A Data-Driven Comparison of ABET Accredited Construction Engineering and Construction Management Programs

Mostafa Batouli; Negin Shamsi; Nahid Vesali; Rebekah Burke

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Construction Engineering Division Technical Session 4
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41663
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41663
Download Count: 355

Negin Shamsi was qualified to attend the University of Tehran (UT), the icon of higher education in Iran, and began her Bachelor of Science in Water Science and Engineering in 2015. The most important reason to choose this major is her interest in identifying water-related issues, which are crucial worldwide, and looking for solutions to tackle them. In 2019, she was honored to be selected as an exceptionally talented student among undergraduate students and became qualified to receive a merit-based admission offer to M.Sc. program without taking the nationwide entrance exam in Water Science and Engineering at the University of Tehran. In her final year of the undergraduate program, she was chosen for an exchange program. She did her last-semester internship in Switzerland. Her project is titled " Panorama of Water Pollutant Monitoring Systems in Switzerland." In her project, she investigated water quality measurement methods in surface water, particularly rivers and lakes, and assessed the gap between current water quality measurement techniques and requirements in the future. According to her background, she believes that to overcome recent global issues, such as climate change and water-related issues international and multidisciplinary cooperation is needed.

Therefore in 2021, she joined Civil Engineering Master's Program at The Citadel, which is a great opportunity to work and focus on areas in her favorite field. Now, she is working on an interdisciplinary research project funded by SC Sea Grant Consortium. The project titled "Climate Risks, Infrastructure Systems, and Income Disparity: Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on

Social Inequality in South Carolina's Coastal Communities." It focuses on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructure projects to protect vulnerable communities in low-lying coastal regions affected by sea-level rise.

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Nahid Vesali The Citadel

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Dr. Nahid Vesali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Leadership and Program Management (ELPM) in the School of Engineering (SOE) at The Citadel. She joined The Citadel in January 2020 and teaches courses in project management and construction engineering management fields. Dr. Vesali earned her PhD in Civil Engineering from Florida International University. She holds Master of Science in Construction Engineering and Management from IAU, and Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology. Prior to joining The Citadel, she worked at Plaza Construction, Florida Group LLC. She worked with the corporate Quality Management team and project management team for high-rise projects. She was also a lecturer at Technical College of Dr. Shariati back in Tehran, Iran. Dr. Vesali’s past research has been focused on decision making and risk management in existence of deep uncertainty. She is also interested in research related to creating inclusive environment for female and minority students in STEM majors.

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Rebekah Burke The Citadel

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Abstract

Two of the most commonly offered construction programs are Construction Management (CM) and Construction Engineering (ConE). While “engineering” and “management” are supposedly two distinct streams of education, the differences between ConE and CM becomes blurred in real life situations. The objectives of the research presented in this paper was to shed light on the curricular differences between CONE and CM programs and define the state-of-the-art CONE and CM curriculums. To achieve these objectives, we first created a theoretical framework of six categories of skill sets required of construction professionals in life cycle of a project. Then, we collected the curriculums of all CONE and CM programs accredited by Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Finally, using a structured data-driven approach, we compared the curriculums of the programs based on the number of credit hours of coursework related to different categories of skills and developed typical CONE and CM curriculums. The results of this study will help higher education institutions to develop new or modify existing construction programs based on the required skills of their graduates and the state-of-the-art curriculums of CONE and CM programs. In particular, the results will help cross-listing common CONE and CM courses in colleges and universities that offer both programs.

Citation
Format

Batouli, M., & Shamsi, N., & Vesali, N., & Burke, R. (2022, August), A Data-Driven Comparison of ABET Accredited Construction Engineering and Construction Management Programs Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41663