Civil Engineering Majors Will Compete in Nationwide Geo-Institute Contest

Civil engineering majors enrolled in Design II will compete in the Geo-Institute’s Information Mining and Geotechnical Site Characterization Design competition Feb. 26. The competition’s unique format allows teams nationwide to participate via remote computer access.

At the same time on the day of the competition, all teams will receive the coordinates of a site somewhere in the United States and details of a proposed geotechnical engineering project. They will have four hours to search the Internet for information on the site and develop a project proposal. The winning team will receive a $1,000 prize.

Because the contest largely depends on the competitors’ preparation, Mary Roth, professor and head of civil and environmental engineering, gave her students a class project modeled on the one they will receive in February. The two-and-a-half-week assignment gives them the opportunity to create a template for the actual competition. Experience with the process and knowledge of what information is available will aid them in producing high-quality results.

One team from the class has already registered, and Roth expects more to sign up before the Feb. 4 deadline. Marquis Scholars Eric Backlund ’07 (Parlin, N.J.) and Briana Niblick ’06(Hatboro, Pa.), Trustee Scholar Chad Yaindl ’06(Emmaus, Pa.), and Daniel Weaver ’07 (Cogan Station, Pa.) comprise the registered team. Niblick also is pursuing an A.B. degree with a major in German.

“Certainly, the use of Internet data and databases for project planning is becoming more and more important,” Roth says. “This is a realistic type problem they [civil engineering students] may face in their careers.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers created the Geo-Institute, located in Reston, Va., in October 1996. It is an organization of over 9,500 individual scientists, engineers, and technologists, and over 37 member organizations. The 2006 GeoCongress, which is sponsoring the student competition, will be held Feb. 26-March 1 in Atlanta.

The Design II course features three other challenges. A project led by Anne Raich, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, will involve the steel design of a roof structure over an open-air pavilion of about 50 by 50 feet that satisfies International Building Code requirements, considering gravity, snow, and wind loads. Students will develop conceptual designs, perform detailed design of the structure to meet safety and serviceability requirements, and consider cost and aesthetic issues.

Arthur Kney, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, will lead the class in designing a treatment system to remove the endocrine disruptor estrogen from wastewater. Endocrine disruptors are a family of drugs that cause abnormality by replacing hormones. The project will feature multidisciplinary/intercollegiate collaborative group work, often conducted via video-conferencing, outside classroom time. A highly innovative lab exercise will use a technique to measure estrogen in the environment. The project will conclude with a science forum where students will present their finding to an expert panel.

David Brandes, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, will guide student teams as they develop detailed designs for a stormwater detention wetland at Sullivan Park on College Hill, based on modeled stormwater runoff hydrographs developed by last year’s Design II class. (Hydrographs show facts about the discharge of a watershed, a region that feeds a large body of water.) The goal is to build a constructed wetland that will provide stormwater control as well as recreation/education benefits for the community.

The project will involve surveying, detention basin modeling, and development of design drawings. The City of Easton and Bushkill Stream Conservancy have received a planning grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the project, and will apply for a construction grant this year