What Do Civil Engineers Do?

If you look around, civil engineering is everywhere! Meet three civil engineers whose work is having a real impact on people's lives. Whether involved in projects underground, on huge structures or meeting the water needs of developing communities, these engineers are making a difference. See if you have what it takes to be a civil engineer.

- [Narrator] Civil
engineering is everywhere.

It's in every road you drive.

It's in the clean water you drink.

It's where you live, work, and play.

It really is all around you.

Civil engineers help improve the lives

of millions of people every day.

We're gonna meet three civil engineers

and look at some of the real ways

that they're helping
communities right now.

America's waterway system is
home to an entire ecosystem.

The animals that live in
the water depend on us

to keep their communities clean.

This is James Wonneberg.

James is working to create a
healthy habitat and ecosystem

in Washington D.C.'s Potomac River.

He's a resident engineer
for the Blue Plains Tunnel,

part of the D.C. Clean Rivers project.

This tunnel project is
using a massive drill

that's almost 30 feet high
and over 400 feet long.

- This is my office.

We're here for D.C. Water,

working on the Clean Rivers project.

This project is intended to
eliminate sewer overflows

into the D.C. Waterways, which ultimately

go down to the Chesapeake Bay.

So we're cleaning up the rivers.

Right now, we're working on a deep tunnel.

It's called the Blue Plains Tunnel

and this is going to capture
storm water underground

and allow that to be treated
later after a big rain event.

The tunnel boring
machine we are using here

is an amazing piece of equipment.

It's fantastic.

It's 26 foot diameter,

and it bores horizontally,
underground, like a drill

and it holds back all
of the earth pressures

and the hydrostatic forces

that are below ground at that depth.

It also allows us to
install the precast rings.

They're made out of
concrete precast segments

and that ring forms the
pipe that will be there

permanently after we're
finished digging the tunnel.

Civil engineering is a,
it's a fantastic profession.

It really deals with engineering
all of the world around us.

There's infrastructure on the surface.

Things that people see and use everyday,

like roadways, bridges,
things of that nature.

Then there's also a tremendous
amount of civil engineering

below the surface that no one ever sees,

and that's what we're dealing with here.

In my view, that's one of the best parts

of civil engineering, is
working on the underground side

and it's so much fun.

I never imagined I'd be able
to work on something this cool,

but I always had an
interest in big projects.

I love being a part of
it, it's a great mission.

I come to work every
day excited to do this

and we can't wait to see the end result

of all the hard work.

My name's James, and I'm a civil engineer.

- [Narrator] Hurricanes can
destroy entire communities

that then take years to rebuild.

Maggie Jakes is a civil
engineer who went to Haiti

to help restore clean drinking
water after the hurricane.

Maggie was forever changed
through her experiences in Haiti,

helping a desperate
community and touching lives.

- [Maggie] So my junior year in college

my professor did a presentation
on his trip to Haiti

and what he found when he was there

and their biggest problem
was drinking water.

They didn't have clean water to drink

and thousands of people are
dying each year because of this.

So he was trying to get
civil engineering students

from Merrimack to travel there.

2011 we traveled to
Haiti for the first time.

We went to a town called Marmont

and this is where severe cholera
outbreaks hit every year.

There used to be a clinic there

and we saw all the
cholera tents still set up

from their recent outbreak.

The system was damaged
by the 2010 earthquake

and it was broken in a few places.

But the water was relatively clean.

So we made a few repairs to that

and then they were just so
grateful that we were there.

Because we were there, we gave them hope.

In the United States, we're really lucky

to have access to clean water

and that's thanks to years
of hardworking engineers.

My experiences in Haiti and
my later years at college

really opened my eyes to
how many possibilities

there really are for
civil engineers to help.

My name is Maggie Jakes,
and I'm a civil engineer.

(crowd cheers)

- [Narrator] Ah, baseball.

The crack of the bat.

The roar of the crowd.

The amazing ballparks that are home

to our national pass time.

Meet Aaron White, the
civil engineer in charge

of designing the
hurricane-proof retractable roof

at the Marlins Park in Florida.

- [Aaron] This is the
first roof in the world

that was designed for a
category five hurricane.

It weighs roughly 7,800 tons of steel

and it was actually
designed to be positioned

in a slightly open
position for the hurricanes

to let wind into the
space and then back out

to decrease the wind pressure on the roof.

Obviously any time there's
a threat of a rainstorm

during a game, you have the
problem of the rain delay.

And if you know Miami, it rains here

pretty much every day during the summer.

So they have the ability to
close the roof very quickly

if there's an impending
thunderstorm or rainstorm.

So there's a guarantee that the

game's gonna happen every night

and that's extremely important.

The mechanization is very efficient.

It's designed so it only
costs about 10 dollars

in electricity to move
the roof open and closed.

So early on in the design
we tried to establish

what the minimum height of the roof

over the playing field actually is.

So, we scoured the internet
and found some equations

that are put out by NASA, I believe,

for the flight of a batted ball.

And through those equations
you can actually calculate

the flight of the batted
ball at all different angles

of the ball leaving the bat.

So if it goes straight up in the air,

it goes straight horizontally,

or it's some nice
trajectory of a line drive.

And so we actually created
those shapes early on

and put them over the playing field

to make sure that the shape of the roof

that was above the playing field

would never come in
contact with a batted ball.

We really interact with a lot of people.

So there's a common
conception that engineers

just kinda go in their office

and work by themselves doing calculations.

But that couldn't be
further from the truth.

I'm Aaron White, and I'm a civil engineer.

(upbeat electronic music)

- [Narrator] Civil
engineers have cool jobs.

They're creative and innovative people.

They make an impact and change lives,

making our world a better place.

The bottom line: if you
want an amazing career

that makes a difference,
then do something real.

Be a civil engineer.

(upbeat electronic music)