Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Manar Shami, University of the Pacific

Tagged Divisions

Construction

technologies. It is conducted in partwithin the Research Seminar Series CIVL 197 accounting for 3 units. The author of thispaper supervised this project and provided guidance to three civil engineering seniors.As the world is becoming more dependant on diminishing fossil fuel resources,businesses are searching for alternative ways to produce inexpensive and renewable fuel.Biodiesel is an alternative fuel made from vegetable oil (or animal fat) that can be used inmost diesel engines without the need for any modifications. Biodiesel is more superior toconventional fossil diesel because it reduces toxic emissions by nearly 90% whencompared to regular diesel. Biodiesel is known to have an overall positive life cycleenergy balance of 3.2:1, while regular

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gunnar Lucko, Catholic University of America; Michael Madden, United Space Alliance; Justin Molineaux, Catholic University of America

Tagged Divisions

Construction

construction engineering and management programs at universities,which are taught with a plethora of different textbooks (1), the leading Journal of ConstructionEngineering and Management dedicates a Cost and Schedule specialty area to it to publishcurrent research papers, the Project Management Institute, an professional organization ofapproximately 180,000 members in 2002 created a special interest group called College ofScheduling, and the available commercial scheduling software over the past two decades hasmade a strong contribution to the popularity of a particular scheduling technique, the critical pathmethod (CPM) (2). Researchers have regularly examined the use of CPM (3, 4, 5, 6, 7), and havefound it to be the dominant scheduling technique

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zhili (Jerry) Gao; Virendra Varma, Missouri Western State University; Eric Asa, North Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

-Dimensional/Three-Dimensional (2D/3D) visualization techniques offer new capabilities that can enhance a student’sunderstanding of how structures behave under various types of loading.1 For instance, computeranimation programs allow processes of mechanics to be shown in motion. Therefore, applying2D/3D visualization techniques to the current mechanics courses, namely Mechanics ofMaterials, also called Strength of Materials, will provide students a learner-friendly environment,lower the difficulty of students’ understanding, and improve the retention rates of studentsenrolled in the construction curriculums. This paper reports the results of a case study on theapplication of 2D/3D visualization techniques in the teaching of a course in mechanics

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Pocock, U.S. Air Force Academy; Steve Kuennen, U.S. Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Construction

. Figure 1 – Cadets Forming Concrete Beams during the Summer Field Engineering CourseThis is the essence of the summer field course, applying engineering throughconstruction. Since this course comes before most of their engineering design courses,the engineering tends to be intuitive. But the students begin to understand the results ofchanging variables in their designs. They also recognize the impact of their designs onconstructability since they must execute their own design. In other activities, such as thewood-frame house they build, the design has already been provided and the learningemphasis is on aspects such as integrating systems, safety, reading construction drawingsand updating the project schedule. Together, these activities are

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gunnar Lucko, Catholic University of America; Panagiotis Tsopelas, Catholic University of America; Timothy Garland, Catholic University of America; Rodrigo Gonzalez, Catholic University of America; Thomas Lee, Catholic University of America; Justin Molineaux, Catholic University of America

Tagged Divisions

Construction

sustainability.Since then the faculty members have taken steps towards developing such programs, beginningwith offering the “Sustainable Development Principles and Practice” course that coverssustainable development, international practices, policy, and ethics and complements the“Construction Systems and Planning” and “Civil Engineering Systems Management” coursewhere engineering and architecture students create a detailed proposal for a semi-realistic teamproject (1). Subsequently, a task group examined the feasibility of further courses. A new studentchapter of EWB has been founded at the university, which crystallizes the interest of theengineering students in bringing their skills to developing regions and which is enjoying anexceptionally active group of

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Currin, Southern Polytechnic State University; Timothy Zeigler, Southern Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

meet ABET criteria for accrediting engineering programs.Although ABET encourages unique outcomes specific to individual programs; allengineering programs must produce graduates that attain eleven specific outcomesdescribed in the criteria for accrediting engineering programs.1 The prescribed elevenoutcomes and outcomes defined in the program criteria must be achieved by the time ofgraduation. The final program outcomes for the construction engineering programs weredeveloped to address the aforementioned ABET criteria as well as meet needs of theprogram constituents. The developed program outcomes are: a. Graduates will recognize careers in the construction engineering field and appreciate the importance of

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Mulva, Texas State University-San Marcos; Robert Tisdel, Texas State University - San Marcos

Tagged Divisions

Construction

information about buildings, the processes of building became increasinglylegalistic, codified, complex and adversarial. In fact, today’s standard AIA contracts state that“the architect will not be responsible for construction means, methods, techniques orprocedures.”1 Fortunately, the introduction of Building Information Modeling (BIM) holdspromise for ending the disassociation between constructing and designing, thereby paving theway for an increase in building innovations and the potential return of the ‘master builder’ role.Software that allows for the three dimensional (3D) construction of a virtual building (i.e., BIM) Page 12.333.2will

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Cottrell, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Construction

Curves Figure 1: Student Performance of Graded Conceptual Estimating ExercisesStudent Performance, Feedback, and ConclusionAs can be seen from the figure above, student performance was superb. They clearlymastered the mechanics of these relatives straight forward application of techniques fordeveloping estimates when information about the proposed project is lacking. Design-build projects can have as much as 25% of the design completed when the contractorbegins to develop his estimate of the cost. Student surveys concerning the estimatingprocess in the face of little of no information indicated that initially the students wereskeptical that any estimate could be set with the given conditions. However, afterwards,they were highly confident in

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Engy Serag, San Diego State University; Amr Oloufa, University of Central Florida

Tagged Divisions

Construction

other indirect costs such as higher insurancerates, delayed completion of projects; and lost opportunity of bidding in other projects due toextended completion; and so forth. The major variable risk item in any construction project is thelabor as they are frequently the most variable cost for the contractor. The main areas of labor costincrease include schedule acceleration, changes in the scope of work, project management,project location and external characteristics2.The main objective of the research is the following: (1) Analyze the change orders issued by theowner and their effect on project cost. (2) Develop a model to assist the owner to quantify theincrease in the contract price resulting from change orders.DATA PREPARATIONThe most

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yong Bai, University of Kansas; Oswald Chong, University of Kansas

Tagged Divisions

Construction

accrediting including1: 1) Students, 2) ProgramEducational Objectives, 3) Program Outcomes and Assessment, 4) Professional Component, 5)Faculty, 6) Facilities, 7) Institutional Support and Financial Resources, and 8) Program Criteria.Under Criterion 3, Program Outcomes and Assessment, ABET specifies eleven (from a to k) Page 12.694.2attributes that an engineering program must demonstrate that graduates have1: a. an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering, b. an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data, c. an ability to design a system, component, or process to

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wenfa Hu, Tongji University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

. Because there are so many different types of construction project deliveriesand organizations that students can not study all of them in one or two courses. In practices thereare usually only one or two dominant construction project organization structures, for example thetraditional construction management approach is well accepted and can be used in this paper.Construction Project OrganizationTraditional construction management approach is broadly adopted in current Chinese constructionindustry though a real project organization may be different from popular methods such as FIDIC,RICS, or others1. There is a typical traditional construction project organization sponsored andmanaged by local companies, shown in Figure 1, students should study it

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Asa, North Dakota State University; Zhili (Jerry) Gao

Tagged Divisions

Construction

bydeveloping software under real-world conditions and (iii) team skills and effectivecommunication are crucial to software engineering curriculum.Walker and Slotterbeck in analyzing several capstone courses in Software Engineering1 ,suggested that (1) the engineering concepts can not be fully taught to students in a single term,(2) the software development process is best learnt in a real-world environment and (3)teamwork and effective communication ( written and presentation) are crucial to engineeringprograms.Research MethodologyThe methodology employed in this research involves review of the ABET accreditation process,particularly Criterion 3(a-k), followed by a discussion of the methodology generally employed toincorporate real world projects into

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Soller, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis; Erdogan Sener, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis

Tagged Divisions

Construction

, as well as, that of educational accreditation. Whenstudents complete their education, there are a number of different ways to assess whether thestudents have actually learned how to articulate their knowledge, but a single methodology hasnot been universally agreed upon [1]. Standardized certification exams provide some independentmethod of assessment of student knowledge, but the results of the exams are generally notavailable for use in coursework. Capstone courses that aim to utilize competencies assimilatedover four or more years of education are commonly used instead. However, if the educationalassessment methodology used in such capstone courses is a comprehensive exam, portfolio, oreven an exit exam, there may be little difference in

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tulio Sulbaran, University of Southern Mississippi; David Marchman, University of Southern Mississippi

Tagged Divisions

Construction

, 40,000 injuries, and 52,000 property-damage-only accidents, at a total cost of $6.2 billion/year [Mohan & Gautam, 2002].Significant effort has been placed to further understand the potentially hazardous nature of workzones and several facts about work zones have been documented such as 1- Eighty-five percentof those killed in work zones are drivers or occupants, 2- Rear-end crashes are the most commonkind of work zone crash, 3- Roads with speed limits of 55 miles per hour or greater account forthe majority of fatal work zone crashes in 2001, 4- More than 50% of all fatal work zone crashesoccurred during the day in 2001, 5- More than twice as many fatal work zone crashes occurredon weekdays as on weekends; and 6- Fatal work zone crashes

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tulio Sulbaran, University of Southern Mississippi; David Marchman, University of Southern Mississippi; Shelton Houston, University of Southern Mississippi

Tagged Divisions

Construction

a descriptive research methodology with a systematic literature review. Theresults presented in this paper could be used as the foundation for similar studies in other statesand it has the potential to directly benefit construction education by serving as an example ofgood practice in engineering educationIntroduction to Roadway FatalitiesThe United States (U.S.) heavily relies on the roadway infrastructure. As shown in Table 1 aconsiderable number of highway vehicle miles are driven every year. Unfortunately, the numberof fatalities is staggering with accidents becoming more frequent, resulting in situations as theone depicted in Figure 1. Figure 1. Crash Sample Picture [Public Roads 2004

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Enno Koehn, Lamar University; James Koehn, Chadron State College

Tagged Divisions

Construction

approvalof the Texas State University Board of Regents. The Chair of the Department of CivilEngineering was authorized to determine the courses that were to be offered and develop adegree plan for the curriculum. Unfortunately, the Chair is a theoretical structural engineer and isnot familiar with construction engineering.Texas State University Board of Regents Certification For a program to be approved by the Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Research,the Board of Regents must certify that the new program meets eight criteria.4,5 The criteriastipulate that the program shall: (1) Be within the institution’s current Table of Programs

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Hildreth, Virginia Tech; Michael Vorster, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Construction

-plans were formalized intoa one-page written document submitted to the instructor at the beginning of theconstruction session. Page 12.1000.4 The replica is shown in Figure 1 and consists of 10 components: 2 abutments, 2towers, 4 cable and hanger assemblies, 2 bascule spans. Each component is assembledseparately and then connected to complete the project. Figure 1: K’NEX Replica of the Tower Bridge14 Each group was provided instructions for constructing the bridge. Theinstructions were gray-scale photocopies of the color instructions provided in the K’NEXkit. As a result, the students were required to focus on the

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, State University of New York; Loucas Chrysafi, State University of New York; Alfred Scalza, State University of New York; Jeff Hartman, State University of New York; Carmine Napolitano, State University of New York

Tagged Divisions

Construction

studies and ours and to show thevariety and range of proposed solutions. In August 2001, the Suffolk County Department ofPlanning did an “Overview of Existing Conditions in the Route 110 Corridor”, 20011 whichlisted the existing conditions in the following categories:Population. This chart showed that there are many single family dwellings within the corridorand 112,000 residents lived within this area as of the 2000 Census. US Census Bureau-1990,2000 Census 2Employment Data. Approximately 225,000 people are employed within this corridor.Existing Business Establishments and Employment. 1. Industrial Market 2. Office Market 3. Retail CentersIn 1979, The Long Island Regional Planning

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Virendra Varma, Missouri Western State University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

Page 12.925.8Hyatt walkway design switch exemplifies the need for a strictly enforced change-of-designprocedure including technical review and documentation. Technical people sometimes feel thisprocedure is a burden and does not apply to them. Then we see examples where the procedurewas not followed.”6As a foot-note to the lesson learned from the Hyatt Regency Hotel failure, the hotel was repairedwith in five months of the collapse, and the three walkways were replaced by a single walkwayat the second-floor level, which was not suspended but supported on 10 large reinforced concretecolumns.7Bibliography 1. Lavoie, D. “Massachusetts to Sue Big Dig Companies.” Associated Press, Nov. 28, 2006 2. “Investigators Probe Boston Central Artery