Pioneers' Ruess gets hands on training during internship

Platteville, Wis.- University of Wisconsin-Platteville wrestling sophomore Coy Ruess always knew he wanted to be an engineer. "I liked science and was good at math," the West Liberty, Iowa native said. "I didn't have a specific engineering field I wanted, but after a few introduction classes I realized I wanted more on the construction side of engineering, and civil was the route that made most sense to me."

Knowing that engineering would be his major, Ruess had a list of four colleges that he was interested in attending.

"Iowa, Iowa State and Coe were the other schools I was looking at," Ruess said. "When I decided I wanted to wrestle in college, it was limited to Coe and UW-Platteville."

Ruess visited both Coe and UW-Platteville and ultimately committed to UW-Platteville after meeting then Head Coach Michael DeRoehn.

"If I went to Coe, I would have to major in physics and then go to graduate school to become an engineer," he said. "It made sense to attend UW-Platteville, and when I met with Coach DeRoehn it just solidified my decision."

Ruess is now excited for the next chapter of his student-athlete career. On May 19, Athletic Director Dr. Kristina Navarro announced the hiring of Head Coach Trevor Kittleson to take the helm of the UW-Platteville Wrestling Program.

"We got to meet Coach Kittleson for about 15 minutes during finals week," Ruess said. "I really liked him, and just look at what he did at Loras. I am really excited to wrestle for him."

Before Ruess gets back on the mat for the 2021-22 season, he will be spending his summer with an internship at the Iowa Department of Transportation. The first week on the job, Ruess went through training and getting qualifications to complete the internship. The second week, he was thrown into the mix on a highway project between Maquoketa, Iowa and Wyoming, Iowa working on a hot mixed asphalt project. His main responsibilities during the project will be to get project tickets and handle the quantities for the project.

"We were doing an asphalt layover; I did a lot of temperature checks on the asphalt and documenting results," he said. "I also sample the asphalt to make sure that there were not any voids in them."

Safety is a big part of Ruess's internship as well. "I have to pay attention to the sign setups and traffic control. I need to make sure that is all up to par," he said.

Ruess has already found classwork that he has completed to be helpful during this internship.

"Three classes come to mind that have helped me the most," he said. "My survey class, introduction to infrastructure and computer apps. I have been using computers and excel a lot the first week."

As the weeks go by, Ruess is having more responsibility added to his plate, something his supervisor is confident he can handle.

"From the beginning, he was interested and wanted to be involved," Iowa DOT Construction Technician Senior Jerry Andregg said. "He is motivated, he sets a goal and digs in and works to finish that goal; that is an athlete's mindset. Other interns have that trait, but it definitely shows in student-athletes."

Ruess is not the first UW-Platteville civil engineering student to work with the Iowa DOT, and he is living up to the standard set by previous UW-Platteville interns. "They have all worked out very well, most all of them were highly motivated and I had great experiences with them," Andregg said.

Ruess's first project has finished, and Andregg has given Ruess more responsibility on his second project. "He has learned the inspection portion on asphalt and already moved on to a second project," Andregg said. "He will be working on a Portland cement concrete (PCC) patching job. A PCC is where a section of a damaged road will be removed and replaced. He will put tap sheets together for that and do the field book entry to make sure that contractors get paid for their work. I am going to put this next project in his hands, and I will advise him as he goes."

Ruess is on track to graduate in the Spring of 2023. With an interest in green energy, he would like to work for a company that sets up wind turbines or work for the National Parks Service in a national park.