“Intregating sustainability in an engineering capstone course”

Capstone courses in civil engineering programs are designed to reinforce and expand core topics in the fundamental program areas. However, most programs do not just have a capstone course which incorporates just two major areas - Structural Design and Construction Management that integrate sustainable principles. The knowledge and experience in these areas, as well as its sustainability, is crucial to work in today's society and profession. The capstone course is an ideal platform for students to engage in a real world construction project procedures and structural design processes while focusing on the increasing demand of sustainability to the client. Penn State Harrisburg's Structural Design & Construction Engineering Technology (SDCET) program offers two different capstone courses. One course focuses on Structural Design, while the other capstone course relates to Construction Management. Student teams from both courses work together on the design and construction of a building structure. Typically, the building structure is a project provided by a local structural engineering or construction management firm. By working on a real world building project these two areas are naturally incorporated into the capstone course. Students in the construction capstone course focus on meeting the demands of the client, code requirements, constructability, and value engineering. Structural design students focus on determining the structural loads for a building and its design, while applying sustainable principles. Again, by incorporating both courses, there is an emphasis on sustainability throughout the entire process, thus reinforcing its importance.