IRES: A Global Perspective on Engineering Sustainable Building Systems

IRES：可持续建筑系统工程的全球视角

• 批准号: 0755959
• 负责人: Esther Obonyo
• 金额: $ 14.81万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-05-01 至 2012-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0755959&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; Global; Perspective; Engineering; Sustainable; IRES; Global; Perspective; Engineering; Sustainable

The Principal Investigator, Dr. Esther Obonyo of the University of Florida, will lead 15 US undergraduate and graduate students in carrying out research in construction engineering in partnership with Eco-Build Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. There is a global interest in issues such as design and management of buildings, materials and building performance, energy and resource consumption. The aim of this proposal is to create International Research Experiences for Students in construction engineering. The focus of the program will be on giving undergraduate, Masters and Ph. D. students an opportunity to acquire a global perspective on developing innovations that can make construction processes, products and services more sustainable, in the context of building in Nairobi. The specific research objectives are: 1) To characterize the differences in approaches to sustainable construction engineering between developed countries, such as the USA, and developing countries, such as Kenya, and define a framework for global learning; 2) To investigate the appropriateness of construction engineering approaches used by the different types of builders in developing economies using suitable assessment models; 3) To contextualize innovative and low cost use of building materials, water and sanitation systems that are both sustainable and affordable; 4) To demonstrate sustainable building systems that exploit cross-fertilization of ideas across the different regions in the research.The corresponding education plan will prime construction engineers for the challenges associated with globalization by 1) improving their understanding of contextual issues through international experiences; 2) facilitating problem-focused and team-based learning; and (3) developing new educational materials based on the students research. Existing courses in Sustainable Construction provide the forum for implementing the proposed pedagogy and integrating elements of the research program into the classroom. The plan for the research will promote active and cooperative student learning, which develops important engineering and management attributes. Finally, this initiative will create specific educational products including web-based and multimedia curriculum modules for use by a wider audience including industry based professionals.The project will advance scientific knowledge by enabling scholars in the United States and Kenya to combine complementary talents and share research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. Intellectual merit: Contribution to improving construction engineering practices both in Kenya and the US through capturing best practices, the evolution of a new framework for assessing the suitability of various construction engineering strategies and the incorporation of internationally tested sustainable construction methodologies in construction engineering education. Broader impact: Contribution to the worldwide inventory of possibly appropriate tools and technologies, establishment of the appropriateness of such tools and technologies, definition of the required adaptation and the required research and development support of such adaptation. The program will also specifically set out to recruit minority students. In addition, the experiences will facilitate early career introduction of U.S. graduate and undergraduate students to leading scholars and professionals within the international research community who are involved in the advancement of sustainable practices within the Built Environment.

首席研究员，佛罗里达大学的Esther Obonyo博士将带领15名美国本科生和研究生与肯尼亚内罗毕的Eco-Build Africa合作进行建筑工程研究。全球对建筑物，材料和建筑物绩效，能源和资源消费的设计和管理等问题的兴趣。该提案的目的是为建筑工程的学生创造国际研究经验。该计划的重点将放在给本科生，硕士和博士学位。学生有机会在内罗毕建设的背景下，在开发可以使建筑流程，产品和服务更具可持续性的创新方面获得全球视角。具体的研究目标是：1）表征发达国家（例如美国和发展中国家）之间可持续建筑工程方法的差异，并定义了全球学习的框架； 2）研究发展经济体中不同类型的建筑商使用合适的评估模型使用的建筑工程方法的适当性； 3）将建筑材料，水和卫生系统既可持续又负担得起的创新和低成本使用； 4）展示可持续的建筑系统，以利用研究中不同地区的思想交叉剥夺。相应的教育计划将通过1）通过国际经验来提高他们对上下文问题的理解； 2）促进以问题为中心和基于团队的学习； （3）根据学生的研究开发新的教育材料。可持续建设中的现有课程为实施拟议的教学法和将研究计划的要素整合到课堂上的论坛提供了论坛。研究计划将促进积极和合作的学生学习，从而发展重​​要的工程和管理属性。最后，该计划将创建特定的教育产品，包括基于Web的和多媒体课程模块，以供更广泛的受众（包括行业的专业人员）使用。该项目将通过使美国和肯尼亚的学者结合互补才能并在强大的相互利益和能力的领域中共享研究资源来提高科学知识。智力优点：通过捕获最佳实践，即评估各种建筑工程策略的适用性的新框架以及在建筑工程教育中纳入国际测试的可持续建筑方法的新框架，对改善肯尼亚和美国改善建筑工程实践的贡献。更广泛的影响：对可能适当的工具和技术的全球库存做出贡献，建立此类工具和技术的适当性，所需适应性的定义以及这种适应性的所需的研究和开发支持。该计划还将专门针对招募少数民族学生。此外，这些经验将有助于早期职业生涯将美国的研究生和本科生引入国际研究界的学者和专业人士，他们参与了建筑环境中可持续实践的发展。