Sophomore Year Project Design In Mechanics Of Materials

Civil Engineering students at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (R-HIT) begin to learn openended, project-based design in a first year civil engineering design course where groups of 3-5 students work for outside clients on a simple civil engineering project. In their Junior year, students participate in a three-course structural engineering sequence (1) where they design a proposed 2 to 3-story campus structure, beginning with design of foundations and preparation of a geotechnical report, and followed by a concrete frame design and steel frame alternative in two subsequent courses. As seniors, civil engineering students work in teams of 3-5 students on a year-long design project for an outside client that produces a quality “real world” engineering work. In other junior and senior year classes, students also complete projects of varying complexity. However, formal design of an engineered system has not been a part of any of the required courses for civil engineers in the sophomore year. Rose-Hulman’s academic year uses the quarter system and pushes students to begin engineering course work by the end of their freshman year. By the Winter Quarter of their sophomore year, civil engineering students are enrolled in Mechanics of Materials, having already completed course work in Engineering Statics and Engineering Dynamics. Thus, by the middle of their sophomore year, they have acquired most of the tools necessary for some simple quantitative engineering system design.