Experiential learning at Quinnipiac offers multiple opportunities to apply your knowledge through hands-on work, service and exploration, preparing you for success in 21st-century careers. With an abundance of resources, internship opportunities and career-focused guidance, you'll be equipped with the skills and knowledge that distinguish you to employers and pave the way for long-term success.
Students in CER 350: Hydrology/Hydraulic Design measure streamflow and monitor the environment at the Mill River in Hamden, CT.
Before graduating from the School of Computing & Engineering, every student is required to complete a Senior Design Project. This culmination of their time at Quinnipiac incorporates real clients and problems and simulates a project that they might encounter the first day on the job.
Projects Day is designed to showcase and celebrate our students’ hard work and achievements from real-world projects completed during the spring semester. Mentored by professionals in the industry, students assemble into design teams, choose topics and bring their ideas to life.
Our senior design project focuses on the structural design of Hamden’s first-ever animal shelter at 466 Putnam Ave, addressing the town’s need for a dedicated facility to alleviate overoccupancy at the North Haven Animal Shelter. Our team has developed a detailed floor plan that optimizes space for animal care, staff operations and public access while ensuring compliance with safety and accessibility standards. Structurally, the design team has designed key components, including the column layout, load-bearing elements and material selections to ensure stability, longevity and cost-effectiveness. The project incorporates industry best practices, adheres to local building codes and considers environmental sustainability where applicable. By providing a much-needed resource for the community, this project offers us a hands-on opportunity to apply structural engineering principles in a real-world setting.
Student Team Members: Jenna Castro, Aidan Ceravolo, Natalie Lyon, Abigail Palmgren, Lauren Roeger
Advisers: Ari Pérez Mejía and Priscilla Fonseca
Client: The Town of Hamden, Stephen White, PE and Jose Alvarez, PE
The section of Middletown Avenue near Dump Road in New Haven, CT, between the I-91 ramps and the Amtrak overpass, is prone to frequent flooding due to its low elevation. This flooding is caused by high water levels in the tidally-influenced Quinnipiac River. Our project includes flood prevention measures to withstand a 2-year, 24-hour storm. Our design includes a levee system composed of different soils, concrete supports and geotextiles as well as a detention pond to retain excess stormwater. To limit the flow of water to the roadway, Opti-controlled floodgates will be installed on a culvert under I-91 and at other surrounding locations.
Student Team Members: Alexander Asfalg, Ryan Connolly, Kenneth Stolgitis, Steven Tortora
Advisers: Ari Pérez Mejía and Priscilla Fonseca
Clients: City of New Haven, Kimberly DiGiovanni, PhD, P.E.
Commercial surfactants, chemically similar to concentrated soap, are used in earth pressure balance tunnel boring machines (EPB TBMs) to create foam, which provides temporary support in low cohesion soils during tunneling. These foams are measured using both the foam expansion ratio (FER, the ratio of liquid to air) as well as the foam injection ratio (FIR, the ratio of foam to soil). When injected into the soil, these foams decrease the interparticle friction and prevent collapse by using the excavated soil as a support medium and balancing ground pressures on both sides of the TBM. This is crucial to settlement control. Because the changes in shear strength behavior brought on by foam addition are still not fully understood, direct shear testing on soil-foam mixtures was performed using the foam procedures presented by others to evaluate the impact of foam stabilization on soil strength parameters (cohesion and friction angle).
Student Lead: Steven Gomes
Adviser: Ari Pérez Mejía
Located in New York City, Outfall Drop Shaft 1 will be constructed as a part of a new outfall storage tunnel system serving one of the largest water pollution control facilities in the United States. The CSO network will consist of 3 drop shafts and a 3.2-mile long, 22-foot diameter TBM-mined tunnel. Drop Shaft 1 is designed to have an inner diameter of 50 feet and a depth of 130 feet and will convey excess wet weather flow from the existing combined sewer system into the new storage tunnel. Our team was tasked with designing the support of the excavation system, final lining, bottom slab and roof system. Due to the design parameters, our team has chosen to use a vertical shaft sinking machine system from Herrenkenecht as the support of the excavation system. Soil parameters were used to calculate the lateral earth pressures and pore water uplift pressure in the design of the final lining and the bottom slab, while the roof system was designed to handle vehicular loads.
Student Team Members: Cesare Fiorilli, Christopher Kosakowski, Nicholas Planeta, Jeremy Silver, Connor Talbot
Advisers: Ari Pérez Mejía and Priscilla Fonseca
Client: Delve Underground
Open to students of all majors, QUIP-RS provides up to $5,000 in funding for undergraduate students to conduct research or complete creative projects alongside faculty mentors. This intensive 8-week program enables students to develop scholarly skills while encouraging discussion about successes and shortcomings with fellows and mentors.
Quinnipiac students excel as interns, new hires, managers and executives in almost every industry. Gather real-world data about starting salaries, hiring trends and in-demand skills to inform your decision-making and put you on a path to success.
With an abundance of career-focused information and resources, the career advisers within the School of Computing & Engineering support students as they expand their professional networks and attract the attention of prestigious employers.
iQ, Quinnipiac University’s holistic approach to career development and experiential learning, surrounds every individual with a personalized plan that maximizes their time at Quinnipiac. The powerhouse of iQ, our Career and Experiential Learning Lab is the physical space where students and advisers bridge the gap between college and career.
Studying and working outside the classroom challenges you — and changes you. These experiences, from competitions and capstones to study abroad opportunities and service outlets, make you more confident, more independent and better prepared for whatever profession you pursue.
Our undergraduate admissions counselors are here to answer any questions you may have and help you navigate the application process.