BCT CityLab: Blurring the Lines between High School, College, and Industry

BCT CityLab: Blurring the Lines between High School, College, and Industry

Using the Boston Metro area as a real-world classroom, the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) this summer launched a new immersive pre-college program – the BCT CityLab – a first-ever offering at the UMass Mount Ida Campus, for high school juniors and seniors interested in exploring building construction, sustainability, engineering, architecture, and technology-related learning and career pathways. The inaugural program attracted students from five states (MA, NJ, CT, UT, IL) and three countries (Honduras, Switzerland, USA). Each participant learned about college life and earned college credits while engaging in construction site tours, hands-on fabrication projects and skills trainings.  The innovative program was designed to make learning fun, and to build tangible learning pathways to access Boston’s innovation economy. In the Building Physics Module, students learned about heat transfer and thermodynamics in buildings and how construction, control, and maintenance affect the related thermal processes. Then students applied what they learned in a real-world context – the 72-acre Mount Ida campus located in...
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Summer 2022 Sustainable Building (Online and UWW) Courses are Now Available

Summer 2022 Sustainable Building (Online and UWW) Courses are Now Available

Our Summer 2022 online and UWW professional-education courses and programs are now available and you can start registering for those. See below for a listing of our courses, which start either May 19 or July 11. New this year is also a three-week credited "City-Lab" summer pre-college program for High School students in Newton, MA (in-person). You can learn more about this exciting opportunity here. You can always find our current UWW courses and enroll at this link (search for BCT or ECO under “Subject”): Find Courses and Enroll Courses Construction Estimating (BCT 314) - Any successful building construction project relies on accurate and consistent cost estimates. This course provides students with the skills and background to perform construction estimating, bidding, and cost management. Lectures will cover quantity take-off from construction documents and estimate costs for material, labor, equipment, overhead, and profit. Students are required to prepare and submit a formal bid which details an estimate for a building construction project. Furthermore, students will also...
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The Sustainability Road Less Traveled: BCT’s Applied Learning Pathways Lead to Jobs

The Sustainability Road Less Traveled: BCT’s Applied Learning Pathways Lead to Jobs

During the last year, 10 pioneering UMass students took the road less traveled – pursuing the BCT (Building Construction Technology) Applied Learning Pathways, a new option for students to ‘study abroad’ at the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, Massachusetts. Students worked one-on-one with a faculty sponsor to create a customized, hands-on learning experience based on their interests in sustainability. These one-of-a kind pathways built the students’ confidence and portfolios (i.e. GIS mapping, augmented/virtual experiments, original research, multi-media videos, 3D models) as they collectively pursued more than 30 academic credits toward the completion of their degrees. “As a master’s degree student at UMass, I wanted my learning to be meaningful and to have an impact,” said Abigail Moore, B.S. ’19, M.S, ’21. “The Independent Study project I designed with my professor focused on the idea of ‘Living Buildings;’ structures that generate more than they consume – and I was able to focus on understanding how these buildings can work with...
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We’re Hiring: Assistant Professor in Advanced Building Technologies

We’re Hiring: Assistant Professor in Advanced Building Technologies

Effective immediately, we are seeking qualified applicants for the following position in BCT: Assistant Professor - Advanced Building Technologies Apply now Job no: 510501 Work type: Faculty Full Time Location: UMass Amherst Department: Environmental Conservation Union: MSP Categories: College of Natural Sciences About UMass Amherst UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to diverse urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region. Job Description The Building and Construction Technology (BCT) program in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (https://www.umass.edu/bct/) invites applicants for a full-time, tenure-track position in the area of Advanced Building Technologies. This is an academic year appointment at the level of Assistant Professor. We seek candidates with...
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Register now for BCT’s Winter & Spring Online Professional Education Courses

Register now for BCT’s Winter & Spring Online Professional Education Courses

With an increasing number of our courses now online, we are announcing the immediate availability of the following professional education courses for the upcoming Winter Term (Dec. - Jan.) and Spring Term (Feb. - May). For more on education posts, check best essay writing service reddit. There is no need to be a matriculated UMass student to take these courses. Anyone with a professional interest in our field can take them on a per-credit fee basis. Register Now! Learn more about these courses and register now on the University Without Walls (UWW) website at the following link: Find Courses and Enroll   (filter by “Subject” and look for “Building and Construction Technology” or “Environmental Conservation”) Want More? Many of these courses can be taken to fulfill requirements of our Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Building Construction or our Professional Masters in Sustainable Building Systems. Contact us anytime if you would like to learn more about those options. Upcoming Courses Winter Term Sustainable Building & LEED Certification This course introduces core concepts...
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