The Urban Environment as the Cornerstone of a Civil Engineering Curriculum for the 21st Century

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Abstract

This planning grant for departmental level reform will develop curricular changes to the undergraduate program in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Wayne State University. An innovative strategy for enhanced learning, recruitment and retention in our undergraduate program will be designed and evaluated as part of the proposed effort. A major component of this strategy will be the use of a "real-life" civil engineering project as the background/foundation to weave together the numerous, often seemingly disconnected course requirements in our undergraduate curriculum, starting from the freshman level Introduction to Design course through to the senior level Capstone Design course. Study of emerging technologies, which are currently available primarily in the graduate curriculum, will be added to the undergraduate curriculum during the planning stages of this project. Specific courses will be developed in response to this planning grant, as well as revision of the method of teaching existing courses. The objective is to design a curriculum that best meets the emerging workforce and educational needs of US industry, with a particular emphasis on the civil engineering needs of the urban environment.