2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

(Case Study) Inspire Young Civil Engineers through Transportation & Civil Engineering Summer Camp for High School Students

Presented at Leading Change and Innovation in Civil Engineering Education

The University of Hartford hosted its inaugural Transportation & Civil Engineering Summer Camp for high school students in summer 2025 to raise public awareness of the civil engineering profession and inspire future civil engineers. This two-week program engaged 42 campers who explored various civil engineering disciplines - including structural, transportation, geotechnical, railway, surveying, and water resources - through lectures and hands-on projects led by civil engineering faculty and industry professionals. Field visits to the State Department of Transportation headquarters and a wastewater treatment plant further linked classroom learning to real-world applications. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted on the first and last day of the camp to evaluate changes in students’ perceptions and interest in pursuing civil engineering, while post-camp parent feedback was collected to guide future camp improvements in camp logistics. The camp was successfully implemented, with survey results and individual conversations revealing a clear increase in students’ interest in civil engineering. This paper mainly focuses on the planning, preparation, and operations of a successful and engaging civil engineering summer camp for high school students.

Authors

Dr. Clara Fang University of Hartford [biography]

Clara Fang, Ph.D., is Professor in Civil Engineering, and Chair of Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical engineering at the University of Hartford. Her research focuses on data-driven infrastructure systems, AI applications in transportation engineering, and undergraduate student research experiences.
Dr. Song Wang http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0723-3627 University of Hartford [biography]

Song Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Hartford. His research focuses on the durability of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials and their application in reinforcing and repairing steel and concrete structures. Dr. Wang has published his research work in highly ranked journals including ACI Materials Journal, and the Journal of Composites for Construction, as well as national conference presentations including Transportation Research Board (TRB).

Before coming to Hartford, Dr. Wang was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Construction at Georgia Southern University in 2018 – 2020. He has over three years of college-level teaching experience in structural and construction areas. Dr. Wang holds his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and an M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Shandong University of Science and Technology in China.

Download paper (730 KB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session

For those interested in:

Academia-Industry Connections
Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
engineering
Pre-College
undergraduate