Introduction to Infrastructure: An Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering

About the Authors

Mike and Philip met and quickly became friends at Clarkson University in 1994. Since 1998 they have been teaching courses and sharing ideas at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. They were drawn to, and have remained at UW-Platteville, due to its focus on undergraduate education and the dedication of their colleagues. The Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at UW-Platteville offers degrees in both civil and environmental engineering, with substantial overlap between the curricula. Students and faculty in both programs interact on a daily basis, and in fact it is often difficult to distinguish between students of the two programs. Both programs are heavily application based, with a focus on consulting engineering. The authors, and the vast majority of CEE faculty, are registered Professional Engineers. While Mike and Philip are active in research and consulting, their primary motivation comes from their daily interactions with undergraduates. They have had countless discussions about how students learn, how to improve teaching, and what students should learn.

In 2001, Mike began working with the Wisconsin Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to co-author the first version of Wisconsin's Infrastructure Report Card. This project truly opened his eyes to the vastness, complexity, and importance of infrastructure. Soon thereafter, a vision was developed for an Introduction to Infrastructure course. Attending the Infrastructure ...