Family of alumnus establishes civil engineering endowment at NC State

The family of a North Carolina State University engineering alumnus has established a $25,000 scholarship endowment in the College of Engineering.

The Lin Wiggins Memorial Scholarship was established in memory of Carson Olin “Lin” Wiggins, Jr., who graduated from NC State in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

Wiggins’ family, who gathered at NC State on June 18 for a ceremony celebrating the gift, established the endowment to encourage young civil engineers to follow in the footsteps of Wiggins, who was an engineer with the NC Department of Transportation for more than 25 years. During his career, he helped create a unique software tool that allowed state bridge inspectors to work more efficiently. This boosted safety because more bridges could be inspected more quickly.

The scholarship will be designated to children and grandchildren of active and retired DOT employees. The endowment is an enhancement of an annual scholarship the Wiggins family established in 2004 that has provided $500 per semester to selected civil engineering students.

“We are grateful to the Wiggins family for their generous scholarship gift,” said Dr. Louis Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering. “This endowment will help us support civil engineering students who will find solutions to many of the great sustainability and infrastructure challenges we face as a society.”