Civil engineering students develop schematic for new state park

Thirty graduating civil engineering students from the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Engineering are putting the final touches on their schematic design for the development of a new state park in Alaska.

  Working together as a team, the class acts as an engineering consulting firm to design a system for a real client.  The class will present their senior project on Friday, April 27 at 3 p.m. in Rasmuson Hall, room 101.  The presentation is open to the public.  
This year's project, Denali View South, is a development project for a new state park located in the vicinity of mile 135 of the Parks Highway.  The park being developed is comparable in size and scope to Denali National Park.  The clients for this year's project include the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service, the Mat-Su Borough and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.  

Students were charged with designing a park system that will attract visitors to stay 24 hours or more.  The components of the project include a ranger station, a visitors' center site, a road system, RV and tent campgrounds, a boat launch on the Chulitna River and a year-round trail system for backcountry camping.

The course, Design of Civil Engineering Systems (CE 438), is designed to provide graduating seniors with the opportunity to develop a real-life project for a real client in order to provide them with design and office procedure experience.  Throughout the class, students work together to plan work execution, perform design, schedule construction, analyze the project's economic impact and conduct life cycle costing.

 

"This project is in the very preliminary stages right now, but our clients are serious about putting this plan into motion," said Professor Bart Quimby, UAA civil engineering professor.  "Each year we try to match our students with real clients who are looking for help in getting a project started.  This gives our students great hands-on, practical experience before they enter the workforce."
The local engineering community has been a great support to the students on this project.  The Society of American Military Engineers provided mentors for the various design teams and guest speakers for the class.

For information on the project, visit http://soe.uaa.alaska.edu/soe/courses/ce438/