On September 3rd, 2019, the Department welcomed new Civil Engineering majors with its annual undergraduate student orientation. The orientation consisted of a scavenger hunt and popsicle stick model bridge-building competition.
This Fall, we welcome over 120 new majors into the Bachelors in Civil Engineering program. The new students started off their first day with an introduction and welcome by the Department Head, Dr. Bernard Laval. The introduction was followed by details of the academic program, services for students, and clubs and community involvement.
Following the orientation, the students participated in a scavenger hunt, which is designed to familiarize the students with the location of classrooms, offices, and labs, while providing an opportunity to practice effective teamwork skills. In addition to locating the civil labs, the students took part in various demonstrations led by civil faculty, technicians and graduate students. Some of the demonstrations included:
- The Hydraulics Lab: demonstrating “standing waves” in one of the wave flumes with an adjustable wave generator.
- The Materials Laboratory: providing information on the different types of tests done in this concrete laboratory.
- The Earthquake Laboratory: presenting details on some of the testing done by the earthquake research group. The students received a demonstration of the 1999 Taiwan “Chi-Chi” earthquake (7.3 ML) on the multi-axis shake table.
After the lab demonstrations, the students applied their knowledge in the Civil Design Lab by building a bridge model with only popsicle sticks and hot glue. Once the two hour building phase was complete, each team’s bridge was tested by a weight-bearing machine to see which bridge could hold up the most weight. Tests such as these examine one of the many factors necessary for the structural integrity of infrastructure.
For more information on our programs, including all fields within the Department of Civil Engineering, please visit the Academic Programs page of our website.
