Communicating in Civil Engineering

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Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering Professor

When engineers write Specifications, they must satisfy both Codes and citizens. Consider, for example, that an engineer must design a flood control channel in a stream. The control channel, according to the Code, must be big enough to pass a certain size flood. Since the control channel is visible to citizens, it must also be appealing. So perhaps the engineer will plan a bike path along the stream. The path will have flowers instead of concrete walls. It'll look just like a babbling brook and still have functional control channels.