the Pizhong Qiao Graduate Student Award Endowment

The Pizhong Qiao Outstanding Graduate Student Award Endowment will be given annually to a graduate student who (1) is currently enrolled in the Department of Civil Engineering and stands out as truly exceptional in academic achievement, teaching, and research, or (2) has completed the graduate study with outstanding thesis/dissertation in the previous calendar year (January to December). The Civil Engineering Department chair and the associate chair for Graduate Programs will select the recipient based on the recommendation of the adviser. Each graduate faculty member may nominate one student whom they consider outstanding. Nomination should be in the form of a faculty member memorandum and should outline the achievements and strengths of the nominee based on the following criteria:

For currently enrolled students:

• An outstanding academic record (GPA > 3.7)
• Outstanding efforts and productivity in research
  Innovations in research (such as development of new methodologies)
• Teaching effectiveness (if applicable, such as an effective teaching assistant who lectures in the classroom)
• Excellent communication skills

For graduated students with thesis/dissertation:

• Outstanding contribution to the corresponding field
• Innovations in research (such as development of new methodologies)
• Papers in refereed journals (submitted, accepted or published) or/and presented papers at scientific conferences
• High-quality thesis/dissertation in terms of writing and presentation