Student Profiles

Mark Vizecky

Dennis Jacobson visited an Introduction to Structures class and made an offer too good to resist. Mark Vizecky became one of the starting seven in the new DOT Support Center at North Dakota State University. Operated through the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, the Center is giving Vizecky an opportunity to meld theory and practice.

"We're actually doing work that has a realistic chance of being completed. It's not just theoretical," Vizecky says. He's working on a mine and blend project between Portland, N.D., and the junction of Hwy. 200. They're figuring out how much aggregate to churn with the existing road surface to build, widen and repave the road. Add in curve adjustments for speeds changing from 55 m.p.h. to 65 m.p.h. and Vizecky has an engineering challenge.

One draw to Jacobson's talk was the chance for Vizecky and the others to work with Microstation and GEOPAK, standards in DOT work. "We're getting excellent experience," the junior says, adding, "It's amazing what the two programs together can do." The Sigma Phi Delta member is serious about engineering and using his education wisely, even considering the Peace Corps.

The Cottonwood, Minn., native rejected the University of Minnesota engineering program as just too big. He wanted to have real teachers, not graduate assistants, and that is what he's had at NDSU. Now, the DOT exposure makes him doubly glad of his choice. He's interested in both geotechnical and environmental work, and in how they are applied in transportation. At the DOT Center he faces challenges that give him a realistic idea of the transportation and design elements.

Ron Henke, he says, has created an atmosphere that is relaxed, professional and serious. Henke's work with the students reflects his knowledge of CAD and Microstation, something Vizecky calls "phenomenal." Henke even did some program beta testing.

To get people interested in transportation, Vizecky calls the DOT Center "the best thing they could do. It integrates students into the program. There's no other way to get hands-on experience. This integrates the classroom into real life. North Dakota is tapping an unused resource." Blending the educational resources of the University and the needs of the DOT were goals Jacobson and Henke held high in developing the Center.

With Henke on site, the program is feasible. With Jacobson's expertise added, students have "an excellent resource right on campus," Vizecky says.

"It's unbelievable all the places you can go in transportation," Vizecky has learned. Henke "seasons each of us differently, encouraging different aspects. That way when we rotate to another project we'll have someone on the team with expertise. It's cross-training. When we learn from teaching by doing, it solidifies in our minds." Henke, Vizecky says, is on his "A" game.

Vizecky had been working for the city of Moorhead, Minn., on a pavement management program before Jacobson's classroom recruiting visit. "This is a really good deal. I'm exponentially glad I left the other job because this is broadening my horizons," concludes Vizecky.

Stephanie Weigel

Interested in transportation for years, Stephanie Weigel was delighted when she found out about the North Dakota Department of Transportation Support Center at North Dakota State University. Operated through the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, Weigel found an instant and perfect fit.

The 21-year-old senior, a graduate of West Fargo (N.D.) High School, is a civil engineering major whose first project involves her in the most expensive, extensive project through the city of Fargo on I-29 and adjoining streets and avenues.

She wanted experience in her field of study - real hands-on stuff. Her project has been to design the construction phasing and signing for phase one and two of the I-29 project for the summer of 2002. Weigel smiles a bit nervously when she says, "Traffic flow in that corridor is all up to me." Her meeting to present her plan with DOT officials was daunting for a rookie.

Weigel smiled broadly after a meeting with DOT officials where they accepted her design with only a few suggestions.

Ron Henke, who works directly with the students in the DOT Center, "checks everything for us".

"I'm pretty sure things are OK," she says. She likes the collaborative work style Henke encourages. "This is a really good learning experience," Weigel says, adding, "They're great to work with, really helpful. Ron is just on the other side of the partition."

She spent a couple of weeks working on the phasing part of the project. She was given an overhead map of the area so she could make decisions about cross hatching the work area. When approved by the DOT, work on the signage begins. She has a special interest in that corridor because she has to find alternate routes too. NDSU is on the north side of town and her home is on the south side. It's a reallife transportation issue for her.

Her computer program of choice is Microstation. Working with Microstation and in the DOT Center reaffirms for her she made the right career choice. "Traffic has always interested me," she says. "I've been fascinated by the design of the road, the layers and lifts of the road. Of course I didn't know that's what they were until I entered engineering."

Last summer she worked on a survey crew near Minot, N.D. Because she likes outside work, when she works at the campus DOT this summer they plan to find ways for her to be outside on sites as well as doing design work.