Author(s): Malini Srivastava & Molly Dalsin
Research in the AEC industry is driven by several factors including the growing size and complexity of AEC projects, advances in building and construction technology, advances in computational processes and technology, and a demand to systematically understand community, occupant, and client needs.¹˒² This paper presents the Master of Science in Applied Research in Practice (MS-ARP) at the College of Design, University of Minnesota, as a model for bridging post-professional and professional program students to practice through applied research in architectural graduate education. Grounded in principles of work-integrated learning and interdisciplinary collaboration, the program supports the development of research-capable professionals while enabling faculty and practitioners to engage in and fulfill the needs of applied, practice-relevant research. We trace the program’s evolution since its inception in 2012 and identify its core structures, which include a fee-based industry-academy consortium with an affiliated post-professional degree program. We discuss the core degree components and the foundational applied research coursework with customizable components. We further discuss the applied research components of the program that include firm-based applied research internships and capstone research, which are structured as nested mentorship systems that foster continuous and reciprocal knowledge exchange between the academy and AEC firms. The discussion considers the model’s structures for culturally competent leadership development in interdisciplinary partnerships across allied disciplines in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) fields. The MS-ARP offers a replicable framework for graduate education that builds long-term, practice-driven research capacity within the architectural profession, while preparing students for applied research in practice.
Volume Editors
Reed Kroloff & Francisco J. RodrÃguez-Suárez
ISBN
978-1-944214-52-4