Justin Crawford

Justin Crawford says he was drawn to Arizona State University by its large number of students and diverse campus culture.

Crawford saw ASU offering a multidimensional environment that would guide him toward a making a meaningful choice of a profession. He decided on a field he viewed as a springboard to both creativity and making valuable contributions to society.

“At its core, civil engineering is about serving the needs of everyday people,” he says. “The best engineering decisions can be reached only by understanding the needs of those affected by your work.”

Beyond the classroom, his higher education has extended to what he has learned as a member of ASU’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was project manager and sustainability captain for the chapter’s timber design team, and as an industry liaison traveled to Germany to research timber-reinforced concrete to help efforts to reduce global concrete consumption and emissions.

Now Crawford’s career goals include helping to make communities’ environments more walkable and people-centric by improving mixed-use design.

He also wants to help find ways to reduce the large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere as a result of current building industry practices and technologies.

“Using more sustainable materials like timber will prevent the depletion of our valuable nonregenerative resources,” Crawford says.

“Engineering has enabled me to think more critically about complex technical and social problems,” he says. “Most of the infrastructure systems people encounter daily are designed by civil engineers. Well-designed projects can drastically improve this interaction and improve people’s quality of life.”

Crawford’s skills developed and exhibited during his undergraduate years have earned him the New American University President’s Award, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Early Start Scholarship , a Steven Archer Scholarship, a DAAD Rise Scholarship and a place on the dean’s list in each semester of his studies at ASU.

The next step to broaden his career opportunities will begin in the coming fall semester when he begins studies to earn a graduate degree in structural engineering through Accelerated Master’s degree program.

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ spring 2024 class here.