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Research
> Environmental Engineering
| Geotechnical Engineering |
| Structural Engineering
| Transportation Engineering
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Structural Engineering Program
Lead Faculty: Sameh S. Badie, PhD, PE
“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.”
William Jennings Bryan, American statesman
Do you ever wonder what path you would follow to become the chief executive officer (CEO)
of a construction company . . . or what steps you might take to become the state bridge
engineer? How about a career with a large consulting firm? The first step is
to earn a degree in Civil Engineering with emphasis in structural engineering.
Structural engineers deal with a wide variety of issues ranging from choosing the load bearing
system and the proper construction material to construction. In between, there are various
steps that structural engineers have to tackle such as estimation of loads, preliminary design,
conducting structural analysis to determine straining actions, investigation of the physical
and mechanical properties of the construction material, producing final plans, details and cost
estimates, and preparing bidding documents and construction specifications.
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In addition to design of new structures, structural engineers
deal with investigation
of failures due to natural events such
as earthquakes and wind storms.
Watch videos of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse:
Part 1, and Part 2.
Please be patient with download.
Also, read interesting facts
about the collapse.
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The structural engineering program of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at The
George Washington University has an international reputation for excellence at the undergraduate
and graduate levels. It offers excellent opportunities for study and research leading to advanced
degrees. Today, this tradition of excellence continues through vigorous programs of basic
and applied research, and careful attention to instruction.
The structural engineering program is coordinated by
Sameh S. Badie, PhD, PE.
Dr. Badie Specializes in the area of design and analysis of reinforced and prestressed concrete
structures. Dr. Sameh S. Badie, PhD, PE. is the coordinator of the structural engineering program.
His area of specialty is advanced concrete materials (HPC), use of corrosion resistant reinforcement
in reinforced concrete structures, application of prestressed concrete in buildings and bridges.
Dr. Badie has provided guidance and supervised various projects including the Student Bridge Design
Award Competition in 2001. He is an author of many publications and received the ACI-structural
engineering design award in 2000 for his paper, "Innovative Bridge Panel System A Success".
Another of his publications was cited in a survey of PCI (Precast Concrete Institute) JOURNAL readers
as one of the top ten useful papers by designers and plant engineers. He is a nationally renowned
structural engineering professional and has lead a number of successful research projects.
The structural engineering program contains courses that cover the following areas:
- Theory, such as:
- CE215: Theory of Structural Stability
- CE216: Structural Dynamics
- CE217: Random Vibration of Structures
- CE220: Continuum Mechanics
- CE221: Theory of Elasticity I
- CE222: Plasticity
- CE223: Mechanics of Composite Materials
- CE223: CE320: Theory of Elasticity I
- CE223: CE321: Mechanics of Nonlinear Continua
- Structural analysis, such as:
- CE205: Advanced Strength of Material
- CE210: Methods of Structural Analysis
- CE214: Analysis of Plates and Shells
- CE227: Introduction to Finite Element
- CE228: Advanced Finite Element Analysis
- Design and construction, such as:
In order to add a practical side to the course material and expose the students to real life
problems, the following actions are implemented in most of the design courses:
- Technical papers and design projects: Students are required to provide a
report of the project and prepare a power point presentation and present it in the class.
Please check some of the presentations that were presented by students in the last two years.
- Field trips to construction sites and companies. Please see photos of the CE207
(Prestressed Concrete) visit to Bayshore Company (a precast concrete producer in VA)
in 2003. (Field Trip photos coming soon.)
- Seminars:
- Design-build national competitions:
- The ASCE steel bridge competition (Photos coming soon.)
Recently, the CEE department signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), Washington DC. Under this agreement, the CEE department and
FHWA have the opportunity to be engaged in the following activities:
- Field trips for the CEE undergraduate students to the laboratory facilities of FHWA at
the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC).
These trips could include a detailed review of the work being performed in any of the TFHRC’s
25 laboratories.
- GWU/FWHA internship program: where GWU undergraduate students may work in FHWA
as interns. Appropriate internships may involve observing and contributing to design
and testing, observing highway construction, or learning the economics or marketing of
engineering and products.
- Dual oversight of graduate students in CE298, “Independent Study,” where a GWU student
registered for this course will be supervised by a CEE faculty member and an FHWA employee.
- Provide mentoring and technical advice, and collaboration with the student
volunteers’ advisors, on activities performed at TFHRC associated with M.Sc. theses and D.Sc.
dissertations. This year, students in the CE196 class (Senior Design Course) are
building a concrete beam reinforced with fiber plastic reinforcing bars and testing it
at FHWA. (More information and pictures will be available soon.)
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