Liftech engineers Derrick Lind and Anna Dix taught at the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) this year in association with the Engineers Alliance for the Arts (EAA). As part of EAA’s student impact project, local professional engineers visit classrooms to teach students about bridges.
The focus of the six week curriculum is for students to learn about basic engineering mechanics and design considerations for bridges. Using the principles they learned, the students also build a model bridge out of foam core board, string, and ping pong balls. The bridges are loaded with one brick at mid-span. At the end of the program, the students present their bridges in a competition against other schools. Each bridge team is judged on the design, a short paper, and their oral presentation. At this year’s competition, two OSA bridge teams placed first and second in their categories.
EAA is a San Francisco Bay Area volunteer-based organization founded by structural engineers. Its mission is to teach high school students engineering principles through the arts.
Derrick has participated in the program for 4 years and is a classroom leader. This was Anna’s first year, and she plans to continue participating in the future.