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(Fall 2005)

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Award-winning Graduate Brings Experience Home

In high school, Pike County, Ky., native Tiffany Caldwell first became interested in engineering at the Cedar Coal Fair while solving a math problem related to strip-mine runoff.

Now the 2004 bachelor's degree recipient in civil and environmental engineering is again finding herself doing engineering work close to her Eastern Kentucky home.

That's because Caldwell recently started her engineering career after being one of Speed School's most academically awarded students of recent years.

The icing on the cake was the prestigious Lewis S. Streng Honor Graduate Award, given to the student with the highest cumulative grade-point average in Speed. Caldwell maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout her four-year Speed stint.

Before that, Caldwell received the 2004 Steinman Fellowship from the National Society of Professional Engineers Educational Foundation. The prestigious $10,000 award is given to one outstanding engineering student in the 10-state southeast region.

Caldwell also earned Speed's 2004 Outstanding Student Award as well as the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers Scholarship, the Hazelet & Erdal Scholarship and the Robert C. Ernst Award.

Caldwell credits her awarded successes to her Speed experiences. "I think my success shows the kind of quality education that Speed School gives," said Caldwell after winning the Steinman award.

In May, she began her job as project engineer at Summit Engineering in Lexington, Ky. "So far I've worked on sewer line projects, wastewater treatment plant plans, transportation plans and some others," Caldwell says.

Summit does a lot of work in Eastern Kentucky, where I'm from, so I sometimes drive through my hometown (of Pikeville) on the way to projects. Working on these projects, I'm learning a lot from other engineers."

Caldwell says being in the urban educational setting at U of L broadened her horizons. "I'm not from Louisville so being in a different place really helped me to get to know a lot of different people," she says. "And I like to be involved in as much as I can."

Caldwell made time for volunteer community work while at U of L, despite her heavy workload in classes and on co-op projects. She helped repair houses in west Louisville as part of the Repair Affair program sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers and the Alpha Sigma Kappa sorority. As a Dream Girls mentor, she helped fourth- and fifth-grade girls learn about non-traditional careers for young women, including engineering.

Caldwell is married to another Speed graduate, Anthony Coleman, who also is a past recipient of the Streng award and holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering. "My whole experience at Speed has helped me to be a better person professionally," Caldwell adds.

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