CEE Update Alumni Spotlights: Mike Rolband

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE — AN AWESOME TERM

by Jeannette L. Little

Mike Rolband ‘80, M.Eng. ‘81, MBA ‘82, Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc., was CEE’s first ever professor of practice. From the fall of 2017 to the spring of 2020, Rolband taught CEE 5021/5022/6025—Wetlands and Stream Restoration. This course consisted of a combination of in-person and virtual lectures, hands-on practicums, dynamic projects, as well as field trips in Ithaca and Virginia. With five to nine students in the class each semester, Rolband was able to create a team environment that was suited for work on real-world projects.

The various projects for Rolband’s course ranged from a stream restoration in Reston, Virginia, to a wetlands restoration project near Ithaca and the “Sapsucker Woods Outfall Replacement and Beaver Retrofit Project”—which Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology is planning to construct in phases. On-site visits were arranged to provide students with hands-on experiences that ranged from surveying (topographic and bathymetric), groundwater well installations and data collection, permeability testing, water budgets development, hydrology and hydraulic modeling, and wetlands delineation. Rolband’s students were able to observe the construction and completion of similar projects, which helped them to find ideas for their project designs.

Additionally, the students had the opportunity to use Computer Aided Design to create construction plans for the projects they worked on. By working as a team, this class gave students the opportunity to apply and expand their academic knowledge into real-world restoration of streams, ponds, and wetlands in order to complete projects that were bigger than any individual could have ever tackled on their own.

Eirini Sarri, a student who was part of the Wetlands and Stream Restoration class for a total of four semesters, remarked, “This course was exactly what I was hoping to get out of my college education. It combined scientific knowledge, field and computer work, as well as creative thinking and problem solving. The class also allowed us to enhance our communication skills.

We talked to many people in the field, shared ideas, and asked questions. For me, the best part of the class was working with a wonderful team, where we all stepped up to help each other and there was always a feeling of camaraderie. Everyone in the class put in 100% and we all felt passionate about the work we were doing. I feel excited and optimistic about the future in knowing that such great engineers will be out there making the world a better place!” Ariana Wetzel, a CEE master’s student who also took the course, noted that Rolband’s class was unique in providing her with real-world experience, similar to that of a practicing engineer. “We learned more than just technical engineering principals, we functioned as a small company by filling out timesheets, communicating directly with clients, and working together to meet deadlines for deliverables. Professor Rolband’s passion for teaching and dedication to help us become successful engineers was very clear. His belief in our class made us all work together and problem-solve beyond what most professors expect from their students, making it the most rewarding class I took during my time at Cornell. More than anything, I enjoyed watching everyone on our team push each other and grow into leadership roles,” Wetzel adds. Rolband, reflecting on his own college days, recalls the Master of Engineering Project being his best educational experience at Cornell, and is grateful to have been able to provide a similar experience to a new generation of Cornellians. Rolband contributed his firsthand knowledge, professional skills and Cornell education to this dynamic course, bringing his time as professor of practice full circle.