2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Accreditation verifies program quality and ensures a strong educational foundation for students. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) is the premier accrediting body in the U.S., evaluating programs across 91 disciplines, including three construction-related areas: Construction Engineering (ConE), Construction Engineering Technology, and Construction Management. While ABET establishes baseline criteria, prior curriculum comparisons of ConE programs are typically limited to small or cross-disciplinary contrasts, leaving a gap in national, quantitative investigation across accredited ConE programs. Given that ConE programs must balance core engineering sciences with application-specific construction knowledge, ensuring consistency and relevance is paramount. This paper compares the curricula of all 22 ABET-accredited Construction Engineering programs in U.S. universities to analyze how these programs interpret and adhere to specific ABET criteria. By systematically categorizing course catalogs from these 22 programs into areas such as Engineering Science, Math/Basic Science, and Management, the study identifies core differentiating features within the discipline. Findings reveal significant variance in credit allocation, particularly within engineering science and management requirements. These insights highlight curricular flexibility and emerging pedagogical trends, offering a valuable framework for institutions developing or revising ConE programs to meet the evolving needs of the modern construction industry.