2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Creating a CIT-E Framework for Addressing Infrastructure Inequities through the Use of Case Studies

Presented at Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL) Technical Session - Effective Teaching 3

Inequities in infrastructure continue to exist in our society often due to previous generations’ choices, constrained resources, and lack of stakeholder engagement in the infrastructure planning and decision-making process. Engineers today have an opportunity to rectify these past injustices. One such opportunity is contained in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill which contains funding for projects focused on previously underserved communities, and reconnecting and rebuilding communities that were divided by transportation infrastructure decades ago and have long been overlooked. Repairing inequities in infrastructure can allow affected communities better access to transportation, clean water, economic and community development, and resilient infrastructure. As civil engineering educators, it is our responsibility to apprise students of these past inequities, instruct them in recognizing and understanding their impacts and improving the lives of all individuals that infrastructure projects affect.

This paper aims to outline a framework developed as part of the Center for Infrastructure Transformation and Education (CIT-E) community of practice to assist and empower faculty in developing lessons related to past or present infrastructure inequities based on case studies that could be used in any course. The broad goals of the lessons that are developed using this framework are for students to be able to: 1) explain inequities in the context of infrastructure and its development, 2) describe and discuss the historical context with which infrastructure was developed and constructed, and how communities were affected by it, and 3) generate, create, or propose solutions to rectify past infrastructure inequities, while designing more equitable solutions in future work. This framework will help guide lesson development by providing ideas for creating assignments (for both before and after class), discussion points, activities, and other lesson materials to teach undergraduate and graduate students about the effects of infrastructure inequities and how to mitigate negative effects. The framework will provide a solid foundation for faculty to take a case study or historical example and create lesson objectives, design student exercises to be used before, during, or after a class session, and create materials to support student learning. The CIT-E community of practice is also applying this framework to create several lessons using case studies that are currently under development and will be available for use by any faculty member in the future.

Authors

Dr. Nicholas Tymvios Bucknell University [biography]

Nicholas Tymvios received a B.S. and M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue University in 1999, and 2002 respectively. After working for four years in the construction industry, he was accepted into the Ph.D. program at Oregon State University, graduating in 2013. He is now an assistant professor at Bucknell University, within the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.
Dr. Claudia Mara Dias Wilson New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology [biography]

Dr. Claudia Mara Dias Wilson is an Associate Professor in civil engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech). She earned her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Florida State University. Although she specialized in earthquake mitigation and the development of control algorithms for semi-active dampers to reduce seismic vibrations on buildings, her research interests are broad and include topics in structural engineering, earthquake engineering, construction management, transportation engineering, and engineering education. She also advises the Student Chapters of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at New Mexico Tech.
Dr. Corrie Walton-Macaulay http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8359-9810 Saint Martin's University [biography]

With degrees in both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from the University of Arkansas, and a doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky, Dr. Corrie Walton-Macaulay is a Geotechnical Engineering Associate Professor in the Civil Engineering department at St. Martin's University, where he has been part of the faculty since 2019. Dr. Walton-Macaulay has extensive experience in the geotechnical and materials industry prior to becoming an academician and is a licensed professional engineer. Dr. Walton-Macaulay's has a passion to teach, to educate upcoming civil engineers in best practices and for them to look to alternative ways and new technology that will improve on current design methods. Dr. Walton-Macaulay believes that fostering diversity in teaching breeds innovation and is currently focused on engineering education research on socio-economic inequities in infrastructure.
Dr. Moses Tefe Norwich University [biography]

Moses is currently an Associate Professor of Transportation Engineering at Norwich University, where he instructs students in Transportation Engineering, Surveying and Site Development. He graduated from the University of Alabama in August 2012 with a PhD
Dr. Scott R Hamilton P.E. York College of Pennsylvania [biography]

Scott Hamilton is a Professor of Civil Engineering at York College of Pennsylvania. He is a registered Professional Engineer and has both a MS and PhD in civil engineering and a Masters in
engineering management from Stanford University and a BS from the United States Military Academy, West Point. He is a retired US Army Corps of Engineers officer who has had assignments in the US, Germany, Korea, and Afghanistan. During his military career he spent over 10 years on the faculty at the US Military Academy at West Point teaching civil engineering. He also served as the Director, Graduate Professional Development at Northeastern University’s College of Engineering. He is the recipient of the 2021 NSPE Engineering Education Excellence Award and the 2019 ASCE Thomas A Lenox ExCEEd Leadership Award.
Dr. Xiaomei Wang Brigham Young University [biography]

Dr. Xiaomei Wang, a Civil Engineering Ph.D., specializes in environmental engineering. She conducts research on infrastructure sustainability, leveraging her expertise to address pressing challenges in the field.
Gloria Faraone
Thais Alves San Diego State University

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