Allan A. Nelson

In the fall of 1967, after two years of active duty with the US Army, I started a new job. I was a passenger in a car driving through cotton fields and soybean fields in southeast Arkansas. We approached a levee and then drove to the top of the levee. In front of me there was an incredible sight. Here in the middle of all this farmland in the middle of nowhere was a gigantic structure, a navigation lock and dam being built in the Arkansas River. For a farm boy from west central Minnesota, (Moorhead High School, 1960) this was impressive. I thought, “what did I get myself into?”

The answer is, over 42 years of managing Heavy Civil Construction Projects throughout the United States. The projects included locks and dams on the Arkansas, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. A 500 Mw pumped storage powerhouse in Georgia, a two-mile-long bridge on the gulf coast of Mississippi, numerous wastewater and water treatment plants throughout the United States (including Fargo’s Water Treatment Plant) and the expansion of Houston’s light rail system. The concrete required for these projects easily exceeded one million cubic yards. The contract value of these projects ranged from $8 million to $1.4 billion.

My great grandchildren will be able to see these projects because they will last a hundred years. Everyday these projects, part of our nation’s infrastructure, contribute to a better quality of life for American citizens. I would not have been able to do this without my engineering degree (BSCE, 1964) from NDSU.

It is my desire that an NDSU student, through this scholarship, will be able to have the satisfaction of accomplishment and contribution to society that I have had by making Construction Management /Engineering his/her choice for a career.