Local civil engineering leaders share insight with BCoE students
September 21, 2010
STARKVILLE, Miss. —More than 80 students and professionals gathered to discuss the future of north Mississippi infrastructure at a dinner event on Mississippi State’s campus.
Organized by the North Mississippi branch and the MSU student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and sponsored by seven area companies, the event centered around a four-member panel discussion with area industry leaders.
Panel members included: Dwayne Boyd, APAC-Mississippi Inc.; Randy Battey, Mississippi Department of Transportation; Stanley Spradling, Calvert-Spradling Engineers; and Joe Wood, Gulf States Manufactures. Each answered infrastructure-related questions from the audience and shared insight into what today’s students will face once they enter the workforce.
The speakers stressed how important roads, bridges and other aspects of civil engineering are to modern society, especially in a predominately rural state like Mississippi. Dr. Isaac Howard, MSU’s ASCE sponsor, believes that the opportunity to participate in this discussion opened the students’ eyes to these infrastructure concerns.
“Our students need to understand that to fully repair its infrastructure, Mississippi needs billions of dollars that likely isn’t going to be available, so they will be challenged to preserve many fundamental components of society using innovative approaches,” Howard said. “ The panel members did an excellent job of conveying this message to the professional and student attendees.”
The meeting also addressed plans for the upcoming ASCE Deep South student conference. Mississippi State is one of 18 schools nationwide that will host a regional ASCE conference this spring. Events will include technical paper presentations, design competitions and an awards banquet.
Information about the regional conference will be announced as it becomes available.
Founded in 1852, ASCE rates as America’s oldest, national engineering society. According to its website, the organization boast more than 144,000 professional and student members and nearly 300 student chapters. For more information, visit www.asce.org.
For more information about the Bagley College of Engineering’s department of civil and environmental engineering or the student ASCE chapter, visit www.cee.msstate.edu or contact Dr. Isaac Howard at ilhoward@cee.msstate.edu.