Peyton Bailey grew up knowing that he wanted to make a difference in the world. He found his opportunity to do that in the civil engineering program at UL Lafayette.
“Civil engineering provides me with the opportunity to affect the lives of those around me on a very large scale, while allowing me to continuously grow as a person," he said.
Outside of his engineering classes, Peyton has been a part of the Research Apprenticeship Program since his first semester.
“I am currently working under Dr. Mohammad Khattak, conducting research on materials such as concrete and soil,” he said.
“The program has allowed me to get hands-on experience in a civil engineering lab that I would’ve never received, and it strengthened my resume with actual experience in a civil engineering lab.”
He has also been involved in many organizations on campus including the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, the Honors program, and Engineering Ambassadors.
“The connections and friends I have made, and the opportunities I have had to travel and work because of my extracurricular involvement has been priceless,” he said. “In fact, last summer, I received an internship due to the connections I made in those organizations.”
Peyton also enjoys his time in the classroom. His favorite part about the civil engineering program is the lab structure.
“Twice a week we would meet and discuss the concept of surveying and how it is done, and once a week we would go out and actually survey Girard Park for a mock engineering project,” he said. “It is always interesting to transfer what is learned in the classroom into the laboratory.”
“The combination of learned material in the classroom paired with extracurricular engineering competitions and undergraduate research has given me a good grasp of my future in civil engineering," he said. "It has given me — and is continuing to give me — lots of opportunities very early in my career."
