Bridge Construction in Guatemala: Linking Social Issues and Engineering

This paper describes an interdisciplinary project to construct a bridge in rural Guatemala. Engineers, students, and others volunteered to construct the bridge while learning about the culture. The study goal was to determine how the service activity supported social science and engineering education. Responses showed that the North American students gained an increased understanding of professional and ethical responsibility, and that non-engineers developed a greater appreciation of engineering, and help engineering students understand how to develop engineering solutions in a societal context how to work in a multidisciplinary team.