Engineering students build bridges to campus and community

Two pedestrian timber bridges are ready to connect people and places on campus and beyond. Designed and built by Central Civil Engineering students, the campus community celebrated the finished products on Aug. 19 during a ceremony at the university’s Applied Innovation Hub.

Led by Engineering Professor Dr. Bin “Brenda” Zhou, the annual bridge project gives students the opportunity to manage a real-world municipal project from design through construction while working with community partners. The initiative began in 2018 as the capstone project of five female engineering students under Zhou’s supervision. 

This year marks the second time that two timber bridges have been designed and constructed during the same academic year.

“Bridges connect people, create opportunities, and carry us from one place to the next,” Central President Zulma R. Toro said during the ceremony. “Today, we dedicate two bridges that reflect those same ideals, each one built by our Civil Engineering students through teamwork, creativity, and service to others.”

One of this year’s bridges has been dedicated to Central and is installed in the center of campus. It will be featured as part of a ceremony for sophomores who have successfully completed their first year at the university and are beginning the next milestone in their college journey. The bridge was designed and constructed by Gavin Fraczek, Andrew Hedges, Travis McClay, and Jack Villano.
For Hedges, the project provided an opportunity to connect classroom learning with professional practice.

“We learned so much in terms of fundamentals in class, but this is a great chance to work with others through a group project and apply it to a real-world project,” Hedges said. “I know working this summer as an engineer, it’s already helped me so much because I can see the connection between what we did in school for this project and at my job as a bridge design engineer at the D.O.T.”

The second bridge will be installed at Baummer Pond Park in Naugatuck. Designed as a twin-bridge structure, the project was developed to meet the needs of the community. It was constructed by Kamil Kwiecien, Nassem Abughneim, Gabriel Quinn, and Abdallah Abukwaik.

“Being a Naugatuck Valley kid myself, I really do strive to make the Valley a better place, and that includes even building a bridge to replace a structure at the Baummer Pond,” Quinn said.
The Naugatuck project was co-funded through Central’s Faculty-Student Research Grant and with support from International Building Supply of Naugatuck.

The Aug. 19 ceremony brought together members of the Central and local communities, including James R. Stewart, director of Public Works for the Borough of Naugatuck; Thomas J. Roy, director of Public Works for the Town of Simsbury and an adjunct Engineering professor at Central; and Dr. Young Moo Sohn, faculty advisor in Central’s School of Engineering Science and Technology.

“Today’s ceremony is dedicated to celebrating our students’ remarkable achievements and our strong partnership with local communities,” Zhou said. “It is a testament to the high-quality education in Civil Engineering at Central Connecticut State University.”