Enhancing Design and Construction Technology Education Through the Context of Mass Timber

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This project aims to serve the national interest by creating a national standard design and construction curriculum for mass timber. Mass timber, a broad term for a variety of engineered wood building materials, is an emerging construction technology in the US with up to 2,500 mass timber buildings expected to exist in the US by 2023, supported by an expected architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) workforce of over 90,000 technicians by 2029. Much of the interest in increasing use of mass timber stems from the materials’ enhanced sustainability performance via carbon storage and avoided emissions from conventional building materials, as well as from potential construction time and cost savings associated with substituting mass timber for other common building materials. But several industry, government, and academic sources have suggested that greater adoption of mass timber in the United States is limited by a lack of focus on workforce education. This project will create new opportunities for technician-level students in postsecondary AEC educational programs acquire knowledge and skills in mass timber design and construction. This content will be developed as a series of modules that can be readily integrated into academic programs, facilitating uptake by a national audience.The project will prepare students to move into technician-level design and construction careers that include the pursuit and execution of mass timber projects. The specific components and activities to be developed through this project will be determined through interaction and collaboration with AEC industry. Previous data collection efforts have indicated that modular curriculum frameworks and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) environments are in high demand among AEC faculty members for both students and faculty lacking access to nearby mass timber buildings. This project will benefit the AEC industry and broader society by providing a trained workforce for mass timber design and construction in the United States. Efforts to maximize uptake of curricular products by faculty include the creation of a faculty community of practice and inclusion into the project leadership team diverse representatives from a variety of institution types (2-year schools, 4-year schools, and minority serving institutions) from across the country into the project leadership team. By partnering with schools that have strong high school outreach programs and diverse student bodies, the team expects to serve a greater cross section of students and faculty than are traditionally part of AEC programs. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the Nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.