Carrie Desmond

Carrie Desmond (BS 12)
Modernization Plan donor
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
Engineer II – Transit & Rail
Chicago

When I started at the University of Illinois, the Yeh Student Center hadn’t been built yet and the CEE students didn’t really have a suitable home base for classes, meeting, studying or socializing. The Yeh Student Center opened my senior year and completely revolutionized the atmosphere of the department. We no longer had to rush from one edge of campus to the next between classes. The atriums became the place to relax or study, and anytime you set up there you ran into someone you knew. It completely changed the social framework and student experience of CEE for the better.

I donated to the CEE Modernization Fund in hopes that the next phase of plans has as significant an impact or better on the next round of students. It’s very exciting to see the plans for the bridge, that students are involved in the conceptual design and that the bridge will serve as a living lab too. I can’t wait to come see it when it’s done!