BEN ZOBRIST: Building Bridges toward Success     

 

Ben Zobrist

"We're joking about it now, but maybe when the time comes it won't be a joke anymore," Ben Zobrist chuckles. The civil engineering graduate is referring to the possibility of going into business with his father, who is a carpenter. Fatherly advice paid a key role in Zobrist's success at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

 

"I learned a lot about how buildings are built," he notes. "There were so many times I was in a classroom and the lessons I learned from my father helped."

 

Zobrist's interest in structures will continue at the University of Illinois, where he plans to pursue a master's degree in structural engineering. This will come after a summer internship with American Structurepoint.

 

For his senior project, Zobrist helped a team design a 24-foot-long covered bridge for the Whitewater Canal Trail Association in Metamora, Ind. The project earned first place in the Indiana Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Design Competition.

 

Zobrist has enjoyed the service opportunities he's had at Rose- Hulman. As ASCE's student chapter president, he organized members to build several wheelchair ramps as community service projects.

 

"The overall thing at Rose-Hulman is giving back," he explains. "As civil engineers, we serve people every day. That kind of thing is near and dear to me."

 

Zobrist's Rose-Hulman career also featured being a two-year starting second baseman and Academic All-American for the baseball team. He served as a Homework Hotline tutor and earned the Shelton Hannig Award as outstanding graduating civil engineering student.

 

"The relationships I've had with my professors have been awesome. They cared about what I did outside the classroom," he says. "That really meant a lot to me."