An engineering class recently moved from the classroom to the quad. The “Build, Break, Perfect” class, taught to first-year students, culminated with the building of a 100-foot suspension bridge on DeBartolo Quad, in a single day.
The class taught by Luis Fargier-Gabaldón, the Massman Beavers Associate Professor of the Practice of Heavy Civil Engineering, is taught to first-year students. The size of the building team varied from five to 12 students throughout the 10-hour period of bridge construction. This is the first year the class has been taught.
“Bridges are a combination of art, history and engineering. They unite people and are a window into our past. They bring so many fields of knowledge together,” said Fargier-Gabaldón.
When it was completed, the students, faculty, family members and even the Dean of the College of Engineering, Patricia Culligan, took turns crossing it.
Class builds suspension bridge in a day
