2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

For decades, the gap between academic training and practical skills in structural engineering has been a concern for both practitioners and educators. This disconnect is often attributed to several factors including an imbalance in the teaching of analytical and theoretical methods, too much or too little exposure to computer software, inadequate focus on developing an intuitive understanding of structures, and a deficiency in nurturing engineering thinking and imaginative problem-solving abilities.

This paper examines the alignment between industry needs and academic curricula for structural analysis education. Recent surveys of practitioners and educators reveal agreement on the importance of both classical methods and competency with analysis software. However, an investigation of structural analysis course descriptions in 264 U.S. undergraduate civil engineering programs indicates that only 54% explicitly cover computer techniques, while just 22% teach approximate methods useful for verifying software—a skill rated as 'Important' or 'Very Important' by the vast majority (>90%) of practitioners and educators surveyed. This highlights the disconnect between valued industry skills and current teaching practices. The investigation further reveals there may also be mismatches such as limited emphasis on topics like load path understanding, again despite its applied value. As automation shapes the profession, developing forward-thinking, integrated curricula that merges classical skills with software proficiency and an understanding of structural behavior is increasingly critical.