Minneapolis, MN
August 23, 2022
June 26, 2022
June 29, 2022
Civil Engineering Division - Innovative Changes to the Typical Civil Engineering Coursework.
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10.18260/1-2--41453
https://peer.asee.org/41453
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Ellen Zerbe is a postdoctoral fellow with the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech where she is working on curriculum development and innovation. She earned her doctorate from Penn State University where she studied engineering graduate student attrition, writing, and thriving.
Professor Amekudzi-Kennedy studies systems problems on the integrated built, natural, social and information environments to understand how we can make better decisions to promote resilient and sustainable development. Her research currently focuses on the development and application of systems and sustainability engineering methods to promote sustainable development. Kennedy has authored extensively, developed undergraduate and graduate courses and programs, and provided technical support for multiple international, national, state and local initiatives in these interdisciplinary areas. She serves as the primary instructor for the required undergraduate course: Civil Engineering Systems, and the graduate elective: Infrastructure Systems, both of which address the proper stewardship of infrastructure. She is the founding Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Committee on Sustainability and the Environment (within the Transportation & Development Institute). She served on the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (National Research Council) for 10 years, and is a member of the Transportation Asset Management Committee (Transportation Research Board). Kennedy serves on the editorial boards for the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, Sustainability and Climate Change, and Transportation and Developing Economies, and is co-founder of the Global Engineering Leadership Minor at Georgia Tech, a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the National Academy of Construction.
Robert Simon serves as an Academic Professional for the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Georgia Tech. In this role, he administers certain aspects of academic operations and program development while also contributing to the undergraduate Global Engineering Leadership Minor by teaching in courses involving engineering leadership, innovation, and organizational effectiveness. He co-instructs the Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Civil Engineering Systems course, and is a member of the instructional team for several CEE undergraduate courses.
Nationwide, 40-60% of engineering students leave their engineering major, with women and underrepresented minorities doing so at higher rates. In the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Georgia Institute of Technology in recent years, 50% of students have changed to a new major in their first two years, while roughly the same numbers have entered the program simultaneously from other engineering majors. Similar departure rates are seen in programs across the country. Reversing attrition from civil and environmental engineering is a critical need for addressing society’s grand challenges effectively. Part of this attrition is due in part to limited discipline-focused engagement until students’ junior year. To address this, the School of CEE is providing early engagement in authentic engineering experiences and giving students the opportunity to reflect on these experiences to solidify their CEE identity. We are creating opportunities early and across the curriculum for our students to engage in interactive problem-based learning centered on the global grand challenges, while developing their technical and computational knowledge, skills, and mindset. We are also equipping our students to work effectively in teams and to apply story-driven learning to become more reflective learners. This takes the form of a “spine” of vertically-integrated courses. These innovations in the curriculum contribute to the development of whole-person engineers with an enhanced sense of belonging to the discipline and a strengthened self-concept as a civil or environmental engineer. This initiative also supports the development of entrepreneurially-minded engineers, that is, engineers who know how to create value for society and do so habitually. We outline these innovations in each of the four vertically-integrated courses, while emphasizing the techniques applied and how they connect to create a cohesive curriculum that engages students as engineers from the freshman year.
Zerbe, E., & Amekudzi-Kennedy, A., & Haas, K., & Burns, S., & Russell, A., & Tien, I., & Watkins, K., & Koon, J., & Simon, R., & Taylor, J., & Webster, D., & Grubert, E., & Rosenstein, L. (2022, August), Early Engagement and Vertically-Integrated Learning: Developing Whole-Person and Entrepreneurially-Minded Engineers Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41453
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