With it, he created five scholarships for undergraduates studying structures in the civil engineering program.
As a graduate student, Pekau was awarded a fellowship to study in Great Britain. Yet previously, even as a top student who won many awards for academic achievement through his high school and undergraduate studies, none came with financial benefit.
“I remember how little money was available on the basis of performance,” he says of his own undergraduate years. “Graduate students have various sources of funding, but undergraduates don’t have much financial support available to them.”
That’s one reason he chose to give to undergraduate support. He has also noticed a need in his own students.
“In my classes over the years, there have been very good students who did not do well in a particular test or exam. I later found out they were working evenings and weekends to support themselves rather than being able focus on their studies.”