Strategic Sustainability: Fostering Environmental Awareness, Recycling and Compliance at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

By Elizabeth Krousel and Alicia Filzen How do you motivate an entire base of U.S. Marines, civilian staff, their families and others on the base to seriously embrace environmental stewardship, sustainability and recycling—and therefore comply with long-standing executive orders—when their minds are focused largely on combat readiness? You engage their children. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., already had instituted a Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan and a Qua...

2018 Leading the Future of Design: Connecting Design and Construction

Full Paper: Exploring New Concrete Connection Developments

Product approvals in the United States typically are decided by local authorities as no national authority exists. This paper discusses the history of authorizing concrete connections in buildings along various means for approving proprietary and unique connection methods not previously authorized in building codes and ordinances. Building codes tend to be brief and succinct in the stated provisions, which is somewhat unfortunate when one wishes to understand the intent and history of certai...

Change Leader Full Interview: Vectorworks CEO Discusses BIM, New Releases

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. Dr. Biplab Sarkar is the CEO of Vectorworks, which is part of the Nemetschek Group, with 25-plus years of experience developing CAD software. As CEO, he provides strategic leadership to the company by establishing and meeting company sales, growth and market-share objectives. Sarkar earned a Ph.D. in CAD and an M.S. in mechanical engi...

Future Forward Full Interview: Using Climate Models to Better Engineer Future Pavement Surfaces

This page profiles innovative and impactful applied research in civil and structural engineering to spur continuing thought and dialog to create a better industry. 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. Shane Underwood is an associate professor of Civil Engineering in the North Carolina State University Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Department. His expe...

Hot-in-Place Asphalt Recycling Yields Benefits for Road Rehabilitation

Rehabilitating asphalt-paved roads has been growing in popularity thanks to the availability of more cost-effective solutions. One industry-leading method is hot-in-place recycling (HIR), an onsite method for deteriorated blacktop pavement rehabilitation. According to the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association, the three most-common HIR processes are surface recycling, surface repaving and surface remixing. 1. Surface recycling starts with recycling 1 to 2 inches of the asphalt, in ½-inch...

Buildings: What Does “Sustainable Buildings” Really Mean?

Building professionals and the general public are talking about how we need “sustainable” and “healthy” buildings, but what does that really mean? And how do we verify that a building is really sustainable and healthy? There are available rating systems, but do they really give us the big picture of sustainability? Is there a method to measure sustainable and healthy buildings to a single result or a carbon emission number? Many states and cities now are taking the lead on ways to lower carbo...

Smart Cities: Putting a ‘Smart Communities’ Strategy to Work

The term “smart cities” has been around for a while now. You can’t go to an event or pick up a magazine without some discussion on smart cities, and a lot of organizations have jumped onboard and created “smart” projects and initiatives. But in the end, they’re a random set of workflows that aren’t connected. What’s lacking is a comprehensive plan that outlines overall objectives, sets milestones to get there and digitally transforms an organization. This idea has exposed what I believe to be...

Infrastructure Outlook: Infrastructure: How Do We Pay for It?

There is widespread consensus that America’s infrastructure needs help. It ranks 11th in the world, and the American Society of Civil Engineers has repeatedly graded it a D+. As noted in the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) “Building to Win” infrastructure plan, “Without immediate action on the infrastructure crisis, the United States will lose more than 2.5 million jobs by 2025 and more than 5.8 million by 2040.” We have a big job ahead of us; the estimated funding needs exceed $1...

Sponsored Content: You Have A Choice

Sponsored by:     In the world of business and economics, a sunk cost is money that’s already spent and cannot be recovered. It’s a concept that’s said to stem from the oil industry, where the decision about whether to abandon an oil well is based on its expected cash flows, not on how much money was spent to drill it. In the oil well example, big decisions are black and white. But in other business, it’s not always so easy to see when it’s time to cut the ties that bind. For ex...