Student from Rocklin Honored at State Capitol

Twenty-one Cal Poly students  including Kevin Carstens, a civil and environmental engineering graduate student from Rocklin were recently recognized for their awards and other accomplishments by state lawmakers on the floors of the Assembly and Senate in Sacramento.

“These fine students are indicative of our Learn by Doing philosophy and reflect what their peers are also accomplishing at Cal Poly,” said university President Jeffrey D. Armstrong “We want to honor them for their success in the classroom and for their extracurricular activities that have been honored regionally and nationally.”

Each honoree, as an individual or team member, has received a national industry award or been significantly involved in such high-profile events as the Tournament of Roses Parade, with its TV audience of 100 million, and the team that raised $600,000 for a net zero solar home that was judged third best in the nation.

Carstens is pursuing master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering, with a concentration in transportation engineering, in the College of Engineering, and business administration in the Orfalea College of Business. He was president of Cal Poly ITE, a student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers that was named the institute’s 2015 international chapter of the year.

Carstens was also part of the foursome that won the title and $2,000 in the ITE Collegiate Traffic Bowl Grand Championships, which was open to teams from throughout Canada and the U.S. In internships with Reinard Brandley Airport Consulting, San Luis Obispo County’s Public Works Department, and Fehr & Peers, his duties ranged from drafting and editing, to guiding lost tourists through the remote Carrizo Plain. Carstens also develops transit analysis apps for Bishop Peak Technology, and assists Cal Poly professors with their research. His career goal is to work for a transportation engineering firm.