A Comparative Accreditation Alignment Analysis of Civil Engineering and Construction Management Bachelor Degrees with the Skill Requirements for USAF Civil Engineer Officers
Abstract
The USAF Engineer (CE) officer career field involves a host of duties and opportunities for technical competence and leadership excellence as the Air Force mission grows and personnel numbers shrink. Most CE officers spend their careers as a technical manager, performing a mixture of duties that require a wide variety of skills. Because of this, the use of engineering design skills have decreased and the use of project and construction management have increased. While the career field accepts a variety of architecture and engineering degrees for new accessions, technical management degrees like Construction Management have been denied. This study uses a Delphi study to rate a list of skills most needed by CE Company Grade Officers, and compares those skills with the accreditation outcomes for Civil Engineering and Construction Management undergraduate degrees. After 2 rounds of surveys, a list of 40 skills was used to compare the relative emphasis of the degrees. Construction Management was shown to emphasize higher rated skills. Civil Engineering still showed a high relation to the skills, but emphasized engineering design skills that were consistently rated lower by the Delphi panel. The research shows that accredited Construction Management display a better fit for CE officers and should not only be considered acceptable, but encouraged for new accessions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 22, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1056521
Entities
People
- Joshua C Chambers-mills
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology