Each year, ASDSO invites students to enter the Student Paper Competition, open to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees at U.S. universities or colleges.
Topics may include traditional areas of design engineering, structural and geotechnical analysis, hydrology, hydraulics, construction, risk management and hazard mitigation, emergency action planning, dam security, and policy. In addition, case studies, emerging and innovative technologies, and senior capstone projects are encouraged.
Each winning paper will receive a $500 prize and a travel stipend (up to $400) to attend the Dam Safety conference. Winning papers will also be published in the annual conference proceedings. Other selected entries may be invited to participate in the Dam Safety Conference Poster & Lightning Talk Forum. Conference registration fees will be waived for all participating students enrolled in colleges or universities in the U.S. who present a valid student ID
The 2022 Student Paper Competition has closed. Winners will be contacted in late April 2022.
Watch for details on the 2023 competition to be posted in the fall of 2022.
2021 Competition Winners
Field and Meter-scale Application of MICP to Enhance Resilience of Flood Defense Structures
Pegah Ghasemi, Ph.D. Student, North Carolina State University
Co-author: Brina M. Montoya, Associate Professor, North Carolina State University
Award History
| 2020 | Wyatt Lantz, Utah State University; Rowshon Jadid, North Carolina State University |
| 2019 | Seth D. Thompson, Utah State University; Tristan E. Buckreis, University of California, Los Angeles |
| 2018 | Rowshon Jadid, North Carolina State University; Lucien Hollins, Arizona State University |
| 2017 | Shahin Safavizadeh, North Carolina State University; Thomas Robbins, Boise State University |
| 2016 | Emily Reed, Tennessee Technological University; Yi Tyan Tsai, University of California Los Angeles |
| 2015 | Alexander P. Sturm, University of California Davis; Ali Asghari Tabrizi, University of South Carolina; Lourdes Polanco-Boulware, Utah State University |
| 2014 | Daniel VandenBerge, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Beena Ajmera, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Laura Ferre, University of Colorado-Denver |
| 2013 | Natalie A. Youngblood, Colorado State University; Lourdes Polanco, Utah State University; Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf, and Nowfel Mahmud Bhuyian, Tennessee Technological University |
| 2012 | Sittinan Benjasupattananan, University of Delaware; Wyatt Jenkins, University of Missouri; Kevin Cook, Kristin Pesman, Katrina Schwab, James Shannon, and Justin Milne, Seattle University |
| 2011 | Christopher Sandt, University of North Carolina; Mishelle Shriro and Diego Cobos-Roa, UC-Berkeley; Mahdi Khalilzad, North Carolina State University |
| 2010 | Benjamin Skousen, University of Utah; Lourdes Polanco, Utah State University |
| 2009 | Rachael Bisnett, Purdue University; David Judi, University of Utah; Abouzar Sadrekarimi, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign |
