Academy professor makes Top-20 civil engineer list

  • Published
  • By Harry Lundy
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  An Academy professor was named one of 2014's Top 20 under- 40 Civil Engineers in the Mountain States Region by Engineering News-Record magazine for his contributions to his field and community involvement.

Maj. Matthew Stanford, an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was one of more than 40 engineers in the Mountain States region to receive this recognition.

"Here at the Academy, we're surrounded by great professors every day who were handpicked through a rigorous interview process in order to receive the privilege of teaching our future leaders," said Lt. Col. Patrick Suermann, a Civil and Environmental Engineering professor.

Stanford's achievements include constructing seven humanitarian projects while deployed to Africa, including a 30-kilometer road used to provide aid to a remote village. He was also responsible for constructing a medical clinic for refugees and a new primary school.
"One of my goals is to show the real-world applications of everything we do in the classroom," Stanford. "Showing our cadets the future applicability of what they're doing now can be a great motivator."

Stanford developed and taught a course here on expeditionary facility design, a critical need for Air Force civil engineers.

"The course content is critical for Air Force civil engineer officers because many second lieutenants deploy these days and are pushed into designing projects in expeditionary environments much earlier than they would've been pre-9/11, Suermann said. "Today's civil engineer officers deploy about once every 18 months and very often design the project they build."

Stanford also volunteered as a faculty advisor for three cadet competition teams.
Two of those teams competed at the 2013 regional Associated Schools of Construction.
 
The third team placed second at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Region Design-Build Institute of America student competition, the Academy's first time entering.

Stanford has also been involved in developing his department's culminating design event, which occurs before in May before cadet graduation.

Last year's project involved seniors creating a conceptual design for an AC-130 squadron operation facility.

Stanford is involved in the local community as a member of the board of the Pikes Peak Post of the Society of American Military Engineers. In this role, he has volunteered more than 80 hours to organize an annual Boy Scouts Engineering Merit Badge Day, helping more than 60 scouts earn a Merit Badge.

Stanford has authored peer-reviewed research articles published by the American Society of Civil Engineers and plans to begin work on his Ph.D. later this year.

"Major Stanford is a leader in every category in the Air Force and now he has been properly recognized as a leader in not only our Air Force's engineering community, but the entire industry," Suermann said.