On April 9th and 10th the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) welcomed me on my fifteenth sabbatical visit. Thanks to the efforts of Rich Klinger I met 11 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.
What did I learn?
About the UT Austin program
- As at several other schools, the current Architectural Engineering program in Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering has a long history. (Rich Klinger's excellent white papers provided most information).
- It started life as the "School of Architectural Engineering and Drawing" in 1905
- Architecture separated out in 1951
- The program joined Civil Engineering in 1969
- The name was changed about four years ago to recognize the new emphasis on AE and also the longstanding role of Environmental Engineering in the department.
- As implied above, the AE program was carefully evaluated internally about five years ago. The possibility of dropping it as a separate degree was raised, but the outcome was a renewed commitment to the program, including a search for faculty in the "Building Environmental Systems" (BES) area.
- That emphasis now has two faculty in the area with a third expected this fall.
- While these faculty have backgrounds that enable them to teach HVAC, their research area is Indoor Air Quality, a pattern I've seen elsewhere.
- UT Austin is a very large, very proud research-intensive institution - 50,000 students overall
- The departmental faculty are very much a part of that tradition with superb research facilities on a separate campus about nine miles away - with most faculty devoting three days a week to research on that campus.
- There is a significant effort to bring the research experience to undergraduates where possible - for example by allowing monitoring of the experimental house via the internet, as well as involving undergraduate students actively in ongoing research projects.
Teaching Methods and Curriculum
- There is an explicit vision for the Architectural Engineering program that distinguishes it from its component disciplines.
A 2004 White Paper
put it:
- "It differs from those component disciplines in two important respects.
"1) First, it integrates them under the general heading of building function.
- "2) It provides a perspective from which to study the interaction of building systems, and of the disciplines underlying those systems."
- Not all faculty expressed their version of this vision during my interviews, but it appears to be driving the department's development
- The department teaches its own two architecture studios, using an adjunct architect with a long-term commitment to the department.
- These courses determine the maximum size of the AE program - 40 students per year, capped.
- The format of these two courses uses many approaches including case studies, modeling software and physical models, with an effort to highlight the work of the best practicing Architectural Engineers.
- Capstone Design is a one-semester course taught in three sections over the year in a team approach (one professor on one day and the second later in the week).
- Students work in teams of six with two people per discipline: Structure, Building Environmental Systems, Site work
- All students start from a set of architectural plans handed to them rather than developing the architecture.
- Each pair on a team writes a 40-50 page report that produces a complete set of documentation for the building.
- An important aspect of the report is to present the options considered and the decision process.
- They are required as well to produce a cost estimate and construction schedule.
- There are currently no "tracks" in the program though they are moving towards them [addition 4/15/2009 per RK]
- Students take a common curriculum through the 3rd of four years.
- In the Senior year they may choose to fulfill five technical electives from approved courses. Most of these courses are dual-listed for graduate students.
- With an additional 2 years of work students may receive a dual Architecture and Architectural Engineering degree
- About 3/year are currently doing so.
- As noted above, the Building Environmental Systems (BES) component of the curriculum has grown in recent years. The curriculum requirements are gradually shifting to reflect that growth.
- Despite the heavy emphasis on research, faculty emphasized to me the importance of teaching at UT Austin
- Teaching success is measured by a mandatory student course evaluation that must be included in each faculty's annual report.
- The faculty were clear that these evaluations were important in how their reviews.
- To aid this teaching emphasis there is an explicit mentoring program within the department
AE Content Issues
- Sustainability is significant for the entire department
- It has been incorporated into the capstone design course
- There's already an elective and discussion of another course in sustainability
- BIM
- While faculty vary in their individual opinions about it's importance, the program is actively pursuing making BIM an integral part of the program.
- The intent is to introduce it into sophomore courses and the move it up through the curriculum year-by-year making connections to other courses.
- There is also an outreach effort to develop a research thrust in this area that will bring useful material into the classroom.
- Bachelor's + 30 for registration movement
- This is not under active consideration although several faculty are strong proponents
- The department recently created a courses-only Masters degree that could be used if the B+30 is enacted.
- Curriculum Squeeze
- Several interviewees commented on the effect on the curriculum of a university requirement for an additional freshman course without increasing graduation requirements - 126 total
Students
- Admission to the program is quite selective both because UT Austin is selective and because admission to the department is capped.
- The students that I observed were involved and intent - (and happy to interact with a stranger)
- Graduates of the program typically take employment as follows
- Structures - 40%
- Construction - 40%
- Building Environmental - 10-20% - increasing
- Other -the balance - including graduate school
Observations
- The UT Austin department has recently put a great deal of thought into the goals of the Architectural Engineering program and has taken very significant steps to pursue those goals, including new hires in Building Environmental Systems, their formerly weakest area. They're also pursuing a renewed relationship with the Architecture program. This seems likely to make their goal of addressing the interaction between building systems feasible and rewarding.
