The Civil Engineering Writing Project is designed to address a long-standing problem in engineering education: the mismatch between students' writing skills and the demands of writing in the workplace. In order to understand the problem better, we study the writing of practitioners and students. We use the results of the analyses to design materials that address specific weaknesses found in the student writing. The materials can be incorporated into existing civil engineering classes or used for independent study. We also study the effectiveness of the new materials, investigating whether students' writing improves after their use.

The project began in 2009 with funding from the National Science Foundation. It is based at Portland State University. With a new National Science Foundation grant for 2013-18, we expanded to include collaborators at Cal Poly Pomona, Howard University, and Lawrence Technological University. Use the tabs above to learn more.