Prospective Students >>Graduate

Sustainable Construction Concentration in the MBC/MSBC Program

1. 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 Masters of Building Construction (non-thesis) or a Master of Science in Building Construction (thesis) with a concentration in Sustainable Construction (SCN). The concentration in Sustainable Construction requires the student take two courses offered by the Rinker School (BCN 6584 and BCN 6585). In addition, the student is required to take a minimum of 6 Credit hours of courses from those indicated in the list shown below. Each course indicated below contains the course number, course name, number of credit hours (Cr.), and the prerequisites.
   
   
   1. Required BCN courses (in addition to MBC/MSBC core course requirements):
      1. BCN 6584 Construction Ecology and Metabolism, 3 Cr.
      2. BCN 6585 Principles of Sustainable Construction, 3 Cr.
         
         
   2. A minimum of two required non-BCN courses (minimum 6 Credits) from among the following or others as approved by the Supervising Faculty (Drs. Charles Kibert and Abdol Chini). Others may be proposed by the student and taken with the approval of the Supervising Faculty.
      
      
      1. ARC 5811 Historical Preservation and Restoration , 3 Cr./none
      2. ARC 6391 Architecture, Energy, and Ecology, 3 Cr../none
      3. ARC 6633 Thermal Systems, 3 Cr./none
      4. ARC 6805 Architectural Conservation, 3 Cr./none
      5. ARC 6821 Preservation Problems and Processes. 3 Cr./none
      6. ARC 6822 Preservation Programming and Design, 3 Cr./none
      7. ARC 6851 Technology of Preservation: Materials and Methods I, 3 Cr./none
      8. ARC 6852 Technology of Preservation: Materials and Methods II, 3 Cr./none
      9. EES 5305C Ecological and General Systems, 3 Cr./MAP3302
      10. EES 5306 Energy Analysis, 3 Cr./none
      11. EES 5307 Ecological Engineering, 3 Cr./none
      12. EES 5315 Ecology and the Environment 3 Cr./none
      13. EES 5415 Environmental Health, 3 CR./none
      14. EES 6007 Advanced Energy and Environment 3Cr./none
      15. EES 6009 Ecological Economics, 2 Cr./none
      16. EES 6051 Advanced Environmental Planning and Design 3 Cr./none
      17. EES 6301 Comparative Approaches in Systems Ecology 3 Cr./none
      18. EES 6405 Environmental Toxicology 3Cr./BSC 2005 or EES4102 or instructor consent
      19. ENV 5075 Environmental Policy, 3 Cr./none
      20. ENV 6510 Ground Water Restoration, 3 Cr./Consent of Instructor
      21. AEB 6252 Foundations of Food and Resource Economics, 3 Cr./none
      22. AEB 6299 Benefit-Cost and Social Impact Analysis, 3 Cr../AEB 6106, ECO 7115
      23. AEB 6453 Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, 3 Cr./ECO 3101 or 3203 or
          instructor consent
      24. IND 5428 Materials for Interior Design, 3 Cr./consent of graduate coordiantor
      25. LAA 6342 Landscape Architecture and Environmental Quality, 3 Cr./none
      26. LAA 6382 Ecological and Environmental Policy, 3 Cr./none
      27. SYD 6506 Urban Ecology, 3 Cr./none
      28. URP 6122 Alternative Conflict Resolution, 3 Cr./none
      29. URP 6312 Land Development Planning and Evalutaion, 3 Cr./none
      30. URP 6421 Environmental Impact Statements, 3 Cr./none
      31. URP 6541 Economic Development Planning, 3Cr./none
      32. URP 6716 Transportation Policy and Design, 3 Cr./none
      33. URP 6884 Community Conservation and Revitalization, 3 Cr./none
      34. BCN 6641, Value Engineering, 3 Cr./BCN 4613
          
          
2. 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).
   
   
3. Supervising Faculty
   Drs. Charles J. Kibert and Abdol Chini will be the Supervising Faculty for the Sustainable Construction Concentration.
   
   
4. Admissions
   Admission will be in accordance with existing standards for the Masters Program in the Rinker School of Building Construction.
   
   
5. Examination and Masters Paper/Thesis
   No additional examination is required. The paper or thesis for the Masters Program must be on an approved subject related to Sustainable Construction.