Forensic engineering is a critical and unique discipline in the engineering field. However, courses on forensic engineering are not widely offered and a complete forensic engineering curriculum is almost non-existent in the USA. Most existing forensic engineering courses are offered in a failure analysis studio format, where investigation techniques are taught, or as part of a forensic practice lecture series where information about case studies is disseminated along with discussions on ethics and jurisprudential issues. Conventional wisdom suggests that due to the specialised nature of forensic engineering it should be offered in a postgraduate curriculum. However, citing lessons learned from other forensic-related disciplines, this paper recommends that forensic engineering develop a broader base that includes system engineering, inverse problem-solving and research methodology, and should be better integrated into a college curriculum that can include both graduate and undergraduate studies.
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February 2013
Research Article|
February 01 2013
Forensic engineering education reform Available to Purchase
Shen-En Chen, PhD;
Shen-En Chen, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, USA
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Rajaram Janardhanam, PhD
Rajaram Janardhanam, PhD
Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, USA
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Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Received:
November 17 2011
Accepted:
August 26 2012
Online ISSN: 2043-9911
Print ISSN: 2043-9903
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved
2013
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Forensic Engineering (2013) 166 (1): 9–16.
Article history
Received:
November 17 2011
Accepted:
August 26 2012
Citation
Chen S, Janardhanam R (2013), "Forensic engineering education reform". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Forensic Engineering, Vol. 166 No. 1 pp. 9–16, doi: https://doi.org/10.1680/feng.11.00034
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