“Dr. Hebdon is inspiring, motivating, and helpful teacher,” said Michelle Helsel (’17). “He provided the most excellent learning environment and basis for steel structural design.
Many of Matthew Hebdon’s students have similar comments about his inspirational and motivational teaching techniques. Hebdon teaches classes such as Design of Steel Structures and Steel Bridge Design. He is active in activities outside of the classroom which inspires many of his students to pursue hands-on experience. Among these, he serves as the advisor for the Virginia Tech Steel Bridge Team, travels each summer to Europe as part of the Bridges in Switzerland, Germany, and Italy trip, and also hosts elementary, middle and high school students frequently in the lab to teach them about structural engineering.
He received his B.S. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Utah State University and earned a doctorate in Civil Engineering from Purdue University before joining the faculty at Virginia Tech in 2015. His areas of research focus on redundancy of structural systems, bridge monitoring and testing, fatigue and fracture testing, historic fabrication methods and materials, and large scale testing of structures.
The Alumni Teaching Excellence Award is chosen from a survey of alumni that have graduated within the last five years.