Planning: Using Emerging Technologies for Increasing Student Enrollment and Learning in Infrastructure and Building Construction Technology at HBCUs

这项hbcu卓越研究计划资助将有助于弥合工业和高等教育之间的差距。该项目旨在通过引领建筑产出，收集基础设施和建筑公司所需的当前和未来就业技能的综合信息，为美国目前改善国家基础设施的努力做出贡献。对HBCU基础设施和建筑施工技术专业的学生进行适当的培训，让他们掌握工业所需的新兴技术，将有助于1)为未被充分代表的群体提供就业技能，使他们能够公平地获得个人经济成功；2)确保该行业拥有足够的熟练劳动力，以满足对建筑服务日益增长的需求，并在预算范围内按时交付高质量的项目。这项为期一年的HBCU-EiR规划拨款将帮助研究团队为一个为期三年的HBCU-EiR研究项目制定一份完整的提案，该项目旨在利用新兴技术鼓励未被充分代表的少数民族学生在hubc攻读高级基础设施和建筑工程学位，并为学生在基础设施和建筑行业的职业生涯做好准备。因此，主要目标是探索和加强与基础设施和建筑行业和学术界专家的合作关系，以了解差距，以及当前和未来的就业技能需求，以提高计划研究的智力价值。第二个目标是创造机会（例如，新的研讨会），向K-12学校、社区学院和HBCU本科课程展示建筑中的新兴技术，以增强这项规划拨款的更广泛影响。此外，该团队将与hbcu建筑技术项目的管理员建立网络，以交换信息、资源和最佳实践（即课程和课程模块）。因此，将建立一个HBCU基础设施和建筑建设联盟（HBCU- ibcc），以进一步加强更广泛的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This HBCU-Excellence in Research planning grant will help bridge the gap between industry and higher education. The project aims to contribute to current US efforts to improve national infrastructure by spearheading construction outputs, gathering comprehensive information on the current and future employment skills that are needed from the infrastructure, and building construction firms. Properly training HBCU infrastructure and building construction technology program students with the industrial-needed emerging technologies will 1) equip groups underrepresented with employment skills and enable them to have equitable access to personal economic success, and 2) ensure the industry has sufficient and skilled workforces to meet the growing demand for construction services and deliver quality projects on time and within budget. This one-year HBCU-EiR planning grant will help the research team to develop a full proposal for a three-year HBCU-EiR research project which aims to use emerging technologies to encourage underrepresented minority students to pursue advanced infrastructure and building construction degrees at HUBCs and prepare the students for careers in the infrastructure and building construction industry. Hence, the primary goal is to explore and strengthen the collaborative relationships with the infrastructure and building construction industrial and academic experts to understand the gaps, and current and future needs of employment skills to enhance the intellectual merit of the planned research. The secondary goal is to create opportunities (i.e., new workshops) to expose emerging technologies in construction to K-12 schools, community colleges, and HBCU undergraduate programs to enhance the broader impacts of this planning grant. Moreover, the team will network with the administrators of HBCUs’ construction technology programs to exchange information, resources, and best practices (i.e., curriculum and course modules). As a result, an HBCU Infrastructure and Building Construction Consortium (HBCU-IBCC) will be established to further enhance the broader impacts.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.