degree in Civil Engineering in May of 2019. Her thesis focused on developing a multiple model approach to bridge deterioration modeling using bridge component level condition data. She is pursuing her PhD at UTEP, with a focus on the same topic.
Luisa Castrejon
Luisa graduated from UTEP with a BS in Civil Engineering in the Spring of 2021. She has joined the PASS Lab and is leading the CTECH Green Transportation Infrastructure project, focusing on developing a framework for identifying sites for targeted green infrastructure interventions in existing developments.
Sebastian Lopez
Sebastian graduated from UTEP with a BS in Civil Engineering in May of 2021. He served as the President of the UTEP student chapter of SEAoT as well as the internal representative for the Engineering Student Leadership Council. His research is focused on Engineering Education. He hopes to graduate with his MS in Spring 2023.
PASS Lab Alumni
Jose Lugo
Jose graduated from UTEP in Fall 2019 and remained at UTEP for his graduate studies, joining the PASS Lab in January of 2020. Jose’s research focuses on digital twin technologies for specific application to civil infrastructure systems. He successfully defended his thesis in Spring 2022.
Paola Santillano
Paola graduated from UTEP in December of 2019 with her BS and December of 2021 with her MS. During her undergraduate career, she conducted research focused on preservation of bridges on Route 66. She was the President of the UTEP student chapter of the Structural Engineer’s Association of Texas, bringing the organization from obsolete to a thriving and active student group. Her graduate research focused on Urban Building Energy Modeling.
Sarah Ballard
Sarah graduated from UTEP with her BS in May of 2018. Prior to graduation she was awarded a fellowship through the UTEP COURI office to conduct undergraduate research. Her project focused on Historic Preservation of Bridges on Route 66. She successfully defended her MS in April 2021 and is working as a mathematics teacher at Coronado High School here in El Paso.
Bryan Stephens
Bryan graduated from West Point Academy in 2005 before serving in the Army for over a decade. He returned to pursue his MS at UTEP in 2016, joining the PASS Lab. His research focused on improving bridge management practice by optimizing load rating decision-making. He graduated in May of 2019 and is now working for HNTB in Chicago.