Building Golden Gate Bridge
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Location:
DeBartolo Hall, Room 102Host:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences
Affiliations
Part of the Fall 2012 Seminar Series: Challenges and Innovations in Civil and Environmental Engineering ... Paul Giroux will present "Building Golden Gate Bridge." The early twentieth century was the golden age of long-span suspension bridges, yet the spanning of the Golden Gate Strait was thought to be impossible by many. Working in the shadow of the Great Depression, the builders of the bridge had to overcome daunting political, financial, and technical challenges to construct the longest bridge in the world in one of the harshest marine environments in the world. Eager to meet these challenges, extraordinary engineers and construction workers would converge on San Francisco in the early days of 1933 to span the Gate. Utilizing a combination of historic photographs and dynamic animation techniques, Giroux brings the construction of the bridge to life providing a unique learning opportunity.
Seminar Speaker:
Paul Giroux, M.ASCE
District Quality Manager, Kiewit Infrastructure West Co.
Giroux received his B.S. in construction engineering from Iowa State University in 1979. Since then, he has been with Kiewit Corporation working on a wide variety of heavy civil engineering mega projects throughout the United States, including the Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore, several projects on the Big Dig in Boston such as the new Zakim/Bunker Hill Bridge, and, most recently, the new San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge East Span. He is currently the district quality manager and ERP deployment manager for Northern California. He is member of the Iowa State University Civil Engineering Advisory Board, the Transportation Research Board, and is a corresponding member of the American Society of Civil Engineering History and Heritage Committee. Giroux is currently serving as ASCE chairman for the Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary. In 2008 he was the ASCE chairman and featured speaker for Brooklyn Bridge 125th Celebration in New York and in 2010 he presented the closing speech at the Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary Symposium in Las Vegas. He is the author of several bridge design and civil engineering history papers and presented nearly 150 guest lectures at more than 30 engineering schools throughout the United States.
Seminar Sponsors:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences
