Developing a Quantitative Methods Course for Undergraduate Civil and Construction Engineering Students
- Conference
- Location
-
Marietta, Georgia
- Publication Date
-
March 10, 2024
- Start Date
-
March 10, 2024
- End Date
-
March 12, 2024
- Page Count
-
9
- DOI
-
10.18260/1-2--45515
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/45515
- Download Count
-
20
Paper Authors
David S Greenburg The Citadel
Dr. Greenburg is a Professor and Department Head for the Department of Engineering Leadership and Program Management (ELPM) in the School of Engineering (SOE) at The Citadel.
Eva Theresa Singleton The Citadel Military College
Dr. Eva Singleton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Leadership and Program Management (ELPM) in the School of Engineering at The Citadel Military College in Charleston, SC.
She is a certified Project Management Professional with over a decade of experience in various industries, including publishing, manufacturing, and government contracting. She enjoys teaching and serving in complex project management roles requiring adaptability and problem-solving, strategic planning, and leadership skills. Dr. Singleton is enthusiastic about educating professionals and students to advance their business and academic endeavors using project management competencies, tools, techniques, and leadership.
Dr. Singleton’s research interest includes interdisciplinary topics related to project management, such as leadership, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, process improvement, and burnout.
The purpose of this paper, Developing a Quantitative Methods Course for Civil and Construction Engineering Students, is to emphasize the important skillset of applying quantitative methods for decision making and problem solving in the real world.
James Righter The Citadel
James Righter is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the School of Engineering (SOE) at The Citadel. He earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy, his MS in Military Studies from the Marine Corps University Command and Staff College, and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University. His research interests include engineering leadership, design methods, engineering design education, and manufacturing.
Abstract
The ability to apply quantitative methods to gather, review, analyze and draw conclusions from data to help with decision making is an important skill set in the engineering profession. In an effort to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for basic quantitative methods for civil and construction engineering students we developed a new course CIVL 453. The main objective of the course is to provide basic skills in quantitative methods, by familiarizing students with the critical steps in an analytical approach to decision-making. The course applies a hands on approach to problems solving and decision making using a variety of optimization problems that engineers frequently face. The specific methods explored include; constructing a quantitative models to include break even analysis, decision trees, linear optimization, PERT/CPM Schedule Crashing, Monte Carlo Simulation, and sensitivity analysis to generate and interpret decision recommendations. Instruction emphasizes a hands-on approach and practical assignments to develop a logical framework for describing and solving problems.
Greenburg, D. S., & Singleton, E. T., & Righter, J. (2024, March), Developing a Quantitative Methods Course for Undergraduate Civil and Construction Engineering Students Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45515
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