Field trips help construction management students stake their claim to future jobs

Especially for students in elementary school, the excitement of a field trip is almost universal. Those who grew up locally may remember visiting places like the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Seyfert’s, The History Center, or Science Central. The chances to learn something new and fun felt limitless; the structure and strictures of the classroom were released!

Jeremy Milliman, a limited-term lecturer in civil engineering at Purdue University Fort Wayne, still encourages his students to explore possibilities by taking them outside to get their hands dirty, to dig into the places where they might end up working someday.

During the fall semester, Milliman’s construction management class visited the Indiana Department of Transportation district office, a major road project on Bass Road, and Science Central to see the planetarium that’s being built. His civil engineering materials lab also took a trip to Patriot Engineering for concrete cylinder testing and then to Brooks Construction’s asphalt plant.

“My goal for the students is to see and experience practical application of things they learn about in class,” Milliman said. “Seeing and experiencing the topics in practice helps make the content more interesting and practical.”

Earlier this semester, his soil mechanics laboratory went to a site near the St. Joe River to gather samples. Because the ground was frozen, the students had to break through the upper crust using pick axes before an auger could be brought in to drill eight feet deep.

Cold? Absolutely, but also very productive. Weather is always a factor in civil engineering, Milliman said, because most of the work is done outdoors.

“It really makes me appreciate the fieldwork that people have to do during the winter,” said junior Peter Swift, who hopes to design airports and runways. “It helps us gain an understanding of what a real job site looks like. Most classes will only talk about these things from textbooks, so it helps to see how something works when you go and see for yourself.”

Thanks to his internship at INDOT, Swift helped Milliman set up the fall semester visit to that site.

Junior Maison Summers said she wanted to major in civil engineering because there are so many specialization options. Civil engineers work in planning, designing, and constructing structures.

“The field trips also help people to narrow down what they want to do in their careers,” Summers said. “Do they enjoy being outside and doing fieldwork; do they enjoy doing geotechnical work; or would they rather do something else?”

Summers also acknowledged how central Milliman is the overall experiences.  

“He provides insights into the application of the labs we are doing and the point of why we are learning the topics,” Summers said.” Even though most of us won’t go into the specialty of geotechnical engineering, as a structural engineer with years in the industry, he can tell us how he utilizes geotechnical engineering and the importance of what we are doing, as well as the applications of it to other branches of civil engineering.”

Eighteen PFW students participated in the soil sample gathering expedition. Testing on those samples will continue throughout the spring to discover properties.

“Jeremy understands the field well, and when he doesn’t, he will try his hardest to understand the topic before discussing it with the class,” said senior Tommy Ngo. “He tries to align the lab with the lecture so that we understand the information from the lecture to the real world.”

As an added benefit, most companies hosting the classes are looking for talent and eager to meet the students. It’s also not uncommon to see recent PFW alumni working full time in the industry during the visits.

“The students get to see how much more is involved by seeing the operation up close and getting explanations from the supervisors on site,” Milliman said. “We could pull the soil samples in this course for the students, but it’s better for them to get a first-hand experience themselves to better understand what is involved.”