Spring 1998

Civil Engineering

Sculpture to honor Cecil Lobo; concrete canoe to sail again

An eight-foot tall, 3,000-pound steel sculpture that vividly displays a variety of steel shapes and connections will be dedicated May 2 to memorialize former civil engineering professor Cecil Lobo. Alumni are invited to the ceremony, which begins at noon in a plaza north of Olin Hall.

The sculpture and plaza were constructed by members of the American Society of Civil Engineers chapter. The sculpture was donated by the American Institute of Steel Construction through Benchmark Metal Products of Terre Haute and Ferguson Steel of Indianapolis.

Lobo was a faculty member at Rose-Hulman for 34 years prior to his death last year. One of his areas of expertise was structural steel design.

The Indiana section of ASCE recognized Lobo as Indiana’s Civil Engineer of the Year on March 25. Cecil’s sons, Colin and Trevor, accepted the honor for the family.

Kevin Sutterer will join the faculty for the 1998-99 school year. His areas of expertise are geotechnical and structural engineering. He was named the regional Civil Engineering Professor of the Year by Chi Epsilon and NSPE’s regional Engineer of the Year while teaching this year at the University of Kentucky.

In the area of student projects, Rose-Hulman will once again compete in the regional ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition, after a six-year absence; freshmen are currently conducting a traffic flow study of Rose-Hulman’s front entrance for a possible traffic light; and National Hockey League officials are reviewing an ice rink project in Bloomington, Ind., that was designed by five seniors.