Civil Engineering Student Spends Summer on the Road in Poland
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Imhotep Jason Duncanson, a civil and environmental engineering student, spent six weeks this past summer in each of these four Polish cities as part of the U.S.-Poland International Research Experience for Students (IRES). Students from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Florida A&M University visited Poland to gain knowledge of European standards of building for construction and infrastructure, the main purpose of this program.
"Dr. Wekezer recommends students from his spring senior design class each year to attend this international summer program," remarked Duncanson. "And I was one of three Florida A&M University engineering students that got to go this year."
Duncanson, who graduated in the spring with his BS in civil engineering, continued, "It was exciting to be in a foreign country with two other engineering students and experience what Poland had to offer."
Duncanson stated in his mandatory report that Poland was the chosen country for the grant due to recently commissioned infrastructure projects for Poland's aging highway system. The IRES-Poland program sends a group of eight students to visit four major Polish cities each offering unique features and therefore specific engineering challenges due to terrain, historical significance of existing infrastructure's impact on the design of proposed improvements and support from Poland's leading universities' engineering programs.
According to Duncanson there are unique ways that Poland's civil infrastructures and construction sites differ from American construction methods. One of the differences is that US civil and environmental engineers must incorporate EPA standards in their projects to protect the environment. Poland doesn't have these kinds of environmental protections in place yet. So they construct their sites much more quickly than the US does because they don't have as much red tape to deal with from government agencies.
However, they construct and install more sound barriers on their expressways than the States. Poland uses a plastic material in the construction of noise mitigating barriers that keeps traffic sound levels low for the surrounding neighborhoods.
"Our goals were to visit different universities in Poland," said Duncanson. "Talk to their students and learn about their civil engineering academic disciplines and how it is the same or different from our education system in the United States. And to learn about some of the new infrastructure projects Poland is working on now to improve their roads, bridges and historical sites."
During their six-week technical tour of Poland the student teams visited Warsaw University of Technology, Cracow University of Technology, and Szczecin University of Technology. In Bydgoszcz students attended the international Ralph Modjeski Conference 2012 focused on new research in Bridge technology for Poland and the US. Bydgoszcz is known for its river canals as it sits between two rivers, the Vistula and Odra Rivers that run throughout the old town section of the city. As a result of these canals the city contains beautiful pedestrian bridges and is often referred to as the Poland Venice.
Students spent a week in Warsaw interning with PERI one of the top scaffolding companies in Europe getting trained in PERI's scaffold construction software and how to properly build two types of scaffolding.
Duncanson remarked, "The experiences gained during that time with PERI makes me appreciate the importance of scaffolding design and the safety it provides on the construction site."
During their visit to Krakow the students attended a presentation, "How Roundabouts in Europe Compare to Roundabouts in America" given by Dr. Marian Tracz from Cracow University of Technology. The professor talked about the International Roundabout Conference he attended in Carmel, Indiana and was impressed with Duncanson's knowledge about Carmel's roundabout construction.
Duncanson said, "Dr. Tracz referred to me often for my comments during his presentation on roundabouts because I had first-hand experience of Carmel's roundabouts having toured them last summer."
One of the highlights of his trip, Duncanson admitted with a grin, "That was fun."
Duncanson attended Perdue University's eleven-week Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program sponsored by the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) office.
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