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

这HBCU卓越的研究规划赠款将有助于弥合工业和高等教育之间的差距。该项目旨在通过带头建设产出，收集有关基础设施所需的当前和未来就业技能的全面信息，以及建立建筑公司，为美国目前改善国家基础设施的努力做出贡献。适当地培训HBCU基础设施和建筑施工技术课程的学生与行业需要的新兴技术将1）装备与就业技能代表性不足的群体，使他们能够公平地获得个人经济成功，2）确保行业有足够的和熟练的劳动力，以满足日益增长的需求建筑服务和交付质量项目的时间和预算内。这项为期一年的HBCU-EiR规划补助金将帮助研究团队制定为期三年的HBCU-EiR研究项目的完整提案，该项目旨在利用新兴技术鼓励代表性不足的少数民族学生在HUBC攻读先进的基础设施和建筑学位，并为学生在基础设施和建筑施工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专家的合作关系，以了解就业技能的差距，以及当前和未来的需求，以提高计划研究的知识价值。第二个目标是创造机会（即，新的研讨会），以暴露新兴技术的建设K-12学校，社区学院，和HBCU本科课程，以提高更广泛的影响，这一规划补助金。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，课程和模块）。因此，HBCU基础设施和建筑施工联盟（HBCU-IBCC）将成立，以进一步提高更广泛的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

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.