Teaching

Course/Curriculum development

 

  • Developed the      descriptions, course outline and syllabi for six new graduate and two      undergraduate courses in the Departments of Civil Engineering and      Construction Management.
  • Rewritten course      outline and syllabi for five existing graduate courses.
  • Recently developed an      18-credit hour certificate program on Information Technology in Civil Engineering  (ITCE)  for industry professionals.
  • Served in the      university-wide undergraduate University Breadth Requirement (core      curriculum) development committee.

 

Graduate courses developed in Construction Management and Civil Engineering

 

CCE 5036 Advanced Project Planning for Civil Engineers

CCE 5405 Advanced Heavy Construction Techniques

CGN 5315 Civil Engineering Systems

BCN 5626 Construction Cost Analysis and Control

BCN 5774 Topics in International Construction

BCN 6775  Decision and Risk Analysis in Construction

 

Content, Goals and Instructional Format

 

CCE-5505       Computer integrated construction

 

Content:  Construction company operations and business information systems in construction; Flow of data and information; integration of field and office data; Developing applications with spreadsheets; Developing applications with file and database software;  Developing applications with AI-based expert system software; Communication of data and information in construction; Communication Technology;  Examples of database system design; Estimating packages;  Project planning and scheduling packages; Accounting and cost engineering; Operations simulation.

 

Goals:  The course is designed to cover the discussion of available software related to Construction Engineering and the impact of computers in construction.  After completing the course students should know about various information technology tools and concepts applicable to the process of construction, information system development basics and techniques, knowledge-based expert systems and their relevance to construction engineering planning and management.

 

Instructional format: Term projects, case studies, computer programming assignments and lectures.

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: An elective course for the graduate students in civil engineering.

 

CES-4702        Reinforced Concrete Design

 

Content:  Concrete, Structural Forms, Loads, Design Basis, Fundamental Assumptions for Reinforced Concrete Behavior, Materials – Cement, Aggregates, Placing, Compacting, Curing, Quality Control, Admixtures, Reinforcing bars – Flexural Analysis of Beams, Design of rectangular beams and one-way slabs, Analysis of design of T-beams and doubly reinforced beams, Shear and diagonal tension; Bond, development length and splices; Design of short columns; and Design of footings.

 

Goals:  To teach the students how to analyze and design reinforced concrete beams, columns, slabs, retaining walls and footings with emphasis on present American Concrete Institute (ACI) building code.

 

Instructional format: Lecture, homework, project, problem solving sessions.

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: A core course in the civil engineering BS degree curriculum.

 

CES-6706        Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design

 

Content:  Statistical control of concrete quality; Behavior of beams with compression reinforcement; Development length; Design of joints; Design for torsion; Continuous beams and frames; Limit analysis; Design of deep beams; Design of slender columns; Design of two-way slabs; Design of shear walls;  Design of  retaining walls and footings.

 

Goals:  To teach advanced topics of reinforced concrete analysis and design involving complex methods of analysis with emphasis on present American Concrete Institute (ACI) building code.

 

Instructional format: Lecture, homework, project, problem solving sessions and case studies.

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: A required course for the graduate students in structural engineering.

 

CGN-5315      Civil Engineering Systems

 

Content:  Mathematical programming techniques applied to large-scale civil engineering problems.  Techniques include linear programming, linear graph analysis, decision analysis, value of information and Bayes’ theorem, system simulation, and cost-benefit analysis.  Civil engineering problems are drawn from construction, structural, transportation, water resources and environmental fields.

 

Goals:  The course is designed to teach graduate students techniques of modeling system problems in order to seek effective and efficient solutions.  Numerical techniques such as the ones covered in this course often lead to computerization of the solution process.

 

Instructional format: Term projects, case studies, class discussions, programming assignments and lectures.

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: An elective course for the graduate students in civil engineering.

 

CCE-4001       Heavy Construction

 

Content:  Site investigation, Site layout, Excavation, Excavation equipment, Foundation layout, Foundations, Formwork, Concrete work, Timber frame, Concrete frame, Steel frame, Floor systems, Roof systems, Masonry construction, Curtain wall construction, Building insulation, Finishing.

 

Goals:  This course is designed to teach techniques and methods related to heavy construction, applicable to multistory building frames, dams, bridges and other types of heavy structures.

 

Instructional format: Term projects, field trips, site visits, video presentations.

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: An elective course for the undergraduate students in civil engineering.

 

CCE-5035       Construction Engineering and Management

 

Content:  How things work in the construction industry, Preparing bid packages, Bonds, pre-qualification of contractors, Issues during construction phase, Construction contracts, Project delivery systems, Legal structure, Planning and control, Scheduling, Project cash flow/project funding, Equipment ownership/equipment productivity, Cost control/Materials management.

 

Goals:  To give civil engineering students an overview of the construction industry.  The course is designed to teach students about how construction projects are initiated, funded, managed and controlled.

 

Instructional format: Term projects, lectures, classroom discussions, video presentations.

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: An elective course for the graduate students in civil engineering.

 

BCN-6775       Decision and risk analysis in construction

 

Content:  Techniques of decision and risk analysis as applied to the construction industry are covered.  Typical construction related problems involving risk and uncertainty are studied.

 

Goals:  The course is designed to introduce analytical tools and mathematical techniques for modeling decision problems typically present in the construction industry.  After successful completion of this course the students should be able to model construction related decision problems involving risk and uncertainty.

 

Instructional format: Lectures and case study problems.

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: An elective course for the graduate students in construction management.

 

BCN-5626       Construction Cost Analysis and Control

 

Content:  Discussions of different types of estimating techniques in relation to different stages in a construction project.  Productivity analysis, measurement of progress, and techniques of cost control are covered.  As a follow-up course of advanced estimating this course will introduce the relationship between the degrees of accuracy of an estimate and the different stages of a construction project.

 

Goals:  The course is designed to study the responsibilities of different personnel for different aspects of cost control.  The course deals with the very important subject of cost control starting from the conceptual stage through the end of construction.

 

Instructional format: Lectures, case study problems and projects.  Case studies are used to demonstrate the key concepts of cost analysis and control

 

Role it plays in the curriculum of the department or college: A core course for the graduate students in construction management.