Students cook up first-place finish at Engineering Open House

Illinois Center for Transportation’s graduate students earned first place at the March 26-27 Engineering Open House in the sustainable solutions category for their short film “Life of Asphalt.”

“Life of Asphalt” was scripted, shot, edited and directed solely by our graduate students.

Their favorite part of filming?

For Sofia Fernandez Santoyo, a master’s student in geotechnical engineering, it was the “happy energy that day.”

“Even though we were filming outside on one of the coldest days of the year, it was fun to get together with everyone to create something,” Santoyo said.

Lama Abufares’, a master’s student in transportation engineering, favorite part was writing the script.

“I was involved in that, and we had fun coming up with new ideas and lines that match the different personalities,” Abufares said.

The film showcased the ingredients necessary for ICT students to cook up the best possible asphalt mixes to make our roads smooth sailing.

The annual two-day event featured exhibits and competitions that highlighted the talent and ingenuity of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger engineers.

The graduate students received full access to the EOH activities and shared what they adored most about the event.

AbdulGafar Sulaiman, a doctoral student in transportation engineering, enjoyed, the virtual open house given its access to all exhibit videos, which would have been limited if it were in-person. 

In fact, he was able to watch more than 30 videos and “learned a whole lot about how things work.”

For Yujia Lu, a doctoral student in transportation engineering, although EOH was virtual, “the fun and impact haven’t been diminished.”

“Because the virtual EOH video is really a convenient and concentrated activity where the pavement and relevant materials are unfolded,” he added.

ICT’s students could not be more excited about bringing home an EOH first-place trophy. Here’s to next year and the many years to come!