The SW Branch holds regular monthly meetings, usually from September through May. All members and non-members are welcome, and students are usually free to attend. Come back to our website often for details of upcoming meetings and other announcements. We also send out electronic invitations to ASCE members in our area for our monthly meetings (if you are registered through ASCE National with a current email address).
Our monthly meetings typically include project tours in the local area, or presentations of diverse topics that impact the civil engineering profession. We also occasionally organize social and networking events for our members and community service opportunities.
The SW Branch Board includes both elected and non-elected volunteer board members. We are always looking for new members who are interested in getting more involved with ASCE, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if that describes you! We meet three to four times per year as a board, and we are responsible for setting up all the SW Branch meetings and other events. We also take turns hosting the ASCE Wisconsin Section Spring Technical Conference and Annual Meeting with the other Wisconsin Branches.
A list of current board members is included below:
President/Secretary: Ann Thielmann (Email)
Ann Thielmann, P.E., is a structural engineer at WisDOT in Madison, WI. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison in June 2006. While a student at UW-Madison, she was actively involved with several student chapters. Ann was a contributing member of the Concrete Canoe team and Steel Bridge team, and held several officer positions for ASCE including President. After graduation Ann was active with Southeast Branch Younger Member Group, serving as the Social Chair prior to moving back to the Madison area. In her free time, Ann enjoys playing kickball, golfing, bowling, running and reading.
Past President: Matt Buckli (Email)
Matt Buckli, P.E., is a bridge engineer at Mead & Hunt in Madison, WI. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities where he was involved with the ASCE student chapter and the steel bridge team. Matt is looking forward to continuing to serve as a board member for the SW branch, and he has really enjoyed getting more involved with ASCE. Matt is originally from Chippewa Falls, WI and now lives in Stoughton, WI with his wife Naomi, son Andrew and dog Barley. In his free time he enjoys woodworking, being the family handyman and fostering rescue dogs from Texas as they look for their forever homes in Wisconsin.
President-Elect/Treasurer: Terry Armstrong Jr. (Email)
Terry Armstrong Jr., P.E., is a Transmission Line Senior Project Engineer at Realtime Utility Engineers, Inc. (RUE) in Fitchburg, WI. He has received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from UW-La Crosse. Terry began his involvement with ASCE as an officer for the Student Chapter at UW-Madison and continued as a professional with the SW Branch Board holding positions as YM Committee Co-Chair, President-Elect, and now as acting President. During his free time Terry enjoys camping, hunting, and fishing, as well as many other outdoor activities. He also likes to golf, play softball, and has fun tinkering with computers and electronics.
Director: Kelly Trac (Email)
Kelly Trac, P.E., PTOE, is a traffic engineer at KL Engineering in Madison, WI. She is a 2008 graduate of UW-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. Kelly has been actively involved with ASCE since she was a student at Wisconsin. Currently, she is an active member of both ITE and ASCE, serving on the ITE Wisconsin Board and as a Director for the ASCE Southwest Branch Board. In her free time, Kelly enjoys participating in sports with friends, playing piano, and enjoying time with her family.
Director (Programs & Arrangement Chair): Blake Junak (Email)
Blake Junak, P.E., is a civil engineer working for Rick Engineering with a home office in Tucson, but remotely in Madison, WI. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University in August 2015. After graduation Blake was active in the Southern Arizona Younger Member Group as a member, and then eventually held the position of Vice President on the ASCE Southern Arizona Chapter Board. Blake was active in fundraising and being an active member of the Mathcounts Committee, as well as an active member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arizona. Blake moved to the Madison area in the spring of 2021 and enjoys golfing, running, and traveling with his wife and two dogs as time allows.
Director: Harry Tran (Email)
Harry Tran, P.E., is a highway engineer at EMCS Inc. in Middleton, WI. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering in 2013 from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. At the University of Minnesota, Harry was involved with the ASCE student chapter, serving as Vice President as well as coordinating the annual ASCE career fair which brings in 30+ companies to the University. Since graduating, Harry has been involved with the Wisconsin Southwest branch serving as the Program and Arrangements Chair. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, hiking, camping, and cheering for his beloved Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Scholarship Chair: Jeff Barker (Email)
Jeff Barker, PE, graduated from UW-Madison with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science Degrees in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison. Jeff is currently a Transmission Line Operations Supervisor at TRC Companies, Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin. Jeff joined the Wisconsin Section Southwest Branch board in 2015 as Scholarship Chair and has enjoyed serving in that capacity since. In his spare time, Jeff enjoys travel, hiking, running, or any activity that provides an excuse to spend time with his family.
YMG Co-Chair: Vacant
Please email the Branch President if you are interested in volunteering for this position.
UW-Platteville Liaison: Noah Hofrichter (Email)
Noah Hofrichter, P.E. is a Transportation Engineer at IIW, P.C. in Dubuque, Iowa. Noah’s childhood fascination with construction sites and “diggers” directly led him to his career assisting communities, counties, and state DOTs with design and construction of road, bridge, bike trail, and stormwater projects. Noah earned a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he was an active Student Chapter member. Noah led the Benchmark Open Golf Outing Committee and served as the Student Chapter Treasurer. Since graduating in May 2013, Noah has served as the Practitioner Advisor to the UWP Student Chapter, mentoring the student leaders of the Benchmark Open and the executive board, encouraging student involvement in ASCE activities at UWP and beyond, and serving as the liaison to the Wisconsin Southwest Branch. In his free time, Noah enjoys traveling, following Wisconsin sports, and can often be found with a camera (or drone controller) in his hand pursuing his interest in photography.
UW-Madison Liaison: Kyle Busch (Email)
Kyle Busch, P.E. is a Structural Engineer at WisDOT in Madison, WI. He graduated from UW-Madison in 2013 and obtained his Masters in Structural Engineering from UT-Austin in 2014.
EWB Liasion: Brad Hughes (Email)
Brad Hughes P.E., is a Senior Engineer at Shive-Hattery, with over 25 years of experience as a structural engineer and structural project manager. He is a registered professional engineer in multiple states.
Brad earned a BS in Civil Engineering from UW-Platteville and an MS in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University. He has been involved with Engineers Without Borders USA since 2009, providing mentorship to students and has served as President of the Madison Area Professional Chapter.
UW-Madison Faculty Advisor: Gustavo Parra-Montesinos
Professor Parra’s main research interests include the behavior and design of reinforced concrete, fiber reinforced concrete, and hybrid steel-concrete structures. In the past few years, Prof. Parra’s research has focused on structural applications of fiber reinforced concrete, with particular emphasis on earthquake-resistant construction as a means to simplify reinforcement detailing and increase deformation capacity. Applications investigated include structural walls, coupling beams, and beam-column and slab-column connections. Prof. Parra has also conducted research on shear behavior of reinforced concrete and fiber reinforced concrete members, as well as on bond between fiber reinforced concrete and either prestressing strands or reinforcing bars. Prof. Parra also led the effort that resulted in the incorporation, for the first time, of fiber reinforcement as minimum shear reinforcement in the 2008 ACI Building Code.
UW-Platteville Faculty Advisor: Phil Parker
Dr. Parker earned his PhD and Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Clarkson Univeristy.
Dr. Parker directs the activities of the Center for Infrastructure Transformation and Education (CIT-E), an international online community of practice and funded by the National Science Foundation. He conducts research in the area of agricultural runoff and has supervised undergraduate research assistants. Dr. Parker is also the program coordinator for the online Master of Science in Engineering program.
Social Media: Vacant
Please email the Branch President if you are interested in volunteering for this position.