INCORPORATING A RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN STRATEGY, SAFE-TO-FAIL, INTO ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING/CONSTRUCTION (AEC) CURRICULA

Rubaya Rahat; Piyush Pradhananga; Claudia Calle Müller; Mohamed Elzomor

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Construction Engineering Division Technical Session 1
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40921
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40921
Download Count: 333

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Paper Authors

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Rubaya Rahat Florida International University

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Rubaya Rahat grew up in Bangladesh, where she pursued her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). After graduating she worked for two years in a construction management company in Dhaka,

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Piyush Pradhananga

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Piyush Pradhananga is a Ph.D. Candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University (FIU). Piyush holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Tribhuwan University (TU). Following his graduation in 2016, he joined a leading real estate corporation in Nepal as a site engineer working on a multi-million project. He later joined a research firm based in London where he worked as an Engineering Graduate Researcher. Piyush is currently a Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant at the Moss School of Construction, Sustainability, and Infrastructure at FIU where he focuses on multidisciplinary research that harmonizes sustainability in construction. His other research interests include Sustainable Construction, Robotics, and AI-based Construction, Engineering Education, Green Buildings, Sustainable Infrastructure, Resilient and Sustainable Post-Disaster Reconstruction, and Circular Economy. Piyush is also a LEED Green Associate and ENV SP (i.e., Envision Certified Professional in Infrastructure Sustainability).

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Mohamed Elzomor Florida International University

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Claudia Calle Müller Florida International University

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Claudia Calle Müller is a Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University (FIU). She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). Claudia has 4+ years’ experience in structural engineering designing reinforced concrete residential and commercial buildings in Peru; 2+ years’ experience in entrepreneurship building a successful health coaching and wellness business; and 4+ years teaching. Currently, Claudia is a Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant at the Moss School of Construction, Sustainability, and Infrastructure at FIU where she focuses on multidisciplinary research on sustainability, equity, resilient and sustainable post-disaster reconstruction, engineering education, and well-being.

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Abstract

With the increasing demands for resilient developments due to the continuing threats of natural and man-made disasters, Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) education shall be at the forefront of preparing future workforces with advanced knowledge about sustainable and resilient designs. Given that, traditional defense structures alone can hardly protect the vulnerable communities, particularly against flood disasters, there is a pressing need to explore adaptive and innovative solutions and embrace them in AEC education. Safe-to-Fail is such a resilient design strategy that anticipates failures during infrastructure systems planning, thus accommodating innovative strategies and reducing the impact of natural disasters. Therefore, this research advocates incorporating the resilient Safe-to-Fail concept in the AEC curricula to cultivate infrastructure resilience knowledge among the future minority engineering workforces. The objectives of this study are to: (1) identify the factors influencing AEC students’ perceptions towards learning Safe-to-Fail; and (2) investigate students’ pedagogical preferences to incorporate the Safe-to-Fail concept in AEC curricula. To achieve these objectives, the study developed a framework including a comprehensive lecture on Safe-to-Fail and its applications followed by an interactive discussion session and a survey to capture students’ experiences, expectations, and perceptions. The framework was implemented in a cross-listed Sustainable Approach to Construction course in an educational institution located in a hurricane-prone state. 55 AEC students who were registered in the course participated in the framework and shared their level of interest as well as a preferred pedagogical approach to integrating the Safe-to-Fail concept in the curricula through the survey. The findings indicated that most of the participating students, mainly minorities, preferred to learn the Safe-to-Fail concept as a portion of an elective course and that the choice of learning such emerging concept is significantly correlated to the student’s age, duration spent in the program, and prior knowledge of Safe-to-Fail. This study fills in the literature gaps through shedding light on the significance of integrating emerging and effective design strategy Safe-to-Fail as part of the teaching effort to AEC students particularly the underrepresented minorities. Integrating Safe-to-Fail in the curricula can foster disaster resilience knowledge and skills within the AEC minority students thus nurturing their ability to contribute to a sustainable and resilient built environment as well as provide an edge for future competitive careers.

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Rahat, R., & Pradhananga, P., & Elzomor, M., & Calle Müller, C. (2022, August), INCORPORATING A RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN STRATEGY, SAFE-TO-FAIL, INTO ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING/CONSTRUCTION (AEC) CURRICULA Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40921

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - With the increasing demands for resilient developments due to the continuing threats of natural and man-made disasters, Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) education shall be at the forefront of preparing future workforces with advanced knowledge about sustainable and resilient designs. Given that, traditional defense structures alone can hardly protect the vulnerable communities, particularly against flood disasters, there is a pressing need to explore adaptive and innovative solutions and embrace them in AEC education. Safe-to-Fail is such a resilient design strategy that anticipates failures during infrastructure systems planning, thus accommodating innovative strategies and reducing the impact of natural disasters. Therefore, this research advocates incorporating the resilient Safe-to-Fail concept in the AEC curricula to cultivate infrastructure resilience knowledge among the future minority engineering workforces. The objectives of this study are to: (1) identify the factors influencing AEC students’ perceptions towards learning Safe-to-Fail; and (2) investigate students’ pedagogical preferences to incorporate the Safe-to-Fail concept in AEC curricula. To achieve these objectives, the study developed a framework including a comprehensive lecture on Safe-to-Fail and its applications followed by an interactive discussion session and a survey to capture students’ experiences, expectations, and perceptions. The framework was implemented in a cross-listed Sustainable Approach to Construction course in an educational institution located in a hurricane-prone state. 55 AEC students who were registered in the course participated in the framework and shared their level of interest as well as a preferred pedagogical approach to integrating the Safe-to-Fail concept in the curricula through the survey. The findings indicated that most of the participating students, mainly minorities, preferred to learn the Safe-to-Fail concept as a portion of an elective course and that the choice of learning such emerging concept is significantly correlated to the student’s age, duration spent in the program, and prior knowledge of Safe-to-Fail. This study fills in the literature gaps through shedding light on the significance of integrating emerging and effective design strategy Safe-to-Fail as part of the teaching effort to AEC students particularly the underrepresented minorities. Integrating Safe-to-Fail in the curricula can foster disaster resilience knowledge and skills within the AEC minority students thus nurturing their ability to contribute to a sustainable and resilient built environment as well as provide an edge for future competitive careers.
AU  - Rubaya Rahat
AU  - Piyush Pradhananga
AU  - Mohamed Elzomor
AU  - Claudia Calle Müller
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - INCORPORATING A RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN STRATEGY, SAFE-TO-FAIL, INTO ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING/CONSTRUCTION (AEC) CURRICULA
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40921
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--40921
ER  -