DESIGN CHARETTES Q&A
Fritz Lab needs your time and talent. Steve Pessiki explains why.Dear Friends of Fritz Lab,
After more than a year of planning, it’s hard to believe that our centennial celebration is now part of the storied history of Fritz Laboratory. And what a chapter we added to the book! Our Centennial Symposium speakers chronicled a century of civil and environmental engineering while challenging us to innovate for the next 100 years. The research displayed at our Student Symposium left no doubt that Lehigh’s future contributions to the field are in bright minds and capable hands. The inspiration was palpable at the design charette, where alumni, students, and design professionals joined forces in the original Fritz Lab to imagine its form and function going forward. Even “Uncle John Fritz” showed up at the gala dinner to express his gratitude and approval!
To borrow a line from Fritz’s speech that night: “Yet with all that achievement, I assure you that the work — your work — is not done. I assure you that the greatest challenges, and thus the greatest accomplishments — lie ahead.”
That includes the work you’ll continue to see on this Web site, where we’ll be creating our own chronicle of the Fritz Engineering Laboratory Centennial for posterity. You can contribute to the process right now by sharing your thoughts and memories of Fritz Lab at our journal.
To all the alumni wanted to celebrate with us, but couldn’t: We missed you, and thank you for your well wishes.
To all who were able to make the trip back to campus: Thank you for your presence. Your energy galvanized everyone working to preserve John Fritz’s legacy to Lehigh.
We promise to stay in touch. Hope you’ll do the same.
Stephen Pessiki
Professor and Chairperson
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering