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生态建设非洲合作开展建筑工程研究。有一个全球性的问题，如建筑的设计和管理，材料和建筑性能，能源和资源消耗。本提案的目的是为建筑工程专业的学生创造国际研究经验。该计划的重点将是为本科生、硕士和博士学生提供一个机会，让他们在开发创新方面获得全球视野，这些创新可以在内罗毕建筑的背景下使建筑过程、产品和服务更具可持续性。具体的研究目标是：1)描述发达国家（如美国）和发展中国家（如肯尼亚）在可持续建筑工程方法上的差异，并定义一个全球学习框架；2)使用合适的评估模型，调查发展中经济体中不同类型的建筑商使用的建筑工程方法的适当性；3)在可持续和负担得起的建筑材料、水和卫生系统的创新和低成本使用的背景下；4)展示可持续建筑系统，在研究中利用不同地区的思想交流。相应的教育计划将通过以下方式培养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团队为基础的学习；(3)根据学生的研究开发新的教材。现有的可持续建筑课程为实施拟议的教学法和将研究项目的元素整合到课堂中提供了论坛。该研究计划将促进学生的主动和合作学习，这将培养重要的工程和管理属性。最后，这项计划将创造具体的教育产品，包括网络和多媒体课程模块，供更广泛的受众使用，包括行业专业人士。该项目将推动科学知识的发展，使美国和肯尼亚的学者能够结合互补的人才，并在共同感兴趣和有能力的领域共享研究资源。智力价值：通过获取最佳实践，为改善肯尼亚和美国的建筑工程实践做出贡献，为评估各种建筑工程策略的适用性制定了新框架，并将国际上经过测试的可持续建筑方法纳入建筑工程教育。更广泛的影响：对可能适当的工具和技术的全球清单作出贡献，确定这些工具和技术的适当性，确定所需的适应以及这种适应所需的研究和发展支助。该项目还将专门招收少数族裔学生。此外，这些经历将促进美国研究生和本科生的早期职业介绍给国际研究界的主要学者和专业人士，这些学者和专业人士参与了建筑环境中可持续实践的进步。