Brian Welsh ’19 has always been fascinated with buildings, specifically the magnitude and scale of these human-made objects.
He thought he wanted to be an architect, but as he moved up through high school, he realized that civil engineering was a natural fit.
His high school in San Antonio was part of a Texas A&M University program called E12, now ENGAGE (ENGineering Aggies Gaining Experience) through the College of Engineering’s Access and Inclusion program, during which his team built and programmed a solar-powered car operated with an android phone.
“The summer before my senior year of high school, I spent a week at a summer camp here in the old Zachry building,” Welsh said. “This experience really got me excited about the opportunities at A&M and gave me an exposure to the Aggie culture that I’ve come to know and love throughout my years as an undergraduate student.”
As an undergraduate, Welsh took advantage of all Texas A&M has to offer. He joined Engineers Without Borders (EWB) as a freshman and was a part of the College of Engineering's Craig and Galen Brown Engineering Honors Program.
As a part of EWB and later as president of the organization, Welsh worked on international, hands-on engineering service projects in some developing countries. He worked on a water chlorination system for a small community in rural Nicaragua, eventually moving into a leadership position where he managed the project, traveled there and actually built the system. He also helped with the start-up of a new sanitation project in Rwanda.
“I poured a lot of time into the organization and gained numerous invaluable experiences I will never forget,” Welsh said.
In the engineering honors program, Welsh was able to help with a research project that gave him a taste of what it might be like to pursue a graduate degree and learn about the new cutting-edge technology being developed in civil engineering.
“The honors program provided me with opportunities with the college that I may not have otherwise heard about or thought to get involved with,” he said. “The program allowed me to take honors courses, which challenged me to talk to professors more and get a deeper understanding of the subject matter that I was most interested in.”
Welsh’s primary interest is structural engineering, and he has a minor in computer science. He enjoys civil engineering because of the direct interface between the general public and the world of engineering.
“My favorite challenge about structural engineering is finding feasible ways to accomplish whatever wild visions an architect or owner has for a project,” he said. “The wilder the design of a building, the more fun it is to bring it to reality."
Welsh is also interested in promoting the implementation of new structural materials or design methods that have less impact on the environment than concrete.
“Civil Engineering projects are designed to benefit people and improve the built environment in which we all live, and I really like being able to have that sort of impact on society,” he said.
Welsh will start work this month at Hunt & Joiner, a structural engineering firm in Dallas, and work there for seven months before starting his master's degree in structural engineering in August. After graduate school, Welsh plans to work as a professional structural engineer with the goal of becoming a professor of practice someday.