Essay

707 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on careers in civil engineering

Few generations have had the power to impact our natural environments with manmade structures on a global scale. The past century has given rise to numerous advancements in technology that have allowed buildings to get taller, bridges to get longer and the quality of life to improve in the most remote of regions. However, with these accomplishments mankind has developed the need to improve upon what was once thought cutting edge technology and introduce new initiatives in engineering to renovate the deteriorating U.S. Infrastructure. I believe that a new approach of study involving Finite Element Analysis and a transition to Composite materials will allow for more efficient designs to be built and provide sustainable energy solutions for future generations to come.
The prospect of studying for a Doctoral degree in Civil Engineering has always enticed me to think creatively and to improve upon existing methods of design. I wish to study at Louisiana State University for my Doctoral degree in Civil Engineering so I can further investigate and contribute to the understanding of various physical phenomena encountered in Civil Engineering. I chose to conduct my research on composite materials and the efficient design of concrete and steel members to mitigate seismic and wind loadings through structural control of structures to promote the development of critical infrastructure and environmental sustainability. To improve upon the social well being of the individual I chose to focus on safety and the technological development of harvesting clean energy with Wind Turbines. My professional aspirations are to lead a team conducting research on new methods to increase efficiency in design through Finite Element Analysis with the use of co...

... middle of paper ...

... reinforced structures I was drawn to the study of aerofoil’s and their design. In particular, I wanted to improve upon the structure of Wind Turbines and their efficiency by implementing blades crafted to unprecedented levels of precision with the use of composite reinforced materials. With the use of Finite Element Analysis and SolidWorks computer aided modeling these new blades could be designed to exact tolerances unattainable with conventional steel designs.
Engineering not only provides the infrastructure for a community to be successful but is at the core of who I am. While I anticipate the study and future career in Civil Engineering to be challenging, I look forward to a degree that allows me to construct projects to build a better future. I believe a Doctoral degree in Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University will better prepare me for the future.

Show More
Related

  • essay

    1786 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the Great Depression, while the competitors were cutting costs and reusing outdated designs, Kress was expanding and building more elaborate stores than their previous ones. The architecture was referred to as an “emporium” evoking an elegant atmosphere more suited to a fine cloth or furniture store in New York rather than the five & dime stores dotting small town America. Many wonder what the driving force was behind these design decisions, especially during a national time of economic recession. Perhaps simply to outpace the competition, but perhaps more importantly Samuel Kress was an avid art collector and a proponent of public art enhancing a community. In this way the Kress legacy of the brand became more than a retail business, it became a symbol of small town civic pride.

    Read More

  • How Does Plasma Cutting Work?

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    We use metals to construct all kinds of structures, from bridges to skyscrapers to elevators. The strength as well as durability of materials that are crafted out of metal make the materials ideal not only for construction but also for many other applications.

    Read More

  • essay

    540 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Greek mythology male gods were seen as a more superior god then females. Our society has changed drastically since these stories were written. The female characters in Greek mythology tend to be docile and submissive. Their roles were to play as the house wives and to serve for their husband. Most of the heroic characters in Greek mythology were the males. Greek mythology believed that male gods were more dominant to female gods, so therefore they made most of the decisions. In Greek mythology some of the actions of the character are often based on gender role stereotypes, which we still see in our society today.

    Read More

  • Hoover Dam

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Hoover Dam is one of America¡¦s greatest civil engineering marvels (Hernan 22) and ¡§has become a magnet to those fascinated by human ingenuity at its best¡¨ (Haussler 30). With its enormous size and construction during the Great Depression, it was an interesting topic to me. I would like to major in civil engineering and, at first, I was researching this topic. I was looking for salary and job descriptions. Then, I discovered the name John L. Savage, the engineer who supervised the design of the Hoover Dam and many other dams in the United States. Savage worked on the Minidoka irrigation project in Idaho after joining the United States Reclamation Service in 1903. His future of building dams first began "When I first went out to the Snake River Valley,¡¨ he said, ¡§I saw only a river and a lot of wasteland. After the dam was up the land changed. It got water. Farmers moved in to work the soil. Crops grew. Then came villages and towns. That's why I think this is the happiest, most thrilling work in the world¡¨ (qtd. in McCann). The characteristics he describes are evident to me, as well as other people in this field. All of the great buildings and projects of the World were overseen by civil engineers. These water resources projects, such as the Hoover Dam, not only disturbed the flow of rivers but created towns, industries, and even developed a desert region. Unfortunately, the dams can also cause adverse effects.

    Read More

  • essay

    1945 Words  | 4 Pages

    Interprofessional Practice (IPP) is the ability to provide a comprehensive health care service to all patients. Healthcare providers achieve this joining together and working collaboratively to deliver quality care across a range of healthcare settings. An interprofessional setting may offer several benefits to patients, including improved access to healthcare, less conflict and tension amongst caregivers, improved use of clinical resources, better retention of staff, better results for patients in particular those with chronic diseases. (http://www.ontarioshores.ca/about_us/our_approach/interprofessional/). This paper will discuss the benefits of an interprofessional practice to the patient.

    Read More

  • Essay

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) was established to provide employees with ability to take a leave from work for personal or family health issues. The Act lays out specific circumstance in which an employee may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12 month period. Under the law, employees may request a leave for personal health issues, to care for a child, spouse or parent with serious health issues, birth or care of a child during the first year or for newly placed adoptions within one year. Employees are covered under FMLA if the employer has 50 or more employees and the employee has worked for the employer for at least 12 months. The employee must submit a written request for FMLA and provide documentation supporting their request. Once approved, the employee may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Upon return the employee is guaranteed a job, if the employer had to fill their position out of business necessity, the employer must provide the employee with a position with equal responsibility and pay.

    Read More

  • Deflection Analysis Of Blade Structure

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first process in designing the wind turbine involve the calculation of the various loads expected to act on the blade surface during operating wind conditions which in turn are used to calculate the stresses and deflections. These stresses and deflections are later compared with the design stresses and deflections of the material from which the component is to be made.

    Read More

  • Structural Suitability and Modelling of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers

    3854 Words  | 8 Pages

    Freeform surfaces prevail in contemporary architecture. Over the past two decades there has been a surge in the use of smooth, curved surfaces, which can be attributed to improvements in 3D modelling techniques and advances in finite element analysis. The complex geometries, examples of which can be seen in the Figure ? below, pose challenges in developing a feasible building envelope using conventional building materials such as steel and concrete. This has therefore created a need to investigate the suitability of alternative building materials such as glass fibre reinforced polymers (GFRP) to structural design.

    Read More

  • Biomimicry Essay

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    In everyday life, there are things that one needs to survive. And sustainability problems arise every day. One such problem is energy loss. The world is using up a lot of energy and new ideas need to be formed to help the rest of the world and the future of the generations that are to follow, to survive. With that the problem is that people use up energy and they do not use it efficiently. Therefore scientists are needed to find ways to deal with the sustainability problem that is arising. That is where wind turbines are used to generate this energy but the actual wind-turbines are very large, loud and they kill birds, thus new designs need to be found in order to help energy usage and to bring the size and structure of the wind turbines to a smaller scale to prevent injuries to nature and the species around it.

    Read More

  • Commonly Used Composites and Their Characteristics

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    The word ‘composite’ does not fully explain the wide range and varied compositions of materials that are categorized under it. This paper deals with some of the commonly used composites. Common materials such as metallic, ceramic and polymers consists of substances that can be classified as composites. The steel family, which is considered as the biggest group of material that is used in construction and complex engineering, is composed of composites that are made out of soft metallic matrix and hard ceramic components. [11] Such metallic composites could be shaped as a plate, needle, sphere or be polygonal. Polymeric composites are also found in a similar matrix model where one polymer forms the skeleton and another hard or soft polymer fills the matrix. A good example of this would be wood. Concrete is also a popular matrix composite where the Portland cement provides the matrix phase and the inner filling is made up of sands of different size. Scientists are now able to adjust the composition of these composites to suit the various needs. This adjustment is done by tweaking the microstructure of the materials by changing the state, shape, amount and distribution of the filling, which is also called as the reinforcing phase. Instead of restricting this tweaking process within a certain material class, the idea is being implementing in cross-material classes as well. Ceramics powder can be added to plastics to make hard and fireproof polymers. Ceramic powder when mixed with metals, gives cermets, which are used in tips of metal cutting tools. Another branch of the same idea is the blending of metal filaments, ceramic and polymer into one large bulk to form metal-matrix composites (MMCs), reinforced plastics (RP) and ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs). Such a radical idea of mixing all the three classes of materials has resulted in composites such as carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP), glass reinforced plastic (GRP) and silicon-carbon-fibre-reinforced aluminium. Figure1 shows Comparison between conventional monolithic material and composite material. [17, 18,10and1

    Read More

  • Reflective Essay On Work Experience

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    During my work experience at , I was fortunate enough to have experienced firsthand and learned, many different sides of what goes into a project, the general process of how a project is initially planned, developed and completed; as well as how much work and detail goes into every stage. Another valuable lesson I have learned during these 12 weeks, were the many different types of work an Engineer has to perform, which in turn, have provided me with more insight into the different types of roles and responsibilities that I could perform, as a Civil Engineer.

    Read More

  • Composites Essay

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    An example of one of the most common world applications where composites play a big role is bridges. A good number of bridges are held my concrete columns. The composites to fulfill this type of application are being alternated to help increase its ductility. The number of plate boding to involve thin composite laminates helps strengthen the concrete and many of the steel members for bridges. A bridge that was one of the first opened to car activity with the usage of composites was in Kansa City in 1996. This bridge was composited by honeycomb cells which were structural sandwiched. This allowed composites to be used among other bridges across the nation [2].

    Read More

  • Steel Essay

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    steel is widely used as a building material. it is because of its mechanical properties, ease and speed of construction and design simplicity. it is extremely easy to adjust or to extend to an existing structure constructed of steel by simply welding or bolting new steel pieces to the existing structure. and it will still give the structure the same amount of strength. structural steel has a wide amount of properties which suit different requirements which are weldability, ductility, strength and corrosion resistance. the extra feature of steel is that it will not break either, when met in contact with excessive load(s).

    Read More

  • Civil Engineering Challenges Essay

    1460 Words  | 3 Pages

    The civil engineering field is about gathering and interpreting data, being able to give technical presentations to colleagues, team work to design and build a project, projects range from the design and construction of dams, bridges, buildings, roads, and water supply systems. In most cases the works of engineers are admired and sought after. Engineers play an important role in the development and improvement of a society. Yet, like other technical and non-engineering careers the civil engineers also face issues, for example, regarding ethics, high energy building consumption, increased soil and coastal erosion, inadequate water quality, traffic congestion, and some poor infrastructures resilience to disasters. Another example is that unfortunately in the United Kingdom, the civil engineering industry is highly fragmented with 93% of companies having 14 or fewer employees which is not always a great idea, as written by John Miles in Civil Engineering Informatics. There is also a need to implement new professional and educational approaches to new challenges and new implications that are needed for the twenty-first century society. This paper will introduce and explain five different issues that civil engineers are currently facing and elaborate about how these challenges interrelate to each other.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Sustainable Development In Civil Engineering

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sustainable concrete materials and sustainable steel reinforcement have been introduced to civil engineers to get closer to the sustainable development. Sustainable buildings constructed with use of these materials have shown an increased service life and the final cost has been reduced due to them.

    Read More

More about Essay

Open Document