In 1918 Irving Berlin wrote a novelty song about an Irish mother watching her son march up Fifth Avenue with his regiment, headed to France in World War I. It begins with “Did you see my little Jimmy marching with the soldiers up the avenue?” and ends with its title, “They Were All Out of Step but Jim!” I suspect most of us can occasionally relate to that feeling; I have always felt it described me personally. The older I get, the more accurate it becomes. My recent experience with Pitt’s Senior Design Program seemed to highlight it.
This is the thirty-first year I have been involved in the program at some level; at its best, the program is the culmination of the Civil and Environmental Engineering students’ academic career – its capstone. It is their opportunity to participate as members of teams implementing “near-real-world” engineering projects. My involvement has been a great source of satisfaction to me; I have been proud to make a contribution to their professional growth. Recently my role has been as a mentor to one specific team each term and as a reviewer of the final presentations of all the teams. My reviews include a frank assessment of each project, primarily for the benefit of the program coordinator. When I read over my critiques of this semester’s projects, I was shocked to realize how negative I have become. I also realized that my criticisms were systemic, things that clashed with my memories of the Civil Engineering profession and society in general two generations ago, memories that are indeed out of step today.
This term we had fifty-two students, subdivided into teams implementing ten unique projects. Three projects dealt with recreational (hiking/biking) trails. Three projects resolved environmental problems, primarily waste management. One studied the removal of an obsolete dam on a pristine mountain stream. One involved construction planning for a pedestrian bridge in a busy railroad station. One studied remediation of landslides disrupting a city street. One involved design of a major component in ALCOSAN’s program to counteract its combined sewer discharge.
In most of these cases, the students’ work was commendable. I was particularly impressed by the design work done on the ALCOSAN drop shaft, the construction management planning for the railroad station project, the environmental sensitivity of the planning for the dam removal project, and the process design involved in the waste management projects. Every one of these projects is either truly “real-world” or is based on real world information. In nearly every case either an industry mentor or a client representative reviewer was quite complimentary regarding the students’ performance. Obviously, this specific group of students performed satisfactorily, implementing contemporary projects of the type they will be dealing with in their future careers.
So what explains my negative reaction to their work? Is it possible I am out of step? That appears to be highly probable. The Civil Engineers of my generation were focused on designing and constructing major projects in both the private and public sector. We built steel mills, coal preparation plants, bulk material handling facilities, locks and dams, and iron ore beneficiation plants all over the world. Our legacy was a collection of massive projects requiring innovative, cost-effective designs utilizing technology founded on basic principles. Consequently, my model of a good design project is one that includes significant technical challenge, a requirement for independent thinking, and awareness of economic feasibility. Somehow, I can’t imagine the students we are producing today being able to function in that kind of environment.
The contrast between the two environments is the direct consequence of basic changes in our society. Today we (in this country) are far beyond the era of major industrial construction. We have welcomed the export of dirty steel mills and their like to developing countries. Consequently, the challenge for today’s Civil Engineers has shifted to laying out recreational trails and removing small, obsolete dams. I am out of step.
Two generations ago, when we were confronted with new challenges, we relied on the application of basic principles to produce a unique design, which we would then confirm satisfied acceptable design specifications. In addition to the disappearance of major technical challenges, today’s designers select a proven design from a vast library of pre-designed alternatives and scrupulously confirm it “meets code”. They are better code conformance specialists than we were, but woefully weak in creative thinking. I am out of step.
Ignoring economic feasibility is a common thread in my criticism of this year’s projects. One of this year’s projects was related to a University initiative to reduce the amount of food waste being sent to landfills. The team did a fine job of designing an anaerobic digestion system to process the waste, at a cost of $1500 per ton (the University currently pays a little less than $100 per ton to landfill it). It is bad enough that the students lack the judgment to recognize the absurdity of this; worse is the fact that none of their mentors realized it either. I am out of step.
I am also uncomfortable with specialization. Entry level Civil Engineers of my generation were qualified to function in all of the major specialties – Structures, Geotechnical, Environmental, Water Resources, Construction, and Transportation. It disappoints me today to hear a design team report, “The foundation is not in our scope because our team doesn’t include a Geotechnical Engineer”. And they are right, we live in a world of specialists. NFL football teams include a “long-snapper”! I am out of step.
My ultimate conclusion is that the Civil and Environmental Engineering students we are producing today are ideally equipped to function as entry level engineers in today’s society. The fact that they would not have been acceptable in my world two generations ago is irrelevant. After all, I am the one who is out of step.