Creating a Pipeline of Civil Engineering Students Through Innovative Summer Course

Jose Capa Salinas; Morgan R Broberg

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL) Technical Session - Effective Teaching 1
Tagged Division: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47085

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Paper Authors

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Jose Capa Salinas Purdue University orcid.org/0000-0002-0929-7192

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Jose Capa Salinas is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University. He did his undergraduate degree at Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja. His research interests include structural health monitoring, infrastructure inspection, drone applications, the behavior of steel and concrete structures, the effect of natural hazards in infrastructure, machine learning in engineering, student success, and difficult concepts in engineering. He is a member of the TRB Standing Committee on Seismic Design and Performance of Bridges and holds a Remote Pilot UAS license.

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Morgan R Broberg Purdue Applied Research Institute orcid.org/0000-0003-2406-8117

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Dr. Morgan Broberg is a Research Engineer at the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI). She received a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University and a B.S. in Engineering from LeTourneau University.
Her research interests include modeling, analysis, and design of steel-concrete composite systems and effective teaching in civil engineering.

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Abstract

Domestically, the gap between civil engineering graduates and projected needed civil engineers continues to grow. With recent investment in infrastructure through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, additional civil engineers will be needed to design, build, and maintain civil infrastructure. An innovative summer course at Purdue University aims to decrease the space between the needed civil engineers and students graduating with an undergraduate civil engineering degree by helping pre-college students understand what types of problems civil engineers solve. This one-week course focuses on exposing students to both the depth and breadth of civil engineering and has explored various topics, including resiliency versus sustainability, design for tomorrow’s loads and problems, the use of novel technologies in engineering, and design for extreme (and extraterrestrial) habitats. Innovative activities include using drones for aerial photography and mapping, identifying tension and compression loads by building a 3D bridge model, tours to Purdue’s innovative research facilities, reviewing the infrastructure around them and proposing novel improvements, and participating in activities in the classroom like debates about autonomous vehicle and jigsaw activities. The authors anticipate similar programs could be instituted at universities and not-for-profits across the country to expose diverse students to civil engineering as a career and to the complex, multi-dimensional problems civil engineers get to solve every day. In addition to the means and methods of this course, this paper evaluates the course’s effectiveness by reviewing course survey data, student projects, and student outcomes. This analysis indicates that students left the course with greater knowledge of the topics discussed and pointed to various hands-on activities as their favorites. Furthermore, students self-identified as having a greater interest in civil engineering topics and engineering as a career. Reviewing the longitudinal data indicated that many students are enrolling in engineering in college, but additional time is needed to evaluate the type of engineering and post-graduation outcomes.

Citation
Format

Capa Salinas, J., & Broberg, M. R. (2024, June), Creating a Pipeline of Civil Engineering Students Through Innovative Summer Course Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47085

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Domestically, the gap between civil engineering graduates and projected needed civil engineers continues to grow. With recent investment in infrastructure through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, additional civil engineers will be needed to design, build, and maintain civil infrastructure. An innovative summer course at Purdue University aims to decrease the space between the needed civil engineers and students graduating with an undergraduate civil engineering degree by helping pre-college students understand what types of problems civil engineers solve. This one-week course focuses on exposing students to both the depth and breadth of civil engineering and has explored various topics, including resiliency versus sustainability, design for tomorrow’s loads and problems, the use of novel technologies in engineering, and design for extreme (and extraterrestrial) habitats. Innovative activities include using drones for aerial photography and mapping, identifying tension and compression loads by building a 3D bridge model, tours to Purdue’s innovative research facilities, reviewing the infrastructure around them and proposing novel improvements, and participating in activities in the classroom like debates about autonomous vehicle and jigsaw activities. The authors anticipate similar programs could be instituted at universities and not-for-profits across the country to expose diverse students to civil engineering as a career and to the complex, multi-dimensional problems civil engineers get to solve every day. In addition to the means and methods of this course, this paper evaluates the course’s effectiveness by reviewing course survey data, student projects, and student outcomes. This analysis indicates that students left the course with greater knowledge of the topics discussed and pointed to various hands-on activities as their favorites. Furthermore, students self-identified as having a greater interest in civil engineering topics and engineering as a career. Reviewing the longitudinal data indicated that many students are enrolling in engineering in college, but additional time is needed to evaluate the type of engineering and post-graduation outcomes.
AU  - Jose Capa Salinas
AU  - Morgan R Broberg
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Creating a Pipeline of Civil Engineering Students Through Innovative Summer Course
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47085
ER  -