Gabriel Ackall is the recipient of the 2025 Davidson Family Tau Beta Pi Senior Engineering Award, the most prestigious award for undergraduate engineering students at Georgia Tech.
Ackall, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering earlier this month, was recognized for his exceptional scholarship, leadership, and service.
In addition to maintaining a 4.0 GPA, Ackall was active on campus in student groups and research initiatives, including several that bolstered his commitment to civil engineering.
As an assistant researcher for the Re-Wind Network, Ackall helped to design North America's first pedestrian bridges using repurposed wind turbine blades. Ackall led a team of architects and engineers that built the bridges in Atlanta’s Beaverbrook Park.
Gabriel Ackall, right, accepting the 2025 Davidson Family Tau Beta Pi Senior Engineering Award.
“Gabe is a natural leader and even entrepreneur, willing to volunteer, organize, and lead teams as an undergraduate student—even when the team is populated with graduate students, post-docs, and professors,” said Professor Russell Gentry, Ackall’s undergraduate research advisor.
This year, Ackall served as the design lead for the Georgia Tech team of the Student Steel Bridge Competition, an annual competition that challenges student teams to design, fabricate, and assemble a scale-model steel bridge.
Ackall was also active with Georgia Tech’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Structural Engineering Institute.
“It is an honor to have been awarded the Davidson Family Tau Beta Pi Award, and a reminder of all the extracurricular activities I have been afforded by the CEE School here at Georgia Tech,” Ackall said. “I am very grateful for the mentors and professors at Georgia Tech who have encouraged me to get involved and have helped me immensely during the last four years.”
Next, Ackall will pursue a thesis-based Master’s in Structural Engineering at Virginia Tech with the Via Fellowship. He will be conducting research on seismic retrofitting of concrete shear walls using externally bonded fiber reinforced polymers.
“Afterwards, I plan on entering industry and am interested in developing complex structures, advancing sustainable design practices such as adaptive reuse, and contributing towards industry standards and codes,” Ackall said.