Framework of Knowledge for Master’s-Level Structural Engineering Education

For at least the last decade, engineering, civil engineering, along with structural engineering as a profession within civil engineering, have stated and continue to recognize an emerging need for raising the bar of the preparedness of young engineers seeking to become practicing professional engineers. The present consensus of the civil engineering profession is that the increasing need for broad and in-depth knowledge should require the typical young structural engineers to have a master’s degree or equivalent. This paper focuses on the preparedness of master’s-level graduates in the structural engineering area within the civil engineering field. It follows much of the methodology used in the ASCE body of knowledge determination for civil engineering and builds on this ASCE study to address the portion of the young engineer’s preparation beyond the undergraduate program for one specialty area of civil engineering. The objective of this research was to create a framework of knowledge for the young engineer which identifies and quantifies the needs of the profession by an assessment of the expected level of achievement in each of a number of structural engineering topics using Bloom’s taxonomy. This study applied a modified Delphi method to obtain the critical information from members of the structural engineering profession. The results provide a framework of knowledge that will be useful to several groups seeking to better ensure the preparedness of the future young structural engineers at the master’s level.