Trine civil engineering students learn at annual Road School

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Eight students from Trine University’s Reiners Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering recently attended the 112th Purdue Road School Transportation Conference and Expo.

Held March 17-18 at Purdue’s West Lafayette campus and attended by thousands of professionals, the program offered nearly 200 sessions within 18 technical tracks.

Hemin Mohammed, Ph.D., associate professor in the Reiners Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said the experience was a valuable opportunity for the students to see how concepts from the classroom connect to real practice and industry leadership.

He added that it was about more than just attending sessions.

“It was about helping our students expand their vision, build confidence and realize that they belong in rooms with professionals, leaders and decision-makers,” he said. “When students can connect what they are learning at Trine to the real world of engineering practice, it motivates them to think bigger and aim higher.”

Different civil engineering fields

Justin Beck, a civil engineering major from Charlotte, Michigan, said he heard about the Road School from classmates who mentioned that it was a lot like the Civil Engineering Professional Development Seminar (CEPDS), which Beck attended last fall.

“I had a great experience, so I knew I had to give this a shot too,” he said.

He also attended because he plans to become a site engineer and will work with transportation engineers.

“I figured by going to Road School I would be able to catch a glimpse of how the two branches complement each other on some real-world projects,” he said.

He particularly enjoyed sessions about the master plan for a new Purdue campus in Indianapolis and how the city of Carmel designed safer roundabouts.

“In the Master Plan presentation, Purdue included multi-year plans and proposals where they highlighted different aspects of the project like multimodal transportation and how it would profit both them and Indianapolis in the years to come,” he recalled. “Carmel engineers discussed how making a small change like raising crosswalks at seven roundabouts on Towne Road would promote both safer speeds for drivers and better protection for pedestrians.”

“The most important thing I learned at Road School was how important it is to stay up to date with new technologies and best practices in transportation,” he said. “It reinforced that continuous learning and adapting to new methods is key to improving roadway safety and efficiency.”

Vaughn Cooper, a civil engineering major from Angola, Indiana, plans to go into bridge engineering and attended most of the bridge project and design/construction seminars.

“The most important things I learned from Road School were how complex projects are and how communication between subcontractors/engineering firms is so important,” he said. “It was also neat to see the things we learned in previous/current classes (transportation, soil mechanics, site development) mentioned in projects.”