Civil engineering students in the CE 360 course (Geotechnical Engineering) can now develop geotechnical engineering skills better thanks to a $66,000 grant from College of Engineering’s continuous improvement initiative for undergraduate education.
The grant allows CCEE to purchase two soil testing systems, which will provide students more efficient practice with increasing enrollment in the course. The $66,541 purchase totals four similar systems in Town Engineering Building’s geotechnical engineering lab. CCEE Assistant Professor Jeramy Ashlock led a proposal for the grant award.
“The additional systems will improve efficiency to address increasing class sizes, while also allowing smaller groups to work on a machine,” Ashlock says. “This is optimal for student learning.”
Digitally controlled servo-motors within the systems test soil strength and compressibility under various loads and pressures, necessary laboratory practices in the civil engineering course. Accompanying state-of-the-art computers, instrumentation and software provide students modern, hands-on geotechnical engineering skills.
The grant is part of the collective $2.2 million distributed by Iowa State College of Engineering to engineering departments for continuous improvement in undergraduate education.
