I knew what I wanted to do in the 9th grade. My oldest brother influenced me to go into Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M.; While there, I decided to seek a double major in Agricultural and Civil Engineering. I worked in research, extension, and teaching at two land grant universities. I enjoyed all three and also enjoyed consulting. Most of my focus has been on developing hydrologic and water quality models to solve specific problems. Examples include sediment and water quality control from construction, mining, and post construction watersheds. The models have been widely used. I love figuring out how conceptualize the real world in such a way that one can reduce it to appropriate equations that model reality. It has motivated it all my adult life.
I would sell engineering as creative problem solving for the real world. We have the opportunity to make a real difference in the world and earn a decent living. While doing these things, we can also enjoy ourselves. Almost every day that I taught students, I believed that it was a privilege to be there and help young people expand their knowledge base.
When I was 8 years old, my father told me stories about my deceased grandfather, George Henry Barney. Grandfather was a Civil Engineer and Supervisor of the Powell National Forest in Southern Utah. He was greatly respected by the people in the small town of Escalante, where he lived, for his knowledge and skills. Once a year, he would set up his transit and shoot the sun to give the town the true time of day and they would set their clocks. He surveyed the road into town over a 10,000 foot mountain named the Barney Top. He rode around his forest on a horse he named "Go Some". Why would I not want to be a Civil Engineer?
Civil Engineers do real and practical things:
As a Civil Engineer:
You can improve the quality of life for people everywhere on earth.
You can make a big difference in the lives of individuals.
You will be a professional person and will be well paid for your work.
My Late Dad told me that when I was a 5 year or so old kid, I apparently built a so called suspension bridge by using jute fibers and small bamboo sticks. Of course I did not know anything about suspension bridge , but I vaguely remember about that project being built in front of my grandfather, took me the whole afternoon, and how proud I was when that thing stood erect. I was just curious why a railroad bridge stood erect. Latter on as I was exposed to many rivers in my native country, I always wanted to know why the water do not run in a straight line. May be that's why I became a hydraulic engineer.
I enjoy being a civil engineer every time I drive my car on a highway, every time I open the faucets to get the drinking water, every time I enter my home, my office, our shopping malls, every time I open my eyes and see the creations of Civil Engineers. I know none of this things would have happened without the Civil Engineers.
You must pursue a career in Civil Engineering, because without Civil Engineers you probably could not live a life of happiness.
I knew that I wanted to go into Civil Engineering as a Freshman in college.
I love civil engineering because we are improving the world we live in. A career in civil engineering is rewarding because you are making improvements that make the world a safer/better place.
I was in high school. I really liked math and the sciences. I thought about forestry but I decided the non-biological sciences would be a better fit. I selected civil engineering and moved into water resources to be in the woods as much as possible.
I was born an engineer. It is who I am. So, my career fits nicely with who and what I am. I enjoy being able to use the scientific methods to solve problems and bring good things to life.
Find what they are good at and enjoy doing. If they can support themselves doing it (and it is good not evil), do it for a career. If they can't support themselves doing it, pursue it as a hobby while finding something else that meets the earlier guidance. If they happen to become civil engineers, great. If they are better at something else, that is fine too.
As a child, I was always was taking things apart to see how they worked. I was tested in my elementary school years and was identified as having a well-developed aptitude for numbers and problem-solving. I gravitated to mathematics in college only to move quickly to the Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Delaware. A fortuitous decision because it was there that I met my lifetime mentor and friend, Dr. Norm Collins (now deceased). He taught me all the practical aspects of being an engineer, and I will always be eternally grateful to him.
I love a challenge and solving problems and being able to portray an analysis in an understandable fashion to a wide auduence.
a) as an engineer there is a a high likelihood that you will have a job for as long as you want one, b) if you like difficult problems and solving them, an engineer does all these things, c) engineering is fun because you get to play with the most state of the art computers and software (apps), and d) what you do as an engineer is a benefit to society.
I knew by my early teens I wanted to work in water engineering. I wanted to be an engineer because I loved making stuff. I wanted to work in water because I loved playing in water. I built dams in the street gutter after every rain, and walked down dry streambeds examining what had been moved in the last flow. When I played with toy soldiers in the yard, I spent all my time building bridges across model streams. Not much shooting, but a lot of flooding to wash away the enemy.
As an engineer, "I make things that help people."
You can use your hands and your smarts to make things that help people.
I was 25 at the time and was getting the nuance that my bachelor's degree in geology wasn't going to keep me gainfully and happily employed. I had a good experience with engineering working as a soils engineer on the Alyeska pipeline. I also was wanting a change from lots of traveling a lot after a 2nd stint in Alaska working on the Northwest Natural Gas Line and wanted to pursue work that would allow me to live in a small town. I chose water resource work as it was mypreference over development, highway, and other more urban types of civil engineering.
I enjoy the challenge making things better for people and the environment,and doing it, many times, in a unique way that is often challenging. Also I get to do this using many aspects of my education and experience that goes all the way back to early high school.
I would tell them that here's a career that can't be exported, where everyone can see your work, where if you like to build things that other people need and a career that can give you lots of flexibility on how you like to work i.e. work on things that allow for a intense focus on a small number of things or become a generalist and work on a wide variety of diverse projects or somewhere in between these bookends.
After receiving my BS degree from Tulane University and subsequently joining the US Navy to fly fighters off of aircraft carriers in lieu of being drafted, I knew some day I would leave the service and would want a professional career. The "environmental" movement had started with the first Earth Day, so I decided right then that my future would be in a new career being touted in the media as Environmental Engineering. Being stationed in San Diego, I called the Dean of Engineering at San Diego State University and asked him how do I become an Environmental Engineer – I recall him telling me that most start our as civil engineers. So, I started going back to school in San Diego before being discharged from active duty in January, 1972. Upon discharge, I returned to my hometown and enrolled that same month in the Civil Engineering program using the GI Bill at the University of Houston.
First, I enjoy being a professional with unique skills; Second, I also enjoy being a part of a team solving problems or creating facilities and/or structures that benefit my community or the public at large as well as benefit private enterprises who need civil engineering to successfully conduct their business.
If you enjoy serving people, being a part of a team and have an interest in science and math, then you should learn more about what civil engineers do.
My father practiced as a physician for 62 years. He is one of those old fashioned doctors that used to make house calls and always had an office full of patients from morning until night. When he retired, I told the following story. "In high school, a friend of mine told me that his sister was quite ill will a high fever, in the middle of winter. My father agreed to make a house call (one of many) during one of the worst blizzards in history. At 2:00 A he finally arrived, after we had put the chains on his car's tires and he had made a dozen other house calls. My friend was so impressed, that it inspired him to become a physician. It inspired me to become an engineer."
Seriously, I was always a tinkerer, constantly trying to find out what made things work. I took apart everything from alarm clock to the family car. My original intent was to be an electrical engineer. Our local college had an arrangement with Detroit University that allowed me to go to school locally for 2 years and then 3 years at Detroit. However, with 3 other siblings in college at the time, it was not possible to do that, so I stayed locally and obtained my BS in Physics. Upon graduation I went into the Army and was assigned to the Corps of Engineers. That solidified my avocation for Civil Engineering, as we completed many civil works projects throughout southern Germany. After my 3 year tour in Europe, I left the military and decided to go back to graduate school and get my Civil Engineering degree in Water Resources. During graduate school I was guided by Professor Ralph Rumer, who was an inspiration to me and others. His dedication to the profession and his desire to serve the needs of the public were inspiring. Those values instilled by him, still remain in me some 35 years later.
The thing I love most about this profession is the ability to serve people. There is a sense of accomplishment when you see a project completed. I spent a lot of time in the development of hydropower projects, and as a I travel, I enjoy saying to myself: " I worked on that project".
I have done this and I often tell them, that you may not know now that engineering is for you, but something, like a levee working properly to save a neighborhood, or a road that allowed access for emergency vehicles, may be an inspiration to become an engineer and help society. Some students know from the beginning that they want to be an engineer and they need to be encouraged and mentored to guide them through system. But there are those that are not sure, many of whom are women and minorities. These are the ones that I like to target, to let them know how rewarding this profession can be. I have often told them, that you know you love you work when you wake up in the morning and are excited to go into the office. I have been like that for over 35 years and I still look forward to getting to work. More than once I have said that if I didn't need the money, I would do this for free. You can make more money in other fields, but the satisfaction of doing something that has a beneficial lasting impact on society and other people's lives can only come from Civil Engineering.
When I was a girl scout, and I loved reading maps. After I moved to the U.S., and was not in the girl scouts anymore, my mom asked me what I liked to do. I told her that I liked reading topographic maps. She told me: "that's kind of like a surveyor". Since we had planned to return to Costa Rica after a few years of living in the US, my mom explained to me that you can't really be a surveyor in Costa Rica and be successful. Plus surveyors in Costa Rica work for Civil Engineers. SO she told me: "what about studying civil engineering?" and I said "what is that, like law?" She laughed and explained what civil engineering was, and I said "Ok, yes, I like that". I was 15 years old.
After I went to school and started working I realized that I actually have had all the engineering qualities in me since I was a toddler: my passion for LEGOS, my love for math and sciences, and the need to know how things work and why they do what they do.
I think that engineers don't get recognized enough. Usually when a project is under construction, the project sign has the names of the owner, contractor and architect. What about the engineers that made the whole project safe and sound?
And my pitch to get kids interested in engineering would definitely NOT be by telling them "you have to be good at math and science". I did not always do well in math and sciences. In fact, I had to take Calculus I and Chemistry I twice because I failed both classes in college! And it took me a long time to understand negative numbers, too. I would tell kids that just like doctors help people with health- engineers help buildings, roads, drainage systems, etc, be healthy too. How? By studying and testing them, just like doctors do with people. By fixing problems, just like doctors fix our health when we are sick. And by designing them the best way possible, just like doctors help mommies be healthy to have healthy babies...this way, engineers help keep our infrastructure to stay healthy so that people can enjoy it (and use it) for a very long time.
I knew I wanted to go into Aerospace Engineering when I was in the 11th grade. I got a B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Miss. State Univ. (66-72). However, by the time I finished school, I was married, had a child, needed a job, and the Aerospace industry had hit rock bottom (we had already gone to the moon, the SST was canceled, the Viet Nam war ended, and defense funding was slashed). Jobs in Aerospace might last a year at best and then one had to move on. Many Aerospace Engineers were headed back to school to get another different degree so they could get a job. I was fortunate. I landed on an opening in an exciting field that needed engineers. It was water resources and environmental engineering. So I went to work at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES) where I worked and retired from after 35 years. It gave me a very rewarding and fun lifetime career experience. It also gave me a way to feel like I was serving my country as a public servant. WES sent me back to school for a year, footing the entire cost plus salary) to work on my PhD in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Water Resources Engineering. It was the best year of my life bar none. I returned to work after that year and eventually completed the dissertation and earned the PhD and my PE, thus, finally becoming true Civil Engineer.
I enjoy the fact that Civil Engineering has a direct link to serving America and its infrastructure. Without Civil Engineers, we would have no infrastructure. Engineers contribute more to the improvement of our way of life than almost any other profession. The results of our efforts are real, physical structures, methods, and other products that the public can see and experience. I would have never been happy in anything other than engineering. I have known for a long time that I truly like math, science, physics, and all the other technical foundations of engineering. I love to figure stuff out, and I love the feeling of finishing a real product that hopefully will benefit our society.
America desperately needs its young people to enter math, science, and engineering. We need to rebuild our technical strengths or risk becoming second rate and obsolete as a country. This is not the time to continue seeking careers in fields that have recently caused substantial fiscal problems for our country. The time is right (now) to redirect the path of our country, and careers in engineering will be a critical key. Civil Engineering offers one of the more stable engineering careers in terms of job security and the opportunity to directly affect the improvement of society. Civil Engineering has many avenues of emphasis and specialization that broaden opportunities.
I'm sure I was still in Elementary School. My grandfather was an engineer, and what he could do with the tools in his workshop seemed like magic.
The ability to think creatively and problem-solve.
I could say that today nearly all of us lives in a built environment and depends on its infrastructure, so tomorrow's engineers have the opportunity to make life a little better for nearly everyone. However, some kids might be more interested if I said that a Civil Engineering degree can be your passport to some really interesting places and outstanding projects. In some cases, Civil Engineers can have a real impact on people living in extreme poverty. When I was young, I had the opportunity to live and work in developing countries on large-scale irrigation development projects, and these assignments were the most interesting and memorable in my experience. Now I volunteer for Engineers Without Borders.
When I took a thermodynamics class in my junior year of college. Professor David Todd at UC Berkeley was the main influence on my carrer.
I love problem solving in water resources. (Become an engineer) so you can learn how to build a better world we live in.
I liked math and science even before high school. Civil Engineering appeared to be a great profession in which to apply them.
Civil Engineers get to see what they are working on, both in the lab and in the field.
A proficient civil engineer can almost always find meaningful work.
Tried Chemical Engineering at university. Did not work. Went into the Army. Did a tour in SE Asia (71-73). Saw how important water was in people's lives. When I was discharged thought I would try engineering one more time. This time my focus was on civil engineering and water. I Did well and I have never looked back. My 1st engineering job was with the USBR in Denver. I now hold a PhD in Civil Engineering Water Resource Planning form Colorado State University and I have worked as an international water engineer for more than 30 years.
It is an honorable profession. I have worked all over the world. I know that I have contributed to improving the life and livelihoods of many people. This is a nice feeling.
You will not get rich, but it is a challenging profession with endless opportunities. The excitement of walking along an irrigation canal, the appreciation of working with a team of dedicated professionals, and the thrill of having contributed to something that benefits people and their lives is a special feeling that is hard to duplicate.
I was committed to the field of hydrology and water resources as early as my senior year of High School. However, I didn't decide on approaching it from the Civil Engineering discipline until the senior year of my undergraduate work. And then I earned my Master's Degree in Civil Engineering.
Civil Engineering offers an opportunity to serve and accomplish good things for society in general. The water resources discipline (my specialty) is fascinating to me because it is such a precious resource and predicting availability and finding solutions is such a delightful challenge.
I would tell a young person interested in Civil Engineering that it is a fascinating career - and provides a skill that will always be in demand. It gives you a chance to help society while doing some very enjoyable work.
I wanted to go into Civil Engineering very early in my life. My father worked in the Civil Engineering field and eventually became an owner in a Civil Engineering business. He was my main influence on my career path.
I enjoy that every project is different. The same engineering principles exist on all projects, but each project has its own unique characteristics that make Civil Engineering a dynamic and everchanging profession.
If you enjoy math, science and making things better for yourself and mankind, consider a career in Civil Engineering. You can be responsible for the next bridge, transportation or traffic system, drainage canal, or water/wastewater treatment plant to help a community live.
The spirit to serve humanity is best accomplished by Engineers. That was my dream when I grew as a boy amidst inadequate facilities in respect of housing, roads and watersupply, a common feature in the developing world- that too in a small town. The choice of Civil Engineering was partly due to a perception that wider job opportunities might exist for them and this might be undiminishing even in the future. A doctor (or a lawyer) does a wonderful service to save (or relieve the pains) of a particular living being (in some cases, may be a larger section also, by a aprticular inventions).
A doctor (or a lawyer) does a wonderful service to save (or relieve the pains) of a particular living being (in some cases, may be a larger section also, by a aprticular inventions).
The engineers retain a pride to serve societies at large; It is they who ensure a comfortable living for everyone according to their means; by their ever admirable innovative and bold actions and marvels they always have a solution and it moves with time! The ingenuity of engineers is unique and dynamic and societies acknowledge ther crucial roles, always.
I love my profession q great deal. At the end of the day after serving as a civil engineer for nearly five decades, I find myself associated with over 100water projects in my country, India. That these stay as temples of the modern India and serve, in one way or other, over a billion people affecting their lives directly or indirectly is satisfying! This has all the more relevance in a water scarce environ. Water security is as yet a dream in India and likewise in almost many developing and least developed countries in Afrcia and Asia. The food security and energy security can never remain isolated from securing water and particularly so, in the GCC settings.
Civil Engineering provides you (my dear kids!) all the wonderful possibilities and opportunities to participate and enable the creation of better living conditions for ever increasing popunation, that run in billions in recent decades.
Only the civil engineering, as a career, can give all of you the best means to address the issues concerned with: (to quote)
"7 billion people. 7 billion dreams. 7 billion chances for engineers to turn dreams into reality"
My interest started to form during my freshman year of college enrolled as a "general engineering" major. I realized I had picked the wrong school for the wrong reason and wasn't at all sure what "general" engineers did. I began an exploration process through the University's career and life planning office completing several college level interest and aptitude surveys. This process initially pointed to architectural engineering which led to my decision to change schools. Through a similar process some interviews and assessments matched me up with the career field (or "rate" in Navy speak) of Engineering Aide as I enlisted in the Navy and became acquainted with the para-professional world of civil engineering technology as practiced in the Nval Construction Force (Sea Bees, or Construction Batalions) and the Civil Engineering Corps. Working as an engineering aide while I completed an undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics and served in the Naval Reserve put me in contact with a numerous "seasoned" professionals in the areas of construction management, civil design, environmental permitting, hydraulics analysis, and architectural and civil drafting. Eventually this led through several different positions and companies in environmental and later water resource engineering as well as a M.S. in Civil (water resource emphasis) Engineering. I am currently the manager of Water Supply and Resource Mgmt. for Colorado Springs Utilities.
The opportunity to serve society through the wise application of engineering science is what gets me out of bed every day. The provision and stewardship of essential utility services and resources, i.e., water, wastewater, natural gas, and electric power, forms the backbone of a civilized and developed society. The absence, in whole or in part, of these services is what distinguishes developed from developing countries or societies and limits the socioeconomic opportunity, health, and safety of their people. For me, this is at the core of personal and professional vocation.
It's far more interesting, rewarding, and multifacted than I ever imagined. When I first learned or heard of the field of civil engineering in high school, I thought "how boring". Wow, was I wrong or certainly, wow, how I've changed. This may seem like an oxymoron, but it's actually a great field for someone with a liberal arts background because there are so many opportunites to apply classical thinking in the application of grammar, logic, and rhetoric and of natural philosophy. Perhaps, most simply, if you've not considered it or don't know anyone in the field, start asking questions, make connections, explore! You may be surprised, and if you're not, if you find in the end it's not a field that energizes your best thinking and creativity, then at least you'll know that about yourself and hopefully have a better appreciation of the people in the field for whom it does. Perhaps it will engender a simple gratefulness that when you flip the switch, the lights come on, when you turn the faucet handle, water comes out, and when you push the toilet handle, "it" goes away.
I realized I wanted to study civil engineering when I was offered a stipend for a MS Degree and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering. My major influence for my personal path in engineering was my MS and Ph.D. advisor at the University of Pittsburgh.
I strongly believe that we are making things better for society. As a civil/environmental practicing engineer and currently adjunct professor, I not only am involved in numerous projects but have the chance to teach our future engineers things that I have learned. I am involved with drainage projects to provide flood protection and to protect the water resources and environment of for South Florida and in the classroom we are designing a new reverse osmosis drinking water treatment plant. I believe civil engineers make a difference in everyday life and I am proud to be a little part of that.
The first thing I would tell children and students of all ages is to look out the window. Engineers are involved in most everything that is man-made. Without civil engineers there would be no electricity, water or wastewater treatment, reclaimed water, roadways, airports, buildings (no building codes for wind, hurricane or earthquakes), parking lots, drainage for flood protection, reservoirs to store water, airplanes, cars, bridges, dams, tunnels, and transmission lines for fuel, phone, and cable, sports arenas and baseball/football stadiums, golf courses, parks, etc., just to name a few examples. I would tell children and students of all ages to close their eyes and imagine how they would feel if all these were not available for a month, a week, a day, a few hours, or even a few minutes. I would then ask them to open their eyes and express how they would feel without these items. Then I believe their image of civil engineers would change. I would also tell them that civil engineering is a good foundation for business, law, or politics.
I wanted to be a civil engineer very early, because my father was a civil engineer, and in my family , we have 7 civil engineers.
I think civil engineering is one of the more enjoyable career that one person can aboard, is really a new adventure, every day.
As a profesor of hydraulics for more than 35 years, I transmit to my students, that civil engineer is an adventure, that ends only, when your life ends.
I started college in electrical engineering and quickly learned that if I'm taught something using only mathematics, I could take it in, but not apply it well. While working as an instrumentation technician for the local electric utility, I was assigned to a generating station that was being constructed. The construction process was fascinating, and that prompted my switch to civil engineering. It was not until I came to the courses in hydraulics, hydrology, water quality and the social and economic aspects of water resources that water surpassed construction as my main interest.
I generally enjoyed studying civil engineering because it was logical and quantitative. As a rule, all engineering classes had problem sets that took 3 hours as homework. In electrical engineering, I spent 2 1/2 hours trying to figure out how to solve the problems and 1/2 hour doing the calculations to show the solution. In civil engineering, it took 1/2 hour to figure out how to solve the problems and 2 1/2 hours doing the calculations to show the solution. The classes in undergraduate school were well taught by faculty who had both academic and work experience. As students, we would study together, and I often learned as much from my fellow students as I did from the classroom presentations. In graduate school, this trend increased as many of the students had substantial work experience.
My personal pitch is: "Come join us in making the world a better place for the people who live here."
For too long, it seemed that our approach was to say: "Come be a math and science nerd with us." Math and science are the tools we use, but what we do are projects that improve the human condition.
I liked math, but I especially liked drafting classes. I wanted to carry both into a career that would also allow me to work outside. Civil Engineering was perfect. I decided on that major in high school and went straight into the major at BYU.
I thought I liked structures until (1) I took a class in indeterminate structures, and (2) I worked one summer doing research for a faculty member in rivers. I was SOLD! Ours was one of the first classes to receive instruction in computer programming: Fortran, with punched cards, long lines at the card reader, and inexplicable error messages. We also had classes in contracts, economics, and specifications.
As a career path, Civil Engineering has never looked better. We sometimes forget that our population, and the world's population, is increasing. The demand for building new 'green' infrastructure and for rehabilitating aging infrastructure is key to economic growth worldwide. And our need to bring environmental restoration forward hand in hand with growth means that the demand for civil engineers will only grow over the coming decades.
(I explain) that half the battle in engineering is to learn how to think to approach a problem very systematically and methodically, and that knowing how to think is the essence of being a successful engineer. I also tell them that they are not paid to solve the nearly impossible equations we derive together, rather, they are paid to understand them so well that they can simplify them and solve the simplified equations.
Life lessons seem to be portrayed more by who I am then by what I say, but I'm continually surprised at how closely students watch me for who I am. That, evidently, is very important to them.
I had no choice as a high school student growing up in Taiwan in the 60s. We just took the college entrance exam and picked the program we were qualified for based on our exam scores. At that there was a huge concrete dam under construction time in Taiwan, the largest in Far East. Therefore, civil engineering was extremely popular and I selected this program without thinking, just like everyone else. To be admitted to the civil engineering program one has to extremely well on the entrance exam. No regret though.
I love civil environmental engineering. As a civil environmental engineer, I have the opportunity to learn water quality control technology and how to treat water when it is being contaminated. In order to know how to do this kind of thing, I have to learn chemistry and biology, which is very uniquely enjoyable to a civil engineer.
Civil engineers provide life-comfort to systems to the entire human civilization for centuries at a level no less significant than the high tech folks who invent new gadgets at a rate as faster than once can enjoy. Civil engineering is the oldest profession and yet continues to be the most exciting and progressive field.
Early my junior year in high school at a career day, I heard a civil engineer talk about his career designing wastewater treatment plants and wastewater, storm water, and potable water facilities. It sounded very noble and he conducted himself extremely professionally. At that point I knew I wanted to be a civil engineer.
We can make a difference in people's quality of life and health while minimizing adverse impacts on the environment. Sometimes we can plan and design very large and interesting works while maximizing the benefits of using public money.
Here in the Chicago area we celebrate engineers week with engineers and engineering societies joining together to sponsor student competitions, study and working with grade and high schools with future City Competition, Bridge Building Contest, first robotics Competition, Essay/Poster Contest, and the Illinois science fair and celebrating the participants and winners at the Chicago Engineering Awards Benefit (Washington Award Banquet). The Chicago Engineering societies also honor a nationally renowned engineer as the recipient of the Washington Award. This year's honoree is Martin Cooper is a pioneer in the wireless communications industry, an inventor, entrepreneur and executive.
My pitch to students is engineering and science is fun and exciting. Ask an engineer to tell you what he does. I am happy to invite students to my office or go to their schools to talk about engineering and what I do every day.
I did not know any engineers when I was growing up and I did not know what engineers did. I was studying anthropology and biology in college, but uncertain what I would be doing after graduation. I was one of the first persons in my extended family (including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins) to attend a university, so I wanted to make sure my degree counted. Some friends pointed out that I was good at math and science and should consider engineering. When I returned to college my sophomore year, I was able to sign up for some beginning engineering classes and found out I loved my classes, did well in them, and learned about what engineers do for work. Because I was interested in the outdoors and the environment, I chose civil engineering.
I like using advanced math and science skills to solve problems that help people with some of their basic needs, such as designing new communities to live in or making sure their homes and streets do not flood when it rains. I like trying to figure out how we can continue to build new communities or rebuild older ones, yet keep or make our lakes and streams healthy andclean so we can continue to fish and enjoy nature. I like being in a job where sometimes I need to work outdoors. I also like the daredevil and physical nature of my job, when I do things that might actually scare other people or be hard for them to do, such as climb up a high bridge, or go under the river inside a leaky dam, or spend a day walking a stream in waders, or go out on boat on a lake with alligators to visit a dredging site. When I do these things, I have to figure out how to do them safely so I don't get hurt and the people working with me don't get hurt. I also like working with people, and civil engineers more than most engineers often need to work directly with lots of different types of people to solve problems.
If you like solving problems, like science, like to help people, and want to work to keep our our planet healthy, they should consider civil engineering.
I got into civil engineering, because I was influenced from my College room-mate (who was studying CE).
Service to mankind, more so than most disciplines.
Achieving the UN Millenium goals will require significant engineering mostly Civil and Environmental Engineering. The betterment of the human condition will only happen IF Civil Engineers get involved in the policy apparatus. Great opportunities for our young people.
My father is a civil engineer. I spent a childhood hearing stories about interesting projects. I still remember a couple of trips to construction sites. Engineering was never a foreign topic for me. Civil engineering is a great profession because everything that we do improves the lives of people. What other profession can say that you improve the lives of literally thousands of people every day with projects that may last a lifetime? Building a better world: that is the best part of being a civil engineer.
Younger people want to help people with a hands-on approach. The world is full of people who can identify problems. Civil engineers are the people who roll up their sleeves and solve problems. We improve the quality of life one city, one village, and one neighborhood at a time. Our profession is a noble one.
I did not know I wanted to be an engineer until after I completed my undergraduate work. I did know as a grade school student that I wanted to have something to do with preserving and improving "water". As a very young person I was not at all sure what that meant except that I knew water is critical to life as we know it and that preserving it was an appropriate goal. To this end I studied biology and chemistry in college and, as a direct result of the severe impacts of Hurricane Agnes on central Pennsylvania in the summer of my Junior-Senior years, I developed a strong interest in stream impacts. This led to graduate school at Penn State where I studied sanitary engineering including stream modeling, water chemistry, water and wastewater treatment.
I love the fact that I can be an integral part of the planning, design, construction, and operation of projects that have a direct immediate and measurable environmental and public health benefit. The opportunity to develop and be involved in projects that provide high quality drinking water, or result in high level treatment of wastewater resulting in improved stream quality and beneficial impacts on flora and fauna is a reward in and of itself.
Life lived as a civil engineer is a life full of interesting challenges and opportunity, personal satisfaction at achieving useful objectives and a small measure of satisfaction knowing you left the world a better place.
I was always interested in building and exploring how things worked. I was interested in a career as a civil engineer and an Army engineer since grammar school. I was fortunate to find a way to fulfill both ambitions.
The opportunity to create in a way that provides both immediate and lasting effects for the health, safety, and welfare of people and the natural environment.
Civil engineering is a unique blend of hands-on efforts and intellectual analysis whose goal is to produce tangible (real) results. These results provide great benefits for the people of this world. It is also a place where you can meet and work with some of the finest individuals with whom you will meet.
I was influenced by my father, a very talented engineer who has been active in many areas of the profession: design, construction, public service, management. When I was a senior in high school, I considered medicine and law, but my father's example steered me to the right course and I do not regret it.
The breadth of scope: water resources, environment, structures, soils, planning, etc. Civil engineering is the tree from where all other engineering disciplines branch out.
I would just try to present the ideas in the past two statements in a way the students can understand.
I was encouraged to consider engineering in high school and civil engineering appealed to me the most. I liked the idea of working on big public works projects.
I feel I am truly building and contributing to the community that I live in. I also like the "Green" aspect of stormwater engineering - we are learning to live with stormwater and make it an asset in our community.
Right now I tell people — "You will always have a job" and "The pay is solid" but choosing engineering is really a commitment not to be taken lightly. I also tell people about the many many related careers to engineering like drafting, 3D modeling, marketing, mapping and GIS, technical report writing, emergency management, etc.
Over 55 years ago I attended a High School Career Day. An engineer shared his experiences and it sounded like an interesting profession. I enjoyed math and science so it seemed like a good fit. I found a co-op position to pay my way through school. The engineers I worked with and under inspired me to undertake a career in Civil Engineering.
My focus is on water resources, transportation and environmental engineering. During my 37 years with the US Army Corps of Engineers I worked on large water resource projects including the $2 Billion Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (Tenn-Tom). I was privileged to participate in one of the first Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for a large water resource project in 1971. The EIS survived initial legal challenges and construction began in 1972. It was in litigation for 9 0f the 13 years it was under construction. In 1980',I managed a Court ordered Supplemental EIS and served as an expert witness in Federal Court to sustain the validity of the SEIS. The 234 mile Tenn-Tom, with its 10 locks and dams, was opened to navigation traffic in 1985. I worked with outstanding interdisciplinary team members on exciting and challenging public works projects during my rewarding career with the Corps.
For the past 15 years I have worked with Volkert,Inc, an environmental and engineering consulting firm, in the private sector. One of my assignments was to manage the preparation of an EIS to obtain Corps permits for a $300 Million container terminal for the Alabama State Port Authority. The project includes environmental mitigation measures to compensate for adverse impacts and provides much needed waterfront access and recreational facilities for the public. The APM Terminals Mobile container terminal is now in operation. Later this month the project will be inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. I continue to work as a Professional Engineer, D.WRE, because of the opportunities to promote infrastructure development for the benefit of the public and at the same time encourage environmentally responsible and sustainable development.
Civil Engineering is a diverse and challenging profession. If you want to be a part of improving the lives and safety of the public or protecting the environment or design large scale public works projects, then Civil Engineering may be for you. Also, there are many other specialties that Civil Engineers practice including structural, hydraulics and geotechnical engineering to name a few. Career paths can shift to meet new challenges like the environmental emphasis of the 1970s that altered my career path. A Civil Engineering degree prepares you to adapt and adjust to changing times and to effectively meet new challenges.
I had no idea that a history class in high school would lead me to civil engineering one day. Senior year we had to select one from several history class choices and I was bored with the same old American and world history classes, so I didn't know which to pick at first. Actually if it was up to me I would just go camping and backpacking with Boy Scouts all year. Since I had traveled around on camping trips, I was curious about my home state so I chose one called California History and Geography. The middle of the classroom had a large state map on the floor and things like highways and railroads were highlighted. I learned that the routes followed what Indians had found over centuries of experience the best ways over mountains. The teacher loved to travel and take photos, and every week she showed us images from all over the state: dams and reservoirs, freeway interchanges, aqueducts, ports and piers, bridges, electric transmission lines…all things that civil engineers work with. I thought it was really amazing how engineers had figured out how to store water in scenic reservoirs behind huge dams then pump it hundreds of miles to where people lived. Communities which had been destroyed by floods could be protected while preserving the environment.
My passion is outdoor recreation, like backpacking and river rafting, so I appreciate the natural world. Our society can't exist without minerals and water from the natural world; most cities of the world aren't in the tropics and so they would be uninhabitable without artificial heating and pumped water most of the year. I get to work with maps and rivers and snow and rain, and am on the front lines for keeping air and water pollution at bay. People can get by without 3D TV and the latest phone; civil engineers provide what is essential. No matter how far they cut the budget, people still get thirsty and they still have to flush.
There is some work in civil engineering that isn't high tech, but if you didn't love to accomplish solving problems in math and satisfy your unending curiosity in science you definitely would have stopped reading before here. The popular culture reserves the term "technology" for smartphones, websites, and entertainment like gaming and homemade videos. There is so much more to high technology than little electronic gadgets that amuse. Engineers solve the difficult problems, where most people get frightened by the math or befuddled by all the data. No problem, I say. We have power plants full of high-tech materials developed using advanced mathematical models designed to squeeze energy out of fossil fuels and survive tornadoes and earthquakes, making wise use of the public's money. Kind of nice, isn't it, that hot water appears when you twist a knob and goes away when you flip a lever, all for a few bucks a day. Highways last longer, stay where they were built, and save gasoline with high-tech concrete and retaining walls. Civil engineers ensure salmon and people can count on clean and ample water supplies, rising to the challenges set by scientists and politicians.
Would you like to develop apps for phones and tablets? Many bright young people are lured to work as "engineers" in the "technology" field which means that most of them spend all their waking hours writing software for "tech" companies. Their purpose is to push advertisements to consumers to buy things they don't need with money they don't have. This isn't the only "tech" out there, though.
I spend part of my work time programming queries in databases with gigabytes of water resources data, using those "other" keys on my scientific calculator, implementing complex mathematical models using the hard stuff I learned in college. I avoid spreadsheet programs because they are too awkward and not powerful enough. I get to do high tech software stuff while working with rain, snow, rivers, air, the real world.
I like having to be accountable for helping to solve the tough challenges facing our society that most other people try to avoid. I don't want to just point out problems or merely debate them. I want to leave the world's people and our environment better off, don't you?
As early as 12 years old, I was having conversations with my brothers on career path, and several options were thrown out such as being a medical doctor, an engineer, an architect, etc. When I inquired of the career path that had fewer women, I was told it was civil engineering, as it was male dominated at the time in Nigeria. I became interested and my aspiration was to be the first woman engineer in my town, which I did accomplish. The path was very challenging and intimidating.
Being the only female in a class of 150 students at the University of Nsukka, Nigeria in the 1970s, was very intimidating. I worked twice as hard as the boys to be accepted. In fact I had to take up a leadership role to become part of study groups. I literally forced myself on the boys to be accepted.
Honestly, state of engineering profession today is still strong as we have young men and women still fascinated about the practice; and engineering student enrollment is in the upward trend.
However, the amount of work put into becoming an engineer, and the expectation and liability involved in the practice suggest the need to re-evaluate the curriculum and the salary to be comparable to other high valued professional careers.
(My personal pitch to students to get them interested in Civil Engineering?) This is a very difficult question to answer as it reminds me that though both my husband and I are civil engineers with Ph.D. degrees, we could not convince any of our four children to get into civil engineering. I guess watching both of us get our graduate degrees while raising all four made them see engineering as a very difficult career choice. However, I still think Civil Engineering is a very rewarding professional career for those with analytical mind.
We should start as early as elementary school to explain what a civil engineer does; expose them to engineering through arts as the children spend most of their time at this stage drawing and painting. Getting them out of the classroom to the field to spark up their imagination will go a long way in helping them get excited in civil engineering.
My degrees are in Chemical Engineering but I became interested in water resources management mid-career and made the transition to Civil Engineering. I knew that I wanted to be an engineer when I was in high school, never looked back.
Being able to serve the public through stewardship of water resources and infrastructure planning/design/construction.
The rewards associated with public engagement, applied science and peer recognition.
I did not necessarily realize that I wanted to pursue a career in Civil Engineering until I began college, but there were many earlier influencing factors that lead up to that point. Perhaps the most significant factor was that both my father and grandfather were highly skilled in construction and related technical trades and I was always involved in or witnessed a wide variety of building projects during my youth. This not only sparked my interest, but paved the way to the career I have today and I firmly believe that involvement and or exposure to construction trades and practices at early ages never leaves a person and can have a profound impact in critical career decisions.
The part I enjoy most about Civil Engineering is seeing the finished product and how it benefits society and mankind. I find this very rewarding and is like the "gift that keeps on giving" far after design and construction are complete.
I have spoken with many youth and young adults about careers in Civil Engineering and encourage them to set goals and have dreams that will be rewarded when they sincerely apply themselves. This branch of engineering provides perhaps the most "tangible" rewards that we see in our everyday lives through a variety of sub-disciplines, Water Resources/Utility, Highway/Transportation, Structural, etc., and is something very worthwhile to achieve.
I first heard of civil engineering when I was a freshman in college. I went to a large meeting where undecided engineering students heard presentations from the four engineering departments. I liked what Dr. Jim Sims said the best, so here I am.
I'm a sucker for our impact on the quality of life. We help solve challenging public works problems.
We help people get from place to place, provide useful buildings for many uses, manage natural water sources, provide safe drinking water, and manage our waste in environmentally safe ways.
I knew as I was wrapping up high school. My father was the strongest influence, he spent his entire career in civil engineering (transportation and traffic safety).
The opportunity to work with people and help solve their problems or provide for better quality of life and health.
From when we wake up in the morning until we fall asleep at night, nearly everything we do involves infrastructure or systems designed by civil engineers. The water we drink, the bridges we drive on, etc. are an essential part of our public health, safety, and quality of life. All generations will face challenges in infrastructure, whether energy, cost, or environmentally driven. Your participation in civil engineering can help ensure the highest quality of life for those around you.
By the time I was a freshman in high school I had decided that I wanted to pursue a career in environmental engineering. With my mom working at the SFWMD, I was able to interview several civil/environmental engineers and the experience really confirmed that I was heading in the right direction. When I arrived at UCF, I remember reviewing a class schematic for the environmental engineering curriculum and I was very excited to follow that path. I've never looked back from that moment on.
I'm part of a growing trend in the civil engineering profession as females continue to graduate and enter the workforce. I often share my insights of the profession with female students in the hopes of encouraging them to pursue engineering. I tell them that their hard work will be rewarded with bountiful opportunities to make improvements in our future and everyday environments.
My brother was in civil engineering three years ahead of me, and I decided to major in CE also. My brother was my mentor!
The opportunity to work with people and help solve their problems or provide for better quality of life and health.
The versatility and different topics that CEs need to keep up on.
(One day, you can begin to) start reviewing major civil engineering historical mega-projects and learn the background leading to successful projects.
My Uncle, who was successful in the engineering field following military service, was an inspiration for me to start my civil engineering studies at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. Later my service as an Air Force Civil Engineering Officer gave me an insight to the profession and the quality of outstanding people serving the profession.
In the mid-70's, ASCE promoted itself as a "people serving" profession. I was fortunate that my employment in a consulting firm that promoted professional and civic involvement provided me further inspiration to serve people and my community.
I would emphasize "enjoyment" and creativity. Do they enjoy math and science? Not just they have to be good at those subjects and potentially discourage them early. I've seen students with average grades excel when given encouragement and support, especially from respected family members, friends and attentive authority figures. I believe the creativity with "Legos" can inspire young children.
A high school science teacher connected me to the Northwestern University summer program introducing students to engineering. I was hooked after a couple lectures — a career that used all that scientific understanding to improve things!
There is always more to learn, it is never boring. What I have learned, and continue to learn, is helping to improve the environment, both the natural and the human environment.
I love my job. Not many people can say that, but I and many of my civil engineering friends are still doing what we trained for because we really enjoy it.
I was born and raised in a small village in India. My family owned a farm, and still has the same farm. In the 1950s when I was growing up, the main source of irrigation was canal irrigation. India in general and my state, U.P., in particular have large networks of irrigation canals. These canals were designed by civil engineers and were managed by them. Without adequate water supply, farmers could not produce enough food grains, for there were no alternative sources of water supply. The canals made an impression on me. Further, those days the only engineers people in villages used to come in contact with were civil engineers. The civil works that civil engineers were designing and managing were attractive to me, not knowing that one day I would join their ranks.
Civil engineering is vital for the well-being of our society. It is the foundation upon which our civilization flourishes.
In the 7th grade I had an "a-ha moment" when our 7th grade class toured the local "sewage plant". As a 13-year old this was a whole new world that opened up to me! Wow I thought, "That's what happens when we flush the toilet!" That was the day I decided my future as a civil engineer. Thirty years later I'm still excited by my career choice and equally important I still keep in touch with my 7th grade teacher!
I travel the world with my family. No matter what country we visit I inevitably spot a facility such as a treatment plant or well site. And my family knows that whenever we travel and I spot a water facility I make a detour to see the facility and talk with the local operators. My wife and children, now grown up, have come to expect this and at this point they too can spot the facilities! When they do they try to divert my attention so I don't detour us!
As my children and their classmates were growing I use to tell them stories about how things were constructed; I'd put it in simple terms for them to understand. Whenever we were on an outing, sitting around the camp fire, on a school trip, etc I would point out features and explain it to them. This could be as simple as driving on the highway and discussing the bridge we just passed or taking them to a treatment plant where I had a construction project. The best way to engage the next generation is to start early just as I did.
I knew I was going into civil engineering when I was senior in high school. I have always loved math and physics, and civil engineering was one of the few careers I was aware of that involved practical applications of math and physics to solve complex problems related to the built environment and its inter-relationships with the natural environment and people. My high school teachers were key people for me to choose civil engineering as a career. In the mid-80s and with limited availability of computational knowledge and resources, some of them were pioneering the use of computers in the classroom. A few college instructors and professors were also great influences to make me choose the path of water resources and environmental engineering. My participation in inter-disciplinary projects as a young graduate were also very important for me to decide continue my career in these areas and to pursue graduate work.
For me, civil engineering is about finding new ways to improve the quality of life for everyone, through the improvement of our built environment and infrastructure, taking into consideration environmental, social, organizational and economic factors. I enjoy formulating complex problems with multiple dimensions that require multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches. I love the ever-changing and dynamic nature of civil engineering as a profession, and to be constantly re-inventing myself as a professional, in order to acquire knowledge from other disciplines.
Civil engineering is more than just construction work. Civil engineering is a profession that must incorporate knowledge in many areas. Civil engineers should be generalists rather than specialists. There are great opportunities to become a leader in this profession if we are willing to become leaders as planners and improvers of our built environment, but also as protectors of our natural resources, and leaders in our communities to achieve a sustainable future for everyone. Civil engineers have great potential to become advisors and role models for policy making when deciding about important matters related to sustainable development at the local, regional and national levels.
In about my senior year at high school, I read about China's Three Gorge Project and was fascinated about its scale and benefits. That was the main influence for me to go into civil engineering as my career choice.
Transform an idea or a plan into a reality delivering benefits to the people and their communities for improved quality of life.
Think about what difference you can make to better people's lives.
My decision to go into Civil Engineering came after I experienced the opportunity of working construction as a laborer. Determining how highways and dams should be constructed appeared much more interesting than constructing them. Besides, my hands didn't fit a shovel.
Every project, research or design, offers a challenge. Developing an understanding of the physical interactions and possible solutions is stimulating. Finding a viable solution to the problem associated with the challenge is satisfying.
If you enjoy playing in the dirt and water, you can make a career of it!
(I love civil engineering because) I think it's a great area of activity, where many of my broad interests are covered. Being a Civil Engineer (and some related disciplines) doesn't pigeon-hole you toward a single career path.
I typically don't recruit for Civil Engineering. And, the AAWRE designation is not just for civil engineers. I tend to ask students "where they would like to make a difference", and then point them toward the most appropriate engineering degree that fits their desires.
I realized that as a boy I never got enough of mud puddles and flow in gutters and bar-ditches.
I enjoy the opportunity to apply a distinct set of technical skills to solution of practical problems. Of course, my preferred application is water-related.
It's good work that requires intelligence and practicality. It's a mix of indoor and outdoor work, with the individual determining the mix. The pay is good enough to afford a decent living.
My exposure to engineering started when I was a young boy because my father was an electrical engineer and two of my uncles were a civil engineer and a civil contractor. I left high school wanting to be a chemical engineer but after working the summer of my Freshman year as a surveyor coupled with the fact that I was drawn more to the major civil projects in the world, I switched to civil engineering. My college professors did bring reinforcement of my selection of civil engineering because of real world problems being introduced in my classes. I can identify my undergraduate college professor for interesting me in the water side of civil engineering. My first job after obtaining my masters degree was with an international engineering firm that provided services on large dams, Corps of Engineers flood control projects and water supply.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to see my designs come to life as civil engineering projects. Also, over the years working on bigger and bigger projects as both an engineer and project manager. I have travelled around the world for projects and also maintained a permanent home to come home to. Civil Engineering also provided me the opportunity to grow on the management side to a Senior Vice President of my company.
My personal pitch would be to keep up your grades in all your courses in school first. Then take the time to learn about civil engineering by talking to your parents and school counselors and then get out and visit some of the major projects in your area (bridges, highways, buildings, dams, etc.). Also, the ASCE website and many other sites can give you a good background in what great professional work opportunities there are in civil engineering.
I figured it out during my freshman year in college. My freshman calculus instructor was one of those 'Rosie the Riveter' women who was trained as a aeronautical engineer during WWII. When she saw my ACT, SAT and proficiency test scores, she immediately told me that I simply must major in engineering. In those years, female students were not directed toward engineering. What a great opportunity for me to discover such a marvelous career just because I was exposed to a groundbreaking woman.
Best, I love figuring out the solution to complicated problems. I like the hidden and complex aspects of civil engineering projects like the sewers and pipes and conduits that are underground — multi-purpose project features that sometimes mask the true project purpose.
I wish for every young person to find the career niche that brings them the pleasure that civil engineering brings to me. I am still excited to come to work every day and it's been this way for 41 years. In the early years of my career, I recall awaking on Monday mornings and feeling excitement to know that it was a work-day again. It has always been astonishing to me that I would be in a well-respected position and they actually pay me to do this.
I made my decision in the 9th grade. My mother worked as a secretary for a group of engineers at Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Houston, and she thought that engineering was a great profession. My next door neighbor was a mechanical engineer for NASA at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. He encouraged me to be an engineer, and recommended that I be a civil/sanitary engineer. I followed his recommendation all the way through college and into the working world.
I believe that I was called into civil engineering to help people. I believe that I have done that. I especially enjoy coming up with an idea to help people, and developing that idea through funding, design, construction, and operation.
Civil engineering is a great way to spend your working life because of the opportunity to do something that is very rewarding and enjoyable while helping others.
It wasn't until my junior year at Bay View High School that I chose civil engineering as a course of study. The choice was made after I went to a branch library and looked up the definition of civil engineer after my father made the suggestion; his supervisor at the time was a civil engineer from New England.
For students trying to decide on a career, and especially those students with an interest in the environment, I suggest going into civil engineering; the profession that most influences how we treat our land, water, air and the environment.