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District 5 mentoring program pays dividends for ITD workforce

For the past several years, ITD's southeastern Idaho office in Pocatello has participated in a mentoring program with engineering students at Idaho State University (ISU). Although just a few years old, the program is already paying dividends for ITD, particularly as fully half of the agency's existing workforce is eligible to retire in the very near future.

D5 District Engineer Ed Bala (pictured below to left) and Engineering Manager Brian Poole have served as guest instructors for a few beginning engineering classes at ISU, and for several years Dan Harelson (pictured below to right) has been an advisor for university students working on their Senior design projects.

Harelson is a board member for the Portneuf Greenway Foundation, and each fall he proposes ideas to the ISU engineering department for Greenway projects that feature significant engineering challenges. Generally, three or four of the students choose to work on one of the projects and Dan assists them.

"The faculty and students at ISU are very appreciative of all of Dan's efforts in mentoring students with very practical senior design projects. The projects are often very different than basic engineering topics/problems covered in typical undergraduate classes. The senior design projects are open-ended, which makes it difficult for students to carry out their portion of the project. That is where an experienced mentor such as Dan can effectively guide the students." Explained Arya Ebrahimpour, a professor and the director of the Civil Engineering program at ISU.

Several of the students that worked for ITD as interns under Harelson have become permanent agency employees, including Travis Hitchcock (D4), Jeremie Pettingill (D6), Kelli Baker (D5), Denice Wright (D5), Drew Meppen (D6), Kandace Steward (D4) and Sam Purser (D4). Two of the students who worked as interns under Bala are now working full time with District 5 - Greydon Wright and Andrea Sheppard.

The interns work for ITD, gain valuable job experience during their junior and senior years, and ISU pays their wages during that phase.

"We do it to help support the higher education that ISU gives to the Pocatello and southeast Idaho area and to actively support the Engineering College at ISU," Poole explained.

The mentoring is also expanding beyond ISU. Harelson is also working on a partnership with Boise State University's Engineering program on a project to develop better thermal distress mapping for concrete surfaces.

"It benefits us, the university, and the student," explained Poole.