This paper presents an overview of training academies on horizontal directional drilling (HDD) conducted for the education and training of 125 resident engineers and permit inspectors for the California Dept. of Transportation, 54 utility inspectors, 16 consultants, and 26 city/county Inspectors. Each of the four academies took place over a 3-day period during which the first and third days involved intense classroom preparation. The second day provided field experience through demonstrations of various equipment and construction methods used in HDD. A pretest was administered on the first day, prior to any instruction, followed by a final test administered at the end of the last day. A grade of 70% or better was required to pass the course. The overall average of all 221 participants was 75.27% with a standard deviation of 8.10%. Further analysis of the test results concluded that level of formal education did not have any significant effect on the final grade obtained in the course. In addition, the average grade of each academy increased slightly with each subsequent academy. The improved scores could be a function of the quality of the class as well as the quality of instruction with each academy.

The University of Connecticut requires that, after completing the traditional freshmen English courses, students have writing assignments in courses that comprise their major. This paper explains how this requirement has been met in a senior-level, structural steel design course. Students are required to read articles on different types of steel buildings and bridges. They then write a response to specific questions. They also are required to perform “back-of-an-envelope” calculations on different structural components. The assignments enhance the subject matter by providing students with the opportunity to look at entire structures, whereas conventional design assignments generally involve the study of individual members and connections. These assignments provide a format for organizing and communicating information about load paths, framing approaches, different design alternatives, and how design influences and is influenced by construction practice.

The Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the United States Air Force Academy has developed a capstone senior level integration experience that blends technical aspects of an engineering design with construction and realistic issues of modern society. Technical designs accomplished by the students, prior to taking the capstone course, form the technical basis of the capstone design experience. The students review the technical design and prepare the project for construction through incorporating engineering standards and considering realistic issues. Issues considered include economy, constructability, and environmental aspects, as well as ethical, health and safety constraints. The students prepare a final design report and make an oral presentation to an interdisciplinary panel of engineering faculty. This capstone course is the culmination of a total integration experience, which includes a hands-on field engineering course, and two years of a rigorous engineering design curriculum.

The first prestressed segmental concrete bridge in the United States opened to traffic was a small bridge in Madison County, Tennessee. The bridge was constructed using prestressed concrete segments and was opened to traffic in October 1950. Prestressed concrete beams were placed side by side to form the superstructure of the bridge. The construction of this bridge and several other similar prestressed concrete bridges are described herein. The existing condition of eleven prestressed concrete bridges remaining in Tennessee is given. Only minor spalling, leaching, and horizontal cracking are present in the superstructure after fifty years of service. Many of the design features introduced in this design can be found in today’s modern precast segmental concrete bridges.

In New Zealand, civil engineering classes are getting larger every year, which means that innovative ways must be sought to enable an increasing number of students to fulfill the laboratory requirements of the degree. With respect to water quality laboratories in introductory environmental engineering courses, it is advocated that it is more important that a civil engineering student be able to interpret water quality data, rather than to be acquainted in detail with the actual mechanics of water quality tests. As such, this paper describes a water quality laboratory that allows the student to gain an appreciation of a water quality data set without necessarily becoming fully conversant with the routine water quality tests. The laboratory’s emphasis on data interpretation instructs students on the importance of examining data sets for patterns, correlations and/or potential errors, while at the same time providing a stimulating and active hands-on learning environment for both students and staff.