Being relatively small compared to other departments, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) affords the luxury of sending its students to annual overseas trips. Such trips give participants the chance to learn and apply their knowledge more actively, as well as gain insight and inspiration from actual tours on major urban development or construction sites. Participants also have abundant opportunities to reflect on the various research and career paths in the field, as well as hear from esteemed faculty on the research areas being pursued in their labs or universities.

Last summer of 2022, students visited two universities — National University of Singapore (NUS) and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand — and had meaningful seminars, tours, and workshops with representatives from each of the university’s respective Civil Engineering departments. Students were separated into groups based on their preferred tracks, and then introduced to various labs and research in the university. Ysa Margarita San Juan, currently a fourth-year international student in CEE, had the chance to learn from both universities in the transportation and urban planning track. The prepared workshops and networking and learning opportunities with the department’s faculty allowed her to see the depth of the universities’ facilities and research capacity. The trip also gave her a fresh view of urban planning in real-time, having observed Singapore’s and Thailand’s transportation structures and urban planning landscapes and comparing them to South Korea’s and even her home country’s.

Jisun Lee, a fourth-year undergraduate student in CEE, also echoed similar surprise on the lab and research environment in both Singapore and Thailand, most especially on the problems being faced by both countries. She mentioned how innovative Singapore’s urban projects are despite being a high-density city-state, having incorporated urban greenery in the cityscape that is very inspiring for anyone with a civil engineering background. Meanwhile, Bangkok has a mix of modernity and tradition in its urban design — more specifically, the underground floating market inside the ICONSIAM mall allows the preservation of their culture within the modern commercial developments. However, she did mention the issues the country faces in their public transportation system.

This year, however, the participants visited Bali, Indonesia for their excursion. Jihyun Kim, a third-year undergraduate student who participated in this trip, mentioned that this trip was more focused on the environment and energy track unlike last year. The participants had a chance to hear the lectures and workshops from faculty, as well as make several visits to places like Bali’s Floating Solar Power Plant and mangrove forests. They met various government officials, and also had cultural tours to observe the nature and how the country handles their energy resources and urban planning. 

In both of these trips, all participants highlighted the underpinning leisure time they had to explore the countries aside from the educational visits. They major viewpoints, such as the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and historical temples like Wat Arun in Bangkok. Trying the local cuisine in perhaps the best weather of the year for tropical countries was a great cultural experience. The best part of the trip is that flight, accommodation, and planned itinerary expenses are mostly covered by the department, although personal expenses are not. Still, it relieves a huge burden for students wanting to spend a good summer vacation while also keeping up with their classroom knowledge.

This trip is just one of many benefits (like lab internship opportunities) that students from CEE enjoy, and more of these trips are expected to commence as the pandemic has fully subsided.