College of Engineering, B.S. in Civil Engineering
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Parents: Michael and Patricia Watters
Mentor: Frances Griffith
- Chair, Full Circle Food Pantry
- Peer Mentor, Freshman Engineering Program
- Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honor Society
- Board Member, Volunteer Action Center
- Chancellor’s List
- Undergraduate Research, Discrete Element Method Modeling under Dr. Bernhardt.
- Technical Assistant, Center for Training Transportation Professionals
Matthew Watters has grown from a shy, introverted student freshman year to the more extroverted, confident person he is today through his extracurricular activities.
He has served as a board member of the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry and a member of the Volunteer Action Center since his sophomore year. He says the VAC has instilled upon him the importance of community service. This year, as chair of Full Circle, he helped manage the student-run pantry that serves more than 350 individuals on campus each week. Last spring, he presented on college campus hunger, food insecurity and ways to help this unfortunate reality at the Food Waste and Hunger Summit in Chicago, Illinois.
In the Department of Civil Engineering, he helped establish the student chapter of the American Concrete Institute. In addition, he has helped students, from elementary to college level, learn more about concrete through speaking and hosting concrete workshops. He has presented multiple times to the Arkansas Ready Mix Concrete Association on student chapter updates and concrete-related topics, such as pervious concrete.
With an Honors College grant, Mathew is studying the micromechanical behavior of Portland cement mortars used in typical masonry applications. He hopes to determine the best mortar mix to use when repairing historic structures.
After obtaining a master’s degree at the U of A, he plans to work in an engineering design firm. He eventually would like to pursue a Ph.D. in civil engineering with the goal of teaching and conducting research at the collegiate level.
