Technical Papers
Jan 25, 2016

Transportation Engineering Curriculum: Analytic Review of the Literature

Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 142, Issue 3

Abstract

Transportation engineering curricula at the undergraduate and graduate levels are critical to the development of technical competency in future transportation engineering professionals—those who will be responsible for the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of safe and efficient transportation systems. This paper provides an analytic review of journal articles and refereed conference papers addressing how transportation engineering curricula have changed over time. The literature review found 51 articles for analysis, with an increased frequency of those publications over time. Curriculum issues described in these papers include how transportation fits broadly within engineering programs and, more specifically, within civil engineering programs, which topics are addressed in transportation courses, and how these courses attend to stakeholder needs. This analytic review of the literature provides a resource for transportation engineering educators, administrators, and researchers to consider how transportation curricular issues have been treated in the literature historically as the community continues to develop and implement the transportation engineering curricula of the future. The findings will inform transportation engineering educators of the state of the practice in transportation engineering curricula.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

References

ABET. (2014). “Find accredited programs.” 〈http://main.abet.org/aps/Accredited programsearch.aspx〉 (Jul. 13, 2014).
Agrawal, A. W., and Dill, J. (2008). “To be a transportation engineer or not?: How civil engineering students choose a specialization.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2046, 76–84.
ASCE. (2007). “The vision for civil engineering in 2015.” Reston, VA.
ASCE. (2008). “Civil engineering body of knowledge for the 21st century preparing the civil engineer for the future.” Reston, VA.
ASCE. (2015). “Policy statement 465—Academic prerequisites for licensure and professional practice.” Reston, VA.
ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education). (2014). “Engineering data management system.” 〈http://edms.asee.org/session/new〉 (Jul. 13, 2014).
Bill, A., et al. (2011). “Development of knowledge tables and learning outcomes for an introductory course in transportation engineering.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2211, 27–35.
Bittner, J. (2006). “Transportation asset management in for-credit higher education course offerings.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1957, 19–22.
Boile, M. P., Spasovic, L. N., and Pignataro, L. J. (1997). “Developing a market-sensitive intelligent transportation systems educational program.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1588, 120–129.
Borrego, M., Foster, M. J., and Froyd, J. E. (2014). “Systematic literature reviews in engineering education and other developing interdisciplinary fields.” J. Eng. Educ., 103(1), 45–76.
Chow, J. Y. J., Jayakrishnan, R., and Mahmassani, H. S. (2013). “Is transport modeling education too multidisciplinary? A manifesto on the search for its evolving identity.” Travel behavior research: Current foundations, future prospects, Lulu, Raleigh, NC.
Currin, T. R. (2000). “Filling the void of transportation engineering education at the baccalaureate level.” Proc., ITE Annual Meeting, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Washington, DC.
Currin, T. R. (2001). “Transportation engineering and its role in the undergraduate civil engineering.” Proc., ASEE Annual Conf., American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Washington, DC.
CUTC (Council of University Transportation Centers). (2012). “National transportation workforce summit summary of results.” Washington, DC.
Dill, J., and Weigand, L. (2010). “Incorporating bicycle and pedestrian topics in university transportation courses.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2198, 1–7.
Fridley, K. J. (2011). “Today’s BSCE: A survey of credit hour requirements.” Proc., ASEE Annual Conf., American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Washington, DC.
Handy, S., Weston, L., Song, J., and Lane, K. M. D. (2002). “Education of transportation planning professionals.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1812, 151–160.
Humphrey, T. F. (2000). “Educational expectations of transportation engineering employers.” Proc., ITE Annual Meeting, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Washington, DC.
Hurd, F. W. (1969). “Trends in traffic engineering education.” Traffic Eng., 13–16.
Hurd, F. W. (1971). “Highway engineering education in the United States.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 26–36.
Hurwitz, D., Sanford Bernhardt, K. L., Turochy, R., and Young, R. (2015). “Transportation engineering instructional practices: An analytic review of the literature.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2480, 45–54.
ITE Technical Council Committee 2-15. (1979). “Evaluation of education resources for a select group of transportation subjects.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 49, 30–31.
ITE Technical Council Committee 2-32. (1990). “An informational report: Attracting students to a professional career in transportation engineering.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 60, 42–48.
Joh, K., and Li, W. (2015). “Developing and interdisciplinary transportation certificate program for today’s transportation workforce.” Proc., 94th Annual Meeting, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Juanzems, P. J. (1971). “Graduate transportation engineering education in Brazil.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 41, 36–40.
Khisty, C. J. (1986). “Undergraduate transportation education.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1101, 1–3.
Khisty, C. J., and Kikuchi, S. (2003). “Urban transportation planning education revisited: Reading the dials and steering the ship.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1848, 57–63.
Kyte, M. (2009). “What should undergraduate civil engineering students know about transportation engineering?” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 79(5), 26–29.
Kyte, M., Abdel-Rahim, A., and Lines, M. (2003). “Traffic signal operations education through hands-on experience lessons learned from a workshop prototype.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1848, 50–56.
Kyte, M., Bill, A., and Young, R. (2010). “Everything you need to know about transportation engineering in 40 hours.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 80(10), 40–43.
Lautala, P. T., and Sproule, W. J. (2009). “Rebuilding railroad engineering education in the United States with industry-university partnerships.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2109, 37–44.
Lipinski, M. E. (2005). “ASCE Policy 465: Impact on transportation engineering workforce development.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 75(12), 24–27.
Lipinski, M. E., and Wilson, E. M. (1992). “Undergraduate transportation education: Who is responsible?” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 62(8), 29–32.
Lorion, A., Harvey, M. J., and Chow, J. C. Y. (2014). “Redesign of curricula in transit systems planning to meet data-driven challenges.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 05014007.
Manning, P. A. (2000). “Transportation education.” Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Mason, J. M., and Lostival, L. M. (1993). “Transportation engineering careers: Awareness, retention, and curriculum.” Proc., ITE Annual Meeting, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Washington, DC.
Melin, N., Hallon, R., and Hanus, J. (2010). “Development of an introduction to transportation engineering course using experience based learning to bring Afghanistan into the classroom.” Proc., ASEE Annual Conf., American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Washington, DC.
NAE (National Academy of Engineering). (2004). “The engineer of 2020: Visions of engineering in the new century.” Washington, DC.
NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying). (2014). “Engineering education initiative.” 〈http://ncees.org/about-ncees/engineering-education-initiative/〉 (Jul. 13, 2014).
Perkins, S. A. (2009). “A comparative analysis of civil engineering program standards in Canada, the United States and Europe.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 79(5), 44–45.
Prado da Silva, C., Jr., Fontenele, H. B., and Rodrigues da Silva, A (2014). “Transportation engineering education for undergraduate students: Competencies, skills, teaching-learning, and evaluation.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 05014006.
Retzko, H. G. (1970). “Traffic engineering education in the Federal Republic of Germany.” Inst. Transp. Eng. J., 40, 50–51.
Russell, J. S., and Stouffer, W. B. (2005). “Survey of the National Civil Engineering curriculum.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 118–128.
Sanford Bernhardt, K. L., et al. (2010). “Development of core concepts and learning outcomes for the introductory transportation course.” Proc., ASEE Annual Conf., American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Washington, DC.
Sinha, K., et al. (2002). “Development of transportation engineering research, education, and practice in a changing civil engineering world.” J. Transp. Eng., 301–313.
Smadi, O., and Akili, W. (2006). “Intrastructure asset management education active learning and engagement-based practices.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1957, 16–18.
Sussman, J. M. (1995). “Educating the new transportation professional.” Intelligent Transportation Society Quarterly, 89–99.
Thomas, G. B. (2006). “Educational expectations of transportation engineering employers.” Proc., ITE Annual Meeting, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Washington, DC.
Thomson Reuters. (2015). “Journal citation reports ®.” New York.
Tooley, M. S. (1996). “A student’s perspective on transportation education and curriculum.” Proc., ITE Annual Meeting, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Washington, DC.
TRB (Transportation Research Board). (2003). “The workforce challenge: Recruiting, training, and retaining qualified workers for transportation and transit agencies.” Washington, DC.
Turner, D. J., Campbell, B. S., and Turner, D. S. (1992). “History of engineering education: How we got here.” Proc., ITE Annual Meeting, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Washington, DC.
Turochy, R. E. (2006). “Determining the content of the first course in transportation engineering.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 200–203.
Turochy, R. E., et al. (2013). “Assessment of introductory transportation engineering course and general transportation engineering curriculum.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2328, 9–15.
Turochy, R. E. (2013). “Structuring the content of the first course in transportation engineering: Perspectives of engineers and educators.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 206–210.
Waidley, G., and Bittner, J. (2008). “An interdisciplinary approach to transportation education.” Proc., ASEE Annual Conf., American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Washington, DC.
Young, R., et al. (2011). “A nationwide effort to improve transportation engineering education.” Proc., ASEE Annual Conf., American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Washington, DC.
Young, R., Sanford Bernhardt, K. L., and Nambisan, S. (2012). “Core concepts and learning outcomes in an introductory transportation engineering course: An evaluation of pilot implementations.” Proc., ASEE Annual Conf., American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Washington, DC.
Zhou, J., and Schweitzer, L. (2009). “Transportation planning education in the United States.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2109, 1–11.
Zhou, J., and Soot, S. (2006). “Nationwide survey of transportation planning courses: Introduction, findings, and recommendations.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1956, 175–183.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 142Issue 3July 2016

History

Received: May 30, 2015
Accepted: Nov 2, 2015
Published online: Jan 25, 2016
Discussion open until: Jun 25, 2016
Published in print: Jul 1, 2016

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

David S. Hurwitz, A.M.ASCE [email protected]
Associate Professor, Oregon State Univ., 101 Kearney Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331 (corresponding author). E-mail: [email protected]
Kristen L. Sanford Bernhardt, M.ASCE [email protected]
Associate Professor, Lafayette College, 319 Acopian Engineering Center, Easton, PA 18042. E-mail: [email protected]
Rod E. Turochy, M.ASCE [email protected]
Associate Professor, Auburn Univ., 238 Harbert Engineering Center, Auburn, AL 36849. E-mail: [email protected]
Rhonda K. Young, M.ASCE [email protected]
Associate Professor, Gonzaga Univ., Herak 212, Spokane, WA 99203. E-mail: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

Cited by

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share