Welcome to eConnectionsWelcome to CE Connections, the online newsletter for the School of Civil Engineering. The spring semester is quickly coming to an end as students and faculty prepare for final examinations and graduation ceremonies. In January, we began celebrating 125 years of civil engineering at Purdue. We've hosted several speakers over the past three months for topics ranging from the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge and the recognition of Charles Ellis, former Purdue CE professor in the design of the bridge, to the future in roadway and pavement design. Our 98th annual Road School was attended by over 2200 participants this year, with Indiana governor, Mitch Daniels, as keynote speaker. Earlier this month, we recognized five of our outstanding civil engineering alumni by awarding them the Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award. As the second of our five part series on the 125th anniversary, this newsletter edition provides a brief overview of Ross Surveying Camp and the role of Purdue and Civil Engineering in the shaping of the transportation industry. In May we will host our 52nd annual CE Open at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex and hope you are able to join us. Also in May, during commencement weekend we will graduate 118 civil engineering undergraduate students and 54 graduate students. We are excited about the impact these students will have out in the world. Purdue Civil Engineering and our graduates have made outstanding contributions in the past, and it is our job to continue to shape the future of civil engineering with pioneering research and new advances in student learning.
Melba Crawford Upcoming Events
Celebrating 125 years of Purdue Civil Engineering
"If there were funds available to establish only one of them, which do you think should be chosen, Domestic Economy or Civil Engineering?"...... According to Henry Huston, a member of Purdue's original staff in 1874 and professor of physics and applied electricity, this dialogue took place in June 1887 on the day after commencement. Purdue's fourth president, James Henry Smart posed the question, and the vote in favor of Civil Engineering was cast by Huston, "as they walked along the path between the main building (University Hall) and the Old Dormitory with the president of the Board of Trustees, James Ratliff." Although a decision of this importance could not have been made so casually, Civil Engineering was declared a separate school in September of that same year. The second part of our 125th Anniversary Celebration series spotlights two landmark areas of Civil Engineering's rich history. Ross Summer Surveying Camp at Purdue Transportation Engineering at Purdue To stay up to date on all 125th anniversary events, visit http://eng.purdue.edu/CE/125
Ross Summer Surveying Camp at PurdueIn the early years of Civil Engineering at Purdue, students toting tripods and transits was a familiar site on campus. They learned the art of surveying on the land where the Memorial Union building now stands or over rolling terrain near the West Lafayette Water Tank on Salisbury Street.
Transportation Engineering at PurdueWhen automobiles became more common in the 1920s, Purdue's School of Civil Engineering began attracting a large number of students in the academic specialty of transportation. Today, there is a significant focus on transportation research at Purdue University because of three programs focused on Indiana's people: the Purdue Road School, the Joint Highway Research Project, and the Highway Extension and Research Project for Indiana counties and cities. In January 1913, W. K. Hatt, head of the School of Civil Engineering, issued a call for a Civil Engineering Conference. The meeting covered the needs of county surveyors and city engineers and included essential discussions on roads and streets. During a similar conference held the next year, a resolution was passed calling for a provision in Indiana law instituting a yearly "School of Good Roads." In 1915, the name of the conference was changed to what we know today as the "Purdue Road School," which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
New Emphasis Area has graduatesThe Architectural Engineering emphasis area within civil engineering is graduating its second group of students this spring. Established in 2009, the architectural engineering area has graduated twenty undergraduate and seven graduate students over the past two years and has twelve undergraduates and six graduates finishing this May. The Architectural Engineering emphasis area is focused on integrated design, construction and operation of buildings. It includes all engineering aspects related to the built environment – mechanical systems (HVAC), electrical/lighting systems, building envelope, construction, indoor environment – and is therefore related to multi-disciplinary research and education. With increasing concern about climate change and energy prices, Architectural Engineers will have a critical task for the following decades. In Civil Engineering's Architectural Engineering emphasis area, students have the opportunity to study the integration of different building systems and to learn how to design for sustainability and energy efficiency. The Architectural Engineering Program offers a wide variety of courses at the undergraduate, dual, and graduate level, related to the built environment. Examples include architectural engineering, building envelope design and thermal loads, building mechanical and electrical system design, lighting and daylighting in buildings, building controls, building energy audits, building thermal analysis, airflow modeling, indoor environment, and sustainable energy options. Teaching and research are conducted in an interdisciplinary learning environment in collaboration with Herrick Labs and the Thermal Systems Group of Mechanical Engineering. Our own new experimental facilities include four full-scale buildings at the Bowen Lab and the new Center for High Performance Buildings at Herrick Labs.
Faculty members in the Architectural Engineering area are:
For more information on the Architectural Engineering program at Purdue visit the website at http://eng.purdue.edu/CE/Academics/Groups/Architectural.
Thanks for keeping us up to date with your contact information, life events, and career news. Send your updates to: Kathy Heath at heathk@purdue.edu. We'll make sure you get School information, news from campus, and event invitations. We'll also share your news and celebrate awards and achievements in our newsletters.
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