Article
The Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge: Supporting ASCE’s Grand Challenge
American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings,
(2018)
Abstract
ASCE’s Grand Challenge to civil engineers is to significantly enhance the performance and
value of infrastructure project over their lifecycles. [1] ASCE wants to drive transformational
change in infrastructure projects from planning to design to project delivery. How does ASCE
move from the strategic vision to the detailed implementation? The paper’s objective is to
answer that question in part by highlighting the role played by proposed changes to the civil
engineering knowledge framework, specifically, ASCE’s Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge
(BOK) as it undergoes revision for a Third Edition.
Knowledge may be the most strategically significant resource the profession can possess. The
traditional view of civil engineering has always been about the importance of knowledge and its
application to solve challenging problems. Civil engineering's role in the economy is to create,
transfer and apply knowledge for the betterment of society. Civil engineering's ability to manage
its knowledge is a result of its continuous effort to engage in learning. The authors argue that
ASCE’s ability to deliver on the Grand Challenge is supported equally by its unique knowledge
base and depends on the profession’s ability to create, innovate, and apply this knowledge
throughout project and asset life-cycles. The roadmap to successfully answering the Grand
Challenge includes (1) taking appropriate levels of risks, (2) being proactive, (3) being
innovative, (4) developing, maintaining and using dynamic core competencies, (5) building
sustained competitive advantages, and most important of all (6) creating value for our
stakeholders. [1]
The authors argue BOK3 should incorporate changes that are driven in part by a clear desire to
fulfill the Grand Challenge, specifically in outcomes Design, Project Management, Risk and
Uncertainty, Engineering Economics, Sustainability, and Professional Responsibilities. The
BOK3 should specifically include language on how it supports the Grand Challenge. The core
concept in these BOK3 changes are to recognize a knowledge-based view of future civil
engineering practice where civil engineers develop solutions to the ever increasingly complexity
of delivering 21st century projects.
This paper discusses the specific linkage of the BOK3 to the Grand Challenge and the
development of select outcomes supporting this linkage.
Keywords
- Civil Engineering,
- Body of Knowledge,
- Grand Challenge,
- project management,
- engineering economics,
- infrastructure,
- lifecycle cost analysis
Disciplines
Publication Date
2018
Citation Information
Decker B. Hains and Michael OConnor. "The Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge: Supporting ASCE’s Grand Challenge" American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings, Vol. v2018- (2018) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/michael-oconnor/18/
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