A Mixed Method Study of Infrastructure Resilience Education and Instruction

As the frequency and severity of natural and man-made disasters increases, the importance of improving the resilience of complex infrastructure systems in an uncertain environment is increasingly critical. Proper training and education are key components to addressing this issue, but it is unclear how and where modeling under uncertainty, infrastructure systems management, and resilient systems are integrated into the standard undergraduate and graduate engineering management curriculum. This research uses a mixed method to determine whether and at what level engineering managers receive instruction regarding the implementation of tools and techniques to improve infrastructure resilience. A review of current courses and content informs a systems-thinking approach to resilience and investigates how the topic of infrastructure resilience is being taught. The results of the study identify gaps in existing engineering management curriculum with respect to the topic of resilience. The findings from these results can be used to by the engineering management educator to provide coursework and training that can be used to lead teams that design, build, analyze the resiliency of current infrastructure systems, or restore damaged infrastructure systems to their original state.