Oguzhan Bayrak, Ph.D., P.E.
Director, Phil M. Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory; Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering; Charles Elmer Rowe Fellow in Cockrell School of Engineering
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
UT Austin
Like the profession itself, the education of "structural engineers in the making" exists between two competing factors: disciplined ways of thinking and a freedom to create.
In the eyes of students, there is a fine line between a well-organized series of lectures and an overly regimented course. Student aversion to an overly-regimented learning environment is rooted in the intellectual freedom needed to strike a balance between structural form and function. I try to balance the learning environment in my classes through highly-organized lectures and more open-ended design assignments and projects. This seemingly simple concept is very complex, and quite frankly, very important.
