US and International Developments in Forensic Engineering and Education

Over the past three decades, the Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has worked hard to establish and promote forensic engineering as a respected profession. The ultimate goal of forensic engineering is to improve quality and safety of constructed facilities. This paper reviews the development of TCFE in the US with particular emphasis on educational activities. Considerable work has been done in the area of integrating failure case studies and forensics into graduate and undergraduate engineering education. In addition, international developments in forensic engineering are discussed. Many of the recent efforts of the TCFE been focused on outreach to other countries. The differing legal, educational, and professional licensure practices in other countries make these outreach efforts interesting and challenging.