PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
Graduate Sustainability Concentration
- Program Description
The Sustainable Construction Concentration
(SCN) has the goal of helping the student connect
the activities of planning, designing, building,
operating, and demolishing the built environment
to their impacts on the environment and natural
systems function. Its objectives are to address:
(1) Issues of resource efficiency, waste, human
health, ecological economics, ethics, environmental
justice, and industrial ecology; (2) Alternative
practices that can significantly reduce the environmental
impacts of the built environment, and (3) Exploring
past and present thinking by leading theorists
and practitioners in this newly emerging discipline.
The resulting degree awarded upon successful completion
of the program is a Master of Science in Building
Construction (thesis) with a concentration in
Sustainable Construction (SCN). The concentration
in Sustainable Construction requires the student
take the four courses listed below.
- Required BCN courses
(in addition to MSBC core course requirements):
- BCN 6580, High Performance Green Building Sys.,
3 Cr.
- BCN 6584, Construction Ecology and Metabolism,
3 Cr.
- BCN 6585, Principles of Sustainable Construction,
3 Cr.
- BCN 6641, Value Engineering,
3 Cr.
- Rationale and Need Assessments
The rationale for a concentration in Sustainable
Construction is the rapidly emerging movement
both nationally and internationally that is seeking
to green the built environment. New standards
from the American Society for Testing and Materials
(ASTM), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating,
and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and numerous
international organizations are defining the requirements
for healthy, high performance, resource efficient
buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
is producing a new standard for environmental
building assessment. The American Institute of
Architects (AIA) is producing resource guides
on green building materials. Municipalities, companies,
and government bodies are beginning to demand
that construction meet these new imperatives.
The result is that industry is in turn beginning
to demand professionals with background in sustainability
as it relates to the built environment. At present
there are a handful of courses on this subject
taught in the College of Architecture and other
departments on campus teach a variety of course
on natural systems and resource economics that
are related to the foundations of this area of
endeavor. Additional courses that emphasize this
new discipline would be helpful, to include specific
courses on green building design, neo-traditional
planning, green materials, sustainable development,
energy efficiency, water conservation, industrial
ecology, and design for the environment (DFE).
- Supervising Faculty
Drs. Charles J. Kibert and Abdol Chini will be
the Supervising Faculty for the Sustainable Construction
Concentration.
- Admissions
Admission will be in accordance with existing
standards for the Masters Program in the Rinker
School of Building Construction.
- Examination and Masters Thesis
No additional examination is required. The
thesis for the Masters Program must be on an
approved subject related to Sustainable Construction.
