{"id":65520,"date":"2017-03-31T11:08:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T16:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=65520"},"modified":"2017-04-04T08:20:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T13:20:47","slug":"a-dilley-of-an-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/a-dilley-of-an-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"A ‘Dilley’ of an Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Jeff Elly, MDOT state planning engineer, presents Jessica Dilley with the Mississippi Engineering Society’s ‘Young Engineer of the Year’ award during the organization’s 2017 winter meeting in Jackson. (Submitted photo by Marni Kendricks)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jessica Headrick Dilley, a planning engineer at the Mississippi Department of Transportation, was honored as the Mississippi Engineering Society’s \u201cYoung Engineer of the Year\u201d during the organization\u2019s annual winter meeting in Jackson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt very humbled to win this award,\u201d said Dilley (BSCE 08, MS 10), a native of Sugarland, Texas. \u201cThere is a lot of young, talented engineers in the field right now, many of which I look to for guidance and direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning awards for her outstanding work is nothing new for Dilley.<\/p>\n

As a UM civil engineering undergraduate, she won first place at the 2010 Institute of Transportation Engineers Deep South District 5 Student Chapter Paper competition, first runner-up in the 2008 American Society of Civil Engineers Deep South Section Professional Paper Competition and third place in that same organization\u2019s 2008 Canoe Competition.<\/p>\n

While earning her master\u2019s degree in environmental engineering from the university, research from Dilley\u2019s thesis, titled “Geospatial Analysis of Roadway Traffic Volume, Flow Simulation and Air Pollution Impacts on the Built Environment,” was included in MDOT’s State Study 213, “Performance Evaluation of Roundabouts for Traffic Delay and Crash Reductions in Oxford.” MDOT was awarded the 2014 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ \u201cSweet Sixteen\u201d High Value Research Award for this study, and it was presented as a poster session at the 2015 Transportation Research Board.<\/p>\n

Requirements for the Mississippi Engineering Society recognition include being a resident of the state of Mississippi, a registered engineer, a member in good standing in the society and under the age of 35. The award is weighted on professional integrity, professional reputation that extends beyond the engineering field, and promotion of the welfare of the engineer and the engineering profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must give special recognition to the staff and professors in the School of Engineering at the University of Mississippi,\u201d Dilley said. \u201cI especially thank Dr. (Waheed) Uddin for supporting me throughout my undergraduate and graduate school, Marni (Kendricks), who served as my counselor and role model, and Dr. (Alex) Cheng, for always being there for all his students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uddin, a UM professor of civil engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Infrastructure Technology, said he found Dilley\u2019s achievement rewarding.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer award is a testimony to her professional achievements and makes her a great role model for UM engineering students,\u201d Uddin said. \u201cJessica helped me develop instruction materials for my Geospatial course, which I am currently offering as CE 495. She is a dependable, loyal Ole Miss alum and a great asset to MDOT\u2019s Planning Division.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uddin began mentoring Dilley in her junior year at the university. Dilley and her classmate Katherine Osborne recruited, trained and managed a geographic information system staff of more than 12 students from 2007 to 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an essential task of CAIT’s Karachi transportation study for the successful completion of this National Academy of Sciences-USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) project,\u201d Uddin said. \u201cHer thesis produced two peer-reviewed papers and several conference presentations. Jessica coordinated the extensive field traffic data collection by 12 undergraduate and four graduate students. Her outstanding M.S. research involved capacity analysis, congestion costs, traffic micro-simulation, vehicle emissions and traffic safety analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uddin said Dilley has returned to campus, with her MDOT colleague Colby Willis, and presented a lecture to his class on highway planning and design. Since receiving the news of Dilley\u2019s MES honor, several other UM civil engineering faculty members have invited her to come speak to their students as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be my pleasure to schedule her for my senior design and the introductory freshmen classes,\u201d said assistant professor Hunain Alkhateb. \u201cThe students are always inspired by successful alums.\u201d<\/p>\n

The civil engineering department is \u201cextremely delighted\u201d about Dilley\u2019s notable achievement, said Jacob Najjar, chair and professor of civil engineering. \u201cShe represents a superb role model for our CE students and recent graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dilley said she will always feel a debt of gratitude to Ole Miss engineering faculty and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did an amazing job working with us individually throughout our time at the university and keep in touch with us once we have graduated,\u201d she said. \u201cThey truly become our lifelong mentors, and I cannot say enough good things about the engineering program at Ole Miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dilley and her husband, Adam, have two children, Gracyn and Hayes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Headrick Dilley, a planning engineer at the Mississippi Department of Transportation, was honored as the Mississippi Engineering Society’s \u201cYoung Engineer of the Year\u201d during the organization\u2019s annual winter meeting in Jackson. \u201cI felt very humbled to win this award,\u201d said Dilley (BSCE 08, MS 10), a native of Sugarland, Texas. \u201cThere is a lotRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1316,765,1288,178,1297],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nA 'Dilley' of an Honor - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/a-dilley-of-an-honor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A 'Dilley' of an Honor - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jessica Headrick Dilley, a planning engineer at the Mississippi Department of Transportation, was honored as the Mississippi Engineering Society’s \u201cYoung Engineer of the Year\u201d during the organization\u2019s annual winter meeting in Jackson. \u201cI felt very humbled to win this award,\u201d said Dilley (BSCE 08, MS 10), a native of Sugarland, Texas. \u201cThere is a lotRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/a-dilley-of-an-honor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-31T16:08:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-04T13:20:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Jessica-Headrick-Dilley-MES-award-2-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/a-dilley-of-an-honor\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Jessica-Headrick-Dilley-MES-award-2-300x168.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/a-dilley-of-an-honor\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/a-dilley-of-an-honor\/\",\"name\":\"A 'Dilley' of an Honor - 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