Students in Structural Analysis I (CEE 159) applied engineering concepts in a hands-on truss bridge project guided by Assistant Professor Cláudia Reis, who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Lehigh's Institute for Cyber Physical Infrastructure and Energy (I-CPIE).
Working in teams over three weeks, they designed, built, and tested small wooden bridges using balsa wood and glue, following minimum dimension requirements of approximately 40 cm × 10 cm. The project introduced students to key engineering tradeoffs in time, cost, and quality, allowed them to practice design choices and construction techniques, and gave them hands-on experience in a lab setting at the ATLSS Engineering Research Center.
