End of Study Period 5 Post

The official teaching period is now over, with preparation for the final exam beginning. Since my last post, Geotechnical Engineering N has studied the design of slabs, expansive soils, unsaturated soil mechanics and pavement design and management.

I particularly enjoyed the lectures on pavement design as it related well to the second-year course Civil Engineering Practice, and now I feel confident that, with a little more practical experience, I can design a road. It was these practical/design aspects of the subject that were particularly enjoyable as I learnt how to use software such as CIRCLY, CORD, and (GALENA). I can imagine that this software, or similar, would be used in the engineering firms I hope to gain future employment with.

As mentioned previously, I have a desire to become a geotechnical engineer and this provided great motivation throughout the study period. Unfortunately, I have been taking a study overload (5 subjects), as well as working full time this semester, and believe my grades have reflected these outside commitments. Although my results have still been strong (avg ~90%), I haven't been able to spend the time researching topics as deeply as I would like and have rushed a few reports.

Having said that however, I have made an effort to attend and research as many topics relating to geotechnical engineering as possible by attending almost all AGS meetings and a special Earthquake Engineering seminar in the study break. I found these seminars particularly interesting.

Overall, the lectures delivered and course content discussed has been insightful, but I did feel as though the last 5 weeks or so (after study break) could've been condensed into 3 or 4 weeks.