This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Civil engineering graduate Dan McClendon ’03 (Lakewood, N.J.) is working as an engineer at the United States Army Communications and Electronics Command Headquarters in Fort Monmouth, N.J.
McClendon, who graduated in May, worked two previous summers at Fort Monmouth, assisting engineers in design and project management. He says Lafayette has given him “real world” experience that will allow him to thrive in his current industry as well as an idea of what to expect while working. Ultimately, McClendon plans to return to school to earn a masters degree.
He spent the spring semester of his junior year completing an independent study dealing with various transportation issues affecting his hometown under the guidance of Kristen Sanford Bernhardt, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.
He says he became interested in the issue in 1995, when the local governing body voted against establishing a rail line.
McClendon, who spent the first part of the semester reading about all sorts of transportation ideas and ways to relieve congestion on highways, says he began his research on the Lakewood rail system thinking that it was a simple problem. He soon learned just how complex traffic-related decisions can be.
“One of the issues that I’ve found is that in one of the towns that the train would pass through, the rail line divides the downtown,” he says, explaining that residents are accustomed to infrequent, slow-moving freight trains, but aren’t happy at the prospect of fast-moving passenger trains causing traffic to stop many times each day.
“Mostly, people are concerned about noise, safety, and maintaining their suburban environment,” McClendon says. “I also found that something like this can’t just be done at the snap of a finger. You have to forecast how population and economic growth will affect the area where you’re going to put this kind of system.”
During his senior year, he was part of a group of civil engineering majors who presented designs for a 48-acre park to Lower Saucon Township officials at their request, receiving positive feedback for their work.
McClendon was a member of the campus chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers, the Concrete Canoe team, Association of Black Collegians, Brothers of Lafayette, and Lafayette Activities Forum. He also was president of the Creating Harmony and Necessary Change residential floor.
Daniel McClendon ’03 investigated traffic issues in his hometown of Lakewood, N.J., in an independent study with Kristen Sanford Bernhardt, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.