The Land Development Design Initiative

Randel L. Dymond

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Conference: 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Vancouver, BC
Publication Date: June 26, 2011
Start Date: June 26, 2011
End Date: June 29, 2011
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Stimulating Broader Industrial Participation in Undergraduate Programs
Tagged Division: College Industry Partnerships
Page Count: 9
Page Numbers: 22.1476.1 - 22.1476.9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--18405
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/18405
Download Count: 346

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Randel L. Dymond Virginia Tech

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Dr. Randy Dymond is a professional engineer and an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Coordinator of the Land Development Design Initiative (LDDI) at Virginia Tech. After obtaining degrees from Bucknell and Penn State, Dr. Dymond has accumulated more than 25 years of experience in civil and environmental engineering instruction, research, consulting, and software development. He has taught at Penn State, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and has been at Virginia Tech for 12 years. Dr. Dymond has published more than 40 refereed journal articles and proceedings papers, and been the principal or co-principal investigator for more than 70 research proposals from many diverse funding agencies. His research areas include urban stormwater modeling, low impact development, watershed and floodplain management, and sustainable land development. He teaches classes in GIS, land development, and water resources and has won numerous teaching awards, as well as a second place award in the 2009 NCEES Engineering Competition for Connecting Professional Practice and Education. His latest award is the 2010 National James M. Robbins Excellence in Teaching Award from Chi Epsilon.

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Abstract

The Land Development Design InitiativeA large team of professional engineers has rallied around a call for participation in thedevelopment of a new emphasis in land development design within a Department of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering (CEE) at a major land-grant institution. While as many as one thirdof graduating civil engineers go to work in the land development industry, few civil engineeringprograms in the country have any course or emphasis in land development within theircurriculum. The Land Development Design Initiative (LDDI) involves more than 70engineering and land development firms and directly involves industry professionals in teaching,mentoring, curriculum development, and promoting land development to undergraduate students.The paper will describe LDDI and the effort to bring together undergraduate CEE students andfaculty with industry professionals in order to improve land development design education.Strategic planning for LDDI began in early 2006 with the development of an advisory board andcontinued with statewide outreach meetings in four major regions of the state. The purpose ofthese meetings was to share the LDDI vision and recruit industry professionals to participate indevelopment of the land development design program at the University. These early efforts haveresulted in over 200 practitioners who now participate in this initiative, donating time, energy,and their firms’ resources to achieve LDDI priorities. Participation is kept active by the advisoryboard’s biweekly teleconferences and quarterly meetings, semiannual general membershipmeetings, email, a quarterly newsletter, and a collaboration website that enables sharing files,discussions, and a chat room. Organization of the LDDI group has resulted in the creation ofthree major committees: Curriculum and Course Enhancement, Outreach, and PractitionerInvolvement.The major objective of the Curriculum and Course Enhancement Committee is to develop astrong land development design curriculum with coursework that prepares students for the landdevelopment design profession. The major objective of the Practitioner Involvement Committeeis to develop a strong and sustainable relationship between the private and public sectors of theland development profession and CEE students at the University. The Outreach Committeeproduces publicity about the profession and the program for students and uninformedpractitioners. One of the goals is to increase student awareness of land development as a careerpath.The paper will describe the development of LDDI and detail the successful outcomes.Furthermore, it will discuss the support and sustainability of the program with regards tofinancial sponsorship and academic acceptance.

Citation
Format

Dymond, R. L. (2011, June), The Land Development Design Initiative Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18405

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                        The Land Development Design InitiativeA large team of professional engineers has rallied around a call for participation in thedevelopment of a new emphasis in land development design within a Department of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering (CEE) at a major land-grant institution. While as many as one thirdof graduating civil engineers go to work in the land development industry, few civil engineeringprograms in the country have any course or emphasis in land development within theircurriculum. The Land Development Design Initiative (LDDI) involves more than 70engineering and land development firms and directly involves industry professionals in teaching,mentoring, curriculum development, and promoting land development to undergraduate students.The paper will describe LDDI and the effort to bring together undergraduate CEE students andfaculty with industry professionals in order to improve land development design education.Strategic planning for LDDI began in early 2006 with the development of an advisory board andcontinued with statewide outreach meetings in four major regions of the state. The purpose ofthese meetings was to share the LDDI vision and recruit industry professionals to participate indevelopment of the land development design program at the University. These early efforts haveresulted in over 200 practitioners who now participate in this initiative, donating time, energy,and their firms’ resources to achieve LDDI priorities. Participation is kept active by the advisoryboard’s biweekly teleconferences and quarterly meetings, semiannual general membershipmeetings, email, a quarterly newsletter, and a collaboration website that enables sharing files,discussions, and a chat room. Organization of the LDDI group has resulted in the creation ofthree major committees: Curriculum and Course Enhancement, Outreach, and PractitionerInvolvement.The major objective of the Curriculum and Course Enhancement Committee is to develop astrong land development design curriculum with coursework that prepares students for the landdevelopment design profession. The major objective of the Practitioner Involvement Committeeis to develop a strong and sustainable relationship between the private and public sectors of theland development profession and CEE students at the University. The Outreach Committeeproduces publicity about the profession and the program for students and uninformedpractitioners. One of the goals is to increase student awareness of land development as a careerpath.The paper will describe the development of LDDI and detail the successful outcomes.Furthermore, it will discuss the support and sustainability of the program with regards tofinancial sponsorship and academic acceptance.
AU  - Randel L. Dymond
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Land Development Design Initiative
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/18405
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--18405
ER  -