ARES PRISM is excited to share that we have awarded our annual $1,000 project management scholarship for 2021 to Ryan Falk, a Master of Engineering graduate student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
This scholarship recognizes outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in the field of project management, construction management, and engineering. All scholarship applications were reviewed by our scholarship committee, resulting in the award winner, Ryan Falk of UAB, and two shortlisted candidates– Dea Bongolan of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and Joseph Scolaro of Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Meet the Scholarship Winner
Falk enrolled at UAB in January 2020, and is a second-year graduate student earning his Master of Engineering in Construction Engineering Management. He has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a degree in Forestry from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC).
“The program at UAB has opened many doors for my family, and this award proves that yet again,” Falk said. “I am most excited to use the tools developed from my master’s in the real world. I aspire to be the type of construction leader who has experience or education in three facets: Building, designing, and managing. That combination will help me set myself apart in the competitive markets.”
Applicants were asked to provide essays answering how they believe technology has impacted the construction and project management industry and what they think the role of technology in the industry will look like in the future.
Falk’s essay discussed sustainability and green construction, saying, “I believe technology and software will create new ways for the construction industry to build faster, smarter, and greener…. Construction and project managers will be tasked with not only completing projects on time and in budget, but soon for the environment. Projects will be judged on how they impact their environment and are utilized.”
Alongside furthering his education, he is currently working as a project manager in Aiken, South Carolina.
“The construction industry is one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy,” Falk said. “It encompasses people and skills with experience in architecture, finance, marketing, and engineering. That type of diversification is what makes construction challenging and constantly evolving. Because of the complexity, the best construction companies have the best project management tactics. Many people and companies can perform the construction stage of a project, but the greatest can use project management techniques to optimize plans, finances, designs, schedules, infrastructures, and people. That generalization is what drew me to project management – to create, build, and manage efficiently.”
We couldn’t agree more, and are thrilled for Ryan Falk’s project management journey to come, as well as that of current and future students in the fields of construction and engineering management.
Meet the Shortlisted Candidates
Both Dea Bongolan of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and Joseph Scolaro of Wentworth Institute of Technology were shortlisted for the scholarship because of their academic performance and essay responses.
Bongolan’s essay spoke of how far the project management industry has come in technological advances that stemmed from not only the Information Age, but also the Industrial Revolution.
“The ways that I believe technology will continue to support project managers in the future are by saving money and reducing completion time, sharing and storing information, utilizing one’s device, security and safety purposes, and paperless operations,” Dea Bongolan, undergraduate student earning her Bachelor of Science in Construction Engineering at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, said.
Joseph’s essay discussed how technology and software increase precision and decrease timelines, providing project managers with organization, communication, and safety.
“Technology will continue to support project managers in the future, specifically with software that provides access to all the needed information in one place,” Scolaro, undergraduate student earning a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management at Wentworth Institute of Technology, said.
ARES PRISM offers this yearly scholarship to support project management students in pursuit of higher education. Construction management, engineering management, and project management students in the United States are encouraged to apply here.
About ARES PRISM
ARES PRISM is enterprise project controls software that manages the complete project lifecycle delivering dependable forecasts, cost control, and performance measurement. ARES PRISM is a scalable, robust and intuitive system that harnesses industry best practices and integrates all aspects of the project, including cost and schedule, change management, project estimating, earned value, contracts & procurement, and field progressing. Achieve superior project management with increased visibility and control, boosted accuracy and efficiency, and improved financial performance.