Graduate-level Civil Engineering Transportation Course Development-Oregon Tech

Roger Lindgren, Oregon Institute of Technology

Co-investigators:

Summary:

The Civil Engineering Department at Oregon Tech began offering an innovative co-terminal BS/MS degrees program in the Fall of 2013. Students who enter as freshmen can complete both degree requirements in as few as five academic years by starting graduate coursework in the fourth year while simultaneously completing an undergraduate (senior) project. In the fifth year, students complete remaining undergraduate requirements while focusing on graduate courses and a graduate project. Students choose graduate-level courses from the following sub-discipline areas; geotechnical, structural, transportation, and water resources. Over the past decade, Oregon Tech civil engineering graduates have been actively recruited by transportation agencies and consulting engineering firms specializing in transportation, thus there has been strong support from alumni and employers for more transportation-related courses at the senior undergraduate and graduate level. Beginning with the 2013-14 academic year and continuing this year (2014-15) the CE Department has been piloting a number of transportation courses, both in the traditional areas (pavements, traffic analysis, geometric design, transport safety, transport planning) and also in multi-disciplinary fields such as transportation structures and roadway drainage. The funds sought by this proposal would be used to further develop these transportation related senior undergraduate and graduate courses to become regular offerings (most on a biennial offering rotation). Graduate students would work with members of the faculty to modernize the primary transportation teaching facility (Oregon Tech’s Traffic Lab) and develop course work (notes, tutorials, projects, etc.) necessary for the courses to become a permanent part of the CE Department’s offerings.

Project Details

Project Type:
Education
Project Status:
Completed
End Date:
March 31,2016
UTC Grant Cycle:
Natl Education Round 1
UTC Funding:
$40,000