By Delaney Barber
Attention all civil engineering students or any students wanting to learn more about engineering. The ASCE, or American Society of Civil Engineers, is a club for civil engineers on campus. I spoke with Vice President and member Evan Blake about the club and what members can expect. Their mission is to “provide a club for civil engineers to collaborate on competitions and to network with practicing engineers in the field,” says Evan Blake.
Members can expect to work on the club’s current project, a steel bridge for a design competition. Right now, their primary focus is on the ASCE steel bridge competition. The members of the ASCE are currently working on fabricating a 20 ft long steel bridge to be put into a national competition against other universities at UCONN in April.
The student steel bridge competition challenges students to put their classroom learned skills to practical use and work on a hands-on steel-design project. The ASCE had been inactive for some time due to COVID-19 placing a halt to competitions. However, some previous work from the club can be seen on campus, such as the solar-powered building outside Sleith Hall. Along with gaining hands-on experience, students can also work on their interpersonal and professional skills. The competition is also a great place to network and make connections for internship opportunities and jobs after graduation.
The ASCE is also planning a networking event with alumni soon. By meeting with alumni who have hands-on job experience outside of WNE, club members will gain valuable insight into career opportunities and the world of civil engineering post-graduation. Although no alumni event is set in stone, the Civil Engineering department of the school is always bringing different opportunities to the students, which will help coordinate such an event.
The ASCE is open to all students on campus. Weekly meetings are held on Thursdays at 1:30 pm in Sleith hall, room 114 if anyone is interested in seeing what the ASCE is all about. Prospective members can also contact Evan at [email protected] to be added to the Kodiak classroom. The ASCE is not reserved for only Civil Engineers but for anyone interested in learning a new skill like cutting or welding. The ASCE welcomes students to bring ideas and competitions in the future to expand their club, even to include other clubs like ASME.
The Westerner also reached out to ASCE’s President, Robert Halverson. Like Blake, Halverson emphasized collaboration, saying that ASCE allows civil engineers “to share ideas and build off of each other” because it is “the job of every engineer to pass on the information they have learned to the next generation.”
Because ASCE is still a fairly new club, Halversen, Blake, and the rest of them are forward-focused, intending to do more in terms of networking, projects, and conferences. Halversen made sure to communicate his “hope [that] more people will be a part of the club next year. It is not reserved for only Civil Engineers, but for anyone interested in learning a new skill like cutting or welding.”
