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Highway downgrades for heavy trucks generate a potential safety risk and disruption for truck drivers and other road users. Emergency escape ramps (EER) are the standard method of accommodating runaway trucks in the downgrade sections of highways. The aging EER infrastructure, along with the increasing number of truck incidents in mountainous highways, creates the need for research into best practices for improving the performance of EERs. The research approach of this study consists of a multi-methods design, including a review of the literature, appraisal of incident reports from a mountain state DOT during the last decade, field observations and aggregate analysis at four EERs along a heavily transited mountain interstate, and evaluation of interstate stakeholder perceptions via focus group, surveys, and interviews. The product of this research is a series of recommendations to improve EER performance, operations, and maintenance practices. These practices can help sustain a highway system, which effectively and safely moves people and freight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes beliefs related to human-caused climate change and predictors of these beliefs among students intending to pursue civil engineering. Based on a nationally distributed survey to first-year college engineering students (n = 937) in the United States, civil engineering students are less likely than others to believe that climate change is caused by humans. One reason this is a problem is because civil engineering students who do not believe in human-caused climate change are less likely to want to address climate change in their careers. Education has potential to address this gap in knowledge. For example, coverage of topics related to climate change in high school courses is a strong predictor for belief in anthropogenic climate change. For educators working with college students who may not believe in anthropogenic climate change, simply covering the topic can increase students' awareness, which would seem to lead them to more desire to address climate change issues, which is a necessity for realizing more-sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning more about the career outcome expectations of students interested in civil engineering can help identify gaps between their expectations and sustainability challenges. The authors used data from two national surveys to compare students interested in civil engineering and other engineering disciplines. Those interested in civil engineering are more likely to address such sustainability topics as environmental degradation, water supply, and climate change. However, civil engineering students are less likely to have outcome expectations related to disease and saving lives. Particularly, female students interested in civil engineering have similar expectations to males but also hope to address poverty and opportunities for women and minorities. The gaps in outcome expectations related to disease and saving lives are troubling for a profession that is so instrumental in providing, for example, clean water and safe shelter. Showing the connection between societal needs and civil engineering may broaden participation, including among underrepresented female students. Recruiting more undergraduates using these outcome expectations would bring sorely needed new ideas and ways of thinking to help civil engineering respond to sustainability challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration skills are increasingly necessary to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving, complex, and multi-disciplinary construction workforce. As these skills are being called upon more explicitly in the construction industry and other higher education settings, need exists for a deeper understanding of how construction education can provide graduates with collaborative skills. However, classroom activities incorporating collaborations skills—communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, or problem solving—tend to be underrepresented in many construction classes. This research documents and analyzes two teaching activities developed and implemented by the authors where students work in teams in different learning environments to perform explicit tasks. Team performance was recorded, along with student self-assessments. Piloting such activities provides valuable lessons learned that highlight the role of performance metrics, team diversity, learning environment, and observation and assessment in collaborative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher education institutions collect information about students for countless reasons: analyzing demographics, evaluating programs, recruiting top students, and measuring learning outcomes, among others. As sustainability concerns are an increasingly central issue in many students' college selection process (Grummon 2008), there is a need to better understand students who exhibit prosustainability attitudes and behaviors-those students most interested in sustainability (MIS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce the energy use and carbon emissions from buildings, there is a need to efficiently renovate existing buildings for improved energy performance. In response to this need, this study compares barriers and solutions for sustainable building renovation from the literature to a case study of barriers and solutions from a building renovation for improved energy performance. For example, the barrier of unforeseen conditions, affecting both cost and schedule performance, was addressed through a comprehensive building inspection guide to evaluate existing conditions and reduce risk. This barrier and solution appeared in both the literature and in the case study. Widespread adoption of the solutions presented in this study could provide more affordable renovations for improving building energy performance, and in doing so, help develop the market for building renovations to improve energy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research identifies 50 processes and categorizes them into a framework for integrating and evaluating social considerations in construction projects. These processes focus on the planning and design phases because they offer the greatest potential for influencing project performance. The concept mapping research method was applied to develop this framework on the basis of input from 25 experts in academia, industry, and government. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses were used to organize the experts' input into six categories defining social sustainability in construction projects: stakeholder engagement, user considerations, team formation, management considerations, impact assessment, and place context. Although previous research has recognized social sustainability as a series of processes, this study is the first to integrate them into a comprehensive framework. Practitioners can benefit from this framework, which will enhance existing sustainability assessment methods and help address the challenge of developing truly sustainable projects. This framework also provides academics with a tool for introducing students to social sustainability in construction projects. Future research could use this framework as a baseline, developing metrics using the processes included in the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research identifies 50 processes and categorizes them into a framework for integrating and evaluating social considerations in construction projects. These processes focus on the planning and design phases because they offer the greatest potential for influencing project performance. The concept mapping research method was applied to develop this framework on the basis of input from 25 experts in academia, industry, and government. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses were used to organize the experts' input into six categories defining social sustainability in construction projects: stakeholder engagement, user considerations, team formation, management considerations, impact assessment, and place context. Although previous research has recognized social sustainability as a series of processes, this study is the first to integrate them into a comprehensive framework. Practitioners can benefit from this framework, which will enhance existing sustainability assessment methods and help address the challenge of developing truly sustainable projects. This framework also provides academics with a tool for introducing students to social sustainability in construction projects. Future research could use this framework as a baseline, developing metrics using the processes included in the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sustainability is often overlooked in favor of environmental and economic considerations in civil engineering (CE) education. To help address this issue, this paper presents two instructional approaches to introduce students to social sustainability by using a conceptual model derived from four dimensions of social sustainability: community involvement, corporate social responsibility, safety through design, and social design. In the first instructional approach, the instructor is the primary facilitator; in the second approach, the students become the experts, sharing their knowledge with their peers. Methods to assess student understanding of these dimensions, such as concept mapping, are proposed. By providing the conceptual model and methods to teach it, this paper is for the purpose of assisting those teaching the social dimensions of sustainability to CE students, who will gain an understanding of how their technical decisions affect social sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric power industry provides most of the energy for global commerce, and controlling its construction costs is important to provide affordable energy. Controlling original contract costs and any added costs due to change orders requires effective planning and design of projects. While cost overruns due to change orders occur in other industries, the electric power utility industry faces technical complexity, poor understanding of field conditions, lack of jobsite visits, and poor collaboration among stakeholders during design and planning. Although published data exist for costs of change orders in other industries, almost none are available for the electric power sector. To mitigate these problems, project managers must understand these risks, provide better cost forecasts, and take other measures to avoid change orders. Using a descriptive statistical analysis of the project database of an electric utility company, this study addresses the data gap by analyzing the magnitude, frequency, and causes of field change orders of both overhead and underground electrical construction. The results identified nine causes of field change orders (FCOs) during construction. The percentage increases in the electrical construction contract costs appear to be higher than in other industries, which is an alarming finding considering the tendency to bury transmission lines due to fire hazards. The result showed that FCOs with added scopes occurred more frequently in underground projects than in overhead projects. The analysis indicated that most causes of field change orders could be managed during planning and design and through the construction phase. The findings of this study can be used by electric utilities when they convert from overhead to underground systems due to security and climate change factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of building information modeling (BIM) is well established in architecture, engineering and construction. However, previous studies note a lack of BIM expertise in academia, leading to slow adoption and limited knowledge on which to base BIM-related content. To improve course development, it is important to understand students' perceptions of BIM-related subject matter. This study exposed estimating students (n = 214) to a model-based quantity takeoff (QTO) tutorial using Revit. Students' perceptions of a Revit-based BIM's usefulness for easily providing reliable and accurate material quantities were measured using a pre-test, tutorial and post-test design. Results revealed significant differences in students' mean levels of agreement that an accurate QTO is completed for an estimator with the click of a button when a design team generated BIM model is available. Results also revealed significant differences in students' level of agreement that a Revit-based BIM makes performing QTO by hand obsolete. This study provides educators' insight into students' perceptions of BIM use in QTO. Understanding student perceptions is paramount for construction management educators when designing a course and attempting to convey the value of foundational estimating skills while acknowledging the existence of more technologically advance estimating methods. Limitations and opportunities for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy modeling (EM) facilitates analysis and comparison of energy use across design configurations. EM software can serve as a decision-making tool for professionals throughout various stages of building delivery. This case study describes methods to expose students, who are enrolled in a sustainable design and construction course, to building information modeling (BIM)-based EM capabilities and limitations. The case study focuses on documenting the implementation of a teaching module focused on energy modeling in which students modify location, insulation, and window glazing of a single family home preprogramed into BIM software. After instructor demonstration, students perform an EM analysis for additional locations as homework and answer a question set based on their EM results. The results indicate that students had minor issues interpreting the EM results because they did not fully examine the outputs produced from the energy model to inform their answers on the teaching module homework assignment. Overall, however, research findings suggest that implementing such a teaching module can improve student confidence and perception of EM use in construction delivery decisions. This paper provides an example for educators to include BIM EM or similar teaching modules into sustainable design and construction-related courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept-mapping method has enabled research advances in medicine and psychology. This method also seems well suited for many of the questions facing construction researchers, but its use remains limited in construction research. Concept mapping helps solicit and organize ideas from experts and stakeholders. This method can be used to categorize results into various clusters that may have competing explanations or backgrounds. It also allows for comparing results among group of participants. This method integrates qualitative group tasks of idea generation, sorting, and rating with two quantitative analyses, multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis. One of the relevant findings of using these analyses is the creation of visual maps, which can help develop action plans and frameworks. This paper is meant as a guide for applying the concept-mapping method to construction research. Although examples for using this method in construction engineering and management are presented in this paper on the basis of the development of a sustainability framework, the emphasis is on general principles to show how various construction research topics could be explored by using this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an analysis of the potential uses of BIM for managing the maintenance and refurbishment of existing housing assets to propose thermal comfort and energy efficiency guidelines for future social housing projects in Brazil. To do so, a case study analysis of a residential development with social–environmental certification in the city of Garanhuns, Pernambuco, Brazil was performed, and a literature review on the use of BIM for residential unit maintenance was conducted. The standard house in the residential development was found to be noncompliant with the Brazilian standard for ventilation openings (NBR 15.220). Therefore, three alternative layouts were created and analyzed to meet the requirements of the standard as well as the needs of the residents. The authors recommend that socio-environmental certifiers use BIM models so that energy performance and other simulations can be carried out. The study also proposes guidelines for BIM implementation in future government housing projects. These guidelines were grouped into five categories: BIM encouragement, energy efficiency, maintenance management, user requirement management, and continuous improvement. The significance of this study is in providing a path for the gradual implementation of BIM for maintenance and post-occupancy management in the Brazilian housing program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US construction management profession has failed to recruit and retain women and underrepresented racial-ethnic minorities (URMs) in the workforce, despite growing industry demand for college-educated graduates due to skilled-labor shortages. Women and URM students in four-year construction education programs are more likely to change majors or drop out when they are unable to develop a sense of belonging in their degree program, exacerbating the lack of diversity and labor shortages in the construction industry. Students' physical learning environment on campus can convey nonverbal messages regarding belonging, and can therefore influence student retention and persistence. This study systematically evaluated 140 physical artifacts (art, signs, photographs, etc.) on display in three construction education programs at US land-grant universities. Utilizing an existing visual anthropological taxonomy designed to interpret equity messages communicated by artifacts, researchers explored nonverbal messages relating to the question of who is valued and who belongs' in construction education. White men were regularly named and represented in positions of power and leadership in the evaluated artifacts. In contrast, women and URMs were typically underrepresented and unnamed, with people of color overly portrayed in construction manual labor roles. Results suggest that construction education programs can foster more inclusive student learning environments by diversifying and updating physical artifacts on display within department public spaces and classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]