Bridging Work and the
Classroom
Don't let the picture fool you: although he is
perched high above the water, Stephen Cotter, E'98, actually got his feet
wet as a civil engineer when he co-oped at architecture, engineering, and
planning firm HNTB in the summer of 1997. Besides a bird's-eye view of
the Braga Bridge in Fall River, Massachusetts, Cotter (left) got a chance
to see and solve real engineering problems, as opposed to engineering problem-sets.
Still, with his clipboard poised for action, he looks ready to take notes
on anything he might want to remember on returning to the classroom. For
students such as Cotter-whether or not they plan to be engineers-cooperative
education, at its best, is a way of building bridges.