CCEE Ph.D. student promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
In late January CCEE Ph.D. student Brad McCoy was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in a ceremony held on Centennial Campus. Colonel Fred Meyer, Head of the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, officiated. “This is a great pleasure for me since I’ve known Brad McCoy for a number of years and I have great respect for him and his family,” Meyer told the audience.
McCoy has been in the U.S. Army for 22 years. He graduated from the USMA, also known as West Point, in 2001. Additionally, he has completed the Army’s Ranger, airborne and pathfinder schools, and earned his combat infantry badge. He has served as a platoon leader, a general’s aide, company commander, and multiple staff jobs at the battalion and brigade levels, and has been deployed twice, spending 14 months in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, and 15 months in Afghanistan beginning in 2007. McCoy came to NC State and earned a Master of Science Degree in Construction Engineering and in 2011 joined the faculty at West Point. After West Point, McCoy served at Fort Riley Kansas from 2014 to 2016, and has now returned to CCEE to complete a Ph.D. in Construction Engineering. His research is focused on developing a mechanically fastened carbon fiber reinforced polymer system to extend the life of deteriorating concrete bridges. McCoy is advised by Dr. Rudi Seracino and Dr. Min Liu.
McCoy will return to the faculty at West Point upon completion of his degree. The CE program at West Point is ranked number one by US News and World Report among institutions that do not offer Ph.D. degrees. “We took this opportunity of Colonel Meyer’s visit to hold a roundtable discussion about undergraduate civil engineering education,” Seracino said. Professor Seracino serves as Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs in CCEE.
“Having Brad McCoy complete his Master’s here and return for his Ph.D. has strengthened the ties between our departments,” Seracino continued. “It was invaluable for members of our undergraduate programs committee to spend time with Colonel Meyer and Lieutenant Colonel McCoy exchanging experiences and ideas on the future of civil engineering courses and curricula.”
McCoy’s immediate and extended family attended the ceremony, which was followed by a reception at the Constructed Facilities Laboratory where McCoy spends his days conducting research. His two sons, Gabriel and Michael, were given the responsibility of pinning the new rank onto their father’s uniform.