Meet the 2021 Student Symposium Planning Team from UT Austin

The UT Austin ASCE Student Chapter is excited to be hosting the 2021 Texas ASCE Student Symposium. The theme for the symposium is innovation as we hope to inspire attendees to think creatively as they continue through their educations and careers, as well as host a symposium that highlights current breakthroughs in civil engineering. Some of our key goals for the 2021 symposium are to provide a variety of competitions and to increase professional development opportunities.

We plan to bring a range of competitions to represent various disciplines within civil engineering. While concrete canoe is a well-known, established competition for the Texas-Mexico region, the planning team is also looking into hosting competitions related to geotech, water treatment, transportation, surveying, and sustainability. With a mixture of civil engineering disciplines, we hope to broaden student participation at the 2021 symposium.

In past years there has been great success with networking events and career fairs. We intend to continue this success and expand these opportunities by hosting an even larger career fair, while also planning casual events for laid-back socializing. We hope to create lasting connections and relationships for attendees of the symposium.

The UT Austin team looks forward to seeing students and professionals from all over the Texas-Mexico region here in Austin next spring. Hook ‘em!

My name is Sabika Bharmal and I will be the planning lead for the 2021 Student Symposium! In the fall I will be a junior at UT Austin and this summer I am interning with BGE Inc. Within engineering, I am interested in structural and construction project management. Outside of engineering, I love to take pictures, especially impromptu photoshoots with friends and family.

My name is Megan Westhoff and I am the ASCE chapter president for the 2020-2021 school year at The University of Texas at Austin. I will be a Junior looking to go into construction management. Throughout my time at UT I have been involved in a range of activities from Concrete Canoe to our Women in Engineering program. I have a passion in giving back to the community and enjoying volunteering with sustainability programs across Austin.

Other committee members include Sarah Beaird, Olivia Toth, Albert Coleman, Faaris Kukkadi, Megan Sanders, Moises Olmos, Wendy Z, and Isabel Vargas.