Wood first SDSU student to win ACI graduate fellowship

Tyler Wood, a 4.0 civil engineering major, has become the first South Dakota State University student to receive a graduate fellowship from the American Concrete Institute.

The $10,000 award also includes an all-expenses paid trip to the next two American Concrete Institute national conventions into addition to the one he attended on March 23-27 in New Orleans as part of the application process. The award comes with no strings attached, said Wood, who graduates May 4.

He will continue at SDSU, pursuing a master’s degree in civil engineering with an emphasis in structural engineering, but not related to concrete.

His graduate thesis is “Modeling Structural Behavioral of Trees,” which he is undertaking with associate professor Mostafa Tazarv. They will look at what wind conditions can cause trees to fall. The fact that he won’t be studying concrete in his graduate studies wasn’t an issue with the interview team, he said.

Before being flown to New Orleans, Wood completed a written phase that included submitting an essay and a resume.

Wood arrived Saturday night, had an interview Sunday morning and then had the next three days to explore “all things concrete,” he said. Nadim Wehbe, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said the institute awarded 33 fellowships. Wood estimated there were two applicants for every fellowship.

He said he is grateful for the opportunity to vie for the fellowship, an opportunity he said “came out of nowhere.”

‘Might as well give it a try’

While it wasn’t on Wood’s radar, it was on Wehbe’s radar. He sent Wood a brochure on the fellowship. “I thought I might as well give it a try. Why not throw my hat in the ring?” The two hours the 2020 Dell Rapids High School graduate spent on the essay and resume-polishing proved to be time well spent. 

In the fall semester, Wood had taken Wehbe’s reinforced concrete design class. Because of “Tyler’s natural ability to learn and apply complex concepts in reinforced concrete design,” Wehbe thought he would be a good candidate for the fellowship. 

Wood isn’t unfamiliar with concrete, at least from a practical standpoint.

When he was a boy, Wood would tag along with his dad, who at that time was a concrete contractor. Then after high school, Wood spent a summer working on a concrete crew. Nonetheless, Wehbe’s class and the concrete convention were both eye-opening experiences. He added that Wehbe’s passion for concrete rubs off on others.

The convention was somewhat “overwhelming because there is a lot going on. The American Concrete Institute does a good job of combining academia with contractors. I was able to see all aspects of concrete and how it is used. There’s always a drive for innovation and for reducing the carbon footprint in the concrete-making process,” Wood said.

Started grad program a year ago

As for Wood’s graduate program, he actually got a start on it in spring semester 2023 and is about 30% complete. The end goal from this research is to reduce electrical grid failure caused by falling power poles or from trees falling into power lines. The modeling that Wood and Tazarv are doing is being replicated by only one other researcher in the world, Wood said.

In 2023, Wood and Tazarv took lidar readings of 20 large broadleaf trees in Brookings to get baseline data on branch structure.

Next step was to write their own structural engineering software and input the lidar readings. By simulating various wind and ground conditions on the computer, they hope to be able to predict what environmental conditions would bring the tree crashing down. The predictions then will be compared to actual tree reactions.

Strain gauges, which measure the amount of deformation, were attached to each of the trees. Readings on windy days will be compared with computer predictions for windy days.

Wood expects to have the project completed by May 2025 or December 2025 at the latest.

Internships supplement learning

He is participating in an accelerated master’s program that allows some courses to qualify for both undergraduate and graduate credit. Tazarv said, “Tyler is a sharp, hardworking and motivated student with a strong background. Because of this performance, I hired him as my undergraduate research assistant.”  

Wood said he not only enjoys learning, he also enjoys helping others learn. He peer mentored freshmen civil engineering students when he was a sophomore and has informally continued in that role, offering advice on what classes and instructors to take. He also has tutored physics students twice a week for the last two years as well as individually tutoring another civil engineering student.

“I love learning and I love helping someone else through that learning process so they can have their own lightbulb moment,” he said.

Wood’s learning has extended beyond the classroom. In summer 2021 and 2022, he interned at DGR Engineering. In summer 2023, he interned at Banner Associates. This summer he will intern at Raker Rhodes Engineering.

Wood said his career goal is to own his own structural engineering firm, for which a little knowledge on reinforced concrete will come in handy