Asee peer logo

Developing a Pedagogy for the Underrepresented Construction Trade Workforce to Aid in Resilient Post-Disaster Reconstruction

Download Paper |

Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

Broadening Perspectives in Construction Education

Tagged Division

Construction Engineering Division (CONST)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/47151

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Claudia Calle Müller Florida International University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2023-9361

visit author page

Claudia Calle Müller is a Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University (FIU). She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). Claudia has 4+ years’ experience in structural engineering designing reinforced concrete residential and commercial buildings in Peru; 2+ years’ experience in entrepreneurship building a successful health coaching and wellness business; and 4+ years teaching. Currently, she is a Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant at the Moss School of Construction, Sustainability, and Infrastructure at FIU where she focuses on multidisciplinary research on sustainability, equity, resilient and sustainable post-disaster reconstruction, engineering education, circular economy, and well-being. Claudia holds professional credentials in LEED Green Associate for sustainable buildings and ENV SP for sustainable infrastructures.

visit author page

biography

ERIKA JUDITH RIVERA Florida International University

visit author page

Erika Rivera is a Licensed Professional Engineer with a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus and two Master's degrees one in Engineering Management and a Master in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. She is currently a Ph.D. Student in Florida International University, in Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure, and Sustainability College of Engineering and Computing.

visit author page

biography

Mohamed ElZomor P.E. Florida International University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7734-9601

visit author page

Dr. Mohamed ElZomor is an Assistant Professor at Florida International University (FIU), College of Engineering and Computing and teaches at the Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability. Dr. ElZomor completed his doctorate at Arizona

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Housing is of utmost importance for living, protection, and overall well-being. Natural disasters afflict all countries and communities, but especially low-income communities, families, and individuals. Additionally, these communities often receive delayed disaster recovery, which translates into informal post-disaster reconstruction. This exacerbates the housing crisis resulting from a natural disaster, as most informal construction is built by residents themselves, lacking structural knowledge, professional advice, quality control, and proper construction and trade techniques. The goals of this research are to identify the challenges and vulnerabilities of low-income communities, as well as gaps in construction trade knowledge and resources among them. Additionally, this research aims to investigate effective pedagogy to provide low-income individuals with appropriate education, training, techniques, and expertise to aid in resilient post-disaster reconstruction. To achieve these goals, this research conducted a survey to architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) experts from Puerto Rico to identify: (a) the major challenges and vulnerabilities of low-income communities post-disaster, as well as the main issues of informal construction; (b) potential gaps in trade and construction knowledge, as well as the lack of resources of low-income individuals and the underrepresented workforce; and (c) pedagogy, including course delivery and instructional technologies, to effectively educate and train low-income individuals in trade and basic construction knowledge. The results of this study showed the urgency of educating and training low-income individuals highly susceptible to natural disasters in trades, construction techniques, and technologies that can be safely and effectively used to aid in post-disaster reconstruction while utilizing available resources. This will have a paramount impact on communities since informal construction not only exposes individuals to damages and loss of housing but, more importantly, puts their lives in great danger.

Calle Müller, C., & RIVERA, E. J., & ElZomor, M. (2024, June), Developing a Pedagogy for the Underrepresented Construction Trade Workforce to Aid in Resilient Post-Disaster Reconstruction Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47151

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015