The Benefts of John Toups’ $1.5 Million Gift Are Far Reaching

Entrepreneur, civil engineer, and Northern Virginia businessman John Toups, who died this year, pledged $1.5 million to support the Sid and Reva Dewberry Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering Department. His generous gift provides for facility improvement and faculty support, and it will enhance Mason Engineering students’ education.

John Toups, Northern Virginia businessman and entrepreneur, established an endowment to

support the school’s teaching and research missions.

“The gift from John touches three aspects of our philanthropic efforts,” says Dean Ken Ball. “It enriches the student experience, maintains faculty excellence, and improves existing facilities. The school will beneft greatly from John’s generosity.”

The gift’s largest portion will beneft the department’s teaching laboratory, located on the frst foor of the Nguyen Engineering Building. This lab is where civil engineering students test, build, experiment, innovate, and work in teams. The aid for this lab will allow for its ongoing maintenance and future improvements. In recognition of the gift, the teaching laboratory will be named the John Toups Instructional Laboratory for Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering. “When I began my education in civil engineering, spaces for lab work were limited,” Toups said when he made the donation. “Because of this experience, I understand the importance of having a place where you can test, build, and collaborate.”

A second portion of the gift will support two faculty fellowships. The frst has already been awarded to civil engineering assistant professor David Lattanzi, who is engaged in research related to computer visioning in infrastructure and structural health monitoring.

“Lattanzi is a rising star with more than a million dollars of research, including grants from the Offce of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation,” says Liza Wilson Durant, Mason Engineering’s associate dean of strategic initiatives and community engagement. “The Toups Fellowship enabled us to invest in Dave as a faculty leader at Mason.”

The third portion of the gift will enrich the school’s graduate student experience by supplementing travel to conferences, summer study, and other programs.

––Martha Bushong

The John Toups gift will beneft the teaching laboratory where civil engineering students test, build, experiment, innovate, and work in teams. In this photo Associate Professor Laura Kosoglu teaches CEIE 240 Hydraulics, a course on the principles of fuids in equilibrium and motion. Students perform an open channel fow experiment using a hydraulic fume.

Photo by Alexis Glenn

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