Denise R. Simmons, Ph.D., PMP, LEED-AP recently had a manuscript featured as the Editor’s Choice in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Civil Engineering Education. Dr. Simmons also received the Editor’s Choice in the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management in 2018 and the ASEC Journal of Management in Engineering in 2017.

Since 2017, nearly 20% of Dr. Simmons’ papers in these three journals have received the editor’s choice award.

“After 28 years of reviewing the performance of faculty at all ranks, I have seen no more than four individuals whose frequency of distinguished paper awards exceed that of Dr. Simmons’. This is a great accomplishment,” said Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D., the director and professor in ESSIE.

This recent paper, Connecting Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Professional Competencies and Their Leadership Development, collected quantitative and qualitative data from students to explore whether there was a correlation between the rating of professional competencies that enable leadership and the leadership development process. From the study, she found that students who place greater emphasis on leadership and professional competencies are in the more advanced stages in their leadership identity development.

“I am honored to have had my work selected as Editor’s Choice in each of these three peer-reviewed ASCE journals. Contributing to the knowledge of scholars in civil engineering research and education is a prime motivator for me,” Dr. Simmons said.

Here is the reference entry for the paper:
Simmons, D. R., Clegorne, N., Polmear, M.P, Scheidt, M., & Godwin, A. (2020). Connecting engineering students’ perceptions of professional competencies and their leadership development. Journal of Civil Engineering Education, 147(2), 04020015. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)EI.2643-9115.0000031