The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has received two 2018 Engineering Education Awards from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). The department won the $10,000 awards for two recent projects from its undergraduate senior capstone design course:
- Law Park Revitalization (spring 2017): students Kyle Williams, Miles Tryon-Petith, Erik Silvis and Muhammad Alqahtani collaborated with Madison city officials and the Clean Lakes Alliance to create a new design for Law Park on the western shore of Lake Monona.
- Interlake Lock and Boat Transfer (fall 2017): students Madeline Haut, John Dvorak, Erik Elliot, Keegan McDonald and Christopher Knitter worked with external partners to design a new lock and boat transfer between Lake Michigan and a nearby lake. The students’ design facilitated boat navigation while preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species.
Professor Greg Harrington, Adjunct Professor Mark Oleinik and Professor of Practice Charlie Quagliana taught the class that worked on the Law Park project, while Adjunct Professor Fred Klancnik and engineer Bill Wuellner mentored the students. Harrington and Quagliana led the group that took on the lock and boat transfer project and engineers Bill McWilliams and Matt McCord served as mentors.
Four other institutions—Miami (Ohio) University, Seattle University, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—also won $10,000 awards, with Seattle receiving two as well. North Carolina State University landed the $25,000 grand prize.
NCEES is a national nonprofit that oversees licensing for engineers and surveyors.