Research Objectives:
- To present the state of the art of computing research in construction engineering in the USA
- To determine the state of the art of computing research in the Sub-Saharan African countries
- To determine the research needs in computing research in the Sub-Saharan African countries
- To identify potential areas of cooperation and to determine partners
Educational Objectives:
- To present the state of computing education in civil engineering in the USA and in the world in the context of the educational activities of the ASCE Global Center of Excellence in Computing
- To determine the educational needs in computing in the Sub-Saharan African countries
- To develop a plan of action for improving civil engineering computing education in the Sub-Saharan African countries
Industrial Objectives:
- To present the state of practice in the area of computing in construction engineering in the USA
- To determine the state of practice in computing in construction engineering in the Sub-Saharan African countries
- To develop a plan for action to expand cooperation between the USA and African construction companies in the area of computing in civil engineering
The project will be led by an international team, including:
- Esther Obonyo, Principal Investigator, (ASCE Global Center of Excellence in Computing and University of Florida)
-
Tomasz Arciszewski , Co-Principal Investigator, (ASCE Global Center of Excellence in Computing and George Mason University)
-
Michael Sanio, Co-Principal Investigator (ASCE, Managing Director for International Alliances)
-
Alfred Omenya, Co-Principal Investigator, (University of Nairobi)
The USA delegation will include 12 professors specializing in the computing in civil and construction engineering. We expect also delegations from Kenya, Tanzania, and Switzerland. I hope that all our African members will participate in the workshop and that their universities will send delegations to the workshop.
We should know the final decision about funding of our workshop in May this year. At that time we will provide more details.
On behalf of all of us, I would like to thank Professor Obonyo for the preparation of the NSF workshop proposal. It was a long, complicated, and difficult process requiring involvement of many of our members, whose help is also acknowledged. However, I strongly believe that it was a worthwhile effort and that our first workshop in Africa will not only promote computing in civil and construction engineering but it will also help to build international research teams for future projects to be sponsored by the National Science Foundation in the USA and by the other sponsors.
Regards
Tomasz Arciszewski
Chair, Executive Committee
Dear Members and Friends of our ASCE Global Center:
Just before the end of the year 2007, I would like to share with you some good news about the activities of our Center and its recent results. The last year was quite busy and we have gradually advanced work in all areas of our activities, including education and research.
In the area of education, Professor Ian Smith of EPFL in Switzerland led our efforts. The first four teaching modules have been not only developed (mostly by Professor Smith), but also reviewed by our Review Board (Chaired by Professor Renate Fruchter, of Stanford University) and uploaded to our web site (www.asceglobalcenter.org). They are regularly downloaded by our members from all continents. Additional nine modules have already been prepared and are being reviewed now. I hope that they will be ready for uploading in January, 2008. In this way, we will have 14 teaching module available, and that should be sufficient to develop a course on computing in civil engineering.
In the area of research, Dr. Joseph Ugwu, JU C & R S Ltd. in Hong Kong, has developed a proposal for the ASCE for a large-scale international research project on "Civil Engineering Ontology." In the project several teams will participate, including teams from the University of Hong Kong, Loughborough University (England), University of Central Florida (USA), George Mason University (USA), University of Maribor (Slovenia), and University of Illinois (USA). In September, we had a meeting with several senior ASCE officers and now the ASCE SCOPE Board is reviewing our proposal. If approved, the ASCE will request funding for our project from several private foundations.
In the last year, we had two meetings during the international conferences in Maribor, Slovenia (June, 2007) and in Pittsburgh, USA (July, 2007). Each meeting was attended by approximately 50 present and potential members. Both meetings involved general presentations about the Center by Professor Ian Smith and me, discussions, brainstorming of future activities, etc.
In the year 2008, we are planning two meetings. The first one will be in July in Plymouth, (England), during the International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, which is being organized by the European Group on Intelligent Computing in Engineering (EG-ICE). The workshop Chair is Professor Yaqub Rafiq of Plymouth University. The second meeting will take place in October in Beijing, China, during the International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering. You are all invited!!!
Professor Esther Obonye of the University of Florida (USA) is working on a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, which is planned for January, 2009. The funding requested from the National Science Foundation and from the ASCE. In January next year, we have a meeting with an NSF Program Director in the International Division who is responsible for projects in Kenya. We are planning to work together on the details of our proposal. I hope that our members from Africa will attend the workshop. It will be our first activity in Africa and I am very excited about it.
I hope that you all will be able to participate in our meetings!! Also, everybody is invited to contribute a teaching module on computing in civil engineering to our body of knowledge.
I would like to thank all our volunteers, particularly the officers, the Chair of our Review Board, the authors and reviewers of teaching modules, for your hard work, which brings results benefiting all of us and building a global community of computing educators, scholars, and professionals.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
Warm regards
Tomasz Arciszewski
Chairman, Executive Committee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 28, 2006
Dear Friends:
I would
like to share with you information about ongoing activities in
our Center. Most importantly, our first four teaching modules
are ready and are undergoing a review by our Review Board, chaired
by Dr. Renate Fruchter of Stanford University (Former Chair of
the Executive Committee, the ASCE Technical Council on Computing
and Information Technology). The review and the final improvements
of the modules should be completed in January, 2007, and the modules
will become available to members of our Center. The next
batch of 6-8 modules should be ready for review early next year. We
all should be grateful to Dr. Ian Smith of EPFL in Switzerland,
who leads our efforts to develop teaching modules and who personally
prepared a majority of them. However, we are still looking
for volunteers willing to develop teaching modules in the following
areas:
1. Theoretical Foundations Area
1.1. Formal Logic
1.4. Terminology schemas
2. Building Knowledge Representations Area
2.3. Object-oriented representations
2.4. Geometric Modeling
2.5. Ontologies
3. Acquiring Data and Knowledge Area
3.2. Data Mining
3.4. Interpretation of measurements
4. Information Storage Area
4.3. Semantic Networks
4.4. Product modeling
5. Information Processing Area
5.3. Case adaptation
5.4. Object-oriented computing
6. Knowledge Utilization Area
6.3. Agents
6.4. Collaborative work (CSCW)
7. Engineer-Computer Interaction
7.1. Computer Graphics
7.2. Data Visualization
7.3. Knowledge Visualization
7.4. Passive and active support
If you are interested in doing this important work, please contact
Dr. Ian Smith at ian.smith@epfl.ch.
Recently, we have completed our proposal for the ASCE Certificate
in Computing and it is being considered by the ASCE. The
proposal has been prepared mainly by Dr. Rafal Kicinger of George
Mason University and I would like to thank him for this significant
contribution. Early in January, Dr. Kim Roddis of the George
Washington University (Present Chair of the Executive Committee,
the ASCE Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology)
and I will be meeting with Mr. John Casazza, ASCE, Director of
Continuing Education, to discuss to optimal positioning of our
certificate within the ASCE organization.
We will have two general meeting next year. The first one
will be in Maribor, Slovenia, during the 14th European Group for
Intelligent Computing in Engineering Workshop on “Bringing
ITC to Work,” 26-29 June, 2007. The second one will
be in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, during the “2007 International
Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering,” 25-28 July,
2007. I hope that you will be able to attend both.
Our home page is undergoing updates and improvements. If
your have any suggestions, or you would like to add additional
information about you or your activities, please contact me at tarcisze@gmu.edu. Also,
we need input from several members, whose information on our page
is missing.
I would like to wish you a Happy New Year. I must admit that I
am quite excited about this coming year. We will see our
teaching modules actually used for teaching, we will have two general
meetings (Maribor, Slovenia, and Pittsburgh, USA), and our ASCE
Certificate in Computing should be approved. There is still
a lot of work to be done and I hope that you will volunteer to
help us, particularly with the development of teaching modules.
With best regards
Tomasz Arciszewski
Chair, Executive Committee
From the Chair: July 14, 2006
Dear Global Center Member:
Re: Recent progress
I would like to share with you good news about our recent activities
and progress in all areas achieved during the last several months. My
message has been divided into five major parts for easy reading,
including 1. Education/Teaching Modules, 2. Education/Webinars,
3. ASCE Certificate in Computing, 4. Research, 5. Logistics.
1. Education/teaching Modules
Professor Ian Smith (EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland) is leading our
efforts to develop teaching modules. A group of the Center’s
members is working on various modules, including Professor Smith. The
first set of 6-8 modules should be available in October, 2006.
2. Education/Webinars
We are planning a series of Webinars (interactive
lectures on Internet worldwide available) on computing. The
first one has already been prepared on Data Base Design by Professor
Ian Smith (EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland) and will be offered on November
7, 2006, 12 noon – 1 pm US Eastern Time. The cost is
$249 for the ASCE members and $299 for non-members for a location. More
details are available at http://www.asce.org/conted/distancelearning/onlinewebseminars.cfm
3. ASCE Certificate in Computing
Dr. Rafal Kicinger (Research Professor at George Mason University,
USA) and Professor Raymond Issa (University of Florida, USA)
have already developed an extensive proposal for the ASCE Certificate
in Computing, which undergoes now final modifications. It
should be formally submitted to the ASCE in August this year
and approved before the end of the year. There is a good
possibility that the certificate exams will be worldwide offered
for the first time in the fall of 2007.
4. Research
Professor Avi Wiesel (University of Arizona, USA) has recently
(during our Montreal meeting) become a new Center’s officer
in charge of research. He is now working on the development
of a strategy for winning grants for international projects dealing
with computing in civil engineering, which should be ready before
the end of August, 2006. Next, he will lead our efforts to
implement his strategy. All questions, proposals, and suggestions
regarding international research projects in our area of interest
should be directed to him (avi.wiezel@asu.edu).
5. Logistics
5.1. Meetings
-
Washington, D.C., USA, November 27, 2005: 1.
A visit to the National Science Foundation, International Division,
and a half-day workshop with 7 Program Directors about the Center
and our activities, 2. A visit to the ASCE Headquarters in Reston
and working meetings with the top ASCE officers, including the
Executive Director, Patrick Natale, 3. A visit to George Mason
University.
-
Montreal, Canada, June 14, 2006: 1. A session
organized by the Center on “Globalization and Computing in Civil Engineering
Education“ with six presentations, 2. A joint meeting
with the Executive Committee of the ASCE Technical Council
on Computing and IT.
-
Ascona, Switzerland, June 28, 2006: an open meeting during
the 13th EG-ICE Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Civil Engineering
and Architecture.
5.2. New Officers
-
During our meeting in Montreal, Professor
Avi Wiesel became the Vice-Chair of the Center in charge of
research programs.
-
During the same meeting Professor Danijel Rebolj (University
of Maribor, Slovenia) became Vice-chair of our Working Group
on International Organizations. He will be in charge of cooperation
and coordination of our activities with the European Group for
IT in Construction Engineering Education.
-
During our meeting in Ascona, Switzerland,
Dr. Robert Gajewski (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland),
became a member of our Working Group on International Organizations. He
will work on the development of our Central- and East European
network.
5.3. Home Page
Our home page (http://www.asceglobalcenter.org)
is regularly updated and you can find a lot of interesting information
about our activities there. If you want to add to our home
page a link to your home page, please let me know.
I am very excited about the progress of our activities and believe
that very soon, after many years of our efforts and hard work,
we all will be able to use the first results of our work, Webinars,
teaching modules, etc. Therefore, I would like to thank you
for your involvement and support for our Center. I hope
that you will continue working with us for the advancement of
computing in civil engineering and for the improvements of international
cooperation in the area of computing.
With best regards
Tomasz Arciszewski
Chair, Executive Committee
Dear
ASCE GCEC Members: March
24, 2006
I have just received information from Professor Ian Smith, Center’s
Vice-Chair and Chair of our Education Working Group, that significant
progress has been achieved in the area of education, including:
- Development of an initial taxonomy of teaching modules. It
is provided in the Appendix 1
- Building a number of teaching modules, which could be available
for use as soon as in October 2006. The teaching modules
under development are listed in Appendix 2.
If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the proposed
taxonomy, please contact Professor Smith (ian.smith@epfl.ch) or
me. If you want to contribute to the development of teaching
modules, please contact Professor Smith. We are looking for
volunteers interested in the development of teaching modules listed
in Appendix 3 and shown in bold in the table provided
in Appendix 1. Initial guidelines for the
preparation of teaching modules are provided in Appendix
4 and Professor Smith may eventually provide more information.
I would like to remind you that during the Joint International
Conference on Computing and Decision Making in Civil and Building
Engineering, Montreal, Canada, June 14-16, 2006, our Center has
organized two interesting sessions related to globalization, research,
and education. More details are provided in News. I
hope that you will be able to attend them. Also,
our Center will have an important working meeting during this Conference
and you are most welcome to attend our meeting. Your participation
is critical for success of our mission. The detailed agenda
for our meeting will be distributed later. If you have any
issues to be addressed, please let me know.
I would like to report excellent progress of our work on the ASCE
Certificate in Computing, more information will be provided soon. Based
on our initial results, it should be possible to offer our first
certificate exam in the Fall 2007.
Yours truly,
Tomasz Arciszewski
Chair, Executive Committee
APPENDIX 1.
INITIAL TAXONOMY OF TEACHING MODULES
Knowledge Components |
Topics |
1. Theoretical foundations |
1.1. Formal
Logic |
1.2. Computational
Complexity |
1.3 Engineering
Task Classification |
1.4. Terminology
schemas |
2. Building knowledge
representations |
2.1. Data Sructures |
2.2. Object-oriented
representations |
2.3. Geometric
Modeling |
2.4. Ontologies |
3.Acquiring data and knowledge |
3.1. Machine Learning |
3.2. Data
Mining |
3.3. Case-based
Reasoning |
3.4. Interpretation
of measurements |
4. Information
Storage |
4.1. Data Base
design |
4.2. Ontologies |
4.3. Semantic
Networks |
4.4. Product
modeling |
5. Information
Processing |
5.1. Computational
Mechanics |
5.2. Optimization,
search and exploration |
5.3. Case
adaptation |
5.4. Object-oriented
computing |
6. Knowledge Utilization |
6.1. Knowledge
Systems |
6.2. Distributed
Systems |
6.3. Agents |
6.4.Collaborative
work (CSCW) |
7. Engineer-Computer
Interaction |
7.1. Computer
Graphics |
7.2. Data
Visualization |
7.3.
Knowledge Visualization |
7.4. Passive
and active support |
APPENDIX 2.
TEACHING MODULES UNDER DEVELOPMENT
1. Theoretical Foundations
Area
1.2.1. Complexity
1 - When size matters
1.2.2. Complexity
2 - It is all in the algorithm
1.3. Classifying Engineering Tasks
2. Building Knowledge Representations
Area
2.1. Data Structures
3. Acquiring Data and Knowledge
Area
3.1.1. Introduction
to Machine Learning
3.1.2. Machine
Learning
3.3. Case Based Reasoning
4. Information Storage Area
4.1. Data Base Design
5. Information Processing Area
5.2.1. Optimisation,
Search and Exploration 1 - Good is best
5.2.2. Optimisation,
Search and Exploration 2 - Gradients and Multicriteria
5.2.3. Optimisation,
Search and Exploration 3 - Stochastic methods
6. Knowledge Utilization Area
6.1. Knowledge Systems for Decision Support
6.2. Distributed Systems
APPENDIX 3.
TEACHING MODULES TO BE DEVELOPED
Volunteers sought:
- Theoretical Foundations Area
1.4. Terminology schemas
- Building Knowledge Representations Area
2.3. Object-oriented representations
2.4. Geometric Modeling
2.5. Ontologies
- Acquiring Data and Knowledge Area
3.2. Data Mining
3.4. Interpretation of measurements
4.2. Ontologies
4.3. Semantic Networks
4.4. Product modeling
5. Information Processing Area
5.1. Computational Mechanics
5.3. Case adaptation
5.4. Object-oriented computing
- Knowledge Utilization Area
6.3. Agents
6.4. Collaborative work (CSCW)
7. Engineer-Computer Interaction
7.1. Computer Graphics
7.2. Data Visualization
7.3. Knowledge Visualization
7.4. Passive and active support
APPENDIX 4.
TEACHING MODULE PREPARATION GUIDELINES
Teaching modules may vary in length from one to four hours
All transparencies are to be prepared using MS PowerPoint. Approximately
40 transparencies are necessary for each hour. The use of
non-textual information is strongly recommended.
Each module should contain:
- A list of key words (major concepts)
- A list of definitions
- 3-4 major sections focused on concepts and examples
- Recommended readings
- Exercises for home assignments, quizzes, and tests
Preparation Process:
- The author develops a draft of a module
- The draft is sent to The Chair of the Education Working Group
- This group approves the draft and/or recommends improvements
- The final version is developed
- The final version is sent to The Chair of the Education Working
Group
- The Education Working Group approves the final version and/or
recommends improvements
- Final improvements are made