HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW CURRICULUM PROPOSAL

Civil Engineering for the 21^st Century

January 23, 2001

Overall Goals

Develop, in our students, the educational base they will need to conceptualize, design, and construct projects involving the infrastructure and large constructed facilities. This would involve "Convergent Technologies" and a "Convergence Toward Eliplalet". Both concepts would be needed to create different approaches in the current curriculum to forge better understanding of engineering design and the necessary allied economic, social, political, and business aspects which will all be part of Civil Engineering in the 21^st Century. This outline highlights the key elements of our original proposal for Civil Engineering in the 21^st Century (see Appendix B).

Our goals fully support the objectives of the Division of Engineering to:

1. develop a uniform core of courses,
2. create courses in Convergent technologies,
3. encourage International programs,
4. have senior level Capstone courses that involve numerous areas of engineering, technology, science, and liberal arts
5. enable students to create minors or areas of concentration that might be in any of the areas of engineering, science, or liberal arts.
6. maintain curriculum size consistent with the rest of the Division of Engineering.

Proposed Methods to achieve the Goals

1. Create more flexibility and room for choice by decreasing the requirements in the upper level courses from six (6) to four (4) courses.
2. Decrease the number of laboratory hours in all of the Civil Engineering courses from three (3) hours to (2) hours. The combined effect of A. (above) and B. will lower the current student and faculty contact hours from 222.5 to less than 200 hours, which will be closer to the other engineering programs (and the Sciences) AND will allow students more time (and courses) for other pursuits.

Specific changes in Courses and/or Course content

1. Greater Use of Case Studies in existing courses (and future courses) to explore the overall responsibilities of Civil Engineers to use their broad background to understand the technology of design and construction AS WELL AS the economic, political, social, and management principles that are needed, by Civil Engineers, to actually get these projects completed.
2. Create, with the rest of the Division of Engineering, a Convergent Technology course in the Sophomore year that would expose all engineers to the interaction of Electrical, Mechanical, and Civil Systems. This would merge some of the principles of Electrical and Mechanical that are applied to motors, generators, turbines, pumps, sensors, etc. and the principles in Civil Engineering that apply to structures, mechanics, and materials that are found in all types of constructed projects.
3. Create a Comprehensive Senior Design Capstone course that would focus on real planning and design for a local project that would involve as many of the Convergent Technologies and the liberal arts/science/management principles as the students have learned during their first three (3) years at Union. Herein also would also be ethics, oral and written communication. This process might be two, or even three, terms long during the senior year.
4. Creation of a new course in Civil Engineering, "Smart Structures and Transportation Systems", that would review and explain the design and applications of new mechanical, electrical, computer, and physical systems used in the design of buildings, roads, bridges, etc.
5. Creation of more (and better) Minors and Areas of Concentration that, with the more open curriculum, more Civil Engineering Students will be able to elect. These minors/areas of concentration should give each student more breadth in the allied areas of liberal arts/science where the student sees his/her interest.
6. Creation of more opportunities for our students to become involved with faculty in collaborative research, now that those students will have more time to do research.
7. Encourage all of our students to be involved with an International Program to give those students exposure in the global future of Civil Engineering.
8. Redevelop and strengthen the Freshman Engineering Core courses to reflect the suggested Converging Technologies concepts already being created in the Division of Engineering.

9. Encourage the creation of new courses in other academic departments that would more fully interest and educate our (and ALL) students in the historical, social, political, and scientific effects of engineering and technology on our lives.

Attached to this document are:

1. Possible Civil Engineering Curriculum proposals that we are currently developing, internally, and with alumni support, to reflect the above objectives is found in Appendix A.
2. Our Original proposal- Civil Engineering Curriculum in the 21^st Century, which lists some of the specific case studies, new courses, and new areas of concentration and minors are found in Appendix B.
3. Highlights of the Current Status of Civil Engineering and background resources available for us to develop a new curriculum is found in Appendix C.

APPENDIX A

Civil Engineering Curriculum for the 21^st Century

Possible Gen. Ed. Sequence

0. Freshman Preceptorial: Add writings by scientists and engineers
0. Gen. Ed. History: Engineering and Society, Through the Ages
1. Gen. Ed. History: Engineering for Humanity
2. Gen Ed. Lit/Civ: History of Architecture, Engineering, and Technology
3. Gen. Ed. Lit/Civ: Large-scale Project’s Effects on Civilization
4. Gen. Ed. Social Science: Engineering Policy and Law
5. Gen Ed. Math/Science: Geology elective
6. Gen. Ed. Math/Science: Environmental impacts and remediation

+ Courses with a plus sign after the name contain convergent technology concepts. All CE design electives would contain convergent

technology concepts.

Civil Engineering Design Electives

Students would take at least three courses from among those listed. Those courses would have to be from at least two of the subject areas.

* No prerequisite — open to Liberal Arts Students

+ Contains convergent technology concepts

APPENDIX B

Civil Engineering for the 21^st Century

A Curriculum

Developed by the Department of Civil Engineering

Union College

January 2001

A bold new curriculum molded around large constructed facility project conceptualization, development, and construction, including associated infrastructure and sustainable development concepts. The curriculum would start from concepts developed in the PBS "Building Big" series with David MacCaulay, and would continue to develop in the students the skills they will need to conceptualize, design, and lead such projects, both technically and socially. Students will learn in a setting of global needs and issues, and will use Internet based communication and learning tools to gain education experiences for the 21^st century.

This would be a truly multidisciplinary and "convergent technology" program. The program will in essence "Converge on Eliphalet" since it will cover broad subjects, embrace the liberal arts, and give graduates the ability to think and solve problems. It would distinguish Civil Engineering from the other programs on campus, but at the same time require us to work closely with them. It would be an excellent marketing tool for attracting high school students, as many of them have seen the Building Big series, or other similar programs on the History Channel. There are many simple projects that can be done at the high school level to illustrate the concepts and create interest. The program would be attractive to employers as we can promote ourselves as delivering grads primed for management who know how to deliver projects. There is something in this curriculum for every student on campus wanting to participate. Students would be required to go on a minimum of a summer or one term internship/co-op at a major project site. They would also be required to physically travel abroad for a term or mini-term. Efforts would be made to combine the internships with foreign travel, and to develop public service terms or mini-terms. International Virtual Design Studio (IVDS) Internet based projects will also be offered as options for the foreign study requirement.

The program would culminate in a multidisciplinary community service project involving the engineering design, economic, political, social, and business aspects of solving a real engineering problem.

This curriculum will meet the requirements for accreditation by ABET. Engineering students following the curriculum will continue to get the necessary math/science, engineering science, and engineering design background necessary to become technically competent engineers. The fundamental component of any engineering curriculum has to be technical competence.

The proposal presented herein fully supports the Division IV objectives of developing a core, international programs, and capstone design experiences that meet the curricular needs of all the engineering programs. The Civil Engineering faculty will continue to collaborate fully in all of these efforts.

Given below is an outline of the interdisciplinary aspects of this curriculum. There is no reason why every department on campus could not be involved in, and benefit from, this curriculum.

Engineering Division

Core and fundamental engineering courses

Multidisciplinary design courses

Design courses integrated into each year of the engineering curriculum

Support of general education courses not requiring prerequisites and open to both engineers and others covering engineering projects, converging technologies, and other appropriate subjects

Sustainable development (linkage between industrial raw material input, product output and materials reuse with social cost/benefits and product life cycle planning)

Civil Engineering

Four areas of proficiency (ABET Required)

Water resources/environmental

Structures

Geotechnical

Transportation

Computer applications and CAD

Surveying and Graphic Information Systems (GIS)

Building, bridge, dome, tunnel, dam design

Communications (written and oral) [emphasized throughout curriculum]

Applied engineering ethics

Construction/project management

Zoning, permitting, planning, site layout, building and construction codes

Space and ocean habitat projects

Earthquake engineering

Environmental processes and remediation

Intelligent transportation and structural systems

Recycled and recyclable materials

Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering

Power systems

Control systems

Sensors, instrumentation, data base management

Optimization of utility usage

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical systems

HVAC

Solar

Green construction

Composites

Mining, manufacturing, sustainable environments on other planets/moons or in outer space.

General Education Program

History of engineering and society, limits of technology (to be options in the required history sequence)

Building technology: design, materials, insulation, wiring, HVAC, zoning, loans, etc.

Mathematics and science for engineers delivered on a need to know schedule and linked with engineering courses.

Mathematics

How mathematics principles have been developed for and from large scale

projects.

Accounting

Probability and statistics, risk assessment

Physics

How basic physics principles made what seemed impossible doable and buildable.

Biology/Chemistry/Environmental Studies

Environmental impacts and remediation

Improvements in environment from projects

Public health aspects of large projects (drinking water, sewage treatment)

Biomechanics

Geology

Groundwater hydrology

Geomorphology

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Economics

Feasibility

Financing

Environmental and engineering economics

Political Science

Permitting

Legislative inducements

Land use planning

Public policy impacts on large constructed facilities projects and vice-versa

Influence of engineering and technical needs on public policy and legislation

Administrative law and contract administration, engineering law

Sociology

Sociological impacts of constructed facilities

Social development

Cultural development

How public health improvements brought about by Civil Engineers have influenced the development of society.

Urban sociology

Psychology

How people adapt to constructed facilities

Behavioral science topics needed by engineering managers and developers

Human factors

Anthropology/History

Learning from past successes and failures in constructed facilities

How cultures adapted to changing environments caused by constructed facilities.

Urban anthropology

History of the Erie Canal

Arts

Maintaining esthetic qualities in constructed facilities

Architectural history

Historical art influences on constructed facilities

Famous architectural designers and their impact on society

Architectural and urban planning

Philosophy

Engineering ethics principles

Philosophical debate over the cultural need for constructed facilities.

GMI

Project and human resource management

Leading and managing organizations (Course on successful CEOs and company case studies.)

Management and leadership of constructed facilities projects

Engineering students would be encouraged to take an area of concentration or minor in one of the subject areas outside of engineering.

A seminar/speaker program would be developed which would appeal to all students, engineering and liberal arts, on how multidisciplinary approaches are applied to large-scale projects.

A key element of the curriculum would be case studies of both historical and current large-scale constructed facilities projects. There are numerous current and historic projects that would be of interest to students, including the "Big Dig" in Boston, numerous athletic facility and airport developments around the country, all the way down to the redevelopment efforts in Schenectady aimed at revitalizing downtown. Several case studies will be investigated and compared regarding the political, regulatory, media, legal, and technical issues that had to be overcome to yield a project result.

Expanded list of possible case studies:

• The Erie Canal
• The big dig (Boston)
• Boston Harbor cleanup
• The St. Lawrence Seaway .
• Reversing the Chicago River
• PCBs in the Hudson or Pittsfield
• Golden Gate, Brooklyn, and George Washington bridges
• Hoover dam
• Bureau of Reclamation projects and their impact on water, environment, and development in the West
• Love Canal
• Denver International airport
• The hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls may have changed the way people looked at power generation forever.
• The NYC water tunnel project is one of the largest if not the largest civil works project ever. (Bring in history of the development of the system.)
• NYC must contain a dozen examples of the world's biggest buildings
• Proposal being evaluated to replace the Gowanus expressway I-95 from Manhattan to Brooklyn with a bridge and or tunnel that would rival (but not surpass) the big dig in size and impact.
• The East River Bridges allowed NYC to become the Nation’s largest city.
• The underground shopping center in Montreal changed the way of life in that city forever.
• NY was a key state in the Eisenhower Interstate system - part of which (I787) is an excellent example of damaging a city by over designing the capacity of a big project and not considering the negative impacts (cutting off the city from the waterfront)
• The Empire State Plaza would also qualify as building big. This project had a huge impact the City of Albany's appearance as well as social and economic makeup.
• Union is located near the headquarters for two companies that are building huge power plants all over the third world - Raytheon in Boston and Parsons Corp. in NYC. They could be valuable resources. These and other companies that specialize in Building Big would love to tap into the stream of engineers graduating from this curriculum.
• Space program
• Metrowest water supply tunnel (Massachusetts)
• Newton Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (New York City)

APPENDIX C

CIVIL ENGINEERING — January 22 , 2001- OVERALL PROGRAM STATUS

I. Factual Data for the last three years

1. Strong ABET Accreditation in 1998

1. 3R report this spring, 2001, will show Civil Engineering to be a strong department with all of the strengths to get re-certified until 2003.

1. The Dept. has had 16-40 graduates per year for the last 10 years.

1. All of our graduates have either gone directly into the professional fields of Civil Engineering or on to Graduate Schools.

1. Highest number of women in all of the engineering programs
2. High ratings in U.S. News and World Report
3. Strong and Diverse Faculty

1. The current Civil Engineering Department has six (6) Tenure line faculty, which was seven (7) until the loss of Prof. Paul Gremillion in 2000. No plans are current to rehire a replacement for this position.
2. Prof. Thomas Jewell:Chair - Specialties in Hydraulics, Fluid Mechanics, Computer Applications, and Communications
3. Assoc. Prof. Phillip Snow- Specialties in Water and Wastewater Treatment, Hydrology, and Water Resources.
4. Assoc. Prof. Mohammad Mafi- Specialties in Structural Analysis, Reinforced Concrete, and Structural Steel.
5. Assoc. Prof. Ashraf Ghaly-Specialties in Soil Mechanics, Foundation Analysis, and Geotechnical Engineering.
6. Asst. Prof. Andrew Wolfe- Specialties in Transportation Engineering, Highway Engineering, Surveying and Instrumentation.
7. Asst. Prof. Christine LaPlante- Specialties in Construction Management, Geo-Environmental Engineering, and Solid Waste Management.
8. Three to five Adjunct Faculty are needed to teach Senior Design courses and AUTOCAD courses as well as Sabbatical replacements.

Highest number of Mini-Term International programs generated and taught

1. Existing Mini-Term Courses

1. TAB 126A- "Water Resources of Sao Paulo, Brazil"- given in 1997, 1998, and 1999 (Prof. Snow and Prof. Huggins).
2. TAB 128A-" Water Resources of Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"- given 2000 (Prof. Snow and Prof. Garcia).
3. TAB 127A-" Water Resources of Australia"- given 2000(Prof. Jewell and Prof. Kenney).

1. Proposed Mini-Terms Courses

1. Engineering in Egypt (Prof. Ghaly)
2. Engineering in Spain ( Prof. Jewell)