The Joy of Discovery

The last few days of December we spent visiting our son in Hoboken, N.J., which by the way is a gem of a town. Among other things, it's home to Carlo's Bake Shop, on Washington Street just across the street and half a block down from our son's apartment. It dates back to the early 20th century and today is known as the home of the Cake Boss, as seen on HGTV, but I digress.

Our first day there, we walked all around this "square mile" city, so designated because it's square and about a mile on each side. Situated immediately across the Hudson River from Manhattan, Hoboken stands out in my mind as being the home to Stevens Institute of Technology. I never realized what a center of engineering education this was, but I did recognize the name from my days in engineering school when we used a batch compiler named SITGO, which was developed at the school. Apparently the SITGO compiler played a critical role in making sure our FORTAN programs were debugged enough to make it worth actually doing the computer run. Ah yes, those were the days. But I digress.


We came in at the upper end of the campus and wandered among the academic halls. It's definitely a city school, and although its roots go way back - there's a Gatehouse that dates to the mid-1800s - the campus is definitely laid out to accommodate the city grid. As we walked down the hill between Stevens and McLean halls, I suddenly saw an old friend - an AISC Steel Sculpture! What a delightful surprise to unexpectedly come across this distinctive compilation of steel components, just waiting for us to come along.

After explaining to my family why I was so pleased to stumble across the sculpture, I studied for a few moments how best to capture an image of it. Fortunately, in this digital age, it's easy and inexpensive to capture a half dozen images or more and sort them out later, so I did.

It turns out, in reflection, that this may be a very distinctive AISC Steel Sculpture. Constructed in 1995, it is one of more than 140 built over the last quarter century, but may be the only one that is within view of the new World Trade Center tower being constructed in Lower Manhattan. In this photo you can see between the telephone pole on the left and the lowest steel beam sticking out from the sculpture the cranes atop 1 WTC.

The Stevens Institute steel sculpture is just north of Court Street on the west side of Fifth Street (aka River Terrace). If you happen to be in the New York area and would like to see this teaching tool firsthand, just take the PATH to Hoboken and walk a couple blocks north. Then simply consult the handy maps that are posted in the area nearby.

For some background on the AISC Steel Sculpture, which was originally conceived by Duane Ellifritt, you can visit www.aisc.org/steelsculpture. (You can also download a free set of plans there.) To get a better appreciation for what an artist Ellifritt is, see the profile at www.modernsteel.com/Uploads/Issues/October_2011/102011_people.pdf. For a photo gallery of many of the steel sculpture that have been built on college and university campuses across the U.S. and around the world, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/aisceducation/sets/72157622300372721/.