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November 22, 2004 Vol. 75, no. 8F
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| From left to right, economics
junior David Wood, ME junior Jimmy Quintana, CEE sophomore Kelsey
Bulkin, and CEE junior Kyle Delwiche hold a prototype bridge model.
In teams, the students are designing and testing their own models
of the east span of the Bay Bridge for E36. |
E36 students
find their own Bay Bridge solution in pilot program
There’s this joke:
Cal Poly engineering students know how to build it; Berkeley students
know why it works.
Reflecting on this, CEE professor Robert Bea had an idea. “Why
can’t we meld the two [ideas] together in one course for sophomores
here at Berkeley? We’ll show them what engineering really is.”
This fall, Bea and three graduate student instructors (GSIs) —
Kofi Inkabi, Jenet Alviso, and Rune Storesund — introduced a pilot
project to the 115 students taking Engineering Mechanics I (E36). Their
task? In a team, design, build, and test a model of a new east span
of the Bay Bridge, all within those icky real world constraints of aesthetics,
weight, working loading capacity, ultimate capacity and the ickiest
of all — budget.
One of those 115 students is economics major David Wood, who is planning
to pursue a second bachelor’s in engineering after graduating in
2006. Instead of spending the weekend solving textbook physics and mechanics
problems, he and his team tested their model, which is made of aluminum
parts from Home Depot, using a car jack and a bathroom scale.
“We calculated the capacity for compression and tension and we
have more testing to do,” he says. The work is in anticipation
of class presentations and a competition, which culminates in a “Final
Four” match on Saturday, December 11.
That day finalists will present their design and testing results to
classmates and the audience, who will then vote on the winner “American
Idol”-style, by filling out a note card. The winning team receives
$500. Though the money is important, students are learning valuable
leadership skills, says Bea.
Bea and the GSIs hope students will like the new course so they can
offer it again.
So far, many do, like CEE junior Kyle Delwiche. “We take a lot
of classes that are theoretical, but in this one, we get to apply the
theory. I have a better idea of what engineering is really about.”
Vote for your next engineering
idol! Faculty, staff, and students are invited to come see student teams
compete on December 11 and vote for the winning team. Click on http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/Courses/E36/
for more details.
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