Thursday, February 12, 2009

Kansas State University (KSU) Visit - 9-10 February 2009

On February 9th & 10th I visited Kansas State University (KSU), for my 12th sabbatical interviews. Thanks to the efforts of Dave Fritchen (Department head) and Ray Yunk (ArchE program coordinator) I met nine faculty currently teaching the design aspects of the AE program and others as well. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable. (The visit also dispelled an easterner's preconceptions about the flatness of all things in Kansas and provided spring weather in February).

What did I learn?

About the Architectural Engineering And Construction Science program

  • They're long established (1925)


    • Like many programs they've moved administratively over time, but have been in their present configuration for about 30 years
  • They're clear about their mission and determined in following it - producing "industry ready" building engineers


    • They rely on twice-yearly advisory council meetings for indications of what industry needs
    • All of their faculty come from industry and continue industry relationships through consulting or committee activities
  • They feel independent of academic trends


    • Of the seventeen tenure-track faculty only one has a PhD
    • Classroom teaching is the core value, with research not a part of the academic responsibilities.
    • Typical faculty teaching loads are 4 or five courses/term, with responsibility for all grading (no teaching assistants)
    • Faculty also have a strong (50+ students/faculty member) advising responsibility
    • This approach is different from most of the rest of the university
  • The department's physical facilities are excellent


    • The department raised the money for the facilities and was involved in the design and construction
  • Industry cooperation extends to student employment during the semester


    • Two firms (from Texas and Kansas City) have set up remote sites immediately off-campus where student employees work via the internet, supervised both by a company employee and (several hours/week) by a faculty member.
  • The 800 students in the department's two programs make it the largest in the college of engineering

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

  • The five-year program bachelor program uses the additional credits beyond those in the typical four-year program for greater breadth and depth
    (158 credit hours to graduate).


    • Students take essentially the same curriculum for the first 3-1/2 years and then have a choice between an MEP and a structural track.
    • Unlike most other AE programs the MEP track is approximately twice as popular as the structural track
  • In the one-semester capstone design course (individual work, though the prior course is team-oriented) a student is expected to address all the systems in a building in depth


    • There are two sections of this course, one devoted to structural design, the other to MEP
    • The prior course is focused on schematic design of the MEP and structural systems with an emphasis on understanding the interaction of design decisions.  It uses a problem-based learning approach. [2/12/2009 Correction]
  • The faculty take great pride that they have many years of industry experience and therefore can teach the students the way designs and documentation are actually created in industry


    • Codes are used extensively
    • There is an emphasis on professionalism in conduct as well as product
  • A complement to this industry-focused approach is that the role of theory development or exploration is not viewed as a critical part of the education.


    • One senior faculty member explained it to me that there really hasn't been much significant change in the equipment and theories on which the industry is based in the last thirty-five years so time spent on applying theory is more valuable.
    • Another noted that most new knowledge comes through the professional association, which are very active at KSU.


      • e.g. 20 students typically attend the ASHRAE convention
  • The role of hand-drawing (sketches) is highly valued


    • For this reason there are still two (down from nine when one faculty member was a student) hand drafting classes.
  • The Construction Science program (4-year non-engineering) is an excellent complement to the AE program


    • Faculty in the department teach in both programs
    • Students who have difficulty with the math-science portion of engineering in the first two years find a switch to Construction Science easy.
    • There are shared upper-level elective courses that give the AE students good professional knowledge of construction
  • SEI Model program


    • The department is working with the Civil Engineering department to develop a master's level offering that would follow the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) recommendation - perhaps offering a certificate
  • Graduate program


    • The department has a small masters program (report rather than thesis) including a BS/MS program


      • Most of the students in the program are BS/Ms students
        • 3/4 are structural and 1/4 are MEP [2/17/2009 correction]
      • The program is limited in size to about 24 students - larger was found to be unwieldy [2/17/2009 correction]
  • Seminar Program


    • All students in the program (freshman to senior) are required to attend a 4-times-per-semester no-credit single seminar that typically brings in outside speakers, often talking about a specific project

AE Content Issues

Overall KSU faculty feel content with what they're doing. I found no significant themes. The notes below represent observations or minor issues.
  • Sustainability


    • The department is proud that their industry advisory board alerted them to the impeding importance of LEED and that a faculty member was the first LEED-certified instructor in the nation.
    • Energy conservation and wise use of resources is emphasized throughout the curriculum
  • BIM


    • The attitude towards BIM appears to be that it's more important in the construction area than in the engineering area.
    • Revit is being used, but there is little sense that it's going to require significant rethinking of any other issues.
  • Bachelor's + 30


    • The department is confident that their five-year program will meet the intent of this change
  • Computer use


    • As noted in relation to hand-drawing and BIM, the general approach appears to be cautious about committing to computer dependence in education.
    • There is apparently a continuing discussion: computer programs are used in many courses and many are available in the department's computer labs.

Students

  • Students overwhelming go into consulting engineering careers


    • The option for construction careers, common in many other AE programs, is addressed here by the construction science program.
  • The breakdown of graduate employment (50-60/year) is approximately


    • MEP consulting 2/3 of graduates
    • Structural consulting 1/3
    • Other - minor
  • Women are well represented in the program


    • About 25% of the students and the faculty
  • Student attrition is fairly significant in the first two years, and not thereafter


    • About 120 identify as AE's as freshman
    • About 50-60 graduate

Observations

  • Two aspects of the KSU program are unique and appear to contribute to its success


    • Its reliance on industry-trained faculty who often obtain their advanced degree (usually Masters) while teaching at KSU
    • The alliance with the construction program, which has both financial and educational advantages
  • In conversations with younger faculty there was some sense that greater help in making the transition from industry to a teaching role would be helpful


    • There is a mentoring program - it was felt to be variably helpful
    • There is also a "LEARN" seminar series available from the university that helped some
    • The idea of a teaching workshop in the summer preceding teaching was appreciated by many
  • The effects of the "flattening" of the world thanks to the internet are vividly illustrated by the firms that have set up storefront operations to take advantage of student assistance.


    • The implications of this flattening for future employment opportunities for graduates in a world-economy would seem to be worth considering - for KSU and every other institution.

About my Sabbatical Project

  • The issue of the location of an AE program in the administrative setup was once again highlighted.


    • There seems to be a fairly consistent pattern that those that are contained within a "Civil, Architectural & xxxx" arrangement do not have the strength that independent departments do. Whether that's a historical artifact or a consequence of the arrangement is not clear.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Tennesse State University (TSU) Vist - 6 February 2009

On February 6th I spent the day at Tennessee State University, my twelfth sabbatical visit. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Hinton Jones I met five faculty currently teaching the design aspects of the AE program. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable. (A balmy, almost-spring day after a week of 5-10 degree weather was most welcome too.)

What did I learn?

About the Department of Architectural and Facilities Engineering program

  • The Architectural Engineering program has been long-established at this Historically Black institution

    • It was founded in the 1950s
  • For many years its identity was closer to architecture than to engineering

    • Its department heads have almost all been architects
    • It offered a path for black students into the building profession since few architecture programs were open to them in the days of segregation
    • This identity is changing - it now sees itself as primarily engineering although that perception is not necessarily understood by the alumni and many employers.
  • It's small, but stable

    • The faculty consists of three full-time members, with a search under way for a fourth
    • The student body is about 100 total and fairly constant at that number.
  • The program is undergraduate and teaching-focused

    • There is a desire to create a graduate program and to develop research
  • Even though Facilities Engineering is part of the name, it's not an active program.
  • As at other institutions that I've visited, recruiting a qualified HVAC faculty member is difficult

    • There's been an effort over the last four years that hasn't yet been successful
  • There is an association with Penn State through visits to their Job Fair

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

  • The curriculum emphasizes structures, mechanical and electrical in a single track with some electives offered.
  • There is a strong emphasis on making students ready for industry. As examples, this involves:

    • Emphasis on drawing preparation and understanding of standard symbols and conventions
    • Visits to professional offices in early years
    • Use of the NEC book as the text in the electrical course
  • The design sequence involves the following courses:

    • Sophomore graphics course with some design content
    • Two architectural design courses

      • One currently in junior year and one in senior year
      • In future they will both be in the junior year with space made by elimination of a CADD course.
    • A two-semester capstone design course sequence

      • The first semester focuses on problem definition
      • The semester focuses on concept development and documentation
      • Students in this course are individually responsible for a system
      • They are encouraged to work in teams of 3-4 students addressing the same building, but still maintaining the individual system responsibility, but some still work individually

AE Content Issues

  • Sustainability

    • The faculty noted that sustainable concepts are embedded in the curriculum via examples and instructor emphasis
    • Most capstone design buildings use LEED certification standards
    • Energy conservation is emphasized in the HVAC courses as well as the architectural design studios
  • BIM

    • Although there wasn't much explicit concern about BIM, Revit Architecture has been adopted as the standard tool in the Architecture studios.
  • Bachelor's + 30

    • The faculty are in favor of extending the curriculum to five years in accordance with this initiative

      • They're in favor because it would give them the opportunity to address material now not included due to time limitations, and also because of university requirements to reduce technical credits in order to increase general education credits.
  • AE Profession identity

    • The issue of employers and colleagues in other departments not understanding what is Architectural Engineering is a significant problem here.

Students

  • Graduates of the program have been employed approximately as follows:

      • Construction 50%
      • Consulting 15%
      • Government 15%
      • Other 20%
    • These numbers have changed over time with consulting being higher a while ago
    • The department is making an effort to expose students to consulting firms and believes that number will go up again in future.
  • Student preparation and attrition

    • Many students are not well prepared for engineering

      • For this reason a year of remedial work is not uncommon
      • The time to graduation is therefore 5 to 5-1/2 years for most students
    • There is quite a significant attrition rate for students, in large part for the same reasons

      • The entering class is about 35 students
      • The typical graduating class is about 10 students

Observations

  • The students are the beneficiaries of faculty who are all highly experienced and dedicated, with many years of teaching and/or industry experience.

    • Replacing them with the next generation is probably going to be a challenge for the university in the next decade.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Visit - February 4, 2009

On February 4th I visited Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), my tenth sabbatical trip. Thanks to the efforts of Jamshid Mohammadi (Department Head) and Ralph Muehleisen I met four faculty currently teaching the design aspects of the AE program and others as well. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable. Thanks to IIT's emphasis on Architecture I also was able to lunch in the Rem Koolhaas student union straddling the elevated line and visit several Mies buildings including the renowned Crown Hall.

What did I learn?

About the AE program in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department

  • It's fairly new -1995 start


    • It was started on the advice of the department's industry advisory board
  • It's been growing - from a small start to about 100 AE students now


    • It's feeling some growing pains, particularly in the faculty area
  • It's ambitious - wanting to cover more aspects of AE than many programs


    • See the curriculum section for details
  • The campus academic environment is research-oriented


    • This has caused some problems for department faculty because of the need for heavy teaching loads to meet the curriculum requirements.

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

  • The curriculum currently addresses AE with multiple tracks


      • Structural
      • Building systems
      • Construction management
      • Electrical
      • Fire Protection

    • In practice students currently follow a 'general' track because of the faculty limitations on offering courses.
    • Acoustics and Noise Control is also a significant offering though it's not currently a separate track
  • The Capstone design course (one semester) is offered in a unique manner.


    • The university has an interdisciplinary design requirement called IPRO
    • IPRO is currently offered in two independent courses, the second of which serves as the AE capstone design course (the first occurs anytime during a student's IIT career). [correction 2/6/2009]
    • Each section of the IPRO course for AE's typically consists of about 5-8 architects (from the 1000+ in IIT's architecture program), 5-8 AE's and an about equal number from other IIT majors (section size 16).
    • This team must complete a building design using the talents of all the members
    • The first IPRO course sometimes serves as a precursor to this capstone experience, but not necessarily because it is administered by a separate office.
  • One faculty member, Mark Snyder, is conducting some educational experiments in the freshman Introduction to The Profession (ITP) course, looking at different emphases and using assessment techniques from other institutions.
  • Like many other AE programs the department does not offer a course designated or internally identified as Architectural Engineering Design.


    • The capstone design course serves that purpose as is often the case in elsewhere
    • There is an "architecture" course taught by an professor with both architecture and engineering credentials
  • As in other institutions, cooperation with other departments is often difficult


    • Service courses by and for architecture have decreased in recent years


      • There is still, however, a desire to develop joint research and courses
    • There are similar issues with other engineering departments
  • The department offers a "professional masters" degree


    • It is currently almost a complete overlap with the last two years of the AE program

AE Content Issues

  • Sustainability


    • Several courses (Mechanical Systems and electrical) have a significant sustainability emphasis in their content
  • BIM


    • Revit is currently used for representation purposes
    • There is interest in it for engineering purposes, but uncertainty about its current capabilities and resource demands
  • Bachelors + 30 Movement


    • The university overall is quite positive about this direction for the profession
    • Several professors expressed concern about material that cannot now be in the curriculum that they believe important. That was their reason for liking the extra time this approach would provide.
  • Identity


    • I heard from several individuals that Architectural Engineering is not well known in the Chicago area.


      • The department head has had to present to several state boards to allow graduates to take the PE Exam
    • One person explicitly and by extension several others would like to see more attention paid nationally to addressing this issue
  • Building Systems


    • As noted above, there is a desire to spend significant course time on some building systems not standard in other curricula: Acoustics, Fire Protection, Plumbing

Students

  • The AE program has a net inflow of students in the first several years thanks to transfers
  • The majority of graduates go to work for construction firms

Observations

  • The IIT program is ambitious in its desire for comprehensiveness.


    • Currently that ambition is checked by the lack of sufficient faculty, a check that the department hopes will be remedied.
  • Its Chicago environment, with its numerous large design firms, should offer considerable opportunities in future.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) Visit - February 2-3, 2009

On Feburary 1st and 2nd I visited Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) for my 9th set of interviews. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Deborah Jackman (Dept. Head) and Dr. John Zachar I met a large precentage of the faculty critical to the design aspects of AE program and quite a few others as well. As on my prior visits everyone was welcoming and helpful making my visit both productive and enjoyable.


What did I learn?

About the MSOE program

  • In a small (2,500), private school, the Architectural Engineering and Building Construction Department is a large player


    • The department's approximately 350 students are about 15% of the school's total student body
  • Unlike most other institutions I've visited, there is no Civil Engineering department at MSOE


    • This means that all the fundamental mechanics courses are taught by AEBC faculty
  • Building Construction focuses on what many schools would call construction management


    • All AE students are required to take at least two courses in this area
  • Graduate studies and research play a very minor role in the department


    • Research productivity is not an expectation of faculty, though it does "count" if faculty choose to pursue it
  • Tenure is not used at MSOE


    • Instead there are long-term contracts


      • 4, 6, 8 years for assitant, associate and full professors respectively
    • In practice, once someone has passed their first review they are unlikely to be dropped
    • The review is based 60% on teaching evaluations - primarily student course evaluations used for every course


      • The other 40% is a list of contributions to department, university and profession (including research here)
    • Promotion assumes good teaching and depends the other 40% of the review items
  • The university made a decision 10 years ago to hire only PhD graduates for full-time positions


    • This is having a gradual effect on the faculty, with some younger faculty having a greater desire to find time for research
  • MSOE uses a very detailed "Micro-Load" system to account for faculty time


    • The expectation is 43 hours/week
    • It has allocations for class time, class prep, grading, advising, department meetings, coordinating

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

  • MSOE is proud of it's committment to good teaching and the high ranking it has achieved in US News and World Report thanks to that reputation
  • Class sizes are targeted at 20-25 students from Freshman year onward


    • This means that there are often multiple sections of courses


      • This large number of sections in turn explains the large number of adjunct faculty in the department
  • The department offers three tracks for AE's, with all students taking at least two courses in each track


    • Building Electrical Systems
    • Building Environmental Systems
    • Building Structural Systems
  • There is one explicit Architectural studio in the curriculum


    • There areencounters with design in earlier courses, starting with the freshman introduction course
    • The capstone Senior Design 3-course sequence requires teams of approximately 7 students to program, design and engineering a "real" building
  • There is pride in making the students "industry-ready" on graduation


    • This translates into the curriculum in several ways


      • Detailed consideration of code-compliance in discipline courses
      • Labs with real industry equipment and emphasis on connecting theory to measured reality
      • Participation in, and great success in, the General Building Contractors (GBC) national competitions
      • The capstone design sequence works on "real" projects solicited by a faculty member from industry contacts.


        • A large portion of the grade is determined by an independent industry panel without a faculty member
  • The department is content with its teaching methods


    • There is support for faculty who wish to take teaching improvement workshops such as those at Bucknell or the ASCE Exceed workshops.


      • There does not, however, appear to be great effort invested in spreading lessons learned from such activities.
    • There are university-level support activities


      • They do not appear to hold much interest for most faculty
  • Student advising is very strong


    • I happened to be here during the week of the term in which students consult with their advisors about their next term's work. It was clear that faculty took this responsibility very seriously.
  • Issues that concerned the faculty are:


    • Sustainability - there is considerable pride that they are "ahead of the curve" in incorporating it throughout the curriculum
    • BIM - Opinions varied, but what I heard most was a a"wait and see" attitude to determine how important it would become in the curiculum


      • AE's have already adopted Revit as a standard tool for representation
    • Bachelor + 30 - There did not appear to be much consensus on this though several faculty expressed strong, divergent opinions


      • There were several comments about the difficulty of fitting in everything "necessary" in the current 192 quarter credits
    • Technology - at least one faculty member expressed great pride in a fairly recent requirement that all students own a laptop


      • It was felt to greatly enhance communication

AE Content Issues

  • The faculty are pleased with the comprehensiveness of the systems that they address. In their coursework students have farily detailed exposure to:


    • Structures
    • HVAC
    • Electrical
    • Plumbing
    • Fire Protection
    • Construction Management
  • As noted above, Sustainability and BIM (for representation) are already incorporated in the curriculum.
  • All students take at least two courses in all the track areas.

Students

Faculty volunteered few comments about the students. When I asked they were pleased overall. The following observations were gleaned in response to my questions.
  • The students are hard-working


    • I had some comments that they find dealing with open-ended problems difficult - as is the case for students in most institutions.
  • Most have part-time jobs to help meet their expenses


    • But I heard no complaints about the part-time work hindering class performance
  • I heard some a few comments that students are not as well prepared in their math and sciences as the faculty expected
  • Attrition is fairly high during and at the end of the first year


    • In the last two years enrollment is stable
    • At least one faculty member regarded the atttiriton as a strength, proving that they had advised students well in the first year - students had real knowledge of what they were choosing, with some realizing that it wasn't for them.
  • I did not get good data on graduate employment other than that their graduates are much sought after


    • Anecdotally I was told that most AE's pursue consulting engineering design jobs plus with some in construction as well as ancillary occupations.
    • The Building Construction major serves those who wish to work in the construction side of the industry

Observations

  • MSOE strikes me as an institution that has a clear view of its role, one that has changed little over the years and one of which it's proud. They are training "industry-ready" practitioners with great success.
  • Changes at MSOE are slow, but real


    • The emphasis on sustaibility and the introduction of the BIM tool are examples of changes that not all schools have made
    • The increasing importance of the PhD for faculty and the consequent gradual increase in the value placed on research by the faculty is another.

About my Sabbatical Project

  • In my seminar presentation to the faculty I had the first opportunity to present some of the results from that I'd generated for my ASEE paper.


    • I had few questions or comments about my analysis of the nine categories I've created to discuss the AE Design definitions.