MPC Region Info
South Dakota State University

South Dakota State University (SDSU) is a land grant institution with an annual enrollment of approximately 12,500 students. The university has nine colleges including the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering. The JJL COE is comprised of six departments: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Construction Operations and Management, and Mathematics and Statistics. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has 12 full-time faculty. Nine of the twelve faculty have had research experience in transportation-related topics including bridges, highway safety, pavement, bridge scour, bridge substructures, and highway water runoff quality. There are approximately 259 undergraduate students and 52 graduate students enrolled in the civil engineering program. The JJL COE is home for the South Dakota Local Transportation Assistance Program (SDLTAP)—a technology transfer and outreach program. Moreover, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at SDSU houses state-of-the-art laboratory facilities.

University Labs / Resources

• The Lohr Structures Laboratory (LSL) is a 4,500 square foot high-bay structural testing facility fitted with a strong floor, modular loading frame, and a 15-ton traveling bridge crane. The structures lab is fitted with an array of hydraulic actuators and transducers for testing large and full-scale bridge sub-assemblages.
• The Fluid Mechanics Laboratory has a 25 m long, 0.9 m wide and 0.75 m deep open-channel flume for water flow studies. A specially designed recess in the flume floor allows a sediment bed to be prepared for sediment transport and local scour studies.
• The Asphalt Laboratory is equipped to perform a broad range of tests related to performance and mix design of flexible and rigid pavement.
• The Materials Laboratory is equipped with an extensive variety of equipment and tools including a 500 Kip compression machine with sophisticated loading capabilities, a freeze-thaw cabinet, and a sonometer.
• A transportation laboratory is currently being developed to meet the teaching and research needs of the department.

University Facts

• Enrollment: 12,589
• Founded in 1881
• Offers 73 Majors
• During the last five years, the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization has averaged 46 invention disclosures, 13 patents filed, 206 agreements executed, eight licenses and more than $2.25 million in royalties and revenue per year.

Related Departments

• Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  SCEH 120, Box 2219
  Brookings, SD 57007
  Phone: (605)688-5427
  Email: lisa.enstad@sdstate.edu