Juan Emilio Gonzalez
Design. Build. Test.
Civil engineering student at UTRGV, B.S. expected Spring 2028. I build, test, and measure: a 3rd-place ASCE design-build team, residential construction crew work, and lab testing across four disciplines.
CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECTS
01 — Structural Engineering
ASCE Timber-Strong Design-Build
COMPLETED · ASCE UTRGV Chapter · April 2026
Two-story timber structure designed, built, and load-tested by UTRGV's ASCE team. The team placed 3rd at the ASCE Frontier Student Symposium in Corpus Christi.
- Roof design load calculations
- Framing and connection layout
- Construction of the structure
Materials Testing Lab
COMPLETED · CIVE 3440 · Fall 2024
Laboratory testing of the materials that go into a structure.
- Cast and compression-tested concrete specimens
- Sieve analysis for aggregate gradation
- Loaded a wooden truss to failure (peak digital readout: 9,780)
Concrete Crack Detection
RESEARCH · UTRGV CURE Program
Team research on whether an image-classification model can flag cracked and non-cracked concrete surfaces.
- Adapted an existing Keras convolutional neural network
- Ran 200+ training and testing cycles
- About 97% accuracy on a small early test set (80 images or fewer); not a validated inspection model
Structural Analysis I
IN PROGRESS · CIVE 3324 · Fall 2026
Current coursework. Project work from this course will be added once it is complete.
02 — Construction
TOPLINE Seamless Gutter Installation
COMPLETED · Assistant Installer · Jun–Dec 2025
Field work on a three-person crew installing residential seamless gutters in Brownsville, TX.
- Measured and laid out gutter runs
- Set slope and drainage direction
- Installed gutters and downspouts with hand and power tools
Construction and installation experience, not engineering design.
Picnic Table Build
COMPLETED · Personal project
Designed a picnic table, then built it with a group of friends.
- Leg-frame layout and overall structure
- Pressure-treated lumber with bolted joints
- Tabletop and bench assembly
Geotechnical Engineering Lab
IN PROGRESS · CIVE 3475 · Fall 2026
Five-student lab group testing a campus soil sample. Results from completed labs:
- Liquid limit 31%, plastic limit 20%, plasticity index 11%
- Classified CL, lean clay (USCS)
- Water content 26.5% (average of 3 samples); specific gravity 2.61
03 — Transportation
Intersection Signal Study
COMPLETED · CIVE 1101 · Fall 2023
Five-person team study of the Paredes Line Rd & FM 550 intersection in Brownsville, a site with a history of fatal collisions. I co-managed the team.
- Recommended sensor-based, semi-actuated signal control
- Team cost estimate: $67,000–$80,000 per intersection
TEDSI Infrastructure Group Job Shadow
COMPLETED · C.E.MENTor Program · Aug 2026
About four hours with transportation engineers at TEDSI Infrastructure Group in Mission, TX.
- Observed roadway profiling and earthwork planning
- Walked through drainage design on an active roadway project
- Saw MicroStation and OpenRoads Designer used with TxDOT standards
Transportation Engineering
IN PROGRESS · CIVE 3345 · Fall 2026
Current coursework covering transportation systems and traffic flow theory: speed, flow, and density relationships.
04 — Water Resources
Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics Lab
COMPLETED · CIVE 3115 · Summer I 2026
Six experiments with a four-student team, comparing measured results against theory.
- Wind tunnel: peak centerline velocity 46.66 ft/s; flow rate 62.81 ft³/s
- Pipe head loss (Darcy-Weisbach) and Bernoulli's equation
- Hydraulic jump (Froude number) and hydrostatic force
Environmental Engineering Lab
COMPLETED · CIVE 3331 · Summer II 2026
Water-treatment and water-quality tests, each with an individually written report.
- Jar test: 7 mg/L alum gave the best turbidity reduction of five doses
- Ion exchange: 112.40 mg Cu removed per g of resin at the 5 mg dose
- Hardness: 248.9 ppm as CaCO3
Site Drainage Details (AutoCAD)
COMPLETED · CIVE 1101 coursework
AutoCAD drafting of standard civil site details, including a bio-retention swale and a pedestrian rail detail.
Guided exercises reproducing instructor-demonstrated details, not original design.
Seepage & Flow Nets
IN PROGRESS · CIVE 3475 · Fall 2026
Coursework on analyzing seepage through soil with flow nets.
B.S. Civil Engineering — UTRGV, Edinburg, TX · Expected Spring 2028 · Minor in Information Systems (in progress) · GPA 3.47
Engineering Coach — UTRGV · PLTL Leader — UTRGV Learning Center · Member — ASCE, UTRGV Chapter
DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
Completed: ASCE Timber-Strong design-build (3rd Place, April 2026) · Materials, Fluid Mechanics and Environmental Engineering labs · Intersection signal study · Field installation work
In progress (Fall 2026): Structural Analysis I · Transportation Engineering · Geotechnical Engineering · Water Resources Engineering
Planned (remaining degree plan): Structural Steel Design · Reinforced Concrete · Foundation Design · Construction Planning · Senior Design
Engineering work across South Texas
Select a place to see what I did there.
Featured project: ASCE Timber-Strong Structural Design-Build
3RD PLACE
ASCE Timber-Strong Design-Build Competition · Corpus Christi, TX · 2026
PI 11%
Plasticity index of a campus soil sample, classified CL (lean clay) from Atterberg limits testing in CIVE 3475.
~97% Early Accuracy
Concrete crack detection research (CURE program), on a limited test set of 80 images or fewer.
Seeking civil engineering internship opportunities
Contact me
Juan Emilio Gonzalez Civil Engineering
Juan Emilio Gonzalez | Civil Engineering
Brownsville, TX
(956) 312-1261
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-gonzalez-771a5a2bb