UW-Platteville Students Examine Midwest Infrastructure Projects

Seventeen University of Wisconsin-Platteville civil and environmental engineering students traveled more than 1,000 miles across three states in late May as part of a five-day field trip focused on regional infrastructure and the social, environmental and economic impacts of infrastructure projects.

Led by Dr. Christina Curras and Dr. Michael Penn, professors of civil and environmental engineering, the trip was funded by the National Science Foundation S-STEM grant, “Socio-cultural Place Awareness for Civil and Environmental Scholars,” or SPACES. The $1.5 million grant supports two cohorts of 12 scholars through scholarships and activities designed to develop community-minded, socially responsible civil and environmental engineers.

The field trip served as a culminating activity for the program, taking students to civil and environmental engineering projects in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. The itinerary included projects in rural, suburban, urban and ultra-urban settings and focused on how infrastructure decisions are shaped by site conditions, community needs, environmental factors and cost.

The first stop was Verona, Wisconsin, where students met with engineers and planners from the city of Verona and Epic Systems. They toured Deep Space, a subsurface auditorium with seating for more than 11,000 people, as well as active construction projects tied to Epic’s corporate campus expansion. Alumna Carley Jones, a 2016 environmental engineering graduate and municipal engineer with AECOM, discussed coordination between the city and Epic on infrastructure planning for the growing campus.