Building construction is responsible for roughly 7% of the Gross Domestic Product in the United States each year. In many ways, the state of our national economy hinges on the strength of the building construction and home improvement industries. Success of these critical industries relies on the leadership provided by a highly sophisticated and skilled work force. Graduates of the Building and Co
nstruction Technology program provide the required skills, leadership and vision through their understanding of this technical and competitive field. The study of science, technology, business, and design guided by the principles of resource efficiency and environmental sensitivity serve as the base for solid expertise developed in this program of study. Graduates of BCT are involved in virtually every aspect of the built environment: construction management, sustainable building planning, engineered wood design, building energy performance evaluation, building products distribution, and research and development. They assure the materials and systems used in our buildings are best suited to the needs of each project in terms of safety, efficiency, sustainability, and cost effectiveness. It is the integration of technical understanding with general business acumen that makes graduates of the Building and Construction Technology program uniquely desirable to employers. Seniors in our program often have multiple job offers and their salaries have often proven to be higher than in many other professional fields. Upon graduation from BCT:
94% of graduates had full-time employment
88% of graduates had a starting salary of $40,000-$60,000
(Source: 2013 Graduating BCT Senior Survey)
Our national reputation is built on excellent academic offerings. Building and Construction Technology students enjoy an applied, project-based learning environment while receiving a strong technical and scientific foundation for their future career. Our curriculum combines courses in the areas of building systems, materials performance, business management, marketing, digital tools, as well as written and oral communications. Complementing our undergraduate program is an advanced research and graduate-study program in a variety of related fields such as bio-based building materials science, advanced wood structures, building energy consumption, and impact of the built environment on climate change – all centering around the topic of sustainability. This establishes BCT as a leader in scientific discovery for the built environment. See more at: http://bct.eco.umass.edu/about-us/
BCT's former program title was Building Materials and Wood Technology (BMATWT).
