Contributed by Ronson Fox, senior in civil engineering

In early September, two groups of CU Denver Civil Engineering students from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter and the Structural Steel Design Course took a site tour of the New Academic Building 1 Jobsite. In fall 2014, Academic Building 1 is set to be the first CU Denver exclusively owned and operated building on the Auraria Campus.

Civil engineering is a very broad course of study, encompassing structural design, geotechnical engineering and hydrology to name a few. As we approach graduation we as students need internships and jobsite experiences to help our transition into the workforce. To accomplish that Saunders Construction Inc. and Anderson Mason Dale (AMD) Architects have been gracious enough to partner with us to share their knowledge about design and construction.

On the most recent tour, a project manager from AMD walked us around the jobsite and focused heavily on the structural steel elements of the building. Previously, a group CE students from the Geotechnical Soils Lab and Foundations Design Course toured the project in its early days, back in the spring semester of 2013, when the foundation and earthwork were being completed. These experiences help us make connections between the theoretical classroom lectures and real projects taking place in our city, which is extremely important to our education here at CU Denver.