The economic development of the State of North Carolina is significantly related to the capability of the construction industry to produce cost effective industrial, commercial, and research facilities for business, civil infrastructure for public and industry needs, and housing for its citizens. For many years, North Carolina has been attractive for economic development due to low construction costs resulting from low cost land and a low wage construction labor supply. As the state has developed, both of these earlier apparent advantages have appropriately begun to disappear. The land of North Carolina is valuable and the labor of its citizens is also valuable. In order to remain competitive in constructed facilities, we must make our system of delivering constructed facilities a model of effectiveness. It is essential to have a technologically advanced construction industry and a responsive and effective regulatory system and standards for construction materials, systems, and processes providing quality and safety at optimum life-cycle cost.Historically, North Carolina has had a strong construction industry that, directly and indirectly, represents over 12% of the state's economy. However, increasingly, design and construction have become global activities. At the same time, North Carolina has undertaken projects and attracted many industries with global activities and implications. For the ultimate benefit of the citizens of North Carolina and to enhance the competitiveness of this major industry, there is a need to have an ability to answer the construction questions of today and to create the construction knowledge for tomorrow.
Consequently, there is a need for North Carolina's construction industry, including construction professionals, design professionals, and owners of facilities, to have more research support for engineered materials, systems and processes and training support for continuing education. This is necessary to assure the competitiveness of the industry versus national and international contractors and designers.
There is a need for state agencies that are owners of constructed facilities to have research and educational support to assure a cost effective constructed infrastructure of state and local government facilities. There is a need for state and local agencies that are regulators of constructed facilities, materials and processes to have access to research and training support to assure a system responsive to industry and public needs.
The Director will be guided by a Policy Committee to be chaired by the Associate Dean of Engineering for Research Programs. Other members of the committee will include the Institute Director, the Head of CCEE, and the heads of other departments for disciplines such as Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Architecture as their faculty and students become involved in the Institute.
Faculty and students in civil, construction, mechanical, and electrical engineering will be directly associated with the Institute; faculty and students from other disciplines will be involved as deemed appropriate by the needs of the Institute. Participation by faculty in the Institute's activities will be on the basis of summer support and/or academic year release time from their respective departments.
An Advisory Board, composed of a representative of each participating industry company or association and state and local government agency or board, will provide guidance on educational and research needs, overall direction of the Institute's activities, and development of industry participation.
Two Research Councils, composed respectively of public and private sector members, will establish the research and training development agenda of the Institute. The public sector members, representing various state agencies and boards, will develop the agenda for the public funds. The private sector members will establish the agenda for private sector membership funds. Ideally, synergism from public and private members from various segments of the construction industry will also lead to projects with shared objectives and pooled funds.
Topics for research may be submitted for consideration by Research Council members, faculty researchers, the general industry or the public. Technical Committees would be appointed by the Research Councils to monitor the projects selected for funding.
Initially, the participating government agencies and boards may include representatives from the following as they develop projects with the Institute:
Students whose research interests are within the scope of the Institute's activities will be directly involved in projects to enhance their education. In appropriate cases, technical or management personnel from a participating company or organization may be appointed as adjunct or visiting staff of the Institute. The Institute would also interact with the Community Colleges for delivery of appropriate programs across the state
A group of participating researchers led by Dr. David Johnston, the proposed initial Director, has actively pursued research equipment grants from national sources for the CFL. The National Science Foundation responded with a grant that has allowed the researchers to equip the CFL with $2.9 million in state-of-the-art and in some cases nationally-unique construction research equipment and instrumentation.
It is anticipated that the Institute will be supported by a combination of funds from industry and multi-government sources. Contracts, grants, and donations from the construction industry and governmental agencies will be pursued aggressively. Currently, the CCEE Department already has approximately $2,000,000/year of contracts and grants for construction-related research projects. In addition, a request for a base operating budget from State funds may be requested in the future.
The State-funded base budget will be divided into two segments. Approximately one-third of the State-funded base budget will provide staff and operating support for the Institute. The staff funds will provide technician, secretarial, and direction support for the Institute. The operating funds will enhance the ability to disseminate results and to seek additional funding from other sources, such as federal agencies, and to encourage private participation.
The remaining two-thirds of the State-funded base budget will provide research and training funds to be dedicated to problems identified and selected by the public sector Research Council from State of North Carolina agencies and boards having major roles in the construction of state facilities or the regulation of the construction process and constructed facilities.
Funds will also be sought through industry contributions and membership fees. Major participants from industry will have membership on a private sector Research Council which will identify and select research topics meeting industry needs to be funded through the industry membership fees.
The Advisory Board, including industry and government participants from the Research Council, will advise the Director on activity directions for the Institute and assist in membership development. The Advisory Board would also identify research projects of joint interest for funding from pooled resources by the Research Councils.
The involved faculty, individually and in teams, will also leverage the operating base and facility capability by seeking funding from other sponsors for construction related research. The sponsors may include federal, state and local government agencies, companies, industry associations, etc.
As a demonstration of construction industry support, individuals, companies, and associations have established an endowed Distinguished Professorship of Civil Engineering and Construction. This Chair is filled by an internationally recognized engineer and scholar.
