From the Editor: Message to Graduates (and All Engineers): Go Out and Do Good
I was pleased to attend the annual meeting of the Indiana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which included a competition among college students who presented their senior design projects to an audience and a panel of judges. The senior civil engineers in the four colleges—University of Evansville, Purdue University, University of Notre Dame and Valparaiso University—showed a wide range of civil knowledge, and their presentation skills were admirable. The design projects incl...
Executive Corner: An Inside Look at the Landmark ESOP Valuation Case
For over a decade, the Department of Labor (DOL) has carried out a controversial and aggressive enforcement effort targeting valuation issues in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). The DOL did not lose a major ESOP case on a valuation issue until the recent case of Walsh v. Bowers. The case involves many key valuation issues, and BVR was fortunate enough to have two of the testifying experts for the defense give the inside story of the case. Background. The case involves Bowers + Kubota,...
Thoughts From Engineers: When Cities in the Midwest Run Dry
The states surrounding the Great Lakes have always been a bit smug about the bounty of freshwater on their doorstep. These states have been equally vigilant about keeping this resource close and have drafted laws to protect this enormous concentration of freshwater from being siphoned off or sold to thirsty neighbors. Many cities in Wisconsin and Illinois fueled their growth with the region’s seemingly limitless supply of groundwater. At the turn of the last century (1900s), after many of these...
Transportation Troubleshooting: Meet Paula Hammond: 40 Years of Engineering Experience to Share
Paula Hammond will write a recurring column for Informed Infrastructure, beginning with the August 2022 issue. This introductory column is based on an interview by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can view a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/37ARKn3. Paula Hammond’s career is going strong after more than 40 years, and she’s long been committed to sharing her experience with fellow engineers and decision makers. For 34 years she...
Leap Forward: Digitizing Construction Will Transform the Safety and Efficiency of Project Delivery
Digital technologies are transforming all aspects of daily life, helping to keep communities healthy, safe, connected and more sustainable. In the construction sector, continued efforts to increase site safety, coupled with rising expectations for speed of delivery, are driving a transformation. Add to this an intense focus on eliminating waste across projects—prompted by soaring energy prices, labor shortages, supply chain disruption and a significant global increase in infrastructure investmen...
ReEngineering the Engineer: The Needle in the Haystack
Every now and then, I find myself reminiscing about how we designed buildings back in the “dark ages” when I was a young engineer. Our engineering tools were much less sophisticated, unless you consider a slide rule sophisticated. When you think about some of the innovative buildings that were designed back when high-rise construction started, the engineering effort required to pull off some of those signature buildings is remarkable. In those days, all designs were recorded on sheets of myla...
Smart Project Delivery: How Water Utilities Can Be More Resilient During Supply Chain Disruptions
The U.S. water system is in danger. Communities across the country are being affected by aging and inadequate water infrastructures, with some of the nation’s oldest water and wastewater pipes dating as far back as the 19th century. With many pipes approaching the end of their 50- to 75-year lifespan, breaks are becoming more frequent. New challenges are complicating matters, including water scarcity outpacing population growth, climate-change effects, unsafe potable water containing lead and ot...
Smart Design: How 3D CAD Platforms Resolve Design Issues
Designers know more than anyone how 3D CAD platforms help reduce tradeoffs and compromises that have to be made before a design can be finalized. Whether a product concept will ever find expression is determined by three parameters: viability, feasibility and sustainability. 3D CAD platforms make it easy for designers to solve complex issues related to these questions and devise solutions on which businesses can be built. CAD software has undergone transformation from a tool for digital 2D dr...
From the Editor: Finally, No More ‘Kicking the Infrastructure Can’ to Future Generations
I was about halfway through reading the April 2022 issue of Informed Infrastructure when I realized that, besides the obvious choices of “the” and “and,” one of the most-used words was “infrastructure.” It’s even on the cover—twice. (This is not an official count. It’s just my reaction to the number of times writers are covering this topic.) The word often was followed by the words act or bill or law, and sometimes preceded by crumbling or poor or outdated. In the Text The first mention wa...
ReEngineering the Engineer: Seeking ‘Five Reasons’ for Problems
One of our integrated project delivery (IPD) projects finished at the end of 2021. It survived a COVID-19 shutdown, reduced productivity due to restrictions of personnel onsite, cost increases and material-procurement challenges. Everyone was looking forward to getting this one over the finish line. The project included some health-care-related components and required some final inspections by a governing authority. Through several months, the owner had planned grand-opening activities right...
Video: Crashes Drop Measurably After Rural Road Safety Improvement Project on US 521 in Lancaster County
AdventHealth Weaverville Hospital
June Issue 2026
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