Civil Engineering

The Panama Canal:

The Panama Canal is an artificial 82 km (51 mi) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and opened in 1914. It cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. It was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, and serves as a shortcut that reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This enabled ships to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America, and reduce costs of shipping materials to different parts of the world. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal)

Explore the history:

15th August 1914: The Panama Canal

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Civil engineers often specialize in one of a number of technical areas which line up with different industries.

Structural: designing structures that support their own weight and the loads they carry, and that resist wind, temperature, earthquake, and many other forces. Bridges, buildings, offshore structures, space platforms, and amusement park rides are examples.

Transportation: Engineers working in this area develop or improve ways to move people, goods, and materials safely and efficiently — on land, air, and sea! Highways, railroads, airfields, ports as well as mass transit systems are examples.

Construction: The construction phase of a project represents the first tangible result of design. Engineers apply technical and management skills to turn designs into reality – on time and within budget.

These specialties translate to work with government agencies working to improve infrastructure, companies developing nonresidential construction (hotels, airports, industrial parts, malls, etc.), or independent consulting firms. Other specialty areas and industries employing civil engineers include those working on environmental or geotechnical projects, those involved with utilities and surveying, and those supporting the telecommunications infrastructure. Examples of employers range from engineering service firms, to government organizations, to large corporations. Some ocean engineers work as consultants and educators, supporting the next generation of engineers. Employers are all over the world. The following is just a sample of some companies, outside of government, so you can explore the type of projects worked on globally:

• Al Habtoor Group, UAE
• Bechtel, US
• Bouygues Construction, France
• China State Construction Engineering, China
• Fluor, US
• Grupo ACS, Spain
• Hochtief, Germany
• Lendlease, Australia
• Royal BAM Group, Netherlands
• Skanska, Sweden
• VINCI, France

For most engineering careers:

• a bachelor’s degree is required
• a master’s degree may be recommended for those specializing or interested in management
• students may also start with a related associate degree and then move on to a bachelor’s when they have settled on a degree path.
  

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• many students are required to participate in a co-op program while at university to gain real world experience in their chosen field.
• education doesn’t really stop…engineers need to stay current as technology changes and materials and processes improve over time.
• many professional societies offer certificates and coursework to support continuing education for their members.

It is important to select an engineering degree that has been accredited to meet basic standards. Find out more and browse TryEngineering’s global database of accredited engineering and computing programs.

For civil engineering specifically, new standards known collectively as the Body of Knowledge are growing in importance. This development is likely to result in a heightened need for a graduate education.

Queens Road (now Queensway) tube station, c. 1900. Source Wikipedia/Public Domain.

Civil engineers are often called upon to solve problems related to urban planning and transportation. An interesting example is the London Underground system, which first started operating in 1863 and has never stopped being improved, expanded, and adjusted as new technology became available. As of 2017, the Underground serves 270 stations, providing reliable transport to residents and tourists alike.

The rail lines, or “tubes,” crisscross under the city streets in an intricate mesh of movement! And when a new line is added, such as the Elizabeth Line which partially opened recently, the new tube had to be carefully cut between and under existing tubes without stopping the other lines at all. Special equipment, called tunnel boring machines, had to be developed to cut through the soil without moving or damaging buildings above! The video to the right explains how this works!

As you can imagine, there are many types of engineers working together to make this new underground line a reality. You can read about several people contributing to this project here to see what their work is like!

Find out more:

• History of the London Underground
• London Underground: How Was It Built?

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Clubs, competitions, and camps are some of the best ways to explore a career path and put your skills to the test in a friendly-competitive environment.

Clubs:

• Civil Engineering Clubs: Organized by ASCE, Civil Engineering Clubs are places for preuniversity students to meet, engineer mentors and explore civil engineering through activities, lessons, and field trips.

 Competitions: 

• Many organizations offer bridge building competitions, which is a great way to get started exploring civil engineering.
• BRICO 2021 – The Nordic Steel Bridge Competition: BRICO 2021 is a great opportunity for students studying civil engineering, mechanical engineering or architecture (students from other faculties are also welcome) to test their designing skills in competitive and fun atmosphere.
• Student Model Building Competition: Institution of Civil Engineers’ (UK) annual competition which participating teams formed by civil engineering undergraduates compete against each other to build a model made of balsa wood within a given time limit.
• Civil Engineering Club Contest is a national competition is held each year to build a sense of community between the ASCE clubs. In prior years, clubs were given the blank layout for a parking lot and had to submit a layout for the lot, a written report that detailed the decisions and costs involved, and an optional video “selling” a client on why to choose their lot.
• International Cold-Formed Steel Building Student Design Competition
• Future City Competition is a project-based program where preuniversity students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future.

Camps:

• TryEngineering Summer Institute: Attend the TryEngineering Summer Institute to further your core engineering skills.
• Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science, Cambridge US: MIT program for senior preuniversity students who select five of 14 rigorous academic courses to study over a six-week residential program.
• Oxford Royale Academy, Oxford, UK: Students from all over the world with the chance to live, study and dine in colleges of the University of Oxford and study civil engineering.

Many universities offer summer engineering experiences. Reach out to your local university’s engineering department to see what they offer.

Did you know you can explore civil engineering in your community now? Look at your local hospital and consider how it was designed and built.

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  How do you think they organized the emergency room? What entrances need to be close by?

• What sort of air purification system would need to be designed into a hospital waiting room?
• Are there ramps and other building features to assist those in wheelchairs?
• What facilities were included in the design and construction to help employees? Is there a cafeteria? Special parking areas? Separate elevators?
• How many elevators do you think there are in your local hospital? Do any need to be larger than a standard passenger elevator?
• How many months/years do you think it took to design and build your local hospital?

Find out more:

• Read about how a company met the challenge of building an energy-efficient hospital.

Be sure to reach out to professional societies focused on civil engineering where you live. Not all will offer membership to pre-university students, but most offer groups for university students, and certainly offer online resources to help you explore the field. Some examples of groups focusing on civil engineering:

• American Society of Civil Engineers US
• Engineers Australia, Australia
• European Council of Civil Engineers, UK
• Institution of Civil Engineers, UK
• Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Japan
• The Institution of Civil Engineers, India