ESSIE and Kisinger Campo: Partners in Shaping the Next Generation of Civil Engineers

Kisinger Campo & Associates, Corp., a multidisciplinary engineering firm and longtime supporter of the University of Florida’s Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment (ESSIE), came to campus in October to share real-world insights with graduate students in a finite element analysis (FEA) class. Engaging with partner companies helps students connect their coursework to real-world applications and serves as a valuable talent pipeline for companies.

Gary Consolazio, a civil engineering professor and FEA class lecturer, said industry presentations offer real-world insights that are difficult to communicate in class. They give students the opportunity to hear from current bridge designers to see when, how and why FEA is used in their work.

“Within the limits of class assignments, FEA can seem linear, starting at one point with a clear problem statement and ending at another point with clearly defined results,” Consolazio said. “In practice, the application of FEA is not linear nor one-directional. The presentation by KCA clearly demonstrated that FEA is often cyclic in that project changes, new information, or new constraints may force multiple re-analyses (and redesigns) of a structure.”