Developing A Body Of Knowledge For Civil Engineering Specialization: Geotechnical Engineering

The body of knowledge (BOK) for civil engineers recommended by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) continues to evolve through the efforts of ASCE’s Technical Council on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice (TCAP 3 ). The ASCE BOK includes a Technical Specialization outcome, designated to be primarily met through master’s level graduate study or equivalent continuing education. ASCE has not defined bodies of knowledge for post-baccalaureate formal learning within the Technical Specialization outcome. However, it could be helpful to individuals and department programs to have insights or a systematic process for developing a suitable institutespecific plan of study for Technical Specialization. The findings of such a study would also be useful to graduate students making decisions about graduate courses. The paper presents a systematic process that could be used to assess the appropriate body of knowledge for students seeking technical specialization in geotechnical engineering, but this process could apply to any engineering field. It involves development of a list of topics to be considered for a body of knowledge through a focus group comprised of practicing engineers and engineering faculty; creation, use, and interpretation of an assessment tool distributed to both practicing engineers and engineering faculty to acquire insights for setting priorities for learning; and development of a body of knowledge that accounts for the insights of practicing engineers, needs of graduate programs, and pedagogical and personnel limitations of a specific program. This process is illustrated in the paper for a technical specialization in geotechnical engineering. The paper supports permitting individual departments to define the appropriate body of knowledge for Technical Specialization, but encourages programs to engage in a systematic process to develop appropriate bodies of knowledge for their civil engineering subdisciplines as a service to their students.