A Conversation with Edward M. Segal, 2008 Structural Engineering Traveling Fellowship

Looking back to your 2008 Structural Engineering Traveling Fellowship, what stands out to you most about that experience?

When I received the fellowship, I did not realize how much I would continue to draw from my travel and research across my entire career. The focus of my fellowship was studying European physical modeling and testing laboratories as well as the structures that emerged from those facilities. The objective of this research was to identify potential roles for physical models as complements to computational models in design and education.

At Hofstra University, where I’m currently an associate professor of engineering, my program only has undergraduate students. I teach undergraduate courses, and my design/research group is made up entirely of undergraduates that I may only work with for a few months. Both inside and outside of the classroom I have found that working with physical models allows us to accomplish a lot more than if we were working primarily on the computer. For example, my senior design course is structured like a studio. In the course, the students review various precedent works (including ones that I visited while traveling) and then develop their own designs using physical form-finding methods that I studied as part of my fellowship. While many of these students are studying structural engineering, some are studying environmental engineering and may not have taken many structures courses. Using physical models allows students from a range of backgrounds to quickly create complex, yet efficient forms. After just a few weeks into the semester they are able to propose ambitious projects.

Recently, I have also been developing a cross-disciplinary course, “Drawing Across Disciplines Abroad,” with Professor Jim Lee in fine arts. As we put together the course I have been pulling from my fellowship travel itinerary. I am looking forward to revisiting locations and structures that I first visited over fifteen years ago.

Tell us about your career trajectory and how you got to where you are now.

I received the SOM Foundation Structural Engineering Travel Fellowship in 2008 while I was completing my Master’s degree in structural engineering at Princeton University. After graduating, I moved to New York City and worked as a staff engineer at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) where I primarily worked on the design of new glass and metal enclosures. After my first few months at SGH I realized that I missed the teaching I had been doing in graduate school and reached out to Professor Maria Garlock there to see if I could teach part time. I was able to coordinate my schedule so that each spring I could take one day per week and teach. While I enjoyed the design office, it became clear that my favorite day of the week was the one when I was teaching.

In 2011, I returned to Princeton to work on my PhD with Professor Sigrid Adriaenssens. The focus of my research was understanding the behavior of suspended footbridges built from an unconventional bridge material, polyester rope. I also had the opportunity to continue teaching while completing my PhD.

In 2015, I was hired as an assistant professor of engineering at Hofstra University and in 2022, I became an associate professor. At Hofstra I work on experimental projects that involve both research and design and teach courses across the engineering curriculum. One of my focuses over the last few years has been collaborating with faculty in fine arts and engineering as well as the director of the Hofstra University Art Museum to create new opportunities at the university at the intersection of art, design, and technology. These kinds of projects are some of the highlights of working at a university that is supportive of cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Could you share more about the Segal Structures Group, and describe a few key projects that the group has done and is currently working on?

The Segal Structures Group is my design/research team at Hofstra. We often collaborate with architects, artists, and engineers on competitions and other projects at the pavilion and installation scales. Our work frequently involves utilizing materials in novel ways to develop engineering/architectural structures. One project, Cast & Place, was an experimental design-build pavilion that won the 2017 City of Dreams competition and was temporarily installed on Governors Island (New York, NY). The pavilion featured a set of panels that were created by casting recycled aluminum into cracked clay patterns. The method generated a series of unique panels without the materially intensive positive patterns required in traditional sand casting.

A second experimental design-build pavilion project, Two Blue Shells, was exhibited at the Form and Force Expo (International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures Symposium and Structural Membranes) in Barcelona, Spain in 2019. The structure consisted of two pink discretized scrap acrylic shells. Originally, the acrylic was anticipated to be blue, which led to the project name. The project was innovative because the shells were formed at the full scale by transforming flat tiles into curved surfaces without molds through heating in a walk-in oven.

My collaborators and I have continued our exploration of building and form finding with scrap acrylic (both acrylic and polycarbonate proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic) and in 2022 we displayed a prototype, Acrylic Pixel, at the 5th International Conference on Structures & Architecture in Aalborg, Denmark. Additionally, with my students I am now exploring heat-based form finding at the full scale with 3D printed polylactic acid (PLA) grids and with wood gridshells featuring acrylic connectors. The projects shown below will be on display at the 2025 International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures Symposium in Mexico City, Mexico in October. At a small-scale we are developing a method for designers to rapidly create funicular (or nearly funicular) design models using 3D printing pens and an oven. This kind of form finding evolved from the research I conducted while traveling on my fellowship.

My group is also developing footbridges that can be rapidly deployed during flooding for rescue efforts and/or to repair walking networks. Specifically, the footbridges are being designed so that they can be constructed from only one side of the crossing (i.e., the second side is not initially accessible). Unconventional support structures such as trucks or trees anchor the bridge. Deployment relies in part on a manually controlled drone. We are currently working to make our deployment method adaptable to a wider range of conditions.

What changes have you seen in civil engineering over the course of your career? What’s on the horizon for the field?

Since much of my work involves physical modeling, I follow its trajectory alongside computational modeling. In 1997, the Swiss engineer Heinz Isler, known for designing his structures with physical models, wrote the article “Is the Physical Model Dead?” In the article, he makes the case for why physical models are still critical to the design process. In the last five years there have been at least two comprehensive books discussing the various roles of physical models.

Computational modeling is an important part of modern design, but physical models continue to be used. Advances in digital design and fabrication have created new opportunities for integrating physical models into the design process. With the rise of AI, the roles of physical models may change, but I believe they will continue to be used in design and education. Many people crave making things. Gathering in-person with others and creating physical objects is a balance to their online/digital lives.

The evolving relationship between physical and digital models is happening against the backdrop of a much larger concern, the climate crisis. From historic preservation efforts to the use of alternative materials to a heightened focus on circular economies there are many groups working in important ways to maintain, improve, and design new sustainable infrastructure. While my design/research group is thinking about the environmental impact of our larger design projects, we are also looking closely at how we are making our small-scale physical models to reduce waste.

As a professor, what are some key takeaways you hope your students learn before they embark on their careers?

I try to model curiosity for my students. I am open with them about what I don’t know and what questions I have. In many of my design/research projects my collaborators and I lay out an ambitious plan and it seems like we back ourselves into a corner and have to find our way out. Over the last few years, I have been encouraging students to do the same thing by tackling challenging projects. Initially it feels daunting, but they get through by asking questions and seeking answers across fields.

With my students I also try to take on the role of curator. We are all being bombarded by algorithms which are pushing specific content in our direction. I try to introduce them to precedents and ideas that they might not be exposed to otherwise. My master’s advisor, Professor David P. Billington, was masterful at telling engaging stories that drew not only from engineering, but also art, history, etc. He modeled for me what it means to study a range of sources. I don’t want my students to settle for what they are receiving in a feed online. I want them to see the wider world and how they can stitch it together through their own exploration of how items connect.