Scholarship Program

The establishment of the Scholarship Trust by the National Capital Section of ASCE in 1988 has delivered a significant impact in our local civil engineering community. Each year ASCE student members from five universities that are located in the region served by the Section have access to funds allocated by the Section to be awarded as scholarships. In addition to discovering the background of how the scholarships got started, are funded, and those they serve and memorialize, you will find the forms needed by civil engineering students to begin the process of applying for them through their university's ASCE Faculty Advisor. 

James Wallace Harland
1923 - 1999
Memorial Scholarship

James Harland was a native of Cedar Falls, Iowa.  He received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University.  He received a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle Washington.  Following his service in the US Navy during World War II, James joined the firm of Hazelett & Erdal, a civil engineering firm headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.   With Hazelett & Erdal, he designed bridges and highways for 30 years.  He opened their Washington, DC branch office in 1965 where he worked until his retirement in 1990.  Following retirement, James provided consultation services to the Air Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution to determine the location and support for hanging airplanes. 

James was a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.  He was President of the National Capital Section in 1978-79.

The James Wallace Harland Memorial Scholarship is made possible by donations of friends and colleagues, plus, a generous grant from the family and estate of the late Mr. Harland.

Gail Abner Hathaway
1895 -1979
Memorial Scholarship
Gail Hathaway

Gail A. Hathaway was a native of Menomonie, Wisconsin.  He received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University.  He served in the US Army artillery corps during World War I, in France.  After the war he worked in the office of the Oregon State Engineer before joining the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1928 in Kansas City Mo.  From 1938 until 1957, he served in the office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, DC.  As a renowned flood forecaster, he was called to Europe in 1944 by General Eisenhower’s Headquarters in Paris to organize a forecasting service to predict stages and flow conditions that would affect planned crossing of the Rhine River during World War II.  From 1957 until 1963 he held the position of Engineering Consultant to the Department of Technical Operations of the World Bank.  He served as a consultant in the planning and design of Egypt’s Aswan Dam.  He was also an engineering consultant to President Truman’s Cabinet Committee on Palestine, a consultant on issues with the Panama Canal, and a consultant to the Venezuelan government.

Gail is world renowned for his revolutionary theories that controlled the planning and design of flood control dams.  Time has proven his theories and deductions to be correct, and it is not unusual to hear the assertion that a dam is designed to accommodate the ”Hathaway Flood.”  His lasting fame rests on the criteria and procedures he developed for determination of spillway design floods while he served in the office of the Chief of Engineers.  The standards he developed became accepted by the Corps of Engineers, the US, and ultimately, the rest of the world.

Gail was an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, serving as President of the National Capital Section in 1942, then, as national ASCE President in 1952.  In 1947 he was awarded ASCE’s J. James R. Croes Medal for his contribution to engineering science.  He was Chairman of the US Committee on Large Dams from 1948 to 1952.  He was honored with a Doctor of Engineering Degree by Drexel Institute of Technology in 1951.  He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1979.

Additional biographical information is available in a Memorial Tribute on the National Academy of Sciences website.

The Gail Abner Hathaway Memorial Scholarship is made possible by a generous grant from the family and estate of the late Mr. Hathaway.

John N. Hummel
1945 - 1999
Memorial Scholarship

John Hummel was a native of Renova, Pensylvania.  He received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and a Masters Degree in Transportation Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.  His early career included work as a civil engineer for the Pennsylvania Department of Highways, the Penn Central Railroad, and the New York State Department of Transportation.  From 1973 to 1988, John served Arlington County VA, initially in the Department of Transportation, and later as the Chief Engineer and Deputy Public Works Director.  After leaving Arlington County, he managed branch offices for two companies: Dewberry & Davis and Delon Hampton & Associates.  In 1993 he became the Manager of Transportation Master Planning for the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission.  In 1996 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation.  John was also lecturer at the University of Maryland and The Catholic University of America, teaching graduate level courses in Transportation Planning and Organizational Theory & Behavior.  

John was active in the American Society of Civil Engineers.  He was President of the National Capital Section in 1989-90.  From 1992 to 1996, John served as Chairman of The ASCE/NCS Scholarship Trust which administers the scholarships awarded each year to deserving college students from the five universities within the Section.  Under his leadership and guidance, the money in the Trust was invested in income producing financial accounts.  The investment strategy developed by John and the Board of Trustees has allowed the Trust to grow making scholarships totaling over $20,000 possible for the last six years.

John’s many activities at the national level of ASCE included service and chairmanship of the following committees:  Committee on Sections & District Council; Committee on Standards of Practice; and the Committee on Public Involvement of Engineers.  As a member of the Committee on Peer Review of Public Agencies, John participated on 7 Peer Reviews of Public Agencies.  John was also an active member of the Engineering Society of Maryland, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and the American Public Works Association.

The John N. Hummel Memorial Scholarship is made possible by a donations of friends, family, and colleagues, plus a generous grant from ASCE.

Harold Williams
1907 - 1987
Memorial Scholarship
Harold Williams

Harold Williams was a native of Depoy, Kentucky.  Harold was a life long student, believing that “its a bad day when you don’t learn something.”  After completing technical school in 1931, he started work as a telegraph operator for the Illinois Central Railroad.  He continued self study through correspondence courses, teaching himself civil engineering; surveying; and, mechanical, mining, and railroad engineering.  From 1932 to 1950, Harold gained work experience in topographic mapping with the US Geological Survey (USGS), transmission line installation for the Georgia Power Company, highway and bridge construction for the Georgia Highway Department, hydroelectric construction with Nantahala Power and Light in North Carolina, and airport engineering with the Civil Aeronautics Administration.  From 1947 until 1967, he worked with the USGS.  In the late 1950s, Harold began working part-time for Greenhorn, O’Mara, Dewberry & Nelson in Northern Virginia.  He remained with the company, later Dewberry & Davis, for 30 years as an integral part of the rapidly growing firm’s senior management.  He eventually held the title of Principal and Director of Special Projects.

Harold taught by example, working side-by-side with younger engineers who he advised on technical issues, quality control, and his belief that “no problem is insurmountable.”  His vast range of engineering experience proved an immeasurable benefit to Sidney Dewberry and the firm.  Members of the firm’s senior management often sought his counsel and objective opinion on subjects whether technical, administrative, or philosophical.

Harold was very active in professional societies, most notably, Professional Engineers in Private Practice (PEPP), the Virginia Society of Professional Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.

The Harold Williams Memorial Scholarship is made possible by a generous grant from the employees at Dewberry & Davis and friends.

Neal FitzSimons
1928 - 2000
Memorial Scholarship
Neal FitzSimons

Neal FitzSimons worked for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency before opening his private practice Engineering Counsel in Kensington, MD. He specialized in structural forensics and worked on highway bridge projects; designed prefabricated concrete arch spans; and, testified as an expert witness on structural collapses.

He was born in Torrington, Conn., and raised in New York City. He graduated from Cornell University and served two stints in the Army, part of that time as an intelligence officer

Neal was NCS President in 1982 and went on to serve as ASCE Vice President (Zone 1) in 1991.

An advocate of civil engineering history, he founded the American Society of Civil Engineers' History and Heritage Committee. He also wrote extensively about engineering history and was an adjunct faculty member of the University of Maryland School of Engineering.

J. A. (Jay) Padgett
1946 - 2018
Memorial Scholarship
Jay Padgett

Jay Padgett was a native of the Washington, DC area, where he practiced geotechnical engineering. Jay was committed to life-long learning, professional mentoring, and advancing the vision of civil engineers as leaders and innovators, facilitators, and synthesizers.

Jay earned a BS degree from Dickinson College, with a major in physics and a minor in mathematics. While serving in the Army Corps of Engineers, Jay earned a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before going on active duty.

He was the president and founder of GeoServices Corp., a respected firm specializing in subsurface exploration services and geo-instrumentation. Jay’s knowledge of regional subsurface conditions, and his ability to get his resourceful field team to obtain hard-to-get geotechnical information in hard-to-reach and congested places, was unparalleled. He was a particularly lucid writer, a trait that further enhanced his ability to solve and synthesize complex problems.

Throughout his professional career, Jay volunteered countless hours to ASCE and to the civil engineering profession at the local, regional, and national level. He was NCS President in 1986. Notably, for the last 30 years, Jay was a sustaining driving force behind the NCS Scholarship Trust. At the Society level, Jay served on ASCE’s Board of Directors, and spent over 18 years working on Society governance, helping rewrite and reorganize the Society’s governing documents; helping organize ASCE’s 1996 National Convention; and, an active participant in ASCE’s Vision for 2025 summit.