Articles

 Southern Methodist University ASCE Student Chapter

Ola Wenno and Sharon Yang of the SMU ASCE Student Chapter kicked off the year at the new ASCE Dallas Civil Engineering Club at Hillcrest High School. They started off by outlining the degree plan of a civil engineering major including the major decisions that students must make as they work through their degree plan. They also focused on sharing a couple of senior design projects: the WEAT Competition and the full-semester Carollo Project.

Ola and Sharon also explained the first-year design project that freshman engineers are put to work on. This project involved the students being assigned to a multi-disciplinary team to build a bridge, sensors, and an autonomous robot – a great way to illustrate real-world teamwork! The Hillcrest students were very interested to learn what could be in their very near future as a college engineering student. The presentation closed with a question and answer session where the high school students could ask candid questions about SMU, the college application process, and life as a college student.

 Water Resources Engineering with AECOM

Rifat Alam, P.E., a water resources civil engineer at AECOM spoke about his background and how he became a civil engineer. He explained his role at AECOM, and how his career path eventually led him to become a water resources engineer. He gave an overview of water resources engineering including some very basic design concepts. He also shared some of his current work with various dams and reservoirs around the Dallas-Ft. Worth area that involves lots of hydraulics and hydrology modeling.

Next, Rifat discussed flooding with the students – the causes of flooding, recent flooding events, and a civil engineer’s role in flooding. He gave an overview of 2D floor modeling including “waffle” theory. Finally, he led a brainstorming session for the students. He challenged the students to debate what engineering options they would choose to address an urban flooding incident (interior drainage improvement, channel improvement, pumping, etc.) and rank them from best to worst.

Woodrow Wilson High School CE Club Update - November 2018

On Friday, September 28^th, 6 ASCE student members from Southern Methodist University (SMU) visited the Woodrow Wilson Civil Engineering club 3 classes.  The SMU students discussed life as a college student, the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU, a general degree plan to earn a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering, and how to balance studying with leadership and volunteering. The Woodrow Wilson students were fully engaged and had great questions.  Many of these SMU students attended the Dallas ASCE October luncheon – if you see them again, be sure to thank them for their educational outreach and encouraging high schoolers to study civil engineering. Special thanks to Ola Wenno, Sharon Yang, Gurveer Kaur, Sam Snyder, Arman Sanatinia, and Maddie Smithers!

If you are interested in presenting to the Woodrow Wilson CE Club, email:

Omar Venzor - [email protected]

Jennifer Smith – [email protected]

The classes are on Fridays 9:05-9:55, 10:05-10:55, and 11:05-11:55