Civil Engineering

Burj Al Arab in Dubai

Civil Engineering is all around us from the roads we drive on, to the structures that are built across the world. As you can see my major is Civil Engineering. Civil Engineering is a broad field, with many different subfields, for people of many interests. Some of these subfields include: Water Resources, Environmental, Transportation, Geotechnical, and Structural. I myself am going to try and specialize in Structural Engineering, so I get the building aspect and see what it takes for a building to develop. Civil Engineers do many things when it comes to the building world. They make sure the soil is strong enough to support massive loads, or drive piers into the ground to make the soil even stronger for the building. They survey the land making sure the ground is level and accurate for the construction of the bridges, roads, buildings, or dams. When you think of building there is more than likely a Civil Engineer present at the site.

Most of the Civil Engineers I know are interested in their job, because it takes them to different places around the world. I know people who have worked on multi-million dollar projects both in the United States and over-seas. Some of the North Dakota Engineers are here to survey the land making sure to plot out the land, so contractors can come in and start their projects. We shoot different elevations, points to where a road corner may be, calculate the arcs for an interstate road, so it is not too sharp for cars. We (Civil Engineers) like the concept of seeing something start as nothing or bare ground develop into something spectacular.

Overall engineers like the mathematical concepts of engineering, but have different likes and dislikes. Some people like the structural aspect whereas others like the geotechnical and nano-science concepts. As a certified Civil Engineer and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) my peers and I belong to certain ethical standards to help the world as a whole. We are here to make sure the structures that we create are sturdy to meet the requirements set aside by other government workers. There will always be a need for engineers in the long run. The world needs buildings, roads, bridges, dams, irrigation, and any other structures you can think of. We value our job, that we are making a difference in the world making it a better and safer place with our newer knowledge. Making our environment a better place, with our Environmental Engineers; developing newer materials that are smaller yet multiple times stronger than steel, and designing new method to strengthen the ground to support monumental structural designs.

Over-all the world will need engineers, from soil work, to the evaluation of cross-contamination of pollutants in the water. Water these days is a very important resources, having Environmental Engineers around they are able to find different ways to use recycled materials, come up with different ideas for cleaning up hazardous waste water into clean drinking water, and reducing the volumes of waste material to make the world a cleaner place.

Water Treatment Plant

Engineers … are not superhuman. They make mistakes in their assumptions, in their calculations, in their conclusions. That they make mistakes is forgivable; that they catch them is imperative. Thus it is the essence of modern engineering not only to be able to check one’s own work but also to have one’s work checked and to be able to check the work of others.

- Henry Petroski