CTIPS Student of the Year
2025 Recipient

Download High-ResWilliam Davis

Will Davis, an M.S. student in mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, has been named the Center for Transformative Infrastructure Preservation and Sustainability (CTIPS) 2025 Student of the Year. He will be honored with other award winners from across the country during the Council of University Transportation Centers awards ceremony January 10 in Washington, D.C.

Davis is a first-year M.S. student and research assistant at CSU. His research focuses on the capabilities of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in transportation and defense applications. He completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at CSU in the spring of 2025.

Davis broadened his UAS inspection thesis topic to an interdisciplinary study into drone applications and research. He has taken responsibility for the design, procurement, and construction of handmade drones, a shock tube to simulate explosions, and a vortex cannon for a wide variety of applications. His work involves quantifying the usage of UAS imaging and photogrammetry methods to evaluate the level of accuracy and rate of inspection for several widely used transportation systems.

Following his anticipated graduation in 2026, Davis hopes to pursue a career in public- or private-sector consulting.

The Center for Transformative Infrastructure Preservation and Sustainability is a University Transportation Center competitively funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Center is led by North Dakota State University and includes CSU, Fort Lewis College, South Dakota State University, United Tribes Technical College, University of Colorado Denver, University of Denver, University of North Dakota, University of Utah, University of Wyoming and Utah State University.