Skip to main content
Intellect

BYU engineering professor, student win national paper award

A paper co-authored by Brigham Young University civil and environmental engineering professor Rollin Hotchkiss and former graduate student Brad Singley was selected as this year’s Best Zone Paper by the American Society of Engineering Education.

Their paper examined an affordable method of bringing engineering education to developing countries using computer simulations.

“Dr. Hotchkiss and I were looking for a way to teach a very specialized subject,” said Singley, who now works as a hydraulic engineer in Seattle. “Computer-based learning seemed like the most cost-effective and time-efficient way to reach these engineers,.”

Many developing nations face the problem of sedimentation buildup in reservoirs, thus rendering water stores useless, Hotchkiss said. Through his work with UNESCO, he was asked to find an inexpensive way to train engineers, technicians and students to solve sedimentation problems.

Using Adobe Flash, Singley and Hotchkiss created an interactive computer program that puts users in the shoes of an employee working at a fictional reservoir. Students collect their own data with tools found in their virtual office and then learn to apply engineering principles just as they would at an actual job site.

The engineering “video game” has proven to be an effective teaching tool, Singley said.

For more information, contact Krista Tripodi at krista_tripodi@byu.edu or (801) 422.3948.

Writer: Brady Toone

Hotchkiss,Rollin--CivilandEnvironmental.jpg
Photo by Kenny Crookston/BYU Photo

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Innovative group of BYU students roll out new AI tech to solve parking problems

March 19, 2024
A group of enterprising BYU students aim to significantly — if not entirely — reduce parking violations in paid parking lots, college and otherwise. And their idea, an AI detection and tracking system called Spot Parking (more on that in a minute), just got a major endorsement and $12,000 in cash by winning the 2024 BYU Student Innovator of the Year (SIOY) competition.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Q&A with President Reese on BYU’s undergraduate teaching focus

March 15, 2024
In this Q&A series with President Reese, he shares more about the seven initiatives he shared in his 2023 inaugural response and how they apply to BYU employees.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU math videos aim to transform equations into excitement

March 13, 2024
From calculating the perfect bottle flip to understanding how much force is behind a penny dropped off a skyscraper, Math the World videos creatively answer the age-old math question, “When will I ever use this?”
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=