myUTSAUTSA TodayVisitDirectorySearch

College of Engineering and Integrated DesignCollege of Engineering and Integrated Design

  • About CEID
    • Dean’s Message
    • Calendar
    • News & Announcements
    • Faculty & Staff
      • Business Service Center
      • CEID Organizational Chart
      • Research Support
      • Resources for Faculty
        • Policies
        • Forms
        • College Committees
      • CEID Vision and Policies
    • Accreditation
    • Visit Us
    • Contact
  • Students
    • Student Success Center
    • Signature Experiences (INTERESTS)
    • Certificate Programs
    • CEID Summer Bridge Program
    • Tech Symposium
    • Computer Requirements
    • Graduate Program Ambassadors
  • Research
    • Centers
    • Facilities
    • Graduate Student Funding
  • Undergraduate
    • Overview
    • Admissions
    • Advising Center
    • Degrees Offered
    • Forms
    • Resources
    • Scholarships
      • Other Scholarships
    • Student Success Center
  • Graduate
    • Overview
    • Admissions
    • Certificate Program
    • Master’s Degrees
    • Doctoral Degrees
    • Graduate Scholarships
      • Other Scholarships
    • Resources
  • Disciplines
    • School of Architecture & Planning
    • Department of Biomedical Engineering & Chemical Engineering
      • Biomedical Engineering
      • Chemical Engineering
      • Engineering Education
    • School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Construction Management
    • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
    • Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Advisory Council
    • Advisory Council News and Announcements
    • Advisory Council Leadership: Fast Facts
    • Advisory Council Service Expectations
    • Advisory Council Bylaws
    • Advisory Council Minutes
  • Student Support
    • College of Engineering Virtual Tour
    • Make a Gift
 May 16, 2022

Parfait Masungi escapes the Congo to find opportunity

Parfait Masungi escapes the Congo to find opportunity

by utsaengineer / Tuesday, 22 January 2019 / Published in Civil and Environmental Engineering, COE Announcements, News

Originally posted on Progressive Engineering Magazine News on January 18, 2019.

By Milady Nazir

Parfai Masungi is one of the lucky ones. At the age of 15, he won a green card lottery visa  and with it, a ticket to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This was his chance to escape the country embroiled in “Africa’s World War,” the Rwandan Genocide civil war where more than six million people were killed. His home is the same place that became synonymous for the use of children as soldiers and where thousands of kids work deep in the mines with bare hands to dig for cobalt, the mineral that makes mobile phones possible.

“The future is death,” says Masungi about what youth in the DRC feel. “I couldn’t let that happen to me. I had an opportunity to do something better.”

The road that led out of the DRC for Masungi started with walking seven miles each day just to get to school. And on Saturdays, when kids usually play, he went back to school to learn English instead. His daily life was made even more dangerous as he had to be wary of guerrilla violence from the encroaching war into the capital Kinshasa, where he lived. Many times, curfews were the norm.

Then in November 2010, after a year of going through extensive interviews with the American consulate, Masungi, with the rest of his family, landed in Dallas, Texas. He knew his parents didn’t have the means to pay for a higher education. Athletics became the path to excel and get into college as he played football and track and field; however, he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required emergency open heart surgery, cutting short any hopes of athletic stardom.

Masungi learned about the University of Texas at San Antonio’s engineering program and applied to it. Four years later, he walked the commencement stage with cum laude distinction in civil engineering. This year, he won “best presenter in civil engineering” at the SACNAS (Society for Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science) convention and competed against students from the nation’s most competitive schools including MIT and UC Berkeley.

During his time at UTSA, Masungi worked on testing high-strength reinforcement steel bars, a building component that promises to save energy and money in new construction. The 80-ksi bars are designed with spiral patterns that focus on flexure and anchorage behavior. They are fabricated by cold working, long a method of producing high-strength reinforcement below the recrystallization temperature.

“In our study, we investigated the mechanical properties and performance of the spiral steel in concrete slabs by conducting monotonic tension tests. Current building codes in the United States limit the use of high-strength reinforcing steel,” Masungi explains. “These limitations are mainly due to a lack of profound research and understanding and limited test data on the performance and effects of high-strength steel in concrete structures.”

The use of high-strength steel bars in reinforced concrete has the potential to improve design methods in concrete members and significantly reduce the quantity of steel used in construction. This would reduce energy consumption related to fabricating, manufacturing, and transporting the steel.

Upon graduation, Masungi has an offer to start a PhD program at the University of Florida, where he previously interned and assisted in the development of a pilot program to work on algorithms that guide driverless buses. Right now, he’s hoping to win a fellowship from the National Science Foundation and perhaps pursue more training at UTSA so he can be close to his sister, who currently attends the institution.

As Masungi relates, “If I receive the NSF Fellowship, I would like to pursue more training in structural and transportation engineering. This would focus on high-strength materials and sustainable design of reinforced concrete and structural steel members and frames.” The top schools where he would like to pursue his advanced graduate studies include Stanford, UTSA, Princeton, University of Florida, or Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Although he’s only 22 years old, Masungi is mature beyond his age. Yes, he has some unpleasant memories of the Congo, but he also feels a responsibility to give back to other Congolese youth so they no longer envision a bleak future. He wants to have his own engineering firm, set up educational exchange programs, and export infrastructure technologies back home.

“I want to give Congo students the opportunity to come to the U.S. and get that education. I don’t take being here for granted,” Masungi says.

Milady Nazir is a public affairs specialist at the University of Texas at San Antonio Office of University Communications and Marketing.

Categories

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • CACP
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • COE Announcements
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • General
  • Highlights
  • Innovation Magazine
  • Mechanical Announcements
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • News
  • Uncategorized
  • UTSA COE

Recent Posts

  • Grad Isabella Cano taps internships to build biomed career

    MAY 10, 2022 — Before Isabella Cano joined UTSA...
  • Rena Bizios

    Rena Bizios elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

    MAY 10, 2022 — Rena Bizios, Lutcher Brown Endow...
  • Klesse College’s Rathbone receives National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award

    MAY 9, 2022 – Christopher Rathbone, assistant p...
  • NSF Awardees

    Students awarded funding to advance their STEM research

    MAY 5, 2022 — Four UTSA students and alumni hav...
  • Klesse College students share the impact of their scholarships

    Klesse College recognizes impact of donors

    MAY 4, 2022 – On Thursday, April 28, 2022...

Archives

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • February 2017

Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (Klesse College)

BSE Building, Room 2.106
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
Phone: 210-458-4490
Fax: 210-458-5515

Contact Klesse College Webmaster
Klesse College Employment

UTSA Mission
The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property – for Texas, the nation and the world.

UTSA Vision
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.

© 2021 The University of Texas at San Antonio | One UTSA Circle San Antonio, TX 78249 | Information 210-458-4011
Campus Alerts | Jobs | Required Links | Policies | UT System | Report Fraud
Produced by University Communications and Marketing

TOP