Professor Frederick L. Hart was a professor at WPI for nearly 40 years beginning his career as an Assistant Professor in 1978.  He operated as department head of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department for over 20 years of that tenure.  Professor Hart retired in 2016 and passed away in 2018 following extended illness. 

Professor Hart was a pioneer in collaborative learning and teamwork, an early supporter of the project-based curriculum, and an innovator in computer learning at the dawn of the computer age.  Specific contributions Professor Hart provided to the Civil and Environmental Department included bringing students into the field for “hands-on” learning and problem solving, launching WPI’s Stantec Project Center, establishing CE 1030 Civil Engineering and Computer Fundamentals for undergraduates to explore all aspects of the field in a group setting, fundamental in developing the Environmental Engineering graduate program, advised students at international Project Centers in Venice, Morocco, and Puerto Rico, and initiated the first distance learning Environmental Engineering program that served as framework by other universities throughout the country.

In his own words, as published in the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Prism article from 1993, “People learn much better working in a group environment.  The collaborative method asks students to help themselves.”

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In Professor Hart’s free time he was an avid photographer, motorcycle rider, enjoyed spending time with his family and friends, and loved to travel.  He had an excellent sense of humor and never took himself too seriously. The following figures are a few photos Professor Hart took through his travels.