[On October 26, 1825, the Erie Canal officially opened. So this week, I’ve honored the 200th anniversary of that huge & hugely important project by highlighting a handful of figures connected to it, leading up to this special weekend tribute to my favorite current civil engineer!]
As will
come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, I’ve had the chance to highlight my
older son Aidan’s ongoing personal and pre-professional
interest in civil engineering many
times, both in
this space (which is the case for the prior two hyperlinks as well) and in
my Saturday
Evening Post Considering History
column. But I couldn’t end a blog series on a civil engineering project without
paying tribute to Aidan, and want in particular to highlight two different ways
I’ve learned a lot in recent months from his ongoing experiences:
1)
This past Spring semester, the second in his
first year at Vanderbilt, Aidan took a wonderful class on Urban Ecologies. Toward
the end of that class, he wrote an amazing paper analyzing multiple layers of
the city’s histories through pictures of one particular spot, connecting them
through a fascinating and compelling overarching use of the concept of a palimpsest. The paper was
entirely successful for its focal assignment, but it also significantly shifted
my own perspective on not just the landscapes around us, but on how we can use
that palimpsest framing to analyze community and history alike. Which is, I
would argue, a profoundly important question for civil engineers as well as for
all the rest of us!
2)
Over the summer, Aidan got to continue working
on a couple engineering projects with Vanderbilt faculty, grad students, and
fellow undergrads; he was able to do that work virtually and thus live with us
back in Massachusetts while doing so, and as his Dad I’ll admit that was my
favorite part of the experience! My second favorite part was seeing how much he
enjoyed and threw himself into the work, which renewed my confidence that he’s
in the right major (for now, obviously these things can and often do change).
But I also greatly enjoyed seeing the true diversity of engineering projects
that this pair reflect: one is focused on testing how smartwatches can measure
heat’s effect on the wearer’s body; and the other is a study of traffic
patterns at a particular Nashville intersection and what they reveal about transportation
in the city more broadly. Canvass White and Ely Parker would approve!
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What
do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment