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Final Thoughts: The Tools Are Nothing Without the Engineer

December 19, 2016 - in Articles, Column

In the September/October 2016 issue of Informed Infrastructure, I described showing up for my first day of work back in the early 1970s with my slide rule, mechanical pencil and scales. If I were to start working today, fresh out of college, I wouldn’t have…

From the Editor: Celebrating the Work We Do

December 19, 2016 - in Articles, Column

Timing is everything, and I couldn’t have timed my joining Informed Infrastructure any better. The AEC industry continues to grow at a rapid rate, and…

Engineer Spotlight: Differentiate Your Business to Achieve Success

December 5, 2016 - in Articles, Column

As a brief personal background, I created RAM International back in 1998, which was one of the first companies to incorporate an entire building model…

Structural Solutions: Proper Communication – Engineers Need It Just Like Everyone Else

December 5, 2016 - in Articles, Column

I’m sure there are many readers of this column who can remember when the telephone was the only substitute for an in-person meeting—it wasn’t that long ago. Today, we have myriad ways to communicate through the internet: talking to multiple people at…

Infrastructure Outlook: Liberate Data for Integrated Infrastructure Development

October 14, 2016 - in Column

The world is changing around us, with disruptive and efficiency-enabling technology supporting a whole new level of communication, collaboration and productivity. We have a lot more data, tools and technological options in all aspects of our business, including…

Final Thoughts: The Joy of Witnessing Engineering’s Evolution

October 13, 2016 - in Column

I consider myself lucky to have begun my career when I did, seeing firsthand so many dramatic changes in engineering. Let’s take a quick look back at how different things were in 1971, when I started, and how the work environment has changed during the 45…

Executive Corner: Does the Valuation of Your Company’s Stock Reflect ALL its Risk?

October 13, 2016 - in Column

Whether a business valuation is done for purposes of transferring ownership internally from one employee to another, or for meeting the regulatory requirements of sponsoring an employee stock-ownership plan, the risk associated with such an investment is a…

Structural Solutions: We’re All Busy….

October 12, 2016 - in Column

As a business owner, you have to deal with a lot of things. Some are simple: Where to order copier paper? Where should we have the Christmas party this year? Others are not so simple: Is it time to consider moving the office to the cloud? How can we grow our…

From The Editor: An Honor and Privilege to Serve Our AEC Community

October 12, 2016 - in Column

Ten years ago, I gave a presentation at the Trimble Dimensions annual training and networking seminar. The session was focused on the interoperability between Trimble’s data collection and reduction software, and Autodesk’s CAD modeling software, so it…

Engineer Spotlight: The Unhappy State of U.S. Bridges and Highways

October 10, 2016 - in Articles, Column

An interesting article ran in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Leadership and Management in Engineering in 2008: “A Tale of Two Bridges: Dangerous and Still Standing.” Robert W. Clark, P.E., authored the piece about two well-used…