Anna Fujimoto, of Centreville, Va., a rising junior building construction major in Virginia Tech's new Myers-Lawson School of Construction—which is in both the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the College of Engineering—has been named the first-ever recipient of the Turner (Undergraduate) Scholarship Award. This award, established by the Turner Construction Company's Northern Virginia/D.C. Office, recognizes Virginia Tech's "best and most talented" building construction students with a $4,000 tuition/room-and-board scholarship award.

The Turner Scholarship Award will be offered once a year and has various eligibility criteria, including: first preference given to dependent children of Turner Construction Company or Turner Corporation wholly owned subsidiary employees with two or more years of continuous employment, students showing a strong work ethic and a demonstrated passion for the building construction industry, and students who bring diversity to the program and industry. Scholarships will be re-evaluated each year for possible renewal.

Fujimoto was honored at the Myers-Lawson School of Construction's annual spring banquet on April 27 with her scholarship check and a commemorative crystal pyramid. She is the daughter of Thomas Kiyoshi Fujimoto, a project manager with Turner Construction Company's sister company, Tompkins Builders, located in Washington, D.C., and Suk Cha Fujimoto.

The Myers-Lawson School of Construction, which commences with the fall 2006 semester, is the first of its kind in the nation, bringing together the Vecellio Construction Engineering and Management Program in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the College of Engineering, and the Department of Building Construction in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. The Myers-Lawson School of Construction is made possible by a $10 million gift from two Virginia Tech alumni, Ross Myers, CEO of American Infrastructure, headquartered in Worcester, Pa., and John R. Lawson II, president and CEO of W. M. Jordan Co., in Newport News, Va.

The College of Architecture and Urban Studies is one of the largest of its type in the nation. The college is composed of two schools and the departments of landscape architecture, building construction, and art and art history. The School of Architecture + Design includes programs in architecture, industrial design and interior design. The School of Public and International Affairs includes programs in urban affairs and planning, public administration and policy, and government and international affairs. The college enrolls more than 2,000 students offering 22 degrees taught by 160 faculty members.

The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college's 5,500 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 1,800 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology.

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