Mass Timber Structural Engineering Curriculum: Assessment of Current Teaching and Resource Needs

Cade Person; Christiana Kiesling; George H. Berghorn

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL) Technical Session - Effective Teaching 4
Tagged Division: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47762

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Paper Authors

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Cade Person Michigan State University

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Cade Person is a third-year undergraduate student at Michigan State University, where he is pursuing a Dual BS/MS degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a specialized focus in energy and sustainability. Cade works as a research assistant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and is a member of the the Michigan State University Industrial Assessment Center. Cade supports collaboration between the multiple departments and MassTimber@MSU on various projects centered around mass timber, including (1) the development of mass timber modules in civil engineering curriculum, and (2) identifying opportunities for embodied carbon reduction in mass timber manufacturing.

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Christiana Kiesling Michigan State University

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Christiana Kiesling is a graduate assistant at Michigan State University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research interests include mass timber curriculum for undergraduate structural engineering students.

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George H. Berghorn Michigan State University

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Abstract

Mass timber is an emerging construction technology growing in popularity in the United States and throughout the world. This is because of the various benefits of mass timber, such as structural stability, fire performance, ease of construction, low carbon footprint, and biophilic aesthetic. One identified obstacle in the gradual adoption of mass timber construction is the limited availability of qualified engineers. Structural engineers are needed to design safe and resilient buildings using advanced construction materials and techniques. Currently, most structural engineering professionals learn mass timber design while working post-graduation rather than from coursework. This is due, in part, to a lack of timber and mass timber education offered at the undergraduate level. Historically, universities have offered timber-focused design courses. However, currently these are much less commonly taught than concrete and steel design. To train the next generation of civil engineers to be designers of mass timber projects, more structural engineering courses are needed that focus on the design of mass timber structures. The purpose of this research is twofold. First is to identify gaps in teaching related to timber, creating an outline of the current state of timber-focused curriculum within civil engineering. Second is to assess where there are needs and opportunities to improve available resources to support programs interested in integrating mass timber structural design into their curriculum. To achieve the first objective, this research identifies and documents existing timber engineering courses available to undergraduate and graduate students and instructors in the United States. The two largest higher educational institutions by enrollment in each state were assessed to inventory courses related to engineering design that mentioned “timber” or “wood” in their course description, resulting in 63 total identified courses across the institutions surveyed. These were evaluated to determine the availability and composition of timber-related design and engineering courses, as well as to identify the programs offering instruction in the discipline. To achieve the second objective, instructors of the identified courses were contacted, resulting in 11 Zoom-based interviews. These structured interviews focused on understanding details of the courses currently taught, the resources used by the instructor to teach these courses, gaps in the available resources, and suggestions on what new educational resources are needed to help increase the availability of mass timber-related courses taught nationwide. Results showed that 59% of the higher educational institutions investigated offered an undergraduate- or graduate-level course(s) in timber design, although the frequency of teaching is often not clear. The analysis of available undergraduate-level coursework suggests that structural engineering programs do not prioritize the instruction of timber-related courses, resulting in limited timber design education. These results provide clarity on the need for additional curriculum to ensure graduating structural engineers are prepared to work with mass timber elements. Additionally, the available course inventory and interview results suggest that increased prioritization of timber courses and resources is needed to support a growth in instruction of mass timber within the structural engineering discipline.

Citation
Format

Person, C., & Kiesling, C., & Berghorn, G. H. (2024, June), Mass Timber Structural Engineering Curriculum: Assessment of Current Teaching and Resource Needs Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47762

TY - CPAPER
AB - Mass timber is an emerging construction technology growing in popularity in the United States and throughout the world. This is because of the various benefits of mass timber, such as structural stability, fire performance, ease of construction, low carbon footprint, and biophilic aesthetic. One identified obstacle in the gradual adoption of mass timber construction is the limited availability of qualified engineers. Structural engineers are needed to design safe and resilient buildings using advanced construction materials and techniques. Currently, most structural engineering professionals learn mass timber design while working post-graduation rather than from coursework. This is due, in part, to a lack of timber and mass timber education offered at the undergraduate level. Historically, universities have offered timber-focused design courses. However, currently these are much less commonly taught than concrete and steel design. To train the next generation of civil engineers to be designers of mass timber projects, more structural engineering courses are needed that focus on the design of mass timber structures.
The purpose of this research is twofold. First is to identify gaps in teaching related to timber, creating an outline of the current state of timber-focused curriculum within civil engineering. Second is to assess where there are needs and opportunities to improve available resources to support programs interested in integrating mass timber structural design into their curriculum. To achieve the first objective, this research identifies and documents existing timber engineering courses available to undergraduate and graduate students and instructors in the United States. The two largest higher educational institutions by enrollment in each state were assessed to inventory courses related to engineering design that mentioned “timber” or “wood” in their course description, resulting in 63 total identified courses across the institutions surveyed. These were evaluated to determine the availability and composition of timber-related design and engineering courses, as well as to identify the programs offering instruction in the discipline. To achieve the second objective, instructors of the identified courses were contacted, resulting in 11 Zoom-based interviews. These structured interviews focused on understanding details of the courses currently taught, the resources used by the instructor to teach these courses, gaps in the available resources, and suggestions on what new educational resources are needed to help increase the availability of mass timber-related courses taught nationwide.
Results showed that 59% of the higher educational institutions investigated offered an undergraduate- or graduate-level course(s) in timber design, although the frequency of teaching is often not clear. The analysis of available undergraduate-level coursework suggests that structural engineering programs do not prioritize the instruction of timber-related courses, resulting in limited timber design education. These results provide clarity on the need for additional curriculum to ensure graduating structural engineers are prepared to work with mass timber elements. Additionally, the available course inventory and interview results suggest that increased prioritization of timber courses and resources is needed to support a growth in instruction of mass timber within the structural engineering discipline.
AU - Cade Person
AU - Christiana Kiesling
AU - George H. Berghorn
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Mass Timber Structural Engineering Curriculum: Assessment of Current Teaching and Resource Needs
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47762
ER -