William Lupton

Background

About William Lupton

Ever since I was in the second grade, I knew that I wanted to be an engineer. I attended several engineering camps growing up, building and testing designs of things from bottle rockets to hydraulic arms, which allowed me to think outside the box for practical solutions to problems and only further enhanced my desire to become an engineer. My volunteer experience, especially with the Appalachia Service Project, allowed me to gain hands on construction and on the fly design experience. On my five trips, I have been able to work with a team for underprivileged families, helping their houses become warmer, safer, drier, and building a relationship with each family. After being admitted into the Civil Engineering Department at NC State, I knew I had made the right decision. During my time in the department, I found my passion for civil and structural engineering through classes in reinforced concrete and structural steel design as well as structural analysis. I hope to be able to utilize my knowledge from these classes in both my future classes as I work towards my master’s degree and job opportunities in structural analysis and design of various structures. Through internships at Vaughn & Melton and ITAC, I learned how to apply what I learned in school to a real project in a professional setting. This practical experience allowed me to work with experienced professional engineers and ask questions of their work and experiences. These internships also exposed me to various design and drafting softwares that I would use both in school and in my professional career. For the 2019-2020 academic year, I served as an elected board member of the Student Wolfpack Club where I was able to work with the other board members to introduce a new ticketing process, streamlining the process for members and reducing wait times at distribution by an average of 50 percent. During the 2020-2021 academic year, I served as the SWPC president, leading one of the largest student run organizations in the ACC. Since graduating in May of 2021, I have worked as a structural engineer in training, working on projects such as pre-engineered metal buildings, structural inspections of existing structures, and timber framed mixed use residential buildings. These project experiences have allowed me to realize my long time dream of being an engineer while being mentored by engineers that I look up to and hope to be like in the future.