Engineering Commons^™

Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed A Digital Humanities Project, Elise Tanner, Geoffrey Joseph

Digital Initiatives Symposium

Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. An unplanned interdisciplinary collaboration with the UA Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI) has proven to be an invaluable partnership. One team member from each department will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss how the collaborative process has changed and shaped …

Facilitating The Industrial Sector's Adoption Of Collaborative Project Delivery Methods, Xavier Wood-Aliberch

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Thesis, and Student Research

In an effort to improve outcomes in the civil and healthcare sectors, clients have adopted collaborative project delivery methods for the delivery of their capital projects. The success stories in these sectors have gathered the attention of clients in the industrial sector, where cost and schedule overruns have become the norm. The central objective of this thesis is to help clients make the transition to this new type of project delivery.

This thesis was written in a three-paper format, where each paper addresses a challenge with the adoption of collaborative delivery methods. The first paper investigates what type of industrial …

Human-Robot Collaboration Enabled By Real-Time Vision Tracking, Travis Deegan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The number of robotic systems in the world is growing rapidly. However, most industrial robots are isolated in caged environments for the safety of users. There is an urgent need for human-in-the-loop collaborative robotic systems since robots are very good at performing precise and repetitive tasks but lack the cognitive ability and soft skills of humans. To fill this need, a key challenge is how to enable a robot to interpret its human co-worker’s motion and intention. This research addresses this challenge by developing a collaborative human-robot interface via innovations in computer vision, robotics, and system integration techniques. Specifically, this …

The Technology Transfer Network Dynamic In The Information Technology Industry Of Yucatan, Mexico, Francisco Cima, Pilar Pazos, Ana Maria Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The present paper explores the technology transfer linkages among universities, research centers, and private companies in Yucatan, Mexico's information technology industry. Social network analysis (SNA) was used as a method to identify the structural characteristics of the technology transfer collaborations, and the changes in the patterns of interactions among institutions over the years. Data were obtained from the National Council for Science and Technology repository (CONACYT). Associations formed to enhance technology advancement and innovation practices between 2010 and 2018 were analyzed in this study. Network transitivity, the patterns of triadic configurations, and heterophily were compared to uncover the evolution of …

Here You Have To Be Mixing: Collaborative Learning On An Engineering Program In Ireland As Experienced By A Group Of Young Middle Eastern Women, Shannon Chance, Bill Williams

Articles

This research project uses grounded theory to analyze interviews conducted with eight women from Oman and Kuwait. Members of the sample group were studying together at an institute of technology in Dublin, Ireland. The paper reports patterns in 15 interviews collected in the years 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 to provide a longitudinal overview of the experience of the learners. During the coding process, three major themes emerged having to do with the experience of learning with others and/or learning in groups. The first theme involved communication within the group and the group's approaches to working together. The second identified …

Should Teamwork-Based Content Be Taught In The Cal Poly Construction Management Curriculum?, Matthew J. Sharman

Construction Management

At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), in the Construction Management (CM) curriculum, there is a lack of teamwork-based content. This content includes negotiation, conflict resolution, and fundamental skills for working collaboratively with others such as social-emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication. The nature of the Cal Poly CM Program is to teach students about the aspects of the construction process, however what is missed is teaching how to work effectively in teams. They fail to teach this because of the strict curriculum of focusing on learning objectives rather than teaching individuals how to be effective construction managers. …

The Importance Of Collaborative Design For Narrowing The Gender Gap In Engineering: An Analysis Of Engineering Identity Development In Elementary Students, Mandy Mclean, Jasmine M. Nation, Alexis Spina, Tyler Susko, Danielle Harlow, Julie Bianchini

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Research suggests that, to narrow the gender gap in engineering, we should focus on helping young girls identify with engineering both because gendered attitudes emerge around kindergarten and because identity is more predictive than performance on persistence in the field. This qualitative study sought to understand the impact of collaborative engineering design on the development of engineering identities in elementary-school students and compared the findings across gender. We focused on three tiers of collaboration embedded into the engineering design process: peer groups, role models, and shared goals. More specifically, the elementary students worked in small teams and partnered with undergraduate …

Student Mentorship: An Essential Practice, Jonathan E. Ott

Construction Management

As an industry that relies heavily on strong relationships, contractors must learn to be effective communicators. At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO), there are several majors that provide students with a peer mentorship program; however, the Construction Management Department lacks one of these programs. Previous research conducted by Construction Management students at Cal Poly SLO revealed a significant demand for peer mentorship relationships (Gauna, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to determine what logistical approaches should be initiated to provide students with this valuable resource. This research was conducted by utilizing a nine-question survey …

Exploring The Relationship Between Teamwork Skills And Team Members' Centrality, Francisco Cima, Pilar Pazos, Ana Maria Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The present paper describes an exploratory study of small teams working on a four-month project as part of a graduate engineering program. The research had two primary goals. The first was to utilize the log files from shared repositories used for team collaboration to describe the network structure of the teams. The second was to determine whether the network centrality of any individual team member is associated with their teamwork skills and attitudes towards the collaboration platform. The relationship between teamwork skills, attitudes towards the collaboration technology, and the centrality index was explored using Pearson correlations. A total of 35 …

A Framework Of International Competencies For Systems Engineers, Annlizé L. Marnewick, Holly A.H. Handley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In the course of their career, many systems engineers are likely to interact with engineers of other nationalities as they collaborate on large, complex projects and system of system problems. These partnerships are necessary to support international goals, such as those for sustainable development. System engineers may even work onsite in other countries where they must adapt to different styles of doing business. This requires a set of global skill sets for cooperating and decision making, as well as basic social skills for interacting with the local community. These global skills can be included in a graduate level system engineering …

Interdisciplinary Studio Pavilion [Isp] 2019, Albert J. Gutierrez

Construction Management

Historically Cal Poly’s motto has been ‘Learn by Doing’ and the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) is one of the leading examples of this. Many students gain valuable hands-on and real-world experience through collaborative projects and assignments. Through this learn by doing philosophy and collaborative learning approach Cal Poly construction management, architecture and architectural engineering students worked together in 8 separate studio teams to design and construct a portable pavilion for the Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County. Acting as a client they requested that we design a portable pavilion space that will be used to …

Global Research Trend On Cyber Security: A Scientometric Analysis, Somesh Rai, Kunwar Singh Dr, Akhilesh Kumar Varma

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Scientometrics is a quantitative analysis of scholarly literature related to a particular subject or area (well defined by some limits, scope and coverage), which helps to understand different aspects about the scholarly literature’s growth in various dimensions of knowledge. Similarly, this study is a quantitative analysis of the Global research trends in cyber security. Some works related to scientometrics of ‘deception, counter-deception in cyberspace’ had been published in 2011, but we have focused on ‘cyber security’ as the topic of research. For analysis we have utilised the published data available in Scopus database, which is directly related to ‘cyber security’. …

Construction Management Computer Lab Redesign, Matt Williamson

Construction Management

This project looked to take an inventory of the current Construction Management computer lab, communicate with students and other stakeholders about how the computer lab is used, look ahead to how the lab will be used in the future, and create a new design that best suits the Construction Management department.

Implementing Ipd Principles On Custom Residential Projects: Tools And Best Practices, Giuseppi K. Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to see how Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) principles and practices can be used on high end custom residential construction projects to increase the collaboration and efficiency of the project team. A case study was conducted on a custom home project to observe how and what IPD principles were used. Observations, interviews and a survey were used as part of that case study to gain insights. This research found that IPD principles and practices could be used on residential projects. In addition, the research found that those involved found the experience positive and beneficial to …

A Continuation Of The Women In Construction Club’S Industry Mentorship Program And A Measure Of Its Effectiveness, Alexa S. Heien

Construction Management

The Women in Construction Club’s Industry Mentorship program at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) is nearly a year old, yet the only data collected on the program was taken directly after it was created. The creation of the Industry Mentorship program, and subsequent data collection, were a previous senior project. But there were no measurements on how effective the mentorship program was, or if there was a benefit for the students involved. Because this program has the potential of creating long-lasting relationships and connecting women in a men-dominated field, knowing if the mentorship program needs to …

Leveraging Contracting Strategies With Private Shipyards For Increasing Naval Fleet Operational Availability, Kaitlynn M. Castelle, Joseph M. Bradley, Sanjeev Gupta

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

A major rethink of NAVSEA’s shipyard contracting strategy is required to support the critical need of improving our naval fleet availability. Operational Fleet material availability is reduced when various parts of the “NAVSEA production system” operate at cross-purposes. By increasing alignment between major players (i.e., NAVSEA and the private shipyards), major improvements in delivery performance, cost, and even throughput can be realized. Developing strategies and specific actions to do so is a rich field given the current state of the system. We take an analytical as well as evidence-based approach to propose strategies that can be successful given the peculiar …

Implementation Of Blockchain Technology In The Construction Industry, Steven Graham

Construction Management

In general, the construction industry has been pretty resistant to change. While most industries have gained in productivity over the years through implementation of new technologies and other factors, construction industry productivity has been on a steady decline since the 1960s. Even though there are a multitude of reasons for this, including more complex building types and a decline in the workforce, the major problem holding construction back are project management issues and alienation of project stakeholders in the construction process. Some improvements have been made to help with collaboration between parties, like BIM (building information modeling) and project management …

Natural Resources Governance Employing Blockchain-Based Decision-Making, Farinaz Sabz Ali Pour, Adrian Gheorghe

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Natural resources are essential structures of socio-economic systems which shape the well-being of humanity, environment, and the economy. Human actions have become the critical responsibility for environmental changes and pressuring many planetary boundaries. Having a systematic approach can provide a governance platform including the inherent characteristics of the resource, the historically established form of use, and transaction costs. A natural resource governance framework is developed by applying Blockchain technology as the primary goal of this study to regulate and manage the extraction and trades. Blockchain technology provides a distributed concurrency monitoring system for sustainable resource management. Persistent and pervasive cooperation …

Reducing Runway Incursions: The Role Of Collaboration, Education, And Training, Billy Metallinos

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Runway incursions are a major threat to aviation safety and can cause major delays and collisions that have significant human and financial implications for airlines. This study investigated how training, education, and collaboration may be improved to reduce the occurrence of runway incursions at airports. Data collection involved interviews, a focus group, and document analysis to explore the participants’ perceptions. The interviews and focus group involved a purposive sample of 12 pilots, air traffic controllers, airport administrators, and ground personnel. The interviews and focus group transcripts were chunked, coded, and patterns sought to form five key themes addressing the research …

The Adoption Of A Design Build Approach In Retrofit Projects – A Descriptive Case Study, Lloyd Scott

Conference papers

The delivery Design Build projects across the built environment in Ireland has begun to take significant shape. There are many examples of the traditional are moving towards more collaborative practices. There exists support for the integration of a design build project approach in the retrofit realm where designer, client and developer can work collaboratively. As with the regular design build process the intent behind this collaborative approach is to encourage those associated with the built environment to consider how retrofit design and construction can contribute positively to addressing elements of climate change and the design build process. The opportunity to …

An Application Of Game Theory In Distributed Collaborative Decision Making, Angran Xiao

Publications and Research

In a distributed product realization environment, new paradigms and accompanying software systems are necessary to support the collaborative work of geographically dispersed engineering teams from different disciplines who have different knowledge, experience, tools and resources. To verify the concept of collaboration by separation, we propose a generic information communication medium to enable knowledge representation and exchange between engineering teams, a digital interface. Across digital interfaces, each engineering team maintains its own perspective towards the product realization problem, and each controls a subset of design variables and seeks to maximize its own payoff function subject to individual constraints. Hence, we postulate …

Ji: Zimbabwe Rural School Development Program, Leor Rozen

Construction Management

Adjusting to the construction codes and processes of a foreign country is a very complex and involved process. There are considerations for different materials, procedures, costs, requirements, potential tribal or cultural conflict, corruption, and many other potential obstacles and challenges to overcome. While this project was seemingly simple, inexpensive, and straightforward, there was a significant amount of obstruction from the government concerning a coup that limited the team’s ability to apply for permission to begin construction. Additionally, there were significant changes in the design and budget as the project progressed, delaying our start date. Ultimately, this project should serve as …

An Analysis Of The Demand For Interdisciplinary Curriculum Within The Caed, Matthew S. Montijo

Construction Management

This study serves to demonstrate the demand and benefits of interdisciplinary curriculum within the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) at California Polytechnic State University. While the literature review serves to highlight the unique learning benefits of interdisciplinary coursework, the survey demonstrates student demand for such courses across all colleges in the CAED. This study provides possible solutions to an existing problem within the CAED through the avenue of the construction management department.

Creating And Implementing An Industry Mentorship Program Within The Women In Construction Club, Linnea Lavorico

Construction Management

The construction industry has made great strides in terms of catching the attention of and accepting more women. The industry has historically been dominated by men and, for the most part, that is still true today. But there are more and more women expressing interest in construction and construction management related career paths. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) continued that trend when the Women in Construction club was formed. The goal is to help women realize that they can participate in the industry and then encourage them to do so. A previous senior project was done …

Panelized Workforce Housing, Brock H. Armstrong

Construction Management

This study analyzes the utility of a panelized exterior wall system in workforce housing. First, it introduces why the need for the project exists. Second, it touches on how Cal Poly procured the project and who the client is. Third, it lays out how the project was dealt with as far as its structure and the roles of the students taking part in the cohort. Fourth, it looks at the process of designing the panels, the various restrictions the students had to deal with in designing them, and how the panels changed over time due to new constraints being made …

A Surprising Symbiosis: Examining The Mutualism In Department Of Defense Conservation Partnerships, Andrew J. Lankow

Theses and Dissertations

Because of the DoD’s unique and significant role in the conservation of natural resources, military leaders and natural resource managers need a trail guide to frame interagency collaboration in a way that shapes productive partnerships. The purpose of this research was to examine successful DoD conservation partnerships in order to identify key success factors (KSFs) and the most prominent challenges faced, and how those characteristics enable the accomplishment of each partner’s objectives. The research questions were answered through a comprehensive literature review and the use of the multiple-case study method. 19 key informants from three installations participated in semi-structured interviews, …

Analysis Of Cross-Cultural Training Provided To United States Air Force Civil Engineer Officers, And How Engineering Efforts Are Affected On Overseas Air Force Installations: A Delphi Study, Bianca E. Boney

Theses and Dissertations

U.S. military personnel perform a wide array of roles and missions at locations all over the world. As such, this research investigates and describes the current process of cultural training, its adequacy, and examines how cultural differences and collaboration efforts may impede or enhance project management and engineering efforts. This qualitative analysis is conducted through a Delphi study of U.S. Air Force officers consisting of 15 subject matter experts (SMEs) with experiences from 13 different countries. All reported to have daily to weekly interactions with locals and foreign partners due to job requirements; however, no set standard of cultural training …

Creating A Mock Environment For The Real World, Maggie Berkey, Katherine Koepke, Cindy Gruwell

Library Faculty Publications

College programs have many needs and often minimal

funding. The purpose of this collaborative project was to

creatively meet the needs of the St Cloud Technical and

Community College_s biomedical equipment technology

students_ hands-on learning experience and at the same

time the maintenance of equipment in the St Cloud

State University Nursing Department and St Cloud

Technical and Community College Clinical Departments.

This working collaborative established between the 2

schools resulted in a win-win situation for all. Biomedical

equipment technology students repaired equipment and

created an inventory while providing real-time customer

service, and the nursing/clinical departments appreciated

quick and consistent …

Bim+Blockchain: A Solution To The Trust Problem In Collaboration?, Malachy Mathews, Dan Robles, Brian Bowe

Conference papers

This paper provides an overview of historic and current organizational limitations emerging in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Building Owner / Operations (AECOO) Industry. It then provides an overview of new technologies that attempt to mitigate these limitations. However, these technologies, taken together, appear to be converging and creating entirely new organizational structures in the AEC industries. This may be characterized by the emergence of what is called the Network Effect and it’s related calculus. This paper culminates with an introduction to Blockchain Technology (BT) and it’s integration with the emergence of groundbreaking technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial …

Mining Capstone Project Wikis For Knowledge Discovery, Swapna Gottipati, Venky Shankararaman, Melvrivk Goh

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Wikis are widely used collaborative environments as sources of information and knowledge. The facilitate students to engage in collaboration and share information among members and enable collaborative learning. In particular, Wikis play an important role in capstone projects. Wikis aid in various project related tasks and aid to organize information and share. Mining project Wikis is critical to understand the students learning and latest trends in industry. Mining Wikis is useful to educationists and academicians for decision-making about how to modify the educational environment to improve student's learning. The main challenge is that the content or data in project Wikis …