Two graduate students in the civil and construction engineering department recently were awarded Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship Grants from the National Highway Institute (NHI).

Dustin Davis, graduate student in civil and construction engineering, and Christopher Monsere, doctoral student in civil and construction engineering, received the grants which help pay for tuition, fees, books and living and research expenses.

NHI, which is a division of the Federal Highway Administration, recognizes only 15 students in the United States annually.

To receive the prestigious Eisenhower fellowships, Davis and Monsere had to compete with other students by sending in applications along with letters of recommendation from professors.

Davis, of Nora Springs, received $26,870, and Monsere, of Troy, Michigan, received a grant that will cover three years of tuition and fees, and a monthly living stipend.

Both recipients will use the grant money to help further their education and research.

“My primary research interests include Intelligent Transportation Systems, freight transportation, freight transportation planning and transportation economic analysis,” Monsere said.

Davis conducts research for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

“Dustin is performing research on the new Fiber Reinforced Polymer material for use as dowel bars,” said Max Porter, professor in civil and construction engineering. “Dowel bars are used in highway and airport pavements and bridge structures.”

Porter said competition for the Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship Grants is fierce, and the selected students possess certain qualities that make them qualified to receive such monetary awards.

“Usually these students are of very high academic standing and of high grade point achievements,” he said. “They also possess a desire to study and do research in a field or material that can be used in transportation systems.”

Davis agreed that the competition for the grants is fierce.

“I’m really surprised I won because there’s so much competition for this grant,” Davis said in a press release. “I’m the only master’s student, too. Everyone else were Ph.D.s.”