But this one was.

Three students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee helped UWM civil engineering professor Alan Horowitz locate the spot where Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron's 755th and final home run landed during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976.,”

Not every engineering assignment is of record-breaking proportions.

But this one was.

Three students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee helped UWM civil engineering professor Alan Horowitz locate the spot where Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron's 755th and final home run landed during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976. It's in Brewers Lot 1 in the Miller Park preferred parking section – the site of the former Milwaukee County Stadium, where Aaron played 14 of his 23 major league seasons with the Milwaukee Braves, before the team relocated to Atlanta.

"I've worked on a lot of really interesting projects throughout college, but this one was absolutely the most exciting to be a part of," said Alex Cowan, a UWM senior and engineering major.

The Brewers will hold a ceremony in June to commemorate Aaron's record-setting home run, and will lay a plaque in the spot Horowitz and his students located. Aaron has indicated that he will attend, according to Rick Schlesinger, executive vice president of business operations for the Brewers.

"It's a privilege to be involved with this," Horowitz said. "Hank Aaron is a man of great dignity – one of greatest baseball players of all time. He's clearly someone who has left a part of his heart here in Milwaukee."

The UWM team located the spot during the past few weeks by use of blurry video of the historic home run, seating charts and photographs from the old County Stadium and blueprints of Miller Park.

Horowitz analyzed the video frame-by-frame, and the ball is only visible in three frames, he said. Determining where the ball landed was the toughest part of the process, Cowan said.

The key to locating the point was overlaying pictures of County Stadium with the Miller Park blueprints, Horowitz said. Otherwise, he said the process "would have been extremely difficult."

Horowitz and his students referenced home plate of County Stadium to a point on the north face of Miller Park, allowing them to determine the spot of the ball. The rest was simple surveying techniques, Horowitz said.

Both Horowitz and Cowan are extremely confident in the accuracy of the spot; Horowitz said the placement precision is within a tenth of a foot.

"It's an important part of this city's sports history and a moment that should be remembered and noted," Cowan said. "Considering I wasn't even alive when it happened, the project brings you as close to history as possible without actually being there."

Horowitz and his students will return to the Miller Park lots today to reaffirm the spot with high-precision GPS equipment and surveying instruments, which have centimeter accuracy, Horowitz said.

The spot, where the plaque will be laid during the June ceremony, is located in a throughway between parking spaces.

Schlesinger expected people will become familiar with the spot through publicity, but it seems the location may already be gaining popularity.

During a trip to a Brewers game Wednesday night, Cowan noticed people gathered around the spot, which is currently marked with a "Brewers blue X."

"Seeing people standing around it smiling and calling their friends saying, 'Yep, I'm standing right on the spot,' reminded me how neat the project was and how important it is that it be defined and recognized," Cowan said.

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