Audrey Qian '24 Shares How RPS Foundation Supports Her at Carnegie Mellon

Audrey Qian ’24 returned to Rutgers Prep this week to speak with Mr. Laurion’s Architecture & Design students.

Now in her second year studying Civil Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, Audrey shared how the design principles she learned in Architecture & Design I, II/III, and IV/V have supported her coursework in college.

She’s applied that foundation across a range of projects at CMU. Her group’s floating bridge design—built to support weight across water—tied for first place in a competition amongst 11 teams. She also contributed to bridge design reports during a summer internship with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and is now working on a “bee hotel” project for a community pollinator garden.

During her internship, Audrey took a 30-hour plan reading course and quickly recognized familiar concepts. “I realized, ‘Wow, I already know this—that’s wild,’” she said. Those fundamentals came straight from Mr. Laurion’s classes.

For the students listening, Audrey’s visit offered a first-hand look at how the design work they’re doing now can connect to real-world engineering. We’re grateful to Audrey for returning to share her experiences and look forward to seeing what she accomplishes next at Carnegie Mellon and beyond.