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

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 合作开展建筑工程研究。全球对建筑设计和管理、材料和建筑性能、能源和资源消耗等问题感兴趣。该提案的目的是为建筑工程专业的学生创造国际研究经验。该项目的重点是为本科生、硕士生和博士生提供机会，让他们获得全球视角，在内罗毕的建筑背景下开发创新，使建筑流程、产品和服务更具可持续性。具体研究目标是： 1）描述美国等发达国家和肯尼亚等发展中国家在可持续建筑工程方法上的差异，并定义全球学习框架； 2) 使用合适的评估模型来调查发展中经济体中不同类型的建筑商所使用的建筑工程方法的适当性； 3) 将可持续且负担得起的建筑材料、水和卫生系统的创新和低成本使用结合起来； 4) 展示可持续建筑系统，在研究中利用不同地区思想的交叉融合。相应的教育计划将通过以下方式帮助建筑工程师应对全球化带来的挑战： 1) 通过国际经验提高他们对背景问题的理解； 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材。可持续建筑的现有课程为实施拟议的教学法并将研究计划的要素融入课堂提供了论坛。该研究计划将促进学生积极合作的学习，从而发展重​​要的工程和管理属性。最后，该计划将创建具体的教育产品，包括基于网络和多媒体的课程模块，供包括行业专业人士在内的更广泛受众使用。该项目将使美国和肯尼亚的学者能够结合互补的人才并分享研究成果，从而推进科学知识的发展共同感兴趣且能力强的领域的资源。智力价值：通过捕捉最佳实践、评估各种建筑工程策略适用性的新框架的演变以及将经过国际测试的可持续建筑方法纳入建筑工程教育，为改善肯尼亚和美国的建筑工程实践做出贡献。更广泛的影响：对可能适用的工具和技术的全球清单做出贡献，确定此类工具和技术的适用性，定义所需的适应以及此类适应所需的研究和开发支持。该计划还将专门招收少数民族学生。此外，这些经验将有助于美国研究生和本科生在职业生涯早期向国际研究界参与推进建筑环境可持续实践的顶尖学者和专业人士介绍。