Winter/Spring 2020 Newsletter

Message from the Department Chair:

Greetings alumni, Partners, parents, students, and supporters,

These are unprecedented times with a lot of uncertainty. But one thing is for sure - the Cal Poly community is more united than ever before. These times have shown us what we can accomplish when we work together. In just two weeks, we worked together to bring our Spring classes online and found creative solutions to deliver the same quality of instruction virtually. I am proud of our faculty and staff for adapting so quickly and proud of our students for their resilience and willingness to adapt to our new reality.

Thanks to our donors, we launched our virtual lab desktops which allow students to access lab programs and software from their homes. This was especially crucial during this virtual quarter so that classes could continue and students have the tools they need.

Although many of our larger competitions were postponed or canceled this year, we continue to celebrate the many achievements of our students and faculty. As you will read in this issue of Benchmark and Beaker, The Society of Civil Engineers, Concrete Canoe, WERC competition team, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and GeoWall celebrated special accomplishments.

Our donors and industry Partners were especially instrumental this year in helping us upgrade technology, our lab spaces, and gave students more opportunities for hands-on learning. Our Industrial Partnership Program completed another year of successful recruiting for our corporate partners and we held our first construction engineering career fair.

On behalf of the entire department, I want to thank you for your support over the past year and as we continue this new journey navigating COVID-19.

Stay safe and well. We will see you on campus very soon.

Sincerely,

Charles Chadwell, Ph.D., P.E.

Department Chair