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Academy of Coastal, Port, Ocean, and Navigation Engineers (ACOPNE)

Body of Knowledge for Navigation Engineering*

The ACOPNE Navigation Engineering Body of Knowledge (NEBOK) is to be used by ACOPNE evaluation panels to determine if candidates for Diplomate certification qualify for certification.

The intent of the NEBOK is not to establish a checklist of requirements, but to provide a template by which the Academy can more uniformly evaluate a candidate’s education and experience, reducing but not eliminating subjectivity.

The American Society of Civil Engineers BOK lists the outcomes necessary for Professional Licensing in 24 Categories. Navigation Engineering Certification requires the same levels as the ASCE BOK plus mastery of at least one advanced technical outcome in navigation engineering under ASCE BOK Outcomes 5 through 24.

We define “Mastery” of an outcome to mean that the engineer has reached the level of expertise such that more challenging, complex, and difficult problems may be solved than can be addressed by an ordinarily competent licensed engineer.

Mastery of a topic can be demonstrated by planning, designing, constructing, operating, managing, regulating, or researching navigation projects of geographic or type diversity at the expert level with increasing levels of responsibility and difficulty, teaching advanced courses on these topics, authoring or coauthoring papers and contributing to books, and contributing to the profession, such as through society committees, on these topics. Mastery may be manifested as exceptional expertise in a single area or as recognized expertise in multiple topic areas.

The NEBOK consists of:

  • Fulfillment, at the level required for licensure, of all 24 outcomes in the ASCE BOK.
  • Fulfillment, at the expert level of at least one outcome from the ASCE BOK Outcomes 5 through 24 as related to one or more Navigation Engineering categories from Table 1 so as to demonstrate mastery of the discipline.

 

The following table will be used by the ACOPNE Board of Trustees or a Board-designated examination panel to evaluate applicants for certification.

 


Navigation Engineering Topics Scoring Guide

 

CATEGORY

TOPIC (as related to Navigation Engineering)

 
General
  • Life cycle planning and asset management - replace, refurbish, rehabilitate
  • Marine transportation system components, laws, stakeholders and participants
  • Intermodal connections – from MTS and multi-modal
  • Naval architecture basics (only to define design vessel and fleet)
  • Contracting – plans, specifications and inspecting
  • Safety & security of navigation facilities
  • Project planning and management
  • Surveying and horizontal/vertical datum controls
  • Environmental law with respect to navigation projects
  • Sustainability Engineering with respect to navigation projects
Hydraulics and Hydrology

 

For rivers, estuaries, or coastal waters

  • Water level and depth
  • Floods and storms
  • Ice hazards
  • Waves and currents
  • Sediment characteristics, transport and sedimentation
  • Modeling – Numerical or physical

 
Channel & Basin Design & Construction

Shallow draft or deep draft

  • Channel and basin size, depth, and shape
  • Training structures
  • Shoreline and bankline stabilization
  • Construction of channels, structures
  • Environmental evaluation of navigation effects
  • Navigation simulation
  • Loadings from design vessel and fleet

 
Lock and Dam Design & Construction

Shallow draft or deep draft

  • Spillways and gates
  • Instrumentation & control systems
  • Mechanical systems
  • Structural systems
  • Filling and emptying systems
  • Lock approaches and fendering systems
  • Construction of lock and dam facilities

 
Operation & Maintenance

Shallow draft or deep draft

  • Efficient lock operations
  • Maintenance management
  • Lock and dam instrumentation and control systems
  • Lock and dam mechanical systems
  • Electronic information (e.g., eNavigation)
  • Dredging and placement of dredged material
  • CDF - design and operation
  • Dredge equipment – type and purposes
  • Dredged material beneficial uses for beach, wetlands, etc.
  • Hydrographic surveying – equipment and uses

 

* Adopted by the ACOPNE Board of Trustees on 14 November 2010.

 

RESOURCES

Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century: Preparing the Civil Engineer for the Future, Second Edition, American Society of Civil Engineers 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, Virginia. 2008. (http://www.asce.org/Content.aspx?id=2147486178)

Sustainability and ASCE's New Action Plan

http://www.asce.org/Content.aspx?id=7232

http://www.asce.org/uploadedFiles/Sustainability_-_New/SustainabilityActionPlan.pdf

ASCE Code of Ethics

http://www.asce.org/Content.aspx?id=723