Class of 2016, BS in Civil Engineering

Sarah Del Casale has the best of all possible worlds awaiting her following her summa cum laude graduation from the College of Engineering this May. The native of Northeast Philadelphia will begin a full-time position at AECOM, the country's top-rated civil engineering design firm, and also—thanks to the college's Accelerated Bachelor's/Master's Degree Program—will simultaneously complete her master's degree at Temple in just one more year.

After graduating with a degree in business administration and a minor in chemistry from Delaware Valley College in 2012, Del Casale was working as a purchasing and logistics coordinator for an industrial chemical sales company when her tangential involvement in the construction of a distillation tower in Ohio piqued her interest in civil engineering.

Intent on paying her own way, she came to Temple two years ago. The first engineering course she took, on statics, was taught by Associate Professor Bechara Abboud. "Doctor Abboud pushed us super hard to make sure we knew the subject," says Del Casale. "He really sparked my interest in structural engineering."

She also worked with Abboud as a paid undergraduate research assistant on a PennDOT-funded grant, investigating the best rip rock methods to prevent streams from undermining bridge abutments.

Two College of Engineering career fairs also resulted in internships, including one as a construction intern with the Gilbane Building Company, which was retrofitting a Wilmington, Delaware, building for JPMorgan Chase. The internship she began with AECOM last December evolved into a full-time positon in the firm's graduate development program, where she will first be involved in extending SEPTA's Media/Elwyn commuter rail line.

The ultimate dream job for the former high school and college point guard, who is to be married in June, would be to design an indoor or outdoor sports stadium. As for Temple, adds Del Casale, who also volunteered as a student peer advisor, "My greatest accomplishment was being able to maintain a 3.92 GPA while still being able to financially support myself throughout this entire process.

"It took a ton of sacrifice and dedication, but it is incredibly rewarding knowing that I will finish among the top 1 percent of my class, just passed my Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, have a job lined up after graduation and have graduate school fully funded by the university."