[On October 26, 1825, the Erie Canal officially opened. So this week, I’ve honored the 200th anniversary of that huge & hugely important project by highlighting a handful of figures connected to it, leading up to this special weekend tribute to my favorite current civil engineer!]
As will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, I’ve had the chance to highlight my older son Aidan’s ongoing personal and pre-professional interest in civil engineering many times, both in this space (which is the case for the prior two hyperlinks as well) and in my Saturday Evening Post Considering History column. But I couldn’t end a blog series on a civil engineering project without paying tribute to Aidan, and want in particular to highlight two different ways I’ve learned a lot in recent months from his ongoing experiences:
1) This past Spring semester, the second in his first year at Vanderbilt, Aidan took a wonderful class on Urban Ecologies. Toward the end of that class, he wrote an amazing paper analyzing multiple layers of the city’s histories through pictures of one particular spot, connecting them through a fascinating and compelling overarching use of the concept of a palimpsest. The paper was entirely successful for its focal assignment, but it also significantly shifted my own perspective on not just the landscapes around us, but on how we can use that palimpsest framing to analyze community and history alike. Which is, I would argue, a profoundly important question for civil engineers as well as for all the rest of us!
2) Over the summer, Aidan got to continue working on a couple engineering projects with Vanderbilt faculty, grad students, and fellow undergrads; he was able to do that work virtually and thus live with us back in Massachusetts while doing so, and as his Dad I’ll admit that was my favorite part of the experience! My second favorite part was seeing how much he enjoyed and threw himself into the work, which renewed my confidence that he’s in the right major (for now, obviously these things can and often do change). But I also greatly enjoyed seeing the true diversity of engineering projects that this pair reflect: one is focused on testing how smartwatches can measure heat’s effect on the wearer’s body; and the other is a study of traffic patterns at a particular Nashville intersection and what they reveal about transportation in the city more broadly. Canvass White and Ely Parker would approve!
Next series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What do you think?
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