Carnegie Mellon University

Zia Lyle

February 08, 2022

Lyle Awarded Fok Presidential Fellowship

PhD candidate Zia Lyle has been awarded the Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship. Lyle earned her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering as well as Bachelor of Arts in Plan II, a liberal arts honors program at University of Texas at Austin.

Co-advised by professors Jeanne VanBriesen and Costa Samaras, she is assessing climate risk to water distribution systems, including quantifying changes to infrastructure reliability, analyzing effects on water utility operations and finances, and developing general climate adaptation strategies.

“I am incredibly grateful to be honored with the Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship,” says Lyle. “Thank you so much to the Fok family for their generosity and to my advisors for their continued support of my PhD research and studies.”

Through a generous gift from the Fok estate, the department was endowed with fellowship and scholarship funds to support CEE students. Thomas Fok was awarded a doctorate in 1956 in civil engineering from Carnegie Mellon University (then Carnegie Tech). In 1958, he accepted the position of Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Youngstown State University, where he taught until 1967. In 1967, Fok started his own business, forming a partnership in Mosure-Fok Consulting Engineers. In 1976, he served as chairman of his own business, Thomas Fok and Associates.