Derek Lounsbury
CE 594
Personal Reflections
My experience working on this collaborative project has been positive, rewarding, and eye-opening. To describe exactly how this class has had an impact on me would be impossible. To say the least, this class has certainly given me a better perspective of how engineering affects society and how different societies face similar yet very different engineering problems.
First of all, participating in this class has certainly given me what I believe to be a more accurate perception of the processes involved in the modelingof a small variety of hydrological situations. Other hydrology related classes I have taken have primarily focused on learning techniques for calculating such things as time of concentration, IDF curves, unit hydrographs, and other specific values needed to model an entire watershed. These techniques were typically learned through textbook, “plug-and-chug” style problems in which every requisite piece of information was provided and all I had to do to calculate the desired value was plug numbers into equations. These problems don’t require much analytical skills or understanding of concepts. Prior to this class, I had a very basic understanding of hydrological principles or how many of the technical skills learned in other classes actually were used together to calculate characteristics of a drainage basin. The problems I worked on in this class required me to make situational analyses and to decide what information was needed and which techniques learned in other classes should be implemented to solve problems. For me, the process of analyzing problems and making decisions concerning problem solving strategy taught me a lot more about hydrological concepts.
Secondly, this class helped me solidify the idea that working in a field related to water resources or hydrology would be gratifying and interesting to me. Being able to travel to Mexico and see first hand some of the problems that its people have to deal with on a daily basis helped me realize specifically how proper engineering can affect and improve the quality of life of thousands of people; particularly, engineering pertaining to hydrology, hydraulics, and waste water management. One of reasons I have chosen to study civil engineering is that I ultimately want to work for an industry that is involved in the betterment of the quality of life. There are many different specific fields (e.g. transportation, structures, geotechnical, and etc) in which a civil engineer could choose to work. Most of the classes I have taken, which have taught some of the technical skills of those different fields, have been interesting to me. However, because those classes have been focused on teaching technical skills, I have never felt that any of those classes have accurately portrayed the typical problem solving process an engineer working in that field would go through. This class, through the type of problems I worked on, the collaboration with strangers, site visits, and etc, has given me a better idea of what working as an engineer might involve than any other class I have taken. Some might argue that students will inevitably gain such experience in the work force and that a course like this is not necessary. I feel that this has been one of the most valuable and enjoyable classes I have taken. Anyone can learn the technical skills. I think that the unique experiences of this class have given me a perspective that will possibly put me slightly “ahead of the curve” when I first enter the work force.
Working with students from Mexico reemphasized to me some of the essentials of teamwork. Communication is essential. We did not have very consistent communication with our counterparts for one reason or another; our project always seemed to be behind schedule as a result. While in Mexico, I felt like I was able to help the project along, but being able to speak Spanish would have enabled me to do more to help the Mexicans learn how to do some of the modeling work for themselves.
Finally and on a more personal level, this class and the trip to Mexico has made me realize how often I take for granted the things and lifestyle I have here in America. During the trip, I was surprised that, although Mexico is a modernized country in many ways, many cities do not implement methods or standards to improve sanitation and waste management. Also, trying to gather all of the land use maps, rainfall data, soil type maps, and other necessary information from Mexico was not always easy. I am now more appreciative of those who keep detailed historical records such as precipitation and flow rate records. I appreciate how technology has made it easy to access electronic copies of maps and information. I believe that modeling similar problems in America would not have been as challenging simply because of the vast number of records and files open to the public via the internet which we could not find for Mexico.