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ACE Team 8 Student Isabella Ng Receives Prestigious ACE Scholarship


headshot of Isabella Ng

ACE Team 8 Student Isabella Ng

On June 9th, 2022, at the ACE Mentor of Greater New York annual luncheon, ACE Team 8 student Isabella Ng was awarded the prestigious ACE Scholarship sponsored by Arup Engineering. Isabella has been a member of ACE Team 8 for the past two years.  The award is meant to promote and encourage the study of the ACE professions by New York City high school students.  Isabella is headed to Cooper Union in the fall.

“I know I speak for the entire DDC STEAM Team and our ACE Team 8 mentors when I say we are incredibly proud of Isabella. She is a true leader among her peers. She is also witty, kind and not shy about working hard to achieve her goals. Isabella has a very bright future ahead. Cooper Union is fortunate to have her in their freshman class. We have no doubt she will continue to excel in the years to come,” said Deputy Commissioner for STEAM Initiatives Lee Llambelis. 

“Isabella is the most inquisitive, hard-working, and committed student I’ve ever seen in this program. She’s clearly passionate about pursuing a career in the ACE fields, particularly Civil Engineering. I have no doubt she will succeed in whatever direction she chooses to go.  Isabella is a team leader. Her passion for finding imaginative solutions to fix societal issues related to the fields of architecture, construction, and engineering is inspiring and impressive. On a personal level, Isabella is a young woman of strong character who is reliable in her attendance, an active participant in preparing the submittal for the CIRT (Construction Industry Round Table) national competition, and a self-starter. She shows great promise as a future leader in the ACE fields, stated Madeline Skoblik, ACE Team 8 Mentor and NYCD DDC Engineer-In-Charge.

“Working on a year-long design project with a team of spirited students and mentors from the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) and the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) gave me the opportunity to meet creative and inspiring professionals from the field I wanted to enter. During career day, listening to my mentors speak about their experiences made me feel extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to learn from such inspiring individuals. What struck me most was how incredibly friendly and humble everyone was. Sitting in front of me are the people who literally build and design the world I live in, generously sharing their knowledge with us because they want to. It’s very rare to meet people, like my ACE Mentors, who are not just brilliant, but also humble and kind,” stated Ms. Ng.  

Isabella further stated, “Working with my team to follow a project from concept to construction was an incredible exercise in problem-solving. As a team, we considered sustainability, economic factors, and the cultural/social context of our site location in our design. I learned the foundation for creating conceptual designs and dreaming up big ideas– skills I’ve applied in my own projects. Additionally, this experience gave me firsthand experience in understanding what it was like to work on a large project with many moving parts. Something that really surprised me about the ACE industry was how collaborative it is. The back-and-forth nature of this dynamic makes the entire process feel so lively and engaging. I can imagine myself working in an interdisciplinary agency like the DDC, collaborating with architects, project managers, and landscape designers in an urban environment to maintain infrastructure and implement. This scholarship will help to alleviate the cost of books, supplies, and room and board fees in order to devote full attention to my studies and to fully embrace my opportunities at Cooper and for that I am very grateful.” 


About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City’s primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor Adams’ long-term vision of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, and new or upgraded roads, sewers and water mains in all five boroughs. To manage this $15.5 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative and environmentally conscious design and construction strategies to City projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.