Transporting supplies to and from Holmes Hall on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus just got easier after College of Engineering students designed and installed a new concrete ramp connecting the frequently used driveway and walkway.
The spring 2021 project involved 19 Society for Humanitarian and Sustainability Engineering (SHSE) students and other students from the civil and environmental engineering construction materials course. The ramp is located between Holmes Hall and the Pacific Ocean Science and Technology building. It provides easy access to the mechanical and civil engineering workshops in Holmes Hall, while also giving the students a hands-on learning experience.
The students worked with and gathered approvals from UH Mānoa’s Office of Planning and Facilities, Office of Project Delivery, Mānoa Sustainability Office, Facilities Management Office, Buildings and Grounds Management and Environmental Health and Safety Office.
The Office of Project Delivery approved the structural and pavement design and layout prepared by the students. Buildings and Ground Management helped with excavation and brought in fresh soil. The students then installed and compacted the subgrade and subbase, designed and tested the concrete mix, fabricated the formwork and rebar at the civil engineering workshop, and batched and poured the concrete using departmental machines.
“This project was a great learning experience for my members and I as we got to apply what we learned in class and also got to meet and work with different people within UH,” said Jolie Yim, SHSE student project manager and a senior civil engineering major. “Like all projects, there were a few bumps along the road and so it was really relieving and empowering to see something that we’ve worked so long and hard on to come to fruition.”
This work is an example of UH Mānoa’s goals of Enhancing Student Success (PDF) and Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise (PDF), two of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.
