National Survey of Materials Engineering Program

In December 1989, an ASCE task committee conducted an opinion survey of civil engineering programs in the United States accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology to assess the present status of civil engineering materials courses and to report the results to both ASCE and the responding departments. The committee sought department views of the importance of materials courses and the desired course content in a typical civil engineering program. The respondents were asked to rate the relative importance of topics in design and rehabilitation. The results suggested that traditional civil engineering materials are typically taught in a three‐lecture, one‐laboratory sequence. The questionnaire revealed information on the equipment and other facilities to be marginal at best. Availability and quality of classroom instructional material are rated “good” by the respondents. In the area of incorporating real‐world problems into the materials course(s), the respondents report that the courses generally are not broad enough to accomplish this objective. The task committee's recommendations for improving the materials engineering sequence are included.