Competing to capture multiple wins with her dance team while actively pursuing a degree in STEM was not just a dream – graduating senior Jaydn Decuir made it her reality with dedicated practice and polished articulate moves that impressed judges across the board.

Decuir, a high-achieving civil and environmental engineering major and Karsh STEM scholar from Arlington, Texas, is graduating with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Beyond her technical expertise, this Howard civil engineer is a uniquely creative and talented dancer who balances rigorous academic demands with the most challenging dance performances and competitions.

As the oldest of three daughters, who all dance competitively individually and as a team, Decuir stressed the importance of family and dance in her life. Her decision to attend Howard was definitely not an easy one, given the long 1,300 miles she would be away from home, but it always felt like it was her destiny.

“Howard University always felt like it should be part of my journey,” said Decuir. “I knew that attending an HBCU would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Black excellence on a daily basis. When I was accepted into the Karsh STEM Scholars Program, Howard became an even clearer choice for my undergraduate career. The resources, community, and investment the program makes in students was evident, and I knew it was a legacy I wanted to be a part of,” Decuir said.

Building a legacy of research and leadership

Decuir dedicated her undergraduate career to research and leadership, holding multiple positions within the Howard chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, most recently as 2025-2026 Chapter President. In addition to her undergraduate research at Howard in conducting a policy analysis of pedestrian distraction, the promising scholar spent her summers in deep research mode at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Texas at Austin.

An avid researcher, Decuir is a problem-solver. Her passion to challenge herself to solve the biggest problem she thought faced our nation, particularly in minority communities, paved her way into civil engineering. It was a shock to some of her friends and family that she wouldn’t be pursuing fine arts, but she felt absolutely compelled to solve some big problems.

“The biggest problem that I want to solve for our society is affordable housing,” Decuir emphasized. “At the end of the day, I believe affordable housing is a basic human necessity, and the fact that not everyone currently has it is a problem that is urgent and needs to be solved quickly and responsibly.”

Decuir cherishes her path at Howard and finds it impossible to single out a most memorable experience, though she highlights community building as the icing on the cake.

“With my multi-faceted interests, I have had the opportunity to cultivate a plethora of communities at Howard,” she said. “I have a research community, a civil engineering community, a leadership community, and a dance community that all have come from different, memorable experiences at Howard. All of these different communities contributed to the larger equation that is my success.”

In just a few days, Decuir’s sisters and dance partners, along with their parents, will watch her walk across the stage to receive her engineering degree.

Her post-graduation plan is to pursue a Ph.D. in Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University through the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative.

Her ultimate career goal is to use her engineering skills and education to address societal issues like gentrification, aiming to make minority home ownership a legacy through infrastructure and legislation reform.