Workforce pipelines are essential to sustain a productive workforce in an increasingly competitive, high-tech environment. Advanced automation, sensors, materials and data analytics will increase the need for highly skilled workers in the manufacturing (and manufactured construction) sector. Attracting and developing the next-generation workforce is not without its challenges; however, students are often deficient in technical skills and generally have negative perceptions about manufacturing and construction. As a result, new education and training models have been developed to provide instruction at all levels of the educational system, with a focus on both traditional students and non-traditional students, including ethnic minorities, women, veterans, disabled persons and older adult learners. This study focused specifically on certain underrepresented students in STEM programs offered at community colleges in the Great Plains region of the U.S. An available online training program by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers was used as a contextualized online training tool. The Learning Management System embedded in this online training tool was used to gather student data. Conducting multiple regression analyses on the test outcomes, completion rates, and improvement between post-test and pre-test scores showed that female participants achieved greater improvement between pre- and post-test scores than males, and achieved higher rates of credentialing compared to all other demographic groups. African American participants achieved greatest improvement between pre- and post-test scores than all other ethnic groups while Hispanics achieved higher rates of module completion. Additionally, this study also examines the background related to contextualized teaching and learning, as well as the effectiveness of this delivery method for these underrepresented populations.

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems account for more the 50% of energy use in residential buildings [1] and approximately three-quarter in healthcare environments [2]. Hence, HVAC systems are a favorable sector for sustainability with a great potential of energy savings. The engineering approach to this issue has led to the advent of newer and more sustainable technologies. Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) are a case in point. By decoupling the sensible and latent loads, an enormous saving can be achieved in the amount of air to be conditioned. Ventilation systems are designed to satisfy three predominant requirements: (1) to deliver fresh air to occupants and dilute the indoor generated contaminants, (2) to control the temperature and humidity in indoor spaces, and (3) to pressurize the space. There is ample evidence that the DOAS facilitates the last two requirements with more quality and less cost, which makes it more sustainable. This work, however, focused on the effect of using this system on the first requirement, particularly with regard to the indoor generated contaminants. The results showed that compared to the traditional ventilation systems, the DOAS system less effectively treats the indoor generated contaminants. Therefore, other mechanisms such as filtration must be properly implemented to limit the contaminants level below their standard threshold.

Prefabrication in a controlled factory setting may improve the energy performance of modular buildings compared to traditional site-built facilities. However, few studies report empirical evidence to support this premise in full-scale operational buildings. Since energy efficiency standards in the United States are driven by building code, the compliance path chosen and field verification through site inspection, an investigation of how site-built and modular projects satisfy code requirements is critical to understanding long-term energy consumption. Therefore, this study investigated and compared Energy Code Compliance (ECC) among 55 commercial multifamily buildings (25 modular and 30 site-built) in four American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers climate zones (3B, 3C, 4A and 4C). For climate zone 3, ECC analyses indicated that modular slightly exceeded site-built construction. For zone 4, site-built construction slightly exceeded modular. Nearly all buildings met or exceeded the prescriptive energy code requirements for each climate zone regardless of whether a performance or trade-off compliance path was utilized. Field observations suggest that envelope construction quality in modular buildings could be higher. Results provide insights for researchers exploring energy use in buildings, as well as the basis for a nuanced understanding of normalized operational energy consumption in an ongoing longitudinal study of the same 55 multifamily buildings.