In the Spotlight - John DeFrancisci, '19
Fall 2018
John DeFrancisci, ASCE chapter president and senior in civil engineering, spends some time talking with us about his college career, positive research experiences, and his future plans. In John's own words:
"I entered the Civil Engineering major a bit late here at Stony Brook. I did not join the major until my Sophomore year. Despite my late entry, I've done a lot to become more involved and make the most of my college career. In my junior year, I got more involved with the SBU ASCE student chapter via the concrete canoe team. Now in my senior year, I am the president of ASCE. It has been a fun yet challenging experience so far, however we have a great team and are really excited to grow the club.
In addition to my role in ASCE, I have taken three credits of CIV 499 with Dr. Giles for research. This was a very valuable experience for me. I was able to learn about the thought process and actual goals of research. Working to make sense of collected data was very challenging, however the process was quite rewarding. Simply memorizing and reciting things for classes is very different from doing research. This experience is what initially inspired me to start looking into graduate programs.
I also had the great opportunity to work in Dr. Farhadzadeh’s lab over this past summer. I was able to gain hands on experience, as well as a better understanding of the day to day challenges of data collection.
I am currently researching and applying to graduate programs. Hopefully by the spring, I will have multiple options to weigh. Stay tuned!