Surveying and engineering students at the University of Tennessee at Martin will have a new technological tool to use in learning their trade.
The engineering and surveying services firm of LI Smith & Associates of Paris was invited to the campus on Dec. 12 to set up a control network, installing 10 metal pins into the ground at various locations around campus.
The pins will have a GPS (global positioning system) coordinate and elevation associated with them. Students will be able to use them in their labs, and future projects on campus involving benchmarks, elevations and so forth will be able to use them as well.
The pins are being placed on campus in advance of the annual Mid-South American Society of Civil Engineers Student Symposium surveying competition, to be held April 4-6 at UT Martin.
Dr. Tim Nipp, the chair of the Department of Engineering, said the metal pins give the campus more data points for new construction or for when classes are surveying on campus. “It gives us more points that are known surveying points,” he said. “It’s always a good thing to have.”
PHOTO: AJ Maxwell, a survey technician and land surveyor in training for LI Smith & Associates, is shown placing a surveying pin somewhere on the campus of UT Martin. A total of 10 pins were placed across the campus for use in the Mid-South ASCE Student Symposium in April. The pins will also be used by surveying and engineering students as part of their lab work. Maxwell is an alumnus of UT Martin.
