Graduate Student Nationally Recognized for Professional Ethics Paper

Timothy Abel

Villanova Civil Engineering graduate student Timothy Abel, a highway engineer with Pennoni in Philadelphia, has received a Certificate of Commendation for the 2017 Daniel W. Mead Prize. He is one of only three engineers selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers Committee on Younger Members (ASCE CYM) to receive this national recognition.

The Daniel W. Mead Prize for Younger Members is awarded annually for papers on professional ethics. Each year the ASCE CYM selects a specific topic. In 2017, members were asked: "Is it ethical for university engineering faculty to teach technical subject matter to engineering students without obtaining professional licensure?"

Abel was selected for his paper "Ethically Ambiguous: Addressing the Implications of University Engineering Faculty Who Teach without Obtaining Professional Licensure, and an Argument for Professional Licensure in Engineering Academia," which was nominated by the ASCE Philadelphia Section for submission to the CYM. He has been invited to personally accept the Certificate of Commendation at the ASCE's Annual Convention in New Orleans, LA, in October. Additionally, he was invited to sit on the Mead Prize Topic Selection sub-committee of the ASCE CYM to help choose the Daniel W. Mead Prize paper topic for the forthcoming year.