Kirk Ticknor, P.E., F.SAME, Director of Public Works, Fort Benning, is inspiring future engineers with the humble LEGO and a passion for engineering.
Kirk Ticknor is a busy man. He is Director of Public Works at Fort Benning, the fourth largest Army installation in the world, he is an active and long-time SAME member. He is a SAME Fellow of over 10 years, a father of five, a licensed Professional Engineer, and he plays with LEGOs.
Well, play may be an oversimplification.
What started off as a relaxing and therapeutic hobby for Kirk turned into a calling that produced a 13-ft by 10-ft scale model of downtown Chicago using around 500,000 LEGO bricks – give or take a few.
Kirk takes this massive installation to conventions around the country where kids and adults can’t help but stop and marvel at the exacting detail of the cityscape. “They just light up.” says Kirk. “It’s a great way to start a conversation about STEM and engineering.”
The shrunken Chicago skyline draws in people with a pure wow-factor, but Kirk loves the easy tie-in when he points to a brick and turns it into a math problem. “If that building is 1,400-ft high, and it’s two feet high in here,” he said, “ … then you start going through the math.”
It’s one of the main objectives of the Society; to grow and foster and mentor interest in engineering.
Kirk Ticknor, P.E., F.SAME, Director of Public Works, Fort Benning
The interaction often leads to Kirk saying, “hey, you’re pretty good at math. You thought about engineering?” Then he says, “If you’re an engineer, you can buy all the LEGOs you want!”
A Family Connection
Kirk’s wife, Dr. Cindy Ticknor, is a math educator and the Dean of the Honors College at Columbus State University. Cindy’s love of math led her to develop a math-focused graphic novel series that presents math games and puzzles within a story that kids can relate to. She didn’t mind when Kirk’s LEGO buildings began to take shape and fill up a room in their house because Kirk relished the positive reactions he got when guests saw the creations.
“Over the years, the buildings evolved, and then it was obvious that it needed to go on display and be shared with people,” Kirk said. They decided to take their show on the road. Together, their displays find a wide audience at the conventions. “The comic book series and the LEGOs help kids understand math concepts visually,” Kirk said. “They don’t even realize it, but they’re learning, big-time!”
As millions of children and adults have discovered, LEGOs can be much more than a toy. They are “three-dimensional puzzles,” said Kirk. His painstakingly constructed LEGO Chicago represents 2,000 hours of work and employs a variety of disciplines. At the outset, he used Google Earth and resources like SkyscraperPage to check building dimensions. He created a detailed and lengthy spreadsheet to track the math, and keeps meticulous, hand-written note pads filled with numbers, sketches, and descriptions which, in true engineer fashion, only he can decipher.
Kirk has been involved with SAME for decades and has been a SAME Fellow since 2016. As an active member at the Fort Benning-Columbus Post and a previous Post President, he has always been passionately involved in introducing a new generation of curious students to engineering and the STEM field. “It’s one of the main objectives of the Society; to grow and foster and mentor interest in engineering,” he said.
He explains that there are a variety of engineering skills involved in almost any LEGO build, including civil engineering, construction, architecture, and project management. “When they go and start creating on their own, they’re becoming little mini-engineers and architects,” he said.
Kirk’s passion and skill as an engineer are obvious when looking at his rich career and the many kids he has influenced with his display. “Kids are just curious and willing to try new things,” he says. In that way they are very similar to LEGOs: full of potential and possibilities.
Additional Reading
SAME’s STEM/Engineering & Construction Camps 2025 Season Wrap-Up
SAME’s 2025 STEM/Engineering & Construction Camps Are In Full Swing!
Rooted in Service: Father and Son SAME Fellows Share Bonds That Transcend a Generation
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