LSU EVEG Students Visit Netherlands, London
October 22, 2025
Over the course of six weeks in June and July, six LSU Environmental Engineering students,
two LSU AgCenter Environmental Management Systems students, and five Rice University
Civil Engineering students visited London and the Netherlands as part of LSU CEE’s
study abroad program “Water, Environment and Sustainability.” The program, which began
in 2019 and is led by LSU CEE Professor and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate
Program Coordinator John Pardue, teaches the students about flood disaster management and environmental sustainability.
The program, which offers two three-week courses in the Netherlands and London, kicked off in Rotterdam where students visited Port of Rotterdam at Portlandis, Delft University and WaterLab, the Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier, the North Sea Coast, and Scheveningen Boulevard. They then traveled to Amsterdam where they visited the IJburg Floating Houses and Amsterdam Canal. The next day, they travelled to Kinderdijk where they toured windmills, a pumping station, and polders. Their last stop was in Eastern Scheldt where they observed the Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge Barrier and explored Neeltje Jans.
The students then boarded a ferry to Harwich, Great Britain, and then on to London.
“London is the first city where we learned to live in cities in a way that increased life expectancy, and the students studied the history of those decisions and how engineers are continuing to improve life in London,” Pardue said. “With nine million people, London is by far the largest city in Europe.”
While in London, students visited Skygarden, Kirtland Street/Battersea, Chelsea Foreshore Site, Walthamstow Wetlands, a green space, Institution of Civil Engineers, Crossness Pumping Station, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Thames Barrier, Museum of London-Docklands, and Cranfield University.
Lily Crocker, an LSU Environmental Engineering junior from Philadelphia, recalls two items of the trip agenda that she thoroughly enjoyed.
“My favorite part of the study abroad experience in the Netherlands was visiting Kinderdijk
where we learned the history of early windmills in Holland,” she said. “In London,
I enjoyed using air quality sensors to map different train routes. The entire experience
was so amazing to get to live and study in different countries.”
Madelyn Broussard, LSU Environmental Engineering junior from Lafayette, particularly enjoyed London, where the students had the chance to explore the paranormal parts of the city.
“My favorite part was the Ghost Map tour, during which we went around London visiting the places mentioned in Steven Johnson's book “The Ghost Map.” It was nice getting to learn about the history of cholera in London and visit places in the city that we likely wouldn't have seen otherwise.”
To learn more about the program, visit https://abroad.lsu.edu/_portal/.
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