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Do we have any chemical/civil/environmental engineers in the house?

ZomBrady

ZomBrady

Chubby Chaser Extraordinaire
Location
Albuquerque
So I am a super senior at one of the local UC's here and am majoring in environmental engineering.

Environmental engineering happens to be the illegitimate offspring of civil and chemical engineering. Whoopy for me!

Anyway, I was wondering if we had any che/civ/env engineers in the house?

I would love to pick your brains about the EIT and the PE, and generally annoy you with questions about your choosen field. . . maybe get some help with mass transfer too. I hate that class.

Thank
~Brady
 
I'm a ME, but I recommend taking the EIT as the initial steps towards your PE. AFAIK, the PE license is pretty valuable in the civil & environmental fields. And it couldn't hurt regardless of where your career takes you.
 
SBrad001 said:
So I am a super senior at one of the local UC's here and am majoring in environmental engineering.

Environmental engineering happens to be the illegitimate offspring of civil and chemical engineering. Whoopy for me!

Anyway, I was wondering if we had any che/civ/env engineers in the house?

I would love to pick your brains about the EIT and the PE, and generally annoy you with questions about your choosen field. . . maybe get some help with mass transfer too. I hate that class.

Thank
~Brady
Click to expand...

Yup- Whut? Mass transfer? I didn't take that, unless that is the same as Thermodynamics? I'm more on the enviro side of the civil field but I still review plans and do civil design at work. History in construction too, in a past life. There used to be an engineering degree call Sanitary Engineering, then about 15 years ago it was absorbed by the civil dept as the environmental side, but there is a lot of claim by the chem guys to it also. In theory anyways, in practice there isn't much chemistry going on in day-to-day operations.
 
Lawn Cher' said:
Mass transfer & Thermo are not the same.
Click to expand...

No, no, they aren't. . . wish they were though. I have this Evil swiss Prof teaching mass transfer, and he gleefully reinforces the fact that he likes 'conceptual' learning. Good way to go, but it's murder on us.
 
Lawn Cher' said:
I'm a ME, but I recommend taking the EIT as the initial steps towards your PE. AFAIK, the PE license is pretty valuable in the civil & environmental fields. And it couldn't hurt regardless of where your career takes you.
Click to expand...


I used to blow things up once upon a time for a living . . . .

I've got an emphasis in water quality engineering going for me right now, and it's a very nice combonation of civil and chemical, but still learns very much toward the civil side with emphasis in ww and municipal water supplies. I really enjoy it.
 
CM = Construction Management. That's what Fergie does, he bosses the Mexicans around.
 
Lawn Cher' said:
CM = Construction Management. That's what Fergie does, he bosses the Mexicans around.
Click to expand...


I should have known that since I work hot mix asphalt quality control for the last four years. . . .
 
SBrad001 said:
I should have known that since I work hot mix asphalt quality control for the last four years. . . .
Click to expand...

What do you check for, proper stick and stink? :laugh3:
 
Lawn Cher' said:
What do you check for, proper stick and stink? :laugh3:
Click to expand...


Actually, yeah. Lack of stick would indicate material failure, and stink would would indicate burnt aphalt binder, which leads to premature failure.

In addition to that, checked for proper compaction, oil content, air voids, agg gradation, and thickness of mat lays.

On the very bad occasions, I got stuck doing core sampling and profiligraphing. Both are exceedingly nasty. . . . >:(
 
SBrad001 said:
Actually, yeah. Lack of stick would indicate material failure, and stink would would indicate burnt aphalt binder, which leads to premature failure.

In addition to that, checked for proper compaction, oil content, air voids, agg gradation, and thickness of mat lays.

On the very bad occasions, I got stuck doing core sampling and profiligraphing. Both are exceedingly nasty. . . . >:(
Click to expand...

:D I love my asphalt QA lab job...

Three words an asphalt (or concrete) contractor loves to hear?

Remove and replace!
 
woody said:
:D I love my asphalt QA lab job...

Three words an asphalt (or concrete) contractor loves to hear?

Remove and replace!
Click to expand...

R&R boys, R&R! and it don't mean rest and relaxation!

Do you work in an independent lab?
 
Nope...I'm a "level 2 tech" with a NCDOT lab... also certified in HMA "superpave" mix design...

Came into the position after a stint as a construction surveyor... I got tired of being a moving target for pan operators and motorists.
 
woody said:
Nope...I'm a "level 2 tech" with a NCDOT lab... also certified in HMA "superpave" mix design certified...

Came into the position after a stint as a construction surveyor... I got tired of being a moving target for pan operators and motorists.
Click to expand...

Gotcha!

Superpave. . . the mix that can do everything, but sucks for most things. I think Ca is damned near the last state to not adopt superpave.

I wrote up about a third of the lab manual and calibration/verification manual for my old lab to get its AMRL R18 certification last year. Did a pretty good job too. my section of the cert only got three hits. Silly ones at that.
 
So y'all still use the old-school Marshall mixes? I-1, I-2, P-401 etc? Wowza! I ran a few Marshall tests back in the day, but that was right at the end of it's life here... all contracts let in the following year had superpave spec'd.

We're in the midst of a 'new' Technician assessment program... NCDOT took some dings from USDOT about our QMS program, and that was one of them. So once it's fully implemented... once a quarter, an assessor from the state materials testing lab comes out with his clipboard & checklist, and will peer over our shoulders as we run the battery of tests. :dunno: All the same to me... QA has no incentive to get in a hurry or fudge. It's gonna cause havoc & palpitations among the contractors' QC folks though... they're all about being in a hurry.
 
Marshall and Hveem stabs. . . .We're stuck with marshalls until FAA changes their spec'd test methods.

Anyway, I can say QC/QA sure did teach me alot about how to be a better engineer when I hit that occupation field. Definitely time well spent.
 
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