KLAMATH FALLS — Caitlin Lien doesn’t see highways the way most people do.

She sees more.

Lien, 20, is a sophomore majoring in civil engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls.

She was one of the valedictorians in the Baker High School Class of 2022.

Since starting her studies at OIT, Lien has focused on road construction, and in particular how engineers choose the materials that make up the surfaces on which we ply so many millions of miles every year.

“It’s been really fascinating, actually,” Lien said in a phone interview on Jan. 12.

So much so that when she’s traveling she invariably notices not just the landscape she’s passing through, but also what she’s driving on.

The common freeway layout, for instance, with one lane made of concrete and the other of asphalt, means something for Lien that it didn’t before she entered college.

The concrete lane — the right, or slow lane — is more robust and better able to withstand the heavy loads hauled by commercial trucks, Lien said.

The fast lane, which carries less traffic, can be made of comparatively less hardy asphalt.

“I’ve come to notice all the little things now when I’m driving,” Lien said.

Her fascination with the topic has not only steered Lien toward a future career, but it’s enriched her studies in a more basic sense.

She was recently one of just four Oregon students to receive a scholarship from the Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon.

Lien, who recently received the scholarship after applying in October, said she will use the $2,500 award for tuition and other college expenses.

“I would like to thank the Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon for this generous scholarship,” Lien said. “It helps me tremendously in funding my education, and I am very grateful.”

Lien also thanked one of her professors, Roger Lindgren, who encouraged her to apply for the scholarship.

Lindgren also attended the association’s banquet during which Lien received her scholarship.

Inspiration

Lien laughs when she talks about the episode that introduced her to engineering.

It was a career pathways class at Baker Middle School.

And Lien recalls “distinctly not liking the class.”

Except for the day she learned about how bridges are built.

That resonated with Lien, though she didn’t truly recognize the influence until a couple years later.

During the summer before her sophomore year at Baker High School, Lien attended a camp at OIT. The topic was transportation engineering.

She said her mom, Sarah Lien, who is the East Region manager for Oregon DMV, probably learned about the camp through her job.

Lien enjoyed her time at Klamath Falls.

“During the camp, I got to spend time on campus, in the classrooms, meet students and professors, and work on designing a bridge,” Lien said. “It just felt like everything clicked, and I knew this was where I wanted to go to school.”

Although she knew she would study engineering, she did consider other schools, including the University of Portland and Oregon State University, the latter the college her dad, Dirk, attended.

But as she continues to work toward earning her bachelor’s degree, Lien said she’s glad she chose OIT.

“It really felt like the right fit,” she said. “I really enjoy my professors, and I get excited to go to class every day.”

Learning the intricacies of how engineers design highways has revealed details she had never considered.

In a recent class, for instance, Lien said her professor brought a sample of concrete used in the 1930s.

The concrete was made with river rock, she said. A suitable material for landscaping, perhaps, with its smooth, polished appearance, but ill-suited for making long-lasting concrete.

Engineers prefer more coarse aggregate as an ingredient in concrete, Lien said, because it has more surface area and yields a stronger final product.

(Concrete is a mixture of cement, water, sand and gravel.)

Although Lien remembers how much she enjoyed learning about designing bridges, both in the middle school careers class and the summer camp at OIT, she said that once she started her college studies she gravitated not toward structural engineering but rather “geotechnical” work — choosing the materials most suitable for a particular project.

Lien, who hopes to finish her bachelor’s degree in four years, added to her resumé with an internship last summer with the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Region 5, based in La Grande.

She learned about land surveying, among other things.

Lien said that although she hasn’t settled on a specific career goal, she intends to earn a project management certificate. Combined with her degree, she said she could potentially work either for a state transportation department or for a private construction company.

She said might also decide to return to school to earn a master’s degree.

For now, though, Lien is enjoying her studies.

And seeing what every twist and turn of the highway reveals.

“I’ve come to notice all the little things now when I’m driving.”

— Caitlin Lien, sophomore engineering student at the Oregon Institute of Technology