Lab facilities

The Applied Microbiology Lab provides a controlled-access space with equipment for conducting basic microbiological observations and methods, and is used to support any CENE course containing a lab-based microbiological component. The laboratory also supports faculty research and student projects, and contains a wall-mounted rack that currently supports stripping column equipment. Adjacent to this lab are rooms 2004A & B that house compressed gas cylinder storage. Based on the availability of space and equipment, the use of the laboratory may be requested using the ENE Laboratory Services Request Form.

The CECMEE Field Station is currently used to support both research interests and undergraduate instruction. The site includes 3.5 acres of available open space that includes a newly renovated work area. Student projects with ACSE and GEO are supported at this facility, as well as some Senior Capstone design projects in CENE 486C that require an open space and by CENE 270 for surveying instruction. The site was originally developed as a center for conducting R&D and training for the professional onsite wastewater community primarily for residential applications. Many of the original below-grade onsite wastewater treatment units and infrastructure for supplying wastewater remain, although the supply system is currently in need of repair. Use of the Field Station is available to students, faculty and other NAU personnel through the approval of the department Chair, and requires that users have a responsible faculty mentor contact. Because of the facilities remote location, all users must read the rules for using the facility, sign an agreement form, and carry the issued permit with them at all times while at the site.

The Construction Materials and Structures Laboratory is a combined instructional and research facility. Equipment and upgrades to this facility have improved its ability to support instruction related to the mechanics of materials, construction and pavement materials. This facility is also used to introduce new developments in solid mechanics and pavement engineering and allows faculty and students to explore additional knowledge and resources, and to identify opportunities for researching and designing infrastructure materials in transportation and structural systems.

The Environmental Instruction and Student Projects Laboratory was upgraded in summer 2012 by combining rooms 242 and 245 into a single laboratory that could better accommodate laboratory-based instruction and student laboratory-based project activities. This lab now provides space where students conduct tests on lab-scale prototypes for various Senior Capstone Design or student organization projects. The classes regularly supported by this space are CENE 281L, 282L and 410. The front area of the combined rooms 242-245 provides a single lecture and clean work space with tables and chairs and includes a lectern computer and projection system. The instructional and clean work space is delineated on the floor from the laboratory and projects work space. In addition to the support of course instruction the use of the laboratory may be requested using the ENE Laboratory Services Request Form.

The Environmental Instrumentation Laboratory also includes the Analytical Balance Room (Room 240) and the Chemical Storage (Room 241A). The Chemical Storage Room is a vented and separately secured room that houses chemicals and is the secured staging area for hazardous waste pickup. This facility supports instruction, student projects and research and contains equipment such as a Photovac portable GC, drying ovens, muffle furnace, spectrophotometers, portable multi-meters (pH, DO, conductivity, temperature), sample distillation and digestion blocks, centrifuges and a heated sonic baths. This lab is also the where the water purification system is located, which supports all instructional or research needs for purified water. Based on the availability of space and equipment, the use of the laboratory may be requested using the ENE Laboratory Services Request Form.

The Soils Laboratory is primarily an instructional facility but also provides enough space for soils- or geotechnical-related faculty and student research. The equipment in the soils laboratory allows students to complete laboratory exercises involving the measurement of selected engineering properties and classification of soils (such as, specific gravity, dry and wet sieve analysis, Atterberg limits, unconfined compression, proctor compaction and field density). Additional equipment is available for measuring shear strength, consolidation, and permeability.

The Structural Testing Laboratory is reserved for the experimental testing of structural materials and members. This space supports undergraduate and graduate research, and student organizations including activities related to the construction of the ASCE concrete canoe and steel bridge; and the testing of a pre-stressed concrete beams for the PCI Big Beam contest. The laboratory contains a 400-kip capacity testing frame and related hydraulic and pneumatic accessories. Electronic instrumentation that supports the laboratory includes: three 12-inch stroke string potentiometers, four 200-kip capacity load cells, one 50-kip load cell, one 5-kip load cell, a National Instruments SCXI-1000 data acquisition chassis, National Instruments SCXI-1121 and SCXI-1520 strain/bridge-based temperature and voltage modules, and a desktop computer. Software that supports the laboratory includes: National Instrument’s LabVIEW and Microsoft Office.

The Transportation Lab supports both teaching and research. Four transportation courses are a part of the Civil Engineering program and all four utilize this lab during the semester. Twelve computer workstations are provided to support student work on specialized application software used in actual practice (e.g., VISSM, AutoCAD, HCS2010, Synchro and Aries Zone Manager). This lab possesses an extensive array of signal control hardware and data acquisition devices used during classes to educate students through hands-on laboratory experiments. These capabilities enable students to learn field engineering skills in transportation to supplement the theory learned in the classroom.

The Water Resources Lab is an instructional lab which demonstrates water resources engineering. Students get hands on experience manipulating water through an engineered environment. This lab provides CENE students the opportunity to experiment with pipe, pump, and open channel systems and compare the theoretical concepts learned in their courses with real world application. This lab is housed in Building 47A and is co-located with the Construct4Practice (C4P) lab.