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Nicholas Keppel ’08 (Coplay, Pa.) is enrolled in Lafayette’s distinctive bachelor of arts program in engineering. He is performing an independent study this semester with Arthur Kney, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, to explore and develop a framework for software that might aid in the education of civil engineers. The following is a firsthand account of Keppel’s experiences.
This semester I am doing research with Professor Art Kney of the civil and environmental engineering department. What I am doing is using Brownfield Action, a virtual environmental site assessment program developed by Peter Bower at Barnard College and the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University.
Over the summer, I attended a workshop at Barnard with Professor Kney. This workshop was intended to teach people how to use the latest version of Brownfield Action, something very important for me to attend since I was going to be using the program during the semester.
After attending the seminar, Professor Kney and I discussed the final layout of my research. We decided that my independent study would be broken up into three parts. They are as follows:
First, I will be teaching Professor Kney’s CE 321 class about Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA). I will do this in a one hour class period. The purpose of this is to give the students background knowledge of ESA’s before they use Brownfield Action. Following the lecture, I will then be teaching them how to use the computer program over two lab periods at the end of the semester.
The purpose of all this is to figure out the most efficient way of incorporating Brownfield Action into the classroom. At the completion of the exercises, the students will then fill out an evaluation I have prepared for them. The intentions of this are to find out what the students like and disliked about Brownfield Action, along with the things they found helpful or unhelpful. This will be the most vital part of the process, because it is here that we will find out what changes need to be made.
The second part of the independent study will be incorporating a Phase II ESA into Professor Kney’s CE 422 class, Environmental Site Assessment. In the past, the class only learned about a Phase I assessment, but it is up to me to incorporate a Phase II. The first thing I will do is put together a presentation on what a Phase II ESA is. After that, I will then come up with exercises in Brownfield Action that the students will do in lab. Just like in the first part of my research, I will then come up with an evaluation for the students to take.
The final part of my research will involve actual professional engineers. I will come up with a two to three day class that could be taught to engineers on how to perform a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment. I will be working with an outside consultant, Newton Engineering, to assist with this portion of my research. I would be using a document called the ASTM 1527, standard practice for environmental site assessments.
Up to this point the independent study has been a lot of fun and a great experience for me. I meet with Professor Kney once a week to go over what I have completed, and then discuss what I will be doing over the next week. As for Professor Bower of Barnard, I have been in contact with him several times through e-mail. I update him on where I currently am in my research, and then send him any of my completed work.
Also, I have been in a great deal of contact with Alice Cox, of Columbia’s Center for New Media Teaching and Learning. She is who I contact when I am having problems using the Brownfield Action program. I have had numerous conference calls with her, along with e-mail contact.
The experience that I am getting with this independent study is priceless. For one, it has made me become extremely familiar with environmental site assessments, something that I could do for a job when I get out of college. But it has also taught me a lot about working together with people. I interact with people at another college, my own professor, and Tom Barlow, an employee for an engineering firm. It requires a great deal of patience and time when working with people from all different locations. I must make sure I coordinate my work very carefully.
This research will also help develop my presentation skills for the future. During this semester and the next, I will be giving numerous presentations from teaching a class here at Lafayette to presenting Professor Kney and my ideas to a local engineering firm. All of this will benefit me greatly for whatever career path I chose.