Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge
Encyclopedia
The Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge is currently set forth in a proposal by the American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE) entitled Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st century. This proposal seeks to identify and implement improvements to the education and licensure process for civil engineer
s in the United States of America.
to practice engineering is defined by the laws or regulations of each state or territory. Most states currently have a standard that is a four step process. First, an individual must obtain a Bachelor's degree
from a university program that is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
. A two-step examination process administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying
must be completed. The first eight-hour test is the Fundamentals of Engineering exam
; the second, also eight hours long, is the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam
. The other step is to work an apprenticeship
, usually of four years in length, under an already-licensed engineer. The second exam is generally the fourth and final step; the fundamentals exam can be taken before or after the apprenticeship in most states.
The first state to regulate the practice of engineering was Wyoming in 1907. After that, ASCE established a model law for licensure. The last state to pass licensure laws for engineers was Montana.
Many states now require continuing education to maintain a license to practice engineering. In 1979, Iowa became the first. Since then about half of the states have added continuing education to their engineering laws.
to enable practice of civil engineering. This proposed change was not widely accepted within the civil engineering profession and the policy was first revised in 2001 to support a requirement for a "master’s degree or equivalent". It was revised again in 2004 to support "the attainment of a body of knowledge for entry into the practice of civil engineering at the professional level"
The ASCE board created a standing committee
, the Committee on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice (CAP3), charged with the implementation of Policy Statement 465. CAP3 determined that the best implementation of PS 465 was to define the body of knowledge (BOK) that would form the foundation of the licensure process. CAP3 in turn established the Body of Knowledge Committee which wrote the first (2004) and second (current, 2008) versions of the BOK.
1. Mathematics
2. Natural science
s 3. Humanities
4. Social sciences
5. Materials science
6. Mechanics
7. Experiments 8. Problem recognition and solving
9. Design 10. Sustainability
11. Contemporary issues & historical perspectives
12. Risk
and uncertainty
13. Project management
14. Breadth in civil engineering
areas 15. Technical specialization
16. Communication 17. Public policy
18. Business and public administration
19. Globalization
20. Leadership
21. Teamwork
22. Attitudes
23. Lifelong learning
24. Professional and ethical responsibility
The body of knowledge uses Bloom's Taxonomy
to outline the necessary level of achievement for each of the twenty-four outcomes.
NCEES considered the implementation of the BOK at their 2008 annual meeting and decided to establish a task force. The task force is provide an analysis of "(1) the potential educational, professional, regulatory, and economic impact of the master's or equivalent; and (2) any alternative solutions besides the master's or equivalent that could potentially address the challenge of better preparing engineering licensure candidates to enter the profession."
In 2008, Nebraska
became the first to consider legislation requiring college-level education beyond the Bachelors degree as a requirement for a professional engineering license. The legislation was not enacted, in part to testimony from engineering associations. The Nebraska section of the American Council of Engineering Companies
stated that the new requirement might have made it more difficult for companies located in their state to hire and keep entry-level engineers.
American Society of Civil Engineers
The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. It is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. ASCE's vision is to have engineers positioned as global leaders who strive toward...
(ASCE) entitled Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st century. This proposal seeks to identify and implement improvements to the education and licensure process for civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
s in the United States of America.
Current status
In the United States, the body of knowledge necessary to obtain a licenseProfessional Engineer
Regulation of the engineering profession is established by various jurisdictions of the world to protect the safety, well-being and other interests of the general public, and to define the licensure process through which an engineer becomes authorized to provide professional services to the...
to practice engineering is defined by the laws or regulations of each state or territory. Most states currently have a standard that is a four step process. First, an individual must obtain a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from a university program that is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
ABET, Inc., formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, is a non-profit organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology...
. A two-step examination process administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying
National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying
The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying is a national non-profit organization composed of engineering and land surveying licensing boards representing all U.S. states and territories...
must be completed. The first eight-hour test is the Fundamentals of Engineering exam
Fundamentals of Engineering exam
The Fundamentals of Engineering exam, also referred to as the Engineer in Training exam, and formerly in some states as the Engineering Intern exam, is the first of two examinations that engineers must pass in order to be licensed as a Professional Engineer in the United States...
; the second, also eight hours long, is the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam
Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam
The Principles and Practice of Engineering exam is the examination that is required to be passed before one can become a Professional Engineer in the United States...
. The other step is to work an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
, usually of four years in length, under an already-licensed engineer. The second exam is generally the fourth and final step; the fundamentals exam can be taken before or after the apprenticeship in most states.
The first state to regulate the practice of engineering was Wyoming in 1907. After that, ASCE established a model law for licensure. The last state to pass licensure laws for engineers was Montana.
Many states now require continuing education to maintain a license to practice engineering. In 1979, Iowa became the first. Since then about half of the states have added continuing education to their engineering laws.
History
The ASCE board of directors adopted a policy in 1998 (Policy Statement 465) that supported a change to make the master's degree be the first professional degreeFirst professional degree
A professional degree prepares the holder for a particular profession by emphasizing competency skills along with theory and analysis. These professions are typically licensed or otherwise regulated by a governmental or government-approved body...
to enable practice of civil engineering. This proposed change was not widely accepted within the civil engineering profession and the policy was first revised in 2001 to support a requirement for a "master’s degree or equivalent". It was revised again in 2004 to support "the attainment of a body of knowledge for entry into the practice of civil engineering at the professional level"
The ASCE board created a standing committee
Standing Committee
In the United States Congress, standing committees are permanent legislative panels established by the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate rules. . Because they have legislative jurisdiction, standing committees consider bills and issues and recommend measures for...
, the Committee on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice (CAP3), charged with the implementation of Policy Statement 465. CAP3 determined that the best implementation of PS 465 was to define the body of knowledge (BOK) that would form the foundation of the licensure process. CAP3 in turn established the Body of Knowledge Committee which wrote the first (2004) and second (current, 2008) versions of the BOK.
Content the BOK
The body of knowledge defines twenty-four outcomes that make up the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to practice civil engineering. The outcomes are divided into three categories: foundational, technical, and professional.- Foundational
1. Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
2. Natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
s 3. Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
4. Social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
- Technical
5. Materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
6. Mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
7. Experiments 8. Problem recognition and solving
Problem solving
Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
9. Design 10. Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
11. Contemporary issues & historical perspectives
Contemporary history
Contemporary history describes the period timeframe that is without any intervening time closely connected to the present and is a certain perspective of modern history. The term "contemporary history" has been in use at least by the early 19th century. In the widest context of this use,...
12. Risk
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
and uncertainty
Uncertainty
Uncertainty is a term used in subtly different ways in a number of fields, including physics, philosophy, statistics, economics, finance, insurance, psychology, sociology, engineering, and information science...
13. Project management
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
14. Breadth in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
areas 15. Technical specialization
- Professional
16. Communication 17. Public policy
Policy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...
18. Business and public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
19. Globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
20. Leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
21. Teamwork
Teamwork
Teamwork is action performed by a team towards a common goal. A team consists of more than one person, each of whom typically has different responsibilities....
22. Attitudes
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
23. Lifelong learning
Continuing education
Continuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada...
24. Professional and ethical responsibility
Professional ethics
Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals.- Professional ethics :Professional people and those working in acknowledged professions exercise specialist knowledge and skill...
The body of knowledge uses Bloom's Taxonomy
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives within education proposed in 1956 by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom who also edited the first volume of the standard text, Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals...
to outline the necessary level of achievement for each of the twenty-four outcomes.
Implementation status
ASCE has formed the BOK Educational Fulfillment Committee (BOKEdFC) to focus on the changes needed to engineering education. This committee is composed of representatives from universities with four-year civil engineering programs.NCEES considered the implementation of the BOK at their 2008 annual meeting and decided to establish a task force. The task force is provide an analysis of "(1) the potential educational, professional, regulatory, and economic impact of the master's or equivalent; and (2) any alternative solutions besides the master's or equivalent that could potentially address the challenge of better preparing engineering licensure candidates to enter the profession."
In 2008, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
became the first to consider legislation requiring college-level education beyond the Bachelors degree as a requirement for a professional engineering license. The legislation was not enacted, in part to testimony from engineering associations. The Nebraska section of the American Council of Engineering Companies
American Council of Engineering Companies
The American Council of Engineering Companies is a professional engineering organization, which together with the National Society of Professional Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers represent the majority of US engineers and engineering firms.ACEC’s origins begin in 1909 with...
stated that the new requirement might have made it more difficult for companies located in their state to hire and keep entry-level engineers.
External links
- ASCE Body of Knowledge, Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st century, Second Edition, American Society of Engineers.