Downloadable Documents
Progress
Report
Activities Conducted
07/15/05 – 10/31/05
Report on
visit to NSF and ASCE on 11/28/05
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ASCE
Global Center of Excellence in Computing
Downloadable PDF copy of an editorial by Tomasz
Arciszewski, Ian F.C. Smith and Hani Melhem as it appeared in the Journal
of Computing in Civil Engineering,
Volume 21, Number 3, May/June 2007, Pages 147-150.
Call for proposals:
Development of teaching modules
on computing topics
One of the most important tasks of our Center is
to promote and support education in the area of computer aided
engineering. This is currently being done through the development
of teaching modules that cover a critical body of knowledge on
aspects of computing that are independent of hardware and commercial
software. In parallel, we are working towards the creation
of an ASCE Certificate in Computing, which will require passing
an exam (to be offered worldwide) that is based on this body of
knowledge. We are planning to hold this exam for the first
time in the last part of 2007.
Members of our Center will use these teaching modules to prepare
courses on computing in their countries. Since we have members
in North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America, our
efforts will have a truly global dimension and impact.
Development
work and significant progress has been achieved, including:
- Development of an initial (and expandable) taxonomy of teaching
modules. It is provided in Appendix 1
- Building a number of teaching modules, which could be available
for use as soon as in October 2006. The teaching modules
that are currently under development are listed in Appendix
2.
Members of our Center and/or a leading scholars
and educators in the area of computing in civil engineering, are
invited to submit a brief proposal for a development of a teaching
module, or modules, in the area of ones expertise. If
you are interested in development of a module, please prepare a
proposal including a list of key concepts an outline and with a
one-page description of any personal qualifications that are related
to the proposed module. Also, please provide any additional
information that you think are important.
We are looking for volunteers who are interested
in the development of teaching modules listed in Appendix
3 and shown in bold in the table provided in Appendix
1. Broad
guidelines for the preparation of teaching modules are provided
in Appendix
4. Professor
Smith may eventually provide more information.
Timing:
- to receive proposals before May
15, 2006
- followed by draft modules before August
30, 2006,
- and
final modules before December 31, 2006.
Once the GCEC Education
Working Group receives proposals, they will be analyzed and good
proposals will be selected. The results of the review will
be reported to the Executive Committee during the Center’s
meeting in Montreal on June 15, 2006. After that date, the
authors will be informed of results and proposers with successful
reviews will be asked to continue development of draft modules.
On November
28, 2005, our delegation visited the Office of International Science & Engineering
(OISE) of the National Science Foundation and the ASCE Headquarters
in Reston, VA.
At the National Science Foundation, we met with a group of seven
Program Directors led by Dr. Cassandra Dudka and Dr. Harald Stolberg. We
have jointly presented an overview of our Center and its activities
and had a productive discussion. The major points are provided
below:
- Our presentation was met with a lot of interest and the general
response was positive and encouraging.
- The NSF does not endorse any international activities, but
provides catalytic support for international research projects,
also related to education. In this case, the research component
should be focused on building methodologies for global education
related to computing and on the verification of effectiveness
of such education.
- We all agreed that building synergy and mutual understanding
are extremely important in international cooperation. For
this result, a direct research involvement of our members in
developing countries should be considered as priority, with possible
funding coming from the NSF.
- There is a need to expand our activities to South America (Dr.
Salazar has already expressed interest in doing that), and there
are NSF specific programs, which might be appropriate for us
to consider. Specifically, the Pan-American Advanced Studies
Program, modeled after NATO Advanced Studies Program, should
be our initial focus.
- There was interesting discussion about the format and language
of our teaching modules and our concept of a modular educational
- The US Federal Government funds the NSF. Therefore,
all research projects related to education should clearly explain
benefits for American students in the context of learning the
global dimension of engineering and education.
- Our projects should incorporate collaboration with social scientists
addressing the issue of behavioral aspects of education and learning.
- All research proposals must be submitted through the US Ph.D.
granting institutions.
At the ASCE Headquarters we separately met with the following
key ASCE officers, including:
Pat Natale, Executive Director
Mike Goode, Vice President, CERF
John Casazza, Director, Continuing Education
Walter Marlowe, Director, Professional Services (Certificates)
Johanna Reinhard, Director, Journals
Marissa Sherard, Director, International Programs
John Segna, Program Coordinator
I am happy to report that all meetings went exceptionally well. They
were focused on making our activities more effective for us and
all issues related to our educational activities were discussed,
including our short course to be offered in the United Kingdom,
our teaching modules to be developed, and webinars.
MEMBERS OF OUR DELEGATION:
Tomasz Arciszewski (Chair, Executive Committee)
Professor and Chair
Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Department
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
John Miles (Co-Chair, Working Group for Education)
Professor, Head of Institute of Machines and Structures
Cardiff School of Engineering
Cardiff University, UK
W. M. Kim Roddis (member, ExCom, ASCE)
Professor and Chair
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
The George Washington University, Washington, DC
Hani G. Melhem (Vice-Chair, International Organizations)
Martin K. Eby Professor of Structural Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering
Kansas State University
R. Raymond Issa (member, Executive Committee)
Director of Graduate and Distance Education Programs, Professor
School of Building Construction
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Rafal Kicinger
Assistant Research Professor
Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Department
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Ian Smith (Vice-Chair, Education)
Professor of Structural Engineering
Director, Institute of Structural Engineering
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland
Guillermo Salazar (Education Committee Chair,
ASCE)
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
Worchester Institute of Technology. Worchester, MA
Regards
Tomasz Arciszewski and Rafal Kicinger
Progress
Report
Activities Conducted July 15 – October 31,
2005
Report Submitted by:
Executive Committee, GCEC:
Tomasz Arciszewski, Ian Smith, Hani Melhem
- Organization of Conference Sessions
- Cooperation with the ASCE senior executive officers
- Education
- Development of the ASCE Certificate in Computing
- Identification of Topics and their Taxonomy (Ian Smith,
Tomasz Arciszewski)
- Teaching Modules Development Guidelines (Ian Smith, Tomasz
Arciszewski)
- Development of Business Plan (Rafal Kicinger, Raymond Issa)
- Logistics
- Building Global Network
- Home Page
- Logo
- Database
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