Dr. Ferron teaches a variety of courses focused on the infrastructure materials. Please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Ferron if you would like more information about these classes.
CE 324P: Properties and Behavior of Civil Engineering Materials
- An introductory required course for second-year civil and architectural engineering students to introduce material science and engineering concepts. Students learn about the structure, properties, and behavior of engineering materials, including metals, portland cement concrete, asphalt, wood, polymers, and composites. The course includes a laboratory that illustrates mechanical behavior of typical materials and demonstrate selected principles of mechanics.; the laboratory reports have a substantial writing component.
ArE 345K: Masonry Engineering
- An upper-level elective introductory course on masonry materials and design. Students learn about the behavior of masonry materials and components, the impact of material selection and design choices on thermal performance, and common deterioration mechanisms impacting masonry systems. Methods for design of masonry building are introduced, primarily concentrating on masonry wall systems. The course includes a laboratory, term project, and field trips. Four and one-half hours a week for one semester, including lecture and laboratory.
CE 397: Advanced Concrete Processing
- An advanced course for civil engineering materials graduate student that Dr. Ferron developed to advance students’ understanding of concrete processing, particularly the way changes in processing has led to the development of advanced cementitious mixtures (e.g., self-consolidating concrete, 3d printing slurries, fiber reinforced concrete). As a key part of processing occurs while concrete is in the fresh state, emphasis is placed on understanding how chemical admixtures influence fresh state behavior and different ways to assess fresh state behavior, including rheology. Advanced concrete mixture design and approaches to improving concrete quality through changes in concrete processing are also covered.
CE 397: Sustainable Infrastructure Materials
- An introductory course for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students that Dr. Ferron developed to teach students general principles governing sustainability and key considerations to take into account when designing, selecting, and using “green” infrastructure materials. Students learn how to evaluate building and pavement materials and product manufacturers by considering the social, environmental and economic impacts. In addition, students are introduced to concepts pertaining to green rating systems, life-cycle analysis, sourcing, energy efficiency, off-gassing, green specifications, third-party certifications, greenwashing, and ethical considerations of sustainability. Students are taught how to combine their knowledge of design with their sustainability knowledge to select/design materials with optimum eco-performance, mechanical properties, and durability for a project. Examples from literature and case studies are presented. The course also includes field visits to local sites (e.g., a construction and demolition waste facility, a landfill, green-rated buildings). Due to interest from the undergraduate, there is a proposal to cross-list this course as an upper-level undergraduate elective course.