Many construction-related training and education programs in the United States have now embraced the concept of sustainability, offering sustainable construction courses that highlight sustainable design and construction practices. These courses have mainly focused on green building strategies for the design and construction of built environments and indoor environmental quality necessary for students’ knowledge enhancement and career development. This study examined the effect of sustainability course on students’ knowledge as well as their perceptions of social responsibility and sustainable behaviors. Data were collected by conducting a survey from construction related programs in U.S. universities. Students were categorized based on their experience of taking such course(s), and results were compared in terms of their environmental concerns, objective and subjective knowledge, and sustainable consumer behaviors by conducting independent two-sample t-tests. The purpose of this study was to examine sustainable behaviors and social responsibility perceptions among U.S. university students enrolled in construction-related courses. The results indicated that environmental concern and sustainable consumer behavior scores were significantly lower among students who had taken the course than those who had not. Both objective and subjective knowledge scores were relatively low. There was no difference between the two groups in objective knowledge scores and unexpectedly, subjective knowledge was significantly lower among students who had taken the course than those who had not. The findings of this study provide implications for sustainability curriculum development that can enhance students’ learning experience.

Korean oil and gas contractors have recently incurred significant losses due to improper engineering performance on EPC (engineering procurement and construction) projects in overseas markets. Several previous studies have verified the significant impact engineering has on EPC construction cost and project lifecycle. However, no literature has studied the time impact engineering has on EPC projects, representing a gap in the existing body of knowledge. To fill this gap, a Monte Carlo simulation was performed with the Pertmaster, Primavera risk analysis software for three sample onshore oil and gas projects. From said simulation of all major EPC critical activities, the authors found that the engineering phase is up to 10 times as impactful as the procurement and construction phases on the overall schedule duration. In assessing the engineering activities, the authors found the piping design activities to have the greatest impact on the overall schedule performance. Using these findings, the authors present a design schedule management process which minimizes the delays of project completion in EPC projects. Said process includes the following six steps: (1) Milestone management, (2) drawing status management, (3) productivity management of engineering, (4) interface management, (5) management of major vendor documents, and (6) work front management. The findings of this paper add to the body of knowledge by confirming the design phase to be the most impactful on the overall project schedule success. Furthermore, the presented design schedule management will aid industry with successfully executing the design phase in a timely manner, including examples from case study projects for a greater understanding.

The completion of a construction project requires a great deal of data management to successfully implement the personnel and material resources in the most productive manner. In general, construction documents, specifically technical specifications, require contractors to submit product data, samples, and shop drawings as well as change orders to architects and engineers for approval. After the approval, the material will be ordered and delivered to the construction site, but the material itself does not contain any information regarding change orders or submittals that are already made. After the delivery of materials, construction workers and managerial personnel have to check the materials separately based on the construction documentation. The process is therefore ripe for a more efficient method to manage data and improve the communication from the managerial positions to the craftspeople. Fortunately, two-dimensional (2D) barcodes are able to bridge the information gap between the documentation and the material. The resilience of barcode technology to compete, reinvent, and refine itself every few years is astonishing. The amount of data transmitted, collected, and deciphered via this technology is truly monumental. In fact, without identification, tracking capabilities, and economics of barcode technology, gigantic global couriers, and logistics management companies such as FedEx, DHL, and UPS could not have thrived. One of the next generation barcodes is a two-dimensional barcode known as the visual quick respond code (QR-Code). One-dimensional (1D) barcodes can encode just several digits to hundreds of characters while the QR-code can store thousands of characters. This paper discusses the feasibility of introducing QR-code implementation to the construction management process for reducing unnecessary procedures in material handling and installation.