The ASCE Metropolitan Section held their annual Scholarship Luncheon on April 10, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel. The event opened with a welcome by Section President Richard B. Cassin. Rich greeted the 160+ attendees by introducing honorees Frank Lombardi, Chief Engineer of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and Connie Crawford, Senior Vice President of MTA-New York City Transit as well as ASCE National Officers Andrew Herrmann and Thomas Donnelly. He thanked Neal Forshner and Michael Lorczak, co-chairs of the Scholarship Luncheon and the members of the Met Section’s Scholarship Committee.

President Cassin also thanked the Scholarship Luncheon sponsors: Ammann & Whitney, DMJM HARRIS, FST, GPI, HAKS, Hatch Mott MacDonald, HDR, Hirani Group, HNTB and STV for their support of the event.

Michael Lorczak, Chair of the Scholarship Committee, introduced Yaye-Mah Boye, a civil engineer at DMJM HARRIS, winner of a 2004 Met Section Scholarship. Ms. Boye engaged everyone with the story of how much the Met Section Scholarship meant to her, since she had to finance her own education. She continued by thanking her mentor, Professor Tony Cioffi of New York City College of Technology with providing her with the foundation that sustains her today. Her experiences in the ASCE student chapter at City Tech proved valuable in pursuing her career in the noble profession of civil engineering. She closed her impassioned speech by explaining how her experiences with giving back to the community, through the Future City Competition and other endeavors, keeps her focused on the issues that are really important.

Neal Forshner, a past president of the Met Section, then presented the “Engineering Education Champion Award” to Frank Lombardi who spoke about his experience earlier in the day at St. John’s Prep High School, his alma mater. Neal then presented Connie Crawford with her award, and she spoke to the audience about New York City Transit’s mentoring program. The goal of the program is to reach out to schools located near New York City Transit project sites and offer their staff to speak to students.

Michael Lorczak informed the attendees that fifteen scholarship applications were received this year. Six scholarships winners were selected, for a total of $25,000. He then introduced Dr. Peter Salgo and Jeffrey Salgo to award the Michael N. Salgo Scholarship to this year’s outstanding student. They presented the award to James Banner of Columbia University. He then awarded the remaining scholarships to Dennis Lowenwirth of Manhattan College, Thomas Moorhoff of Polytechnic University, Shivani Patel of Polytechnic University, Kathryn Chiarelli of Glen Rock High School and Brian Paupst of Walter Panas High School.