As a special course offering this spring, CE 597 Great Projects: Essential Lessons from the Great Builders will be taught by veteran builder and award-winning civil engineering historian Paul Giroux as a 2-credit course starting February 6th.

This course will provide an in-depth study of the great projects and their relevant lessons to modern engineering and management practice. Projects to be covered include; the Transcontinental Railroad, Eads Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Coulee Dam, and the Mackinac Bridge.

The course will meet Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:30am to 1:20pm, from Feb. 6th through April 7th.

Paul Giroux received his BS in Construction Engineering from Iowa State University in 1979.  He worked for Kiewit Corporation for over forty years and played a key role in the construction of several civil engineering mega-projects throughout the United States. 

Throughout his career Paul has been an active volunteer on several national industry boards and committees.  Paul is regarded as one of today’s leading civil engineering historians and played a key role in the anniversary celebrations of the; Brooklyn Bridge, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge, Panama Canal, Grand Coulee Dam, and Transcontinental Railroad.

Paul has presented nearly 400 lectures and seminars at over 85 engineering schools as well as many other professional and public venues.  Paul has also been a contributor to Fox News Business’s television show ‘American Built.’ 

Paul’s awards include the ASCE; History and Heritage Award, the G. Brooks Earnest Award, and the Roebling Award.  Additionally, Paul was awarded the AAES’s Norm Augustine Award in 2015. In 2016 Paul was elected as a Distinguished Member of ASCE and in 2018 Paul was inducted into the Iowa State University Construction Engineering Hall of Fame.  In 2022 Paul was inducted into the National Academy of Construction.