Student Paper Competition
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.
The 2026 Student Paper Competition submission window will open in August 2025.
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.
View a past winner of the ASDSO Student Paper Competition, Arianna Dreschler, Marquette University, Federal Actors in Dam Removal Policy: Legal and Bureaucratic Influences in the Decommissioning of Powered and Non-Powered Dams in the United States (2022).
Each winning paper will receive a $2,000 prize and a travel stipend (up to $1,000) to attend the Dam Safety conference. Winning papers will be included in the Dam Safety Conference agenda during a concurrent session or as a poster-lighting talk. Winning papers will also be published in the annual conference proceedings and may be published in the Journal of Dam Safety.
Are you not ready to submit your paper this year or want to learn more about student opportunities with ASDSO? Complete our student opportunities interest form to learn more.
2025 Competition Winners
A Study of Flood Protection Systems in the Susquehanna River Basin
Rachel Kaintz, Undergraduate Student
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University
Seismic-Induced Cracking of Earth Dams: Updated Database and Recommendations
Juan Jimenez-Pirajan, Antonio Bobet
Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Purdue University
Competition History
2024
Audrika Nahian, Jackson State University
2023
Araz Hasheminezhad, Iowa State University
2022
Arianna Dreschler, Marquette University
2021
Pegah Ghasemi, North Carolina State University
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
