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- All Subjects: Civil Engineering
- All Subjects: Front End Planning
- Creators: Parrish, Kristen
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Status: Published
Description
Engineering education can provide students with the tools to address complex, multidisciplinary grand challenge problems in sustainable and global contexts. However, engineering education faces several challenges, including low diversity percentages, high attrition rates, and the need to better engage and prepare students for the role of a modern engineer. These challenges can be addressed by integrating sustainability grand challenges into engineering curriculum.
Two main strategies have emerged for integrating sustainability grand challenges. In the stand-alone course method, engineering programs establish one or two distinct courses that address sustainability grand challenges in depth. In the module method, engineering programs integrate sustainability grand challenges throughout existing courses. Neither method has been assessed in the literature.
This thesis aimed to develop sustainability modules, to create methods for evaluating the modules’ effectiveness on student cognitive and affective outcomes, to create methods for evaluating students’ cumulative sustainability knowledge, and to evaluate the stand-alone course method to integrate sustainability grand challenges into engineering curricula via active and experiential learning.
The Sustainable Metrics Module for teaching sustainability concepts and engaging and motivating diverse sets of students revealed that the activity portion of the module had the greatest impact on learning outcome retention.
The Game Design Module addressed methods for assessing student mastery of course content with student-developed games indicated that using board game design improved student performance and increased student satisfaction.
Evaluation of senior design capstone projects via novel comprehensive rubric to assess sustainability learned over students’ curriculum revealed that students’ performance is primarily driven by their instructor’s expectations. The rubric provided a universal tool for assessing students’ sustainability knowledge and could also be applied to sustainability-focused projects.
With this in mind, engineering educators should pursue modules that connect sustainability grand challenges to engineering concepts, because student performance improves and students report higher satisfaction. Instructors should utilize pedagogies that engage diverse students and impact concept retention, such as active and experiential learning. When evaluating the impact of sustainability in the curriculum, innovative assessment methods should be employed to understand student mastery and application of course concepts and the impacts that topics and experiences have on student satisfaction.
Two main strategies have emerged for integrating sustainability grand challenges. In the stand-alone course method, engineering programs establish one or two distinct courses that address sustainability grand challenges in depth. In the module method, engineering programs integrate sustainability grand challenges throughout existing courses. Neither method has been assessed in the literature.
This thesis aimed to develop sustainability modules, to create methods for evaluating the modules’ effectiveness on student cognitive and affective outcomes, to create methods for evaluating students’ cumulative sustainability knowledge, and to evaluate the stand-alone course method to integrate sustainability grand challenges into engineering curricula via active and experiential learning.
The Sustainable Metrics Module for teaching sustainability concepts and engaging and motivating diverse sets of students revealed that the activity portion of the module had the greatest impact on learning outcome retention.
The Game Design Module addressed methods for assessing student mastery of course content with student-developed games indicated that using board game design improved student performance and increased student satisfaction.
Evaluation of senior design capstone projects via novel comprehensive rubric to assess sustainability learned over students’ curriculum revealed that students’ performance is primarily driven by their instructor’s expectations. The rubric provided a universal tool for assessing students’ sustainability knowledge and could also be applied to sustainability-focused projects.
With this in mind, engineering educators should pursue modules that connect sustainability grand challenges to engineering concepts, because student performance improves and students report higher satisfaction. Instructors should utilize pedagogies that engage diverse students and impact concept retention, such as active and experiential learning. When evaluating the impact of sustainability in the curriculum, innovative assessment methods should be employed to understand student mastery and application of course concepts and the impacts that topics and experiences have on student satisfaction.
ContributorsAntaya, Claire Louise (Author) / Landis, Amy E. (Thesis advisor) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Bilec, Melissa M (Committee member) / Besterfield-Sacre, Mary E (Committee member) / Allenby, Braden R. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Given the importance of buildings as major consumers of resources worldwide, several organizations are working avidly to ensure the negative impacts of buildings are minimized. The U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is one such effort to recognize buildings that are designed to achieve a superior performance in several areas including energy consumption and indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The primary objectives of this study are to investigate the performance of LEED certified facilities in terms of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction with IEQ, and introduce a framework to assess the performance of LEED certified buildings.
This thesis attempts to achieve the research objectives by examining the LEED certified buildings on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus in Tempe, AZ, from two complementary perspectives: the Macro-level and the Micro-level. Heating, cooling, and electricity data were collected from the LEED-certified buildings on campus, and their energy use intensity was calculated in order to investigate the buildings' actual energy performance. Additionally, IEQ occupant satisfaction surveys were used to investigate users' satisfaction with the space layout, space furniture, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting level, acoustic quality, water efficiency, cleanliness and maintenance of the facilities they occupy.
From a Macro-level perspective, the results suggest ASU LEED buildings consume less energy than regional counterparts, and exhibit higher occupant satisfaction than national counterparts. The occupant satisfaction results are in line with the literature on LEED buildings, whereas the energy results contribute to the inconclusive body of knowledge on energy performance improvements linked to LEED certification. From a Micro-level perspective, data analysis suggest an inconsistency between the LEED points earned for the Energy & Atmosphere and IEQ categories, on one hand, and the respective levels of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction on the other hand. Accordingly, this study showcases the variation in the performance results when approached from different perspectives. This contribution highlights the need to consider the Macro-level and Micro-level assessments in tandem, and assess LEED building performance from these two distinct but complementary perspectives in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the actual building performance.
This thesis attempts to achieve the research objectives by examining the LEED certified buildings on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus in Tempe, AZ, from two complementary perspectives: the Macro-level and the Micro-level. Heating, cooling, and electricity data were collected from the LEED-certified buildings on campus, and their energy use intensity was calculated in order to investigate the buildings' actual energy performance. Additionally, IEQ occupant satisfaction surveys were used to investigate users' satisfaction with the space layout, space furniture, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting level, acoustic quality, water efficiency, cleanliness and maintenance of the facilities they occupy.
From a Macro-level perspective, the results suggest ASU LEED buildings consume less energy than regional counterparts, and exhibit higher occupant satisfaction than national counterparts. The occupant satisfaction results are in line with the literature on LEED buildings, whereas the energy results contribute to the inconclusive body of knowledge on energy performance improvements linked to LEED certification. From a Micro-level perspective, data analysis suggest an inconsistency between the LEED points earned for the Energy & Atmosphere and IEQ categories, on one hand, and the respective levels of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction on the other hand. Accordingly, this study showcases the variation in the performance results when approached from different perspectives. This contribution highlights the need to consider the Macro-level and Micro-level assessments in tandem, and assess LEED building performance from these two distinct but complementary perspectives in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the actual building performance.
ContributorsChokor, Abbas (Author) / El Asmar, Mounir (Thesis advisor) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
High performing and sustainable building certification bodies continue to update their requirements, leading to scope modification of certifications, and an increasing number of viable sources of environmental information for building materials. In conjunction, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is seeing increasing demand for such environmental product information. The industry and certifications are moving from using single attribute environmental information about building materials to lifecycle based information to inform their design decisions.
This dissertation seeks to understand the current practices, and then focus on strategies to effectively utilize newer sources of environmental product information in high performance building design. The first phase of research used a survey of 119 U.S.-based AEC practitioners experienced in certified sustainable building projects to understand how the numerous sources of environmental information are currently used in the building design process. The second phase asked two focus groups of experienced AEC professionals to develop a Message Sequence Chart (MSC) that documents the conceptual design process for a recently designed building. Then, the focus group participants integrated a new sustainability requirement for building materials, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), into their project, and documented the adjustments to their specific design process in a second, modified MSC highlighting potential drivers for inclusion of EPDs. Finally, the author examines the broader applicability of these drivers through case studies. Specifically, 19 certified high-performance building (HPB) case studies, for reviewing the impact of three different potential drivers on the design team’s approach to considering environmental product information during conceptual design of a HPB, as well as the projects certification level.
LEED certification has changed the design of buildings, and the new information sources for building materials will inform the way the industry selects building materials. Meanwhile, these information sources will need to expand to include a growing number of products, and potentially more data as the industry’s understanding of the impacts of building materials develops. This research expands upon previous research on LEED certification to illustrates that owner engagement and commitment to the HPB process is a critical success factor for the use of environmental product information about building materials.
This dissertation seeks to understand the current practices, and then focus on strategies to effectively utilize newer sources of environmental product information in high performance building design. The first phase of research used a survey of 119 U.S.-based AEC practitioners experienced in certified sustainable building projects to understand how the numerous sources of environmental information are currently used in the building design process. The second phase asked two focus groups of experienced AEC professionals to develop a Message Sequence Chart (MSC) that documents the conceptual design process for a recently designed building. Then, the focus group participants integrated a new sustainability requirement for building materials, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), into their project, and documented the adjustments to their specific design process in a second, modified MSC highlighting potential drivers for inclusion of EPDs. Finally, the author examines the broader applicability of these drivers through case studies. Specifically, 19 certified high-performance building (HPB) case studies, for reviewing the impact of three different potential drivers on the design team’s approach to considering environmental product information during conceptual design of a HPB, as well as the projects certification level.
LEED certification has changed the design of buildings, and the new information sources for building materials will inform the way the industry selects building materials. Meanwhile, these information sources will need to expand to include a growing number of products, and potentially more data as the industry’s understanding of the impacts of building materials develops. This research expands upon previous research on LEED certification to illustrates that owner engagement and commitment to the HPB process is a critical success factor for the use of environmental product information about building materials.
ContributorsBurke, Rebekah (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Gibson, G. Edward (Committee member) / Allenby, Braden (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
In the burgeoning field of sustainability, there is a pressing need for healthcare to understand the increased environmental and economic impact of healthcare products and services. The overall aim of this dissertation is to assess the sustainability of commonly used medical products, devices, and services as well as to identify strategies for making easy, low cost changes that result in environmental and economic savings for healthcare systems. Life cycle environmental assessments (LCAs) and life cycle costing assessments (LCCAs) will be used to quantitatively evaluate life-cycle scenarios for commonly utilized products, devices, and services. This dissertation will focus on several strategic and high impact areas that have potential for significant life-cycle environmental and economic improvements: 1) increased deployment of reprocessed medical devices in favor of disposable medical devices, 2) innovations to expand the use of biopolymers in healthcare materials and devices, and 3) assess the environmental and economic impacts of various medical devices and services in order to give healthcare administrators and employees the ability to make more informed decisions about the sustainability of their utilized materials, devices, and services.
ContributorsUnger, Scott (Author) / Landis, Amy E. (Thesis advisor) / Bilec, Melissa (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Project teams expend substantial effort to develop scope definition during the front end planning phase of large, complex projects, but oftentimes neglect to sufficiently plan for small projects. An industry survey administered by the author showed that small projects make up approximately half of all projects in the infrastructure construction sector (by count), the planning of these projects varies greatly, and that a consistent definition of “small infrastructure project” did not exist. This dissertation summarizes the motivations and efforts of Construction Industry Institute (CII) Research Team 314a to develop a non-proprietary front end planning tool specifically for small infrastructure projects, namely the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) for Small Infrastructure Projects. The author was a member of CII Research Team 314a, who was tasked with developing the tool in September 2015. The author, together with the research team, scrutinized and adapted an existing infrastructure-focused FEP tool, the PDRI for Infrastructure Projects, and other resources to develop a set of 40 specific elements relevant to the planning of small infrastructure projects. The author along with the research team supported the facilitation of seven separate industry workshops where 71 industry professionals evaluated the element descriptions and provided element prioritization data that was statistically analyzed and used to develop a corresponding weighted score sheet. The tool was tested on 76 completed and in-progress projects, the analysis of which showed that small infrastructure projects with greater scope definition (based on the tool’s scoring scheme) outperformed projects with lesser scope definition regarding cost performance, schedule performance, change performance, financial performance, and customer satisfaction. Moreover, the author found that users of the tool on in-progress projects agreed that the tool added value to their projects in a timeframe and manner consistent with their needs, and that they would continue using the tool in the future. The author also conducted qualitative and quantitative similarities and differences between PDRI – Infrastructure and PDRI – Small Infrastructure Projects in support of improved planning efforts for both types of projects. Finally, the author piloted a case study that introduced the PDRI into an introductory construction management course to enhance students’ learning experience.
ContributorsElZomor, Mohamed A (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Gibson, Jr., G. Edward (Committee member) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
In this era of high-tech computer advancements and tremendous programmable computer capabilities, construction cost estimation still remains a knowledge-intensive and experience driven task. High reliance on human expertise, and less accuracy in the decision support tools render cost estimation error prone. Arriving at accurate cost estimates is of paramount importance because it forms the basis of most of the financial, design, and executive decisions concerning the project at subsequent stages. As its unique contribution to the body of knowledge, this paper analyzes the deviations and behavior of costs associated with different construction activities involved in commercial office tenant improvement (TI) projects. The aim of this study is to obtain useful micro-level cost information of various construction activities that make up for the total construction cost of projects. Standardization and classification of construction activities have been carried out based on Construction Specifications Institute’s (CSI) MasterFormat® division items. Construction costs from 51 office TI projects completed during 2015 and 2016 are analyzed statistically to understand the trends among various construction activities involved. It was found that the interior finishes activities showed a much higher cost of construction, and a comparatively higher variation than the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) trades. The statistical analysis also revealed a huge scope of energy saving measures that could be achieved in such TI projects because of the absence of energy management systems (EMS) found in 66% of the projects.
ContributorsGhosh, Arunabho (Author) / Grau, David (Thesis advisor) / Ayer, Steven (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
There are relatively few available construction equipment detectors models thatuse deep learning architectures; many of these use old object detection architectures
like CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks), RCNN (Region-Based Convolutional
Neural Network), and early versions of You Only Look Once (YOLO) V1. It can be
challenging to deploy these models in practice for tracking construction equipment
while working on site.
This thesis aims to provide a clear guide on how to train and evaluate the
performance of different deep learning architecture models to detect different kinds of
construction equipment on-site using two You Only Look Once (YOLO) architecturesYOLO v5s and YOLO R to detect three classes of different construction equipment onsite, including Excavators, Dump Trucks, and Loaders. The thesis also provides a
simple solution to deploy the trained models. Additionally, this thesis describes a
specialized, high-quality dataset with three thousand pictures created to train these
models on real data by considering a typical worksite scene, various motions, varying
perspectives, and angles of construction equipment on the site.
The results presented herein show that after 150 epochs of training, the YOLORP6 has the best mAP at 0.981, while the YOLO v5s mAP is 0.936. However, YOLO v5s
had the fastest and the shortest training time on Tesla P100 GPU as a processing
unit on the Google Colab notebook. The YOLOv5s needed 4 hours and 52 minutes, but
the YOLOR-P6 needed 14 hours and 35 minutes to finish the training.ii
The final findings of this study show that the YOLOv5s model is the most efficient
model to use when building an artificial intelligence model to detect construction
equipment because of the size of its weights file relative to other versions of YOLO
models- 14.4 MB for YOLOV5s vs. 288 MB for YOLOR-P6.
This hugely impacts the processing unit’s performance, which is used to predict
the construction equipment on site. In addition, the constructed database is published
on a public dataset on the Roboflow platform, which can be used later as a foundation
for future research and improvement for the newer deep learning architectures.
Contributorssabek, mohamed mamdooh (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Czerniawski, Thomas (Committee member) / Ayer, Steven K (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
At least 30 datacenters either broke ground or hit the planning stages around the United States over the past two years. On such technically complex projects, Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) systems make up a huge portion of the construction work which makes data center market very promising for MEP subcontractors in the next years. However, specialized subcontractors such as electrical subcontractors are struggling to keep crews motivated. Due to the hard work involved in the construction industry, it is not appealing for young workers. According to The Center for Construction Research and Training, the percentages of workers aged between 16 to 19 years decreased by 67%, 20 to 24 years decreased by 49% and 25 to 34 age decreased by 32% from 1985 to 2015. Furthermore, the construction industry has been lagging other industries in combatting its decline in productivity. Electrical activities, especially cable pulling, are some of the most physically unsafe, tedious, and labor-intensive electrical process on data center projects. The motivation of this research is the need to take a closer look at how this process is being done and find improvement opportunities. This thesis focuses on one potential restructuring of the cable pulling and termination process; the goal of this restructuring is optimization for automation. Through process mapping, this thesis presents a proposed cable pulling and termination process that utilizes automation to make use of the best abilities of human and robots/machines. It will also provide a methodology for process improvement that is applicable to the electrical scope of work as well as that of other construction trades.
ContributorsHammam, MennatAllah (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Ayer, Steven (Committee member) / Irish, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Virtual Reality (VR) has been used in the sphere of training and education in the construction field. Research has investigated the different applications of VR in construction-focused simulations to report its benefits and drawbacks in training and education. Although this is significant, they were not albeit explicitly studied through the lens of accreditation at undergraduate educational levels. The American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) established twenty Students Learning Outcomes (SLOs) that equip students with essential knowledge and industry-oriented technical and managerial skills that maintain quality education in undergraduate construction programs. This paper analyzes the trends in VR literature through reported benefits and unexplored learning outcomes of VR in construction training and education and investigates the ways by which these trends do or do not contribute to the learning experience by targeting the content areas associated with the ACCE’s SLOs. To accomplish this, the author reviewed 59 articles from 2014 to 2023 found through a keyword search for “Virtual” AND “Reality” AND “Construction” AND (“Training” OR “Simulation” OR “Education”) AND “Students”. The learning outcomes of the VR training reported in the 59 articles were mapped to their corresponding content areas from ACCE’s SLO(s). The results demonstrate the content areas of SLOs that were addressed in literature (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20) and the SLOs that were not explored (4, 12, 14, and 17) due to lack of studies in some contexts. This study reveals trends and patterns of VR training, some of which exemplify benefits of addressing content areas of SLOs through virtual on-site immersion, manipulation of time, cost efficiency, and ethical measures, while others indicate unexplored learning outcomes of VR training in targeting content areas of SLOs that involve human interaction, complex quantitative calculations or require construction management tools, delivery method and stakeholders’ management, and risk management. While this research does not seek replacement of traditional trainings, it encourages consideration of VR training under the lens of ACCE’s accreditation. This research’s findings propose guidance to educational researchers on how VR training could address content areas from ACCE’s SLOs.
ContributorsElgamal, Sara (Author) / Ayer, Steven (Thesis advisor, Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor, Committee member) / Lamanna, Anthony (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Construction project teams expend substantial effort to develop scope definition during the front end planning phase of building projects but oftentimes neglect to sufficiently plan for the complexities of tribal building projects. A needs assessment conducted by the author comprising interviews with practitioners familiar with construction on tribal lands revealed the need for a front end planning (FEP) process to assess scope definition of capital projects on tribal lands. This dissertation summarizes the motivations and efforts to develop a front end planning tool for tribal building projects, the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) for Tribal Building Projects. The author convened a research team to review, analyze, and adapt an existing building-projects-focused FEP tool, the PDRI – Building Projects, and other resources to develop a set of 67 specific elements relevant to the planning of tribal building projects. The author supported the facilitation of seven workshops in which 20 industry professionals evaluated the element descriptions and provided element prioritization data that was statistically analyzed to develop a preliminary weighted score sheet that corresponds to the element descriptions. Given that the author was only able to collect complete data from 11 projects, definitively determining element weights was not possible. Therefore, the author leveraged a Delphi study to test the PDRI – Tribal Building Projects. Delphi study results indicate the PDRI – Tribal Building Projects element descriptions fully address the scope of tribal building projects, and 75 percent of panelists agreed they would use this tool on their next tribal project. The author also explored the PDRI – Tribal Building Projects tool through the lens of the Diné (Navajo) Philosophy of Sa’ąh Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón (SNBH) and the guiding principles of Nistáhákees (thinking), Nahat’á (planning), Iiná (living), and Sihasin (assurance/reflection). The results of the author’s research provides several contributions to the American Indian Studies, front end planning, and tribal building projects bodies of knowledge: 1) defining unique features of tribal projects, 2) explicitly documenting the synergies between Western and Diné ways of planning, and 3) creating a tool to assist in planning capital projects on tribal lands in the American Southwest in support of improved cost performance.
ContributorsArviso, Brianne (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Gibson, George E. (Committee member) / Hale, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022