Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged much of the civil infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, especially in the historic city of New Orleans. Reconstruction efforts and planning for future hurricanes in this region will fall on the shoulders of civil engineers. Most university students, even civil engineering students, do not understand the broad and complex role that civil engineers play in disaster planning and recovery efforts. To this end, a research-based course entitled Civil Engineering in the Wake of Katrina is being taught during the Spring 2006 semester at the University of South Carolina. This course developed, in part, from the author's involvement with a service learning relief effort in Biloxi, MS to clean up after Hurricane Katrina. The course was opened to both engineering and non-engineering students in the South Carolina Honors College. It is intended to 1) introduce the discipline of civil and environmental engineering to both engineering and non-engineering students, in light of conditions in the Gulf Coast before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina; and 2) provide a real hands-on research experience for exceptional students, which allows them to explore the many facets of civil and environmental engineering. It should be noted that this course is not an engineering course per se; rather, it is an honors proseminar taught by an engineering professor.
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