What Civil Engineers Should be Studying - Part 3

Civil engineers can utilize a greater degree of understanding cognitive psychology.  Cognitive engineering and understanding the decision making process impact many aspects of civil engineering - - from site planning at an assisted living facility, to construction human performance modeling, to safety, to surface transportation - - our complex world and systems will continue to drive this need.

From Clemson University:

Course Description: The purpose of this course is to introduce you to human cognition: our ways of coming to know about the world and about one another. This course will concentrate on the classic topics in adult cognition: memory, attention, categorization, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between logic and the psychology of reasoning, and to the relationship between linguistics and the psychology of language. The coverage of perception and of cognitive development will be limited. Most of the empirical literature of cognitive psychology has been shaped by conceptions of human knowledge as structures in the mind that correspond to structures in the environment; problems with those conceptions and alternatives to them will also be discussed.

Civil engineers also need a much better understanding of systems engineering.  Not systems engineering as it relates to a complex product like an aircraft, but systems engineering relating to our interconnected infrastructure systems, economic systems, political systems, environmental systems, etc.

From the M.I.T. Systems Engineering department:

ESD.103J Science, Technology, and Public Policy

()
(Same subject as 17.310J, STS.482J)
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 4-0-8
Credit cannot also be received for 17.309, ESD.082, STS.082
Lecture: MW1.30-3 (E25-111) Recitation: TBA +final

Analysis of issues at the intersection of science, technology, public policy, and business. Cases drawn from antitrust and intellectual property rights; health and environmental policy; defense procurement and strategy; strategic trade and industrial policy; and R&D funding. Structured around theories of political economy, modified to take account of integration of uncertain technical information into public and private decision-making. Meets with 17.309 when offered concurrently.
K. Oye
No textbook information available

ESD.110J Global Environmental Science and Politics

()
(Same subject as 12.846J)
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-6
Credit cannot also be received for 12.346
Lecture: T1.30-4.30 (E51-385)

Practical introduction to the international environmental political arena, particularly designed for science and engineering students whose work is potentially relevant to global environmental issues. Covers basic issues in international politics, such as negotiations, North-South conflict, implementation and compliance, and trade. Emphasizes the roles and responsibilities of experts providing scientific assessment reports and in technical advisory bodies. Term projects focus on organizing and presenting scientific information in ways relevant for ongoing global policymaking.
N. Selin
No textbook information available

ESD.120J Sustainability Science and Engineering

()
(Same subject as 12.845J)
Prereq: None. Coreq: ESD.83 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-6

Introduces and develops core ideas and concepts in the field of sustainability science and engineering from an engineering systems perspective. Takes an interdisciplinary approach to discuss case studies of sustainability systems research. Exposes students to techniques for sustainability research across engineering, natural and social science disciplines. Term projects focus on applying techniques.
N. Selin

ESD.123J Industrial Ecology

()
(Same subject as 1.814J, 3.560J)
Prereq: ESD.10 or 3.56
Units: 3-0-6

Quantitative techniques for life-cycle analysis of the impacts of materials extraction, processing use, and recycling; and economic analysis of materials processing, products, and markets. Student teams undertake a major case study of automobile manufacturing using the latest methods of analysis and computer-based models of materials process.
R. Kirchain, J. Clark, F. Field

ESD.124 Energy Systems and Climate Change Mitigation

()
Prereq: permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW11-12.30 (32-124)

Explores the contributions of energy systems to global greenhouse gas emissions and the potential levers for reducing emissions. Lectures and projects focus on decomposing contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, with emphasis on technology related variables such as per unit cost and carbon intensity of energy. Reviews other performance attributes of energy technologies. Student projects explore pathways for realizing emissions reduction scenarios.
J. Trancik
No required or recommended textbooks

ESD.125 Mapping and Evaluating New Energy Technologies

()
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9

Project-based seminar covers recent developments in energy conversion and storage technologies. Merits of alternative technologies are debated based on their environmental performance and cost, and their potential improvement and scalability. Project teams develop quantitative models and interactive visualization tools to inform the future development of these technologies. Models may probe how the impact of a technology depends on assumptions about future advancements in materials or device design. Other projects may develop models for rational design choices (the selection of a particular material or processing technique) based on economic and environmental performance and physical constraints.
J. Trancik

ESD.128J Global Climate Change: Economics, Science, and Policy

()
(Same subject as 12.848J, 15.023J)
(Subject meets with 12.348J, 15.026J)
Prereq: Calculus II (GIR); 5.60; 14.01 or 15.010; or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-6

Introduces scientific, economic, and ecological issues underlying the threat of global climate change, and the institutions engaged in negotiating an international response. Develops an integrated approach to analysis of climate change processes, and assessment of proposed policy measures, drawing on research and model development within the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. Graduate students are expected to explore the topic in greater depth through reading and individual research.
R. G. Prinn