State of Programming and Data Science Preparation in Civil Engineering Undergraduate Curricula
Publication: Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 149, Issue 2
Abstract
Addressing societal issues in civil and environmental engineering increasingly requires skills in data science and programming. To date, there is not much known about the extent students are learning these skills in current civil and environmental engineering curricula. We conducted a survey of accredited civil and environmental engineering departments in the US regarding their current curricula with respect to programming and data science. Our response rate was 41% (power of 0.89 at 0.05 significance level). The results show limited incorporation of the modern data science languages (Java, Python, and R) into civil and environmental curricula, and significant use of MATLAB and spreadsheets. Although department chairs see the value of incorporating modern data science languages and facilitating student experience in the broader data science skills (e.g., understanding privacy issues, etc.) into their curricula, barriers such as faculty knowledge and lack of space in the curricula remain significant hurdles.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation, Award 2027678. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 149 • Issue 2 • April 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 1, 2021
Accepted: Jun 22, 2022
Published online: Nov 16, 2022
Published in print: Apr 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Apr 16, 2023
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