Construction Engineering Conference: Opportunity and Vision for Education, Practice and Research; Blacksburg, Virginia; 30 September through 2 October, 2010

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

This conference provides a unique venue that brings together a focused group of construction practitioners to enlighten university educators and researchers as to the challenges and opportunities of construction engineering. The goal is to promote opportunities in the area of construction engineering to young faculty and university decision makers; envision a stimulating path forward for this field; identify mutually beneficial interfaces between industry practitioners, construction educators and researchers; and establish a holistic research and education agenda to support the construction engineering needs of the 21st century. Construction engineering is the series of technical activities throughout the project delivery process that influence design, support construction means and methods decisions, create a safe and productive construction environment, and seek to avoid and solve the engineering issues associated with project delivery. The envisioned gathering contains two interlaced parts over a two day period of time: Symposium: To investigate the function of construction engineering as it pertains to various project types (vertical and heavy civil), the issues of equipment and methods, the economics of engineering decisions, and the education of construction engineers (1.5 days); Workshop: to introduce young faculty to the opportunities in construction engineering research and to establish priorities (0.5 days). What makes this conference unique is (1) the future frontier construction engineering topics presented, (2) the interwoven nature of the research component with the symposium portion, and (3) a ?path forward? agenda that will be established with the ASCE Construction Engineering Education Committee. The conference format is set up such that research topics will be generated as a result of discussion between the academics and practitioners during the symposium, including the ASCE Construction Engineering Education Committee who will carry forward a the research agenda. The intellectual merit of this symposium and research workshop involves an understanding of the critical role construction engineering plays in delivering challenging infrastructure projects for improving the sustainability of the built environment. The broader impacts relate to a methodology for developing the next generation of construction engineering educators, researchers, and practitioners. The exposure of young academics to the experience of construction professions will highlight the importance of teaching processes with emphasis on analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of problems more than on deriving a single solution. Wide dissemination of results will be through electronic proceedings and publication of papers in a special issue of the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management.