Sarah Longacre

Sarah Longacre’s advice to students considering engineering comes from experience: Success is not about already having every answer. It is about learning how to respond when the work gets difficult.

Longacre, who studied construction engineering at the Del E. Webb School of Construction, part of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, originally started as a civil engineering major. She switched to construction engineering because she wanted to understand both the design and building processes.

As her classes became more specific to her major, Longacre says she found herself enjoying the work more and wanting to learn the material. But that confidence did not come all at once.

One of the accomplishments she is most proud of is overcoming her first challenging engineering course, Chemistry for Engineers.

“This was the first course that challenged me in ways that I had never experienced before,” Longacre says. “I failed my first exam and started to have thoughts about quitting engineering.”

Instead, she developed study habits and routines that helped her succeed early in her college career and continued adapting them as she moved through her degree.

“You do not need to be ‘smart’ to get through engineering,” she says. “You need to be dedicated and able to adapt to the challenges that come your way because it will be challenging.” 

While at ASU, Longacre enjoyed helping students learn and adjust to new environments through several roles, including as an E2 counselor, ASU 101 section leader, residential peer mentor and teaching assistant for CEE 213/CNE 213 Introduction to Deformable Solids. These experiences also helped her develop leadership skills and learn how to plan, organize and run large events.

“Being in front of large groups of people was not and is still not my favorite thing, but this role has allowed me to be more comfortable with it and learn from it,” she says.

Longacre says scholarships from ASU, the Del E. Webb School of Construction and other donors were essential to her success, allowing her to focus on her education and develop life skills without stepping back from school to work more hours.

Longacre is looking forward to her internship with Jacobs Engineering this summer. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in structural engineering at ASU or the University of California, San Diego.

“I’m exploring a few different paths,” she says. “I have thought about taking the academic route by pursuing my doctorate or a traditional engineering route by becoming a licensed structural engineer.”

Favorites

Hobby: Crafting of any kind
Performer: J. Cole/Adele
TV show: Currently Big Brother, Survivor or any cooking competition show
Activity: Going to the gym/being active
Podcast: Huberman Lab/Simply Soph

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ spring 2026 class.

Written by Lisa Irish