Conference Session

Integrating Teaching Assistants, Tenure-track, and Non-tenure-track Faculty into a Cohesive Department

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald W. Welch, The Citadel; Ally Kindel Martin, The Citadel; Robert J. Rabb P.E., The Citadel; Kevin C Bower PE, The Citadel

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

, 5 points for edited volume, 4 pointsfor book chapter/book edition, 3 points for peer reviewed journal, 2 points forresearch/technical report, 1 point for peer reviewed conference paper and presentation, 0.5points for non-peered reviewed conference paper and presentation, 0.25 points forpresentation only. The goal of this point system is to visibly increase the amount ofscholarship while determining the average scholarship amount for motivational effect. Allnew faculty (15 since 2012) have attended a Mini-ExCEEd teaching workshop taught by oneof the authors and four of these have attended the week-long ExCEEd. These same newfaculty are the primary foundation of faculty modifying and invigorating the freshmencourses. The institution tracks

Conference Session

Preparing Civil Engineering Students for a Flat World

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Ledlie Klosky; Stephen Ressler, U.S. Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

institutional focus on honorable behavior is considerable.After considerable deliberation, the independent-study grading model was adopted, with themodification that the student would face the same final exam as his peers, and that the score onthat final would be a major factor in determining the final grade. This philosophy of evaluationcan be summarized as flexible but verifiable. It was particularly important that the grading andevaluation scheme be relatively “bulletproof”, given that this was a test case and might drawconsiderable scrutiny from unforeseen persons or organizations. The shared closely-proctoredfinal exam administered at the home institution upon return was judged to be fair, illustrative ofthe student’s level of achievement, and

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Poster Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deborah Besser P.E., University of St. Thomas; Camille M. George, University of St. Thomas; Erin Anne Kern, University of St. Thomas; Jenna Laleman, University of St. Thomas

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

developing world. Dr. George has worked on projects in the Caribbean and in West Africa. Her projects combine her expertise in thermodynamics and heat transfer with the preservation of food, the cooling of space in hot dry climates, and empowering women’s cooperatives to better manage their natural resources.Ms. Erin Anne Kern, University of St. Thomas Erin is a Mechanical Engineering and French student at the University of St. Thomas in her junior year of study. She works in the Playful Learning Lab in the engineering department of her university and leads projects on using code to interpret music. Erin is interested in technical writing, finding ways to connect art and engineering, and sustainable engineering, and she

Conference Session

Holy Cow! We’re Going Online When? 

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Monica Palomo P.E., California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Bettina Jeanine Casad, University of Missouri - St. Louis

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

taken in March of 2020, there was no time forsuch course development and planning.On the other hand, synchronous online learning or instruction takes place at a fixed schedule andin real-time where the instructor and learners interact in diverse and planned ways. Classengagement can happen via discussion (e.g., written chat, verbal communication, etc.), and withimmediate feedback (e.g., via polls, verbal comments, etc.) from instructors or peers. It allowsspontaneity and flexibility of the questions, answers, or content presented; and it promotesimmediacy or community development. The rigidity of the schedule and potential technicaldifficulties are drawbacks of synchronous online learning environments. The time and resourcesrequired to design

Conference Session

Educational Issues in Civil Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anant Kukreti, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

their research. Also included are literature research techniques, methods for acquiring off-site material, and strategies for pursuing their research interests once the students leave this program and return to their classrooms. The workshop is conducted in a PC-Lab and the participants are actively engaged in first-hand experience in using the search engines for their literature search. 2. Communicating Science Effectively Workshop. Is held in the first week and consists of three components: “Writing Science,” which will support trainee co-authorship of research results; “Speaking Science,” a means to prepare undergraduate trainees for effective slide presentations; and “Presenting and

Conference Session

Thinking Outside the BOKs: ABET, Ethics, Civil Engineering as Liberal Education, and 3-Year Degrees

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Mueller PE P.E., Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Matthew D. Lovell P.E., Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Michael Anthony Robinson P.E., Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

recognizing the diversity of personalvalues among peers. Students delve further into ethical decision making in the context of academicintegrity during the first year with reflections on real-life scenarios.During the second year, students discuss the need for a purpose of a common set of ethicalstandards and review the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Code of Ethics when interpretingethical dilemmas. Students were introduced to an ethical decision-making process during fall oftheir junior year. This process is a step-by-step guide that includes reflection throughout theprocess of assessing and making a judgment on an ethical dilemma. During each quarter of juniorand senior year, students were given a real-life ethical dilemma, and they utilized

Conference Session

Integration of the Humanities and Social Sciences into Civil Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sean St.Clair, Oregon Institute of Technology; Charles E. Riley, Oregon Institute of Technology; David K. Thaemert P.E., Oregon Institute of Technology; Roger Lindgren, P.E., Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

members must complete their individual tasks successfullyin order to realize a positive result13. The intent of the assignment was to encourage groupdiscussion outside of class that would result in a cohesive presentation of the primary topic, takinginto account various perspectives.For this specific assignment, 24 students enrolled in a junior-level project management course werebroken into four groups of six. Each of the four groups was assigned one of the four topics:management, business, public policy, and leadership. The students were required to prepare apresentation to give to their peers in the class. Each member of the team was responsible for aspecific portion of the presentation with the specific, individual assignments listed below

Conference Session

Reassessing Your Teaching Through Turmoil

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Vikash V. Gayah, Pennsylvania State University; Sarah E. Zappe, Pennsylvania State University; Stephanie Cutler, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

research approach includes a combination of an- alytical models, micro-simulations and empirical analysis of transportation data. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, over 50 refereed conference proceedings, and numerous research reports to sponsors. He has worked on research contracts valued at more than $5 million, sponsored by the Penn- sylvania, Washington State, Montana and South Dakota Departments of Transportation, US Department of Transportation (via the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium and the Mid-Atlantic Universi- ties Transportation Center), Federal Highway Administration, National Cooperative Highway Research Program and National Science Foundation. Dr. Gayah currently

Conference Session

Use of Technology in Civil Engineering Courses

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vicki V. May, Dartmouth College; Adrienne J Gauthier, Dartmouth College

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

encompasses a broad range of activities that engage thestudents in meaningful learning.2,5 While homework and laboratory sessions likely includemeaningful learning activities, advocates of active learning focus on approaches that take placein the classroom in place of traditional lectures.2 Felder and Brent use the following definitionfor active learning: “anything course-related that all students in a class session are called upon todo other than simply watching, listening and taking notes” (p. 2).6 Active learning strategiesinclude the use of clicker questions in class, peer instruction, inquiry-based learning,collaborative learning, and problem- and project-based learning.4,5,6, 7Many active learning strategies have been used successfully in

Conference Session

Making Professionals: Methods to Build Success Skills

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Anthony Battistini, Angelo State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

visits eight specific countries and places that represent the cultures ofother faculty in the department. This provides students with some cultural context of the otherfaculty members and an opportunity to engage in conversation relative to engineering in theirplaces of origin.World Structures Reports and PresentationsAs part of the ESCALA certificate program, the author performed a Timed Observation Protocolfor Student Engagement and Equity (TOPSE) in the prerequisite Mechanics of Materials course[6]. In the lessons studied, the author noted that he does not regularly give students anopportunity to teach one another in class. Peer-to-peer instruction is a powerful tool; therefore,when incorporating the new culturally relevant pedagogy, the

Conference Session

Developing Infrastructure Professionals

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Douglas Schmucker P.E., University of Utah; Joshua Lenart, University of Utah; Steven J. Burian P.E., University of Utah; Amir Mohaghegh Motlagh, University of Utah

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

communications for the Depart- ment of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Utah in Rhetoric and Writing Studies and an M.A. in English from Montana State University. His research focuses on land management policy in two discrete areas. The first relates to civil infrastructure projects and landscape-scale impacts on habitat, community resilience, and long- term land use planning; the second involves the utilization, conservation, and management of big game wildlife resources. For the past five years he has led various transdisciplinary teaching and research projects examining land and wildlife resource management conflicts vis-`a-vis

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 8

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Isaac L. Howard PE, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

favorable for materials courses, offering some evidence the applied focus has beenwell received. Other information collected from students (e.g. exit interviews, surveys, impactstatements) also suggest the applied focus has been well received with average responses on a 10point scale being in the 9 to 10 range in most cases.MSU’s materials program is in some ways similar to the University of Arkansas (UA)approaches described a few years ago that were reported to be favorably received bypractitioners4. Both align more closely to professional (as opposed to academic) models forlaboratory activities. MSU uses professional specifications (e.g. ASTM, AASHTO, state DOT)as opposed to laboratory manuals. Also, writing assignments are more closely aligned

Conference Session

Expanding Access and Opportunities for M/30

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrea L. Welker PE, Villanova University; Leslie Ann McCarthy P.E., Villanova University; John Komlos, Villanova University; Alfred Andrew Fry

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

Foundation Design the students are asked to research a geotechnical topic of theirchoosing using a variety of sources. The students are asked to find four sources: one source thatis available/accessible to the general public, one general web source, one peer-reviewed journalarticle, and one other type of printed reference such as a conference or technical periodicalarticle. They are then asked to summarize the information in these sources. Lastly, they are askedto compare the sources considering the intended audience, contradictions amongst the sources,communication style, quality, trustworthiness, and biases. The ability to properly format thebibliography continues to be the most troublesome aspect of writing for the students. In addition

Conference Session

Accreditation and the BOK

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald W. Welch, The Citadel; Tara Hornor, The Citadel; Robert J. Rabb P.E., The Citadel; Kevin C. Bower P.E., The Citadel

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

on the four pillars of learning: Academics, Military, Fitness, andCharacter. The honor code is located under the Character pillar that has the following definition: Principled leadership training teaches cadets the value of integrity and moral character in everyday life. The Krause Center for Leadership and Ethics oversees the four-year leader development model which integrates leadership training into the cadet curriculum and gives cadets a competitive advantage that their peers from traditional colleges don’t have.3 Figure 1. Principled Leader Development at The Citadel3The Citadel has a weekly time scheduled that is part of the Leadership Training Program wheresome military and most

Conference Session

Reassessing Your Teaching Through Turmoil

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Charles Riley P.E., Oregon Institute of Technology; Sharon L. Beaudry, Oregon Institute of Technology; Jesse M. Kinder, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

of five days (Figure 3) and consists of  13 seminars, focused on elements of effective teaching, class planning, and communication  2 demonstration classes, delivered by the workshop coordinators to offer examples of a complete implementation of the teaching model  2 practice class opportunities, during which participants teach to a team of their peers (Each team is lead by a mentor who has attended the workshop and has a working knowledge of the teaching model as well as the structure of the teaching assessment instrument.)  5 lab periods, devoted to team building, practice class preparation, and review of recorded practice class sessionsFigure 3. Remote workshop scheduleThe workshop structure and

Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Anthony Battistini, Angelo State University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

problems be?Remember, the students are working in groups, so the problems can be somewhat difficult, whichcan allow peer teaching to occur within the activity, provided one member of the team can solvethe problem.The author attempts to vary the difficulty of the questions and then try to strategically select thelocations so that she/he can potentially stop by to aid teams struggling on a harder clue.How do you manage the logistics of the race?The following summarizes the author’s version of the race: • Clue #1 (Difficult) o Clue #1 summarizes concepts regarding axial deflection from the beginning of the Mechanics of Materials course, so students often have the most difficulty remembering how to solve the

Conference Session

Educational and Professional Issues of Strategic Importance to the Civil Engineering Profession and ASCE

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Anthony Battistini, Angelo State University; William A. Kitch, Angelo State University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

opportunity for formal feedback but no opportunities exist for subsequent improvement in that course; some of the course-level outcomes may support this KPI. • Not Covered (NC) o This specific KPI is not important for student success in the course and is not emphasized by the instructor; no assessment is conducted in the course to support that specific KPI; no formal feedback exists; none of the course-level outcomes support this KPI.Example: Applying SO Map for ABET SO 3To help conceptualize the definitions of the levels of coverage, consider the following examplesregarding ABET SO 3. • Indicator Explicit (IE) o An introductory lab course focuses on writing

Conference Session

International Aspects of Civil Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Crispino, United States Military Academy; Andrew Bellocchio, United States Military Academy; Scott Hamilton, United States Military Academy; Aaron Hill, United States Military Academy; Stephen Ressler, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

engineer and background experience.5 Incontrast, a first year instructor at Kabul University receives only $80 per month and $200 permonth during their second year. Eventually through academic promotion at Kabul University, asenior instructor can earn up to approximately $650 per month at the time of this writing. It iscritically important to the future success of engineering education at NMAA and at KabulUniversity that both schools be able to retain a highly qualified faculty. Page 14.694.4Developing Faculty in a Developing NationBetween January and August 2008 we deployed from West Point to Afghanistan to developcourses for the civil engineering

Conference Session

Key Educational & Professional Issues of Strategic Importance to the Civil Engineering Profession - and ASCE - Part 2

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Allen C Estes, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

to jeopardize the credibility of theassessment.For a program that uses a senior seminar course to meet many of the ABET criteria, thatcourse could assist with this requirement as well. Students could be assigned to read abook or article on a complex project such as “The Great Bridge” or “The Path Betweenthe Seas” by David McCullough. The students could write an essay on the global,cultural, social, environmental and economic considerations of the Brooklyn Bridge orPanama Canal, respectively. Such books are filled with so many examples that no twostudents should arrive with the same answers.One challenge encountered with this requirement so far is distinguishing between thesocial and cultural considerations because many consider them

Conference Session

Research Experience in Stormwater Management

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vinod K. Lohani, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

Virginia Tech.Oral Presentations: TrainingWeekly seminars also provided an opportunity to REU fellows to practice their oralcommunication skills. All REU fellows made: 1) a 5-min. presentation about their researchobjective at the end of 2nd week; 2) a 10-min. presentation (including research methods) at the endof week 6; 3) a 15-min. presentation (including results) at the end of week 9 to their peers and theauthor. After each round of presentation, REU fellows critiqued presentations of their peers andprovided written feedback to each other. Following quote from our assessment expert’ssummary11 validates the effectiveness of the communication aspect of our REU Site work:“The communication aspect of the program is seen as quite positive

Conference Session

Implementation of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge and Recent ABET Experiences

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrea Welker, Villanova University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

28 65 2 5 4 9 9 21 2003 2006 54 51 42 82 1 2 4 8 4 8 2004 2007 48 47 37 79 4 9 2 4 4 8 *This figure is the number of student still in the CE Program as of the expected graduation date. At the time of writing 17 eventually completed their degree requirements. **This figure includes students who transferred to other programs at Villanova, but did not earn a VU degree by the expected graduation date, students who transferred to other programs at Villanova and then left the University, and students who left Villanova directly from the

Conference Session

Civil Engineering in the Classroom

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Philip Parker, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

forconsistent grading and serves as a guide to students when writing the lab. One significant time-saving technique was to make this grading sheet available on the course web site, and require itsuse as the laboratory report cover sheet. Thus, I did not have to print out copies of the gradingrubric and attach them to each student’s report.I have often resisted using a grading rubric. If the rubrics were very prescriptive and detailed, Ifelt that the report degenerated into a “fill-in-the-blank” report. It left no room for studentcreativity, imagination, or even thinking. On the other hand, using a very vague and open-endedrubric resulted in the best students scoring well; this of course isn’t necessarily a problem, butdoes not provide the weaker

Conference Session

Innovations in Civil Engineering Education II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tanya Kunberger, Florida Gulf Coast University; Robert O'Neill, Florida Gulf Coast University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

illustrated the breadth of thefield of geotechnical engineering, while talks along similar lines as the students’ potentiallyprovided additional sources of information. In addition to their oral discussions, students wererequired to provide written summaries of these articles to the instructor.These discussions involved the entire class for the entire period, rather than having time devotedto small group activities. Each student was given between 2 and 3 minutes to present theirparticular summary and discussion. Papers in this category all had undergone peer review priorto publication and ranged from historical to recent and included journal articles and conferenceproceedings.Laboratory DiscussionsWhen the course topics entered into strength and

Conference Session

Before the Capstone: Project-based Experiences Early in the Curriculum

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Wayne Sarasua, Clemson University; Nigel Berkeley Kaye, Clemson University; Jennifer Harper Ogle, Clemson University; Mehdi Nassim Benaissa, Clemson University; Lisa Benson, Clemson University; Bradley J. Putman, Clemson University; Aubrie Lynn Pfirman, Lander University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

% (10-15% is comm) • Group presentation 10% comm • Final Exam 10% (5% is comm) • Other assignments, attendance, participation 5% (mostly comm)The full integration of oral communication into the project-based course underscores to studentsthe importance of communication skills in all aspects of an engineering career. Similarly,technical writing skills are emphasized in the Springer 2 course.Teaching MethodologyIn all teaching aspects of Springer 1, a significant emphasis on relevance is made throughout thecourse. This includes the relevance of material covered as well as the relevance of assignments.While a combination of teaching methods is used including lecture and flipped classrooms [8],the primary teaching methodology is project

Conference Session

Educational & Professional Issues of Strategic Importance to the Civil Engineering Profession and ASCE

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Allen C. Estes, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Pamalee A. Brady, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Peter Laursen

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

audiences. The addition shouldhave no effect on the program assessment of student outcomes as most curricula havestudents communicate with faculty, peers within their discipline, peers outside theirdiscipline and members of industry, which constitute an array of audiences. It does makedeveloping program objectives more difficult. Program objectives which describe whatstudents can do three to five years after graduation must be noticeably different fromstudent outcomes and can result in a shortcoming when they are not. It is difficult in thearea of effective communication to make the student outcome different from a programobjective. One way to highlight this difference is to make the program objective reflecthigher level communication with a wider

Conference Session

Tales from the Flip Side

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kimberly Warren, UNC Charlotte; Meagan Padro, UNC Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

managing their time in the classroom andare forced to use a ‘write down now, learn later’ strategy. Flipped classrooms have gainedtraction in recent years because this instructional method enables the student to begin thelearning process outside of class at their own pace (still under the guidance of the instructor),digest the material prior to class, and subsequently, use the in-class time to participate in activelearning strategies that increase engagement between faculty and students, and enhancecomprehension of the material. This study pilots a Partially Flipped Classroom (PFC)instructional model in a required geotechnical civil engineering course at UNC Charlotte toformally assess student engagement, perceptions, learning, and gains. This

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 6

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven J. Burian, University of Utah; Defne S. Apul, University of Toledo

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

specific skills were then elaborated as quantitative and qualitative skills as below:Qualitative learning objectives: 1. Explain what constitutes weak (and strong) technical writing style in a journal paper 2. List the phases of an LCA and explain what is done in each phase 3. Discuss the similarities and differences between EIOLCA and process based LCA 4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of process based and EIOLCA 5. Discuss the similarities and differences between ReCiPe and TRACI impact assessment methods 6. Determine the appropriate functional unit for an LCA 7. List online resources for following LCA literature 8. List names and regions (where they were developed) of major life cycle inventory databases 9. List

Conference Session

Around the Water Cooler: Ideas and Issues in Civil Engineering Education

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Nicholas Tymvios, Bucknell University; Elif Miskioglu, Bucknell University; Eliana Christou, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Benjamin B. Wheatley, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

: Arts & Science Focus or Engineering Focus.The survey consisted of questions of identification and differentiation such as demographics,name of institution faculty is serving, their title, and time in current position. The surveyparticipants were also asked to identify if they were tenured or in tenure-track positions, thepercentage of time they dedicate to research/teaching/service/other activities, and state thatpercentage according to their departmental guidelines for their job description.Survey participants were asked to state if they were given guidelines of tenure requirements andto provide these guidelines in terms of “Teaching Work Load”, “Teaching Evaluation Metrics”,“Research Dollar Amount”, “Number of Peer Reviewed Journal

Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Rachel Herring Sangree, Johns Hopkins University; Benjamin W. Schafer, Johns Hopkins University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering

hold the chain and another student to apply a tensile force to the chain to turn it into asemicircle. We note that the tensile force applied to turn the chain into a semicircle is analogousto the compressive force applied to the arch by the fill above the arch, which changes the flow offorces into one that fits within the geometric confines of the semicircular arch (see Figure 1).Figure 1. Line of action of a uniformly distributed load through a freestanding semicircular arch (left)and through a semicircular arch with lateral forces due to fill (right)                                                            2 Others include Think-Pair-Share, one-minute papers, and peer editing of draft writing assignments.Eventually the Roman arch made

Conference Session

Mechanics, Music, Meaning, and Mohr

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vicki V. May, Dartmouth College

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

the Standard Bridge ProjectBackgroundStudents have traditionally designed, analyzed, built, and tested small-scale bridges as part of anintroductory solid mechanics course. This past fall, however, students designed, analyzed, andbuilt sound-generating or musical bridges in small groups. Fifty-two students, mainlysophomores, enrolled in and completed the course. The project was inspired by discussions withcomposer Molly Herron, who is writing an engineering-inspired piece to be performed in thespring of 2017 as part of a celebration for the 150th anniversary of the Thayer School ofEngineering at Dartmouth. Molly requested that students build unique instruments that wereinteractive and symbolized engineering for the performance. The class