About

About

The discipline of Intelligent Construction and Operations is an emerging discipline of civil engineering and artificial intelligence (AI) established in response to the national “Outline for Building a Strong Country of Quality” and “Overall Layout Plan for Development of Digital China”. In 2022, based on the undergraduate major of Intelligent Construction (approved in 2019, which belongs to the nationwide third batch of Intelligent Construction undergraduate majors) and the  program of Digital Design and Intelligent Construction for the professional master of civil and hydraulic engineering (starting enrollment in 2021), the School of Civil Engineering concentrates its advantageous teaching team and successfully obtained approval from the Ministry of Education for the establishment of a second-level discipline (master’s/doctoral) of Intelligent Construction and Operation. The discipline uses AI as the main theoretical tool to teach graduate students logical thinking and key technologies to solve the difficult issues of construction, management, and maintenance throughout the life cycle of engineering structures, and will support the development and transformation of new-quality productivity in the entire civil engineering and transportation industry. From then on, the discipline of Intelligent Construction and Operation forms the first talent training system of intelligent construction and operation in China that integrates bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs of “Civil Engineering + AI” with the undergraduate major of Intelligent Construction. In May 2023, relevant teachers form the Teaching and Research Office of Intelligent Construction, and in December 2024, the Department of Intelligent Construction and Operation officially established at Southeast University.

The discipline of Intelligent Construction and Operation currently has 13 full-time teachers, including 5 professors selected by national talent projects. At present, the discipline mainly relies on scientific research platforms such as the National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Intelligent Construction and Maintenance, the State Key Laboratory of Safety, Durability and Healthy Operation of Long Span Bridges, and the Li-Yang Infrastructure Safety and Intelligent Technology Innovation Center to carry out scientific research and cultivate leading talents. In recent years, the discipline has undertaken scientific research projects such as the National Key R&D Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, which support the construction and operation of national super projects such as the 500m Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and the Xiong’an High speed Railway Station.

In terms of talent cultivation, the discipline has formed a complement-trinity of the undergraduate major of Intelligent Construction, the graduate second-level discipline of Intelligent Construction and Operation, and Ministry of Education’s “Double Thousand Plan” undergraduate micro-major of Engineering Big Data and High-Performance Computing. With the support of National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Civil Engineering, National Engineering Practice Education Center, National Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center for Civil Engineering, and Cyrus Tang Seismic and Disaster Prevention Experimental Platform, interdisciplinary and new engineering leading talent cultivation is carried out. Student have gained high recognition from both domestic and international communities by finding employment in central and local government agencies, large state-owned enterprises, Fortune-500 companies, or continuing their studies at world-famous universities such as Stanford University.