Wind Engineering Schools

The benefits of wind power are taught at wind engineering schools

Job growth in the civil engineering industry is projected to increase anywhere from 9 percent and 17 percent by the year 2014, as stated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A section of the civil engineering industry that is on the rise is wind engineering. Wind engineering studies the effects that wind has on the natural environment as well as man-made environments. Several colleges and universities offer programs to get started in this industry.

University of Washington

Wind engineering programs are offered through the University of Washington's environmental engineering and college of civil engineering departments. The effect wind has on structures is studied in these programs. Other studies in this field include design strategies to combat wind stress on buildings and structures and the fundamentals of wind tunnels.

College of Civil and Environmental Engineering

University of Washington

P.O. Box 355852

Seattle, WA 98195-5852

Telephone: [phone]

Colorado State University

The department of civil engineering and the department of environmental engineering at Colorado State University offer a wind engineering and fluid mechanics program. This university program concentrates not only on graduate education in wind engineering, but also research in this field. A few of the topics that are studied in this program include wind power and how it influences traditional and renewable energy systems, wind mechanics and how it relates to engineering and the influence that wind has on buildings.

College of Engineering

Colorado State University

Campus Delivery 1372

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1372

Telephone: [phone]

Iowa State University

The College of Engineering at Iowa State University offers the WEEA Program, or Wind Engineering and Experimental Aerodynamics Program. The WEEA program concentrates on studying the negative impacts that wind has on the environment and on civil and mechanical structures. This program conducts studies that focus on wind forces from weather events such as thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes and dry wind storm gusts. As a result of these wind studies, the goal is to design buildings than can withstand severe winds better than they can now.

College of Engineering

Iowa State University

2271 Howe Hall

Room 1200

Ames, Iowa 50011

Telephone: [phone]

Clemson University

The Structural Engineering Research program at Clemson University conducts experiments in the university's Wind Load Test Facility. These experiments study how wind has an impact on low-rise buildings during storms. The experiments conducted in this program concentrate on the impact the wind has on the structural integrity of roofs. The research gathered from these studies can help improve the roof structure and overall structures of buildings and homes.

Civil Engineering Department

Clemson University

Lowry Hall

Box 340911

Clemson SC 29634

Telephone: [phone]

References

• University of Washington: College of Engineering Civil and Environmental Engineering Civil & Environmental Engineering
• Colorado State University: Wind Engineering and Fluid Mechanics
• Iowa State University: Wind Engineering and Experimental Aerodynamics
• Clemson University: Structural Engineering Research

Resources

• United States Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics