No matter the industry, making sure students are prepared to hit the ground running in their chosen field is important, both in terms of a student’s ability to find a job and an employer’s ability to make the best use of a new hire. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) has a program that aims to address the needs of both students and employers.
The Virginia Tech land development program, which started in 2005, continues to expand. The latest plans are for a new graduate-level program as part of the university’s Land Development Design Initiative (LDDI) starting this year, says the program’s academic leader.
According to Dr. Randy Dymond, P.E., F.ASCE, D.WRE, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, “While the LDDI program is now incredibly popular with our students, it was a call from the land development industry for better-prepared engineers that served as the catalyst for its creation. The diversity of the industry is appealing to the students, even in a down cycle, and they really enjoy doing traditional design-bid-build and the increasingly popular design-build. Many of them want to take the visualization of what they create and make it happen. They don’t want to sit behind a computer or be pigeon-holed into one specific area.
“Here they do all kinds of really interesting plans for single-family and multi-family homes, schools, firehouses, mixed-use, commercial, or industrial. Now, there’s a lot of redevelopment work and that’s a real mental challenge that keeps engineers hopping, especially with the focus on sustainability. It’s also a good vocation for communication skills and mental skills; I think we appeal to all that. We make sure our students start their networking education early, telling them that’s as vital a skill as math.”
Since the program began in 2005, it has continued to expand. “When we first started the LDDI program, we offered just one course in land development design,” says Dymond. “We did an evaluation of our graduates to find out how many of them were going out to work in this field or something related to this field, and we came out with between 25 to 33%, which is a pretty high percentage for having only one elective course in land development. We also met with firms. The folks I met with felt it was really two years before a graduate became profitable for the firm. It takes a lot of training—a big learning curve. The companies were footing the bill for training these folks and asked why couldn’t we do a better job at the university. And so, we decided to do something about it.”
The involvement of industry professionals in the classroom, and in curriculum development, allows the LDDI program to expose students to the timeliest challenges facing the industry, one of which is stormwater management and design.
“There was a huge paradigm shift in terms of how stormwater management was being addressed from pre-2014 and what we do now,” explains Kevin D. Young, P.E., M.ASCE, assistant professor of practice in the Virginia Tech Via Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the assistant coordinator of LDDI. “That shift was to elevate design considerations for post-development runoff quality and volume, not just controlling rates of runoff as has been done historically. It’s impossible to overstate the impact of this paradigm shift on the land development industry. Stormwater drives land development in the Commonwealth of Virginia more than any other aspect of the land development process. While regulations have made some projects cost-prohibitive, it has also forced developers to be creative to meet regulations and still make their project viable from a cost perspective. Students must have a firm understanding of basic hydrology, as well as these innovative management solutions, in order to be successful land development engineers.”
Dymond and Young formed an advisory board made up of more than 30 industry professionals including governmental, municipal, and consulting engineers. Additionally, they created a webpage and a newsletter and established the Sustainable Land Development Club for students. They also formed a sponsorship program consisting of firms involved in the industry.
“It’s one of the big features of the program that has surprised me how important the sponsorship became,” states Dymond. “I knew it was going to be great for the students. What I didn’t know at first was how important it would become to the sponsors. Not only does it give students hands-on exposure to the products they will specify in their land development design, it also provides a revenue stream for LDDI.” During the 2018/19 fiscal year, the Diamond and Platinum corporate sponsors contributed more than $150,000 to the LDDI.
One firm, Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. (ADS), has been a diamond sponsor for several years. The manufacturer of water management products also sees the great advantage the various LDDI programs bring to students.
“At Virginia Tech, the LDDI program is there to gear up these students for the real world,” says David Camden, P.E., territory manager for ADS and a 2011 Virginia Tech graduate. “The industry was giving feedback that students were coming out of school—I was one of them—and were not prepared to hit the ground running. This program gives them a real-life design experience and puts them in contact with design professionals who mentor them on actual land development projects. It takes what students learn in the classroom to a higher level of understanding.
“In 2018, ADS and the students partnered with one of those engineering firms on a project in Roanoke County. The engineers at the firm worked with the students on the entire site design and pulled ADS in for stormwater solutions. I worked with three students on stormwater management including capture, conveyance, and underground detention for a conceptual design that will eventually be developed.
“Plus, we hosted an on-site product exhibition and information session on campus,” he adds. “We brought in a truckload of the products that could be used in their design.”
The company’s other educational efforts include being part of the Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) Education Committee. PPI is the major North American trade association representing all segments of the plastic pipe industry. Its Education Committee develops technical content that includes technical reports, position papers, design manuals, installation guides, case studies, model specifications, and software tools.
ADS products include ADS N-12 high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe, HP Storm polypropylene pipe plus SaniTite HP polypropylene pipe, StormTech Chambers, INSERTA TEE and other fittings, Nyloplast Drain Structures, and geosynthetic fabrics and grids.
“During an ADS product demonstration on the Virginia Tech campus in the fall of 2018,” says Young, “a flatbed truck with products arrived and I and offered extra credit to my class for spending time going through those products. I think it turned out to be a great event. The students got exposure to what, in the very near future, they’ll be calling out on their plans.”
Young also advises a student club affiliated with the LDDI program. “Each spring semester I’ll lead a group of students on an out-of-town/overnight field trip, going to different locations in the state,” he says. “The goal, again, is to give students more practical, hands-on experience and to bridge the gap between the knowledge they gain in the classroom and the application of that knowledge in the real world. We ask our advisory board for projects that are in various stages of construction. We’ll tour some sites that have barely broken ground, some that are completed, and everything in between. A lot of the infrastructure ADS is providing is buried upon completion, so there’s really no chance to see it. That’s a big motivator for these field trips. Students are used to drawing plans in CAD, so there’s a big disconnect between actually seeing it on a plan and seeing it being put in the ground. We try to bridge the gap between the built project and what they see on engineering plan sheets. Field trips are a great way to do that.”
Without the LDDI program, students' first exposure to these products might not be until they’re on the job. “Because in many locations we’re seeing a migration from surface-based stormwater detention to subsurface, it’s important to bring those products into the classroom,” says Young. “That served as a catalyst for us to reach out to ADS and others to start coming into the classroom and talk about their innovative products.”
Young believes the program pays off, for students and employers. “During a typical academic year, we have about 300 students come through the LDDI courses,” he says. “We get positive feedback from the students. They fully appreciate the opportunities afforded them through the program, especially once they begin their job search. The majority of our students will go to work for consulting engineers. They could walk in at the entry-level as a development engineer working on concept plans, grading plans, roadway design, water and sewer design, stormwater design, erosion and sediment control. All are aspects of the land development profession.
“Students in this program are seeing starting salaries that are significantly higher than their peers and also receive a myriad of job opportunities. It’s not uncommon at all for me to meet with students during their senior year who are evaluating four, five, and maybe even six competing job offers.”
The early discussions Dymond initially had with his network of industry professionals proved to be the catalyst for the program’s establishment, and also highly beneficial for students and their employers. “That two-year new employee training period has disappeared for our students, and therefore, the recruitment of our students is hot and heavy,” he says. “Firms come from all over the country to get them and get them early.”
