Rowan University Integrates 16 SHRP2 Solutions into Engineering Curriculum
In 2015, the SHRP2 Education Connection initiative was launched, and the Federal Highway Administration awarded cooperative agreements to 10 universities. This initiative was designed to introduce the academic community to SHRP2 Solutions – and to equip the next generation of transportation professionals with SHRP2 Solutions while they are still in school.
Each university met this challenge, integrating one or more SHRP2 Solutions from the Renewal, Reliability, and Capacity focus areas into existing curriculum. One recipient – Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey – had the opportunity to share its experience and curriculum this summer, in a presentation at the annual conference and exposition of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). This university’s creative approach to merging the latest transportation innovations with undergraduate coursework sparked the attention of its peers at ASEE. The society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering education in engineering and engineering technology.
Rowan University took an ambitious approach involving 16 SHRP2 products from all three focus areas. A team of instructors integrated the products vertically, meaning they inserted SHRP2 lectures into seven courses that covered the full four years of Rowan’s Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) curriculum. The Rowan instructors, Drs. Yusuf Mehta, Parth Bhavsar, and Ayman Ali presented at the session, Use of Technology in Civil Engineering Courses.
Their paper was entitled "Integration of Strategic Highway Research Program 2 Products within the Entire Civil Engineering Curriculum." The paper describes how the Rowan CEE team methodically integrates 16 SHRP2 Solutions into courses from the freshman year course, “Introduction to Infrastructure,” through its senior and graduate course, “Elements of Transportation Engineering.”
NOCoE Annual Report 2015