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A Faculty Summer Internship Case Study

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Conference

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana

Publication Date

June 26, 2016

Start Date

June 26, 2016

End Date

June 29, 2016

ISBN

978-0-692-68565-5

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Construction Session 4: Outside of the Construction Curriculum

Tagged Division

Construction

Page Count

8

DOI

10.18260/p.26312

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/26312

Download Count

513

Paper Authors

biography

William P Manion University of Maine

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Mr. Manion is an Assistant Professor in the Construction Engineering Technology Program. Prior to his current appointment, he was an Instructor in Civil and Environmental Engineering for fourteen years. His interests include industry collaboration, alternative pathways to engineering degrees, workforce development and sustainable methods in building construction.

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Abstract

This paper describes a case study of a successful summer faculty professional internship in the construction industry. The academic author worked for a regional heavy earthwork contractor, to support a new company wide effort to improve quality, planning and productivity. The purpose of this paper is to present a general model for other faculty members, to inspire others to pursue similar ventures, and as example work activities, to highlight a few techniques used to study and improve construction productivity.

Organized into a literature review, work activities, conclusions and recommendations, the paper describes two summer seasons of work in a unique position to the company. The literature review covers a few previous works related to productivity and industry versus academic experience for construction faculty. The largest section is the work activities, relating job site visits, productivity analysis tools, planning tools, and finally a survey of superintendent activities, meetings and training. The majority of the work was in the field, travelling to all the current projects, working directly with operations managers, superintendents and foremen.

Based on observed heavy and varied superintendent workloads, the author conducted surveys in 2012 and 2014 of the superintendent’s perceptions of what they do on a daily basis. In 2014, the company foremen were also similarly surveyed. The paper presents the survey results and a few subsequent conclusions.

Finally, in the conclusions and recommendations section, the paper describes the benefits to the academic author, the University and the construction company. It was a successful everyone, and hopefully one that may serve as a model for others in similar ventures.

Manion, W. P. (2016, June), A Faculty Summer Internship Case Study Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26312

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