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Making Everyone Happy: Early and Effective Collaboration to Realize a Beautiful Building

May 9, 2019 - in Articles, Feature, Featured

To complement this feature, Todd Danielson, the magazine’s editorial director, went to the Chicago office of Forefront Structural Engineers and interviewed Steve Franckowiak, S.E., P.E., associate, and Amanda Featherstone, S.E., P.E., project engineer.…

Tunnel Vision: Blended Technologies for Tight Schedules and Tighter Conditions

May 9, 2019 - in Articles, Feature, Featured

By John Stenmark John May is accustomed to taking on challenging projects, but he soon recognized that this one would be different. Meeting the project…

Aiming for Net Zero in Public Buildings: 8 Principles

May 9, 2019 - in Articles, Feature, Featured

Buildings account for as much as 40 percent of all energy consumed in the United States. To increase the efficiency of buildings and address climate-change…

Infrastructure Outlook: Power Play: Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Cyber-attacks

May 9, 2019 - in Articles, Column

Governments generally define the essential assets of a functioning society as its critical infrastructure, including electricity, communications, heating, healthcare and transport networks. For the United States, attempted cyber-attacks on these systems continue…

From the Editor: Use Different Viewpoints to Uncover the Unknown Unknowns

May 9, 2019 - in Articles, Column

I read a meme-like quote a few days ago: “It amazes me that I can wirelessly transfer data from my brain to another brain by vibrating the air with my voice box.” Simultaneously whimsical and thought provoking, it reminds me to think of everyday things—like…

From the Editor: A Brief Glimpse at Useful AEC Pocket Tech

May 7, 2019 - in Articles, Column

Living with tech is a lot like living with a new puppy: it’s not easy to recognize changes occurring through time until you step back and look at where we were not long ago compared to where we are today. Every couple of years, I see a graphic (or sometimes…

After the Wildfire: Soil Stabilization Key to Recovery Efforts

May 2, 2019 - in Articles, Feature, Featured

Fiber-reinforced matrix products are designed to give seed a stable growth medium on particularly steep slopes. Hydromulch was used on hillsides in the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles following the La Tuna Fire, which started Sept. 1, 2017, and burned 7,194…

Thoughts From Engineers: The Hidden Monster That’s Our Failing Water Infrastructure

May 2, 2019 - in Articles, Column

An aging house built in the 1930s with chipping paint, a porch door that swings eerily in the wind and precariously leaning support beams gets attention. A bridge with rusty trusses and roads with potholes get attention as well. People complain—loudly—to…

Change Leader Full Interview: Electrical Utilities Face Many Challenges and Opportunities in 2019

May 2, 2019 - in Interview

These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication.   Mark Burke is a technical and business development advisor for Black & Veatch, an employee-owned…

Executive Corner: The Latest Trends in A/E Stock Valuation and M&A Pricing

April 29, 2019 - in Articles, Column

Rusk O’Brien Gido + Partners, LLC recently released its annually updated ”A/E Business Valuation and M&A Transactions Study.” Data from the sixth-edition study show remarkable stability in valuations of minority interests in privately held A/E…