Drew Dudley ’12 loves his hometown of College Station. And, after receiving his undergraduate degree in structural engineering from the University of Kansas, he returned to College Station to pursue a graduate degree in structural engineering from Texas A&M University.
Dudley was recently named to the newest cohort of 12 Under 12 Young Alumni Spotlight. This honor from The Association of Former Students recognizes 12 former students who have graduated in the past 12 years for demonstrating excellence in business and service while representing Texas A&M’s core values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service.
Since the award's inception in 2014, only 108 of Texas A&M’s 550,000 former students have been recognized with the 12 Under 12 Young Alumni Spotlight.
“I am deeply honored and humbled, especially when you read the accomplishments of the fellow recipients in my class and those prior,” he said.
Dudley is the founder and principal of the DUDLEY engineering firm, which began as a startup in a spare bedroom and has risen to an award-winning company.
“We have a great culture that improves the lives of our associates and society at large,” he said. “My greatest life accomplishment is marrying my wife, Anna Dudley ’11 (civil engineering), who is now my boss within the company as well as at home.”
While a graduate student in civil engineering, Dudley said one of his most memorable classes was a capstone class with Dr. Luciana Barroso.
“Getting to work on a team and apply all of the knowledge obtained through the master’s program was a great learning experience,” he said.
He was also active in the Texas A&M student chapter of the Structural Engineering Association of Texas. He is a volunteer with the ACE (Architecture, Construction and Engineering) Mentor Program of America and served as a structural specialist at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
As a structural design engineer, Dudley has impacted the Aggieland landscape by working on the 2015 Kyle Field renovation. One of his mentors is Bart Miller, the national sports market leader at global engineering firm Walter P Moore and the structural engineer of record for Kyle Field.
"He is a brilliant engineer and project manager on top of being a great person," he said.
In addition to his professional career, Dudley teaches architecture and engineering students as a visiting lecturer at Texas A&M.
"I enjoy breaking down a complicated concept into simpler parts so that the students gain a deeper understanding of the subject. Seeing the light bulb go off in their head when they finally can wrap their head around an issue is very rewarding," he said. "The feedback I regularly receive from the students is that they enjoy my stories of real-world scenarios in the construction industry. They indicate that they help them understand the importance of why we are looking at a concept."
For aspiring engineers, he shares the best advice he has received.
"It is OK to fail as long as you learn from your mistakes and keep trying," he said. "Discover what you are passionate about and pursue it relentlessly."