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Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Building Construction

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/72547
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    Barriers and Potential Solutions to Gender Diversity in the Construction Industry
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022-08-04) Washington, Candace H.
    The construction industry faces significant challenges filling vacant jobs to match supply with demand. With 20 percent of the construction workforce not returning after the pandemic within a booming housing market and the "Great Retirement" of the baby boomers, the construction sector's current and forecast labor shortage has worsened. Making the construction-related jobs more attractive and welcoming to women and other demographic groups underrepresented in the industry is imperative for the construction industry's future workforce. However, there are persistent barriers to achieving such diversity. This research focuses on the factors influencing women's decision to enter the construction industry. Female middle and high school students aged 11-17 were invited to participate in the survey. The survey questions and results were structured to categorize responses into five categories: Career, Perceptions, Diversity & Mentoring, and College Interest. Survey results with indicators above 50 percent were considered outliers and more significant in understanding females' perceptions and barriers to entry into the construction industry. Based on the survey findings, recommendations to establish a framework for developing strategies for attracting and retaining women into the construction industry focuses on the following: 1. Female students aged 11-17; 2. Academic institutions 3. Female practitioners. The recommendations further suggest that early intervention and introduction of construction management in STEM programs in elementary and middle school programs would demystify the negative perceptions and helps visualize and provide paths for viable career and educational options. In turn, academic institutions can identify strengths and weaknesses inherent in recruiting and retaining female students in construction management programs. Additionally, implementing strategies of industry mentors and role models for new female entrants into the construction industry and the students in construction programs in higher education can strengthen the pipeline of women in construction.
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    Industry 4.0 And Short-Term Outlook for AEC Industry Workforce
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-12-13) Quintana, Emilio
    Technology is uniquely transforming our society to a significant degree. This transformation has been described as Industry 4.0 and encompasses machine learning, computerization, automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Industry 4.0 is currently impacting the United States’ workplace and is projected in continue uniquely changing our society over the next twenty years or so. Looking specifically at the AEC industry, this paper researches how the AEC industry workplace could be impacted by Industry 4.0 over the next several years. The hypothesis that jobs more at risk for automation should see low or negative growth and lower wages over the next several years was tested by using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) occupational wage data and growth projections to create an opportunity value for each occupation, and then evaluating the relationship between the opportunity value and probability of automation. A statistical significance was found between the two variables. The hypothesis that certain skills are particularly associated with high growth/high wage jobs versus low growth/low wage jobs was tested by scraping important skills/qualities from the individual occupational webpages hosted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and then comparing the approximately top 80% of skills scraped between the two groups. Certain skills/qualities were found to be particularly associated with each group. Finally, the occupations associated with the AEC industry were compared with the findings from the first two hypotheses. The discoveries were that the AEC industry is potentially more susceptible to Industry 4.0 than other industries. This research is of significance because research into how the AEC industry workplace will be impacted by Industry 4.0 over the next several years was not found in the research background, and it has implications on potential career choices, skill requirements, and areas of research and development. Recommendations for future work include utilizing new data sources, Monte Carlo simulations, cohort analysis, and cluster analysis to make more specific forecasts on Industry 4.0’s impact on the AEC industry.