UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 32, Page 5
May 19, 1994
Student bridge builders

     This year, four mechanical engineering students in the senior design
course pooled their talents to build a bridge for the University's Center
for Applied Coastal Research.
     The center conducts experiments on ocean waves in its Directional Wave
Basin, a tank located on the Newark campus.
     To set measuring instrument gauges, students must wade into water that
is more than three feet deep.
     The mechanical engineering students addressed the problem in their
course and built a bridge more than 66 feet long that stretches across the
entire tank. According to Robert Dalrymple, professor of civil engineering
and director of the Center for Applied Coastal Research, the structure is
one of the largest span composite bridges in existence.
     The senior design project is carried out under the auspices of New
Castle Design Associations, which presents real-world problem for students
to solve through both design and construction. Robert Allen, assistant
professor of mechanical engineering, is in charge of the course.
     The team of bridge-building students includes Marisia Makowski,
Deborah Grohol, T. Rhamis Kent and W. Randolf McCreary. The group's adviser
is Ralph Cope, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
     The bridge was dedicated May 6 at a special ceremony.
                                                  -Sue Swyers Moncure