Eslam Ayoub is a civil engineer who has designed bridges that have been built in the United States, South America, Africa, and Europe. He specializes in suspension bridges. Eslam Ayoub says that large superstructures present unique challenges to a civil engineer, and that is what has always drawn him to that particular type of project.

“I often speak to middle school kids about my work,” Eslam Ayoub says. “They’re usually very interested to hear about infrastructure from an engineer’s point of view.”
Eslam Ayoub says he always begins such talks with comments about different bridge types. “I tell them about issues such as area, and compressive and tensile forces.” Over several years and many such talks, Eslam Ayoub has developed a detailed Powerpoint presentation, complete with photographs, blueprints, and lists of source materials for interested students to follow up on.

“I begin by telling them that bridges play an important part in our daily lives,” Eslam Ayoub says. “We know, of course, that they are essential to cities and the roadways between populations of people. Some bridges are simple and straightforward, while others are amazingly complex. So I like to ask the kids, what bridges that you know about can be called simple bridges?” He says he gets predictable replies, like a log or plank over a small stream. “And I tell them, ‘That’s a great answer!’”
Eslam Ayoub tells the students that engineers who design structures have to completely understand the problem to be solved, which includes the complexities of where the bridge is being built, and what the bridge will be used for. “To design for safety and longevity, we as engineers have to consider the different types of loads, how they are applied, and where,” he says. “I tell the kids that engineers have to try for a design that is strong, but as light as possible — one with the highest strength to weight ratio.”

Eslam Ayoub’s enthusiasm for these middle school presentations is easy to see, and he makes no secret about how much he enjoys them. “I’ve been talking to students like this for a long time now,” he says. “A lot of these kids never fail to amaze me with how quickly they grasp what for them, at that age, are really very sophisticated concepts. It gives me a lot of hope for the generation about to inherit the earth.”