Marquette to host nationally recognized civil engineering speaker for presentations on the Hoover Dam and Brooklyn Bridge

March 19, 2019

Paul Giroux to present ‘Building the Hoover Dam’ on March 21 and ‘Building the Brooklyn Bridge’ on March 22

MILWAUKEE — Marquette University’s Opus College of Engineering will host Paul Giroux, senior estimating manager at Kiewit and distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, for a series of presentations on the challenges and lessons learned from two major civil engineering projects in the Unites States.

Thursday, March 21

Giroux will present “Building the Hoover Dam” at 8 p.m. in Engineering Hall 236, 1637 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee. This event is only open to members of the media.

The Hoover Dam is highly regarded as one of the greatest civil engineering achievements in history. Giroux will discuss why this is still true today, as well as the challenges faced in building the dam, the importance of the Colorado River in the dam’s construction and how those leading the project successfully leveraged new construction technology to build a structure of unprecedented scope.

Friday, March 22

Giroux will present “Building the Brooklyn Bridge” at noon in Engineering Hall 323. This event is free and open to the public.

Giroux first presented “Building the Brooklyn Bridge” while serving as ASCE chairman in 2008, when he was the featured speaker for the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. Giroux’s presentation highlights many of the challenges faced by and lessons learned from the Brooklyn Bridge’s master builders and the relevance of those lessons in modern bridge and design construction.  

Thanks to the Opus Dean’s Fund, the Connecting with the World Lecture Series brings speakers to the Opus College of Engineering to present on a variety of engineering topics.

About Giroux

Giroux’s work has focused on a variety of heavy civil engineering mega projects throughout the United States, including notable projects such as the Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore, the Zakim/Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge east span. In addition to his presentation at the Brooklyn Bridge’s 125th anniversary, he was also involved in the ASCE’s Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary Symposium, the Golden State Bridge 75th anniversary and the centennial anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal.