Ethan Davenport

Ethan chose to study chemical engineering at Trine University because he could stay in Indiana, have small class sizes, and obtain scholarships to assist with the cost.

"Trine's faculty made my transfer from chemical engineering to civil engineering after my first year simple and stress-free," he said. "I chose civil engineering as my major because there are so many career paths in the field and I did not want to lock myself into a specific industry before I could sample multiple options via the classroom, field trips, and internships. The fact that I knew so little about infrastructure and buildings intrigued me to learn more."

Ethan works as a Project Engineer for Walsh Construction on the I-69 Finish Line Contract 6 Section 5, which is a 700+ million-dollar Heavy Highway project in Indianapolis, Indiana and the surrounding area. He is part of the structures team and his daily tasks range from design takeoffs, material procurement, subcontractor coordination, cost tracking, and pre-construction planning. 

"The academics at Trine are top notch, but the skill I acquired at Trine that prepared me the most for my current position is patience."

Ethan interned twice for DLZ Industrial in Burns Harbor, Indiana in their Materials Testing and Industrial Engineering departments. "The time I spent as a lab technician helped teach me to read ASTM procedures and the importance that thoroughness has on creating a quality service. For the Industrial Engineering department, I was able to get into the field on a hazardous waste landfill construction project. I was in a quality assurance role where I ensured the contractor, and its subcontractors were following contract documents and testing procedures. My last internship was with Walsh Construction in Crown Point, Indiana as an estimating intern where I was exposed to the bidding process. I performed takeoffs for the project’s drainage features, but every day I would also learn about construction components, the planning process, and how a whole team with different focuses would collaborate to make all their plans come together. I graduated in December of 2020 and had a job lined up with Walsh in my current position a couple of months prior."

"I enjoy seeing our work being performed smoothly with no major hiccups, because that means all the time my team and I spent planning, budgeting, and working through potential issues paid off," he said. "Not a day has gone by in my position where I have not learned something new or made a new connection which is so important as a young professional."

Ethan shared that a professional with patience can stay level-headed when confronted with issues, is better equipped to work with others, and will learn and retain more information. Being patient allowed him to keep pushing through his homework even if he did not understand it. Patience also helped him work through issues with classmates on projects or study sessions.

"I learned that I tended to do better when I was not in a rush or would not want to get help from my peers or professors because I just wanted to be done with the assignment," he said. "With time I was able to figure out how I learned and the amount of time it took me to grasp new material continued to get shorter and shorter as I progressed at Trine. Now, out of school I can see that being patient reduces the number, and severity, of my mistakes and makes the experienced staff more willing to help me with problems."