August/September 2014

COMMUNITIES: EDUCATION
PEHE Award Honors Founder of Construction Engineering Program

Seeing a need for more licensed engineers in the construction process, E. Terence Foster, P.E., F.NSPE, led a team of faculty members at the University of Nebraska in establishing the school’s construction engineering degree program and obtaining ABET accreditation.

As Foster explains, construction engineers support the life of a project—from concept and design to operation and maintenance and even decommissioning—and ensure constructability.

When the University of Nebraska construction engineering program began in the mid-2000s, about eight such programs existed nationwide. The area is growing, however, and currently ABET accredits 14 programs that, according to Foster, bring engineers’ knowledge of analytical processes, design codes, and other technical fundamentals to the construction industry.

Foster is the 2014 winner of the Engineering Education Excellence Award given each year by NSPE’s Professional Engineers in Higher Education interest group. The award recognizes licensed engineering faculty in ABET-accredited programs who link engineering education with professional practice.

Foster, a licensed professional and structural engineer, spent decades in private practice before coming to academia, for instance at engineering/architecture design firm HDR. He continues to consult on physical and information science through his company Technology Plus.

Foster joined the University of Nebraska faculty in the early 1990s and currently serves as both engineering professor and associate director of the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction. Over the course of his career, he has taught classes in engineering mechanics, structural design, and construction operations.

But he says capstone classes are probably his favorite to teach because he is able to draw on his industry background and contacts and give students assignments derived from the real world. Topics have included rapid bridge replacement, tidal power, high-rise building resonance, and flood and tsunami relief. Once students even traveled to an art gallery to determine the center of gravity of an irregular-shaped sculpture that needed to be moved.

In addition to his other assignments and consulting work, Foster serves as courtesy faculty at the University of Nebraska’s Aviation Institute, teaching courses as a commercial pilot and flight instructor.

Over the years, the PE has taken on a variety of professional leadership roles including Nebraska Society of Professional Engineers president and NSPE national director.

Foster has been a member of NSPE for almost 44 years. The award winner says he highly values his membership because of the Society’s emphasis on ethics and professionalism and the networking opportunities that have been integral to his career.