From the Editor: Graduating Engineering Students Face New Challenges
The stay-at-home orders due to the pandemic are beginning to be relaxed in some places. For me, at least for some time yet, I’m choosing to act as if everything is not yet back to normal. Whatever I’m called—baby boomer, dinosaur or grandpa—I’m at a high-risk age, so I prefer to be safe for a little while longer. Although my lifestyle has been altered, the negative effects are not as great for me as for many others. One group that COVID-19 certainly affected negatively is the graduating class...
Thoughts from Engineers: More than a Pump and a Toilet: Communities Worldwide Need Critical Water Supply and Sanitation Systems
A day rarely goes by in the United States without some news about drinking water and the physical, social and administrative systems needed to deliver it. We hear about lead contamination in Newark, N.J., Flint, Mich., and other cities. We hear about water mains that break annually as a result of age, weather or neglect. We hear about the substantial investment needed to fix the many problems that inevitably surface. In short, the delivery of drinkable water and the removal of wastewater are...
ReEngineering the Engineer: Have We Learned Anything Yet?
One of the qualities of a good learner is being able to take in information, process it and use it to your advantage. Failure often is just as helpful as success. Having an example of “what not to do” can be just as beneficial as having a great “what to do” example. A learner always is on the lookout for both types of information and willing to take action with each. As I write, we’re now in week seven of working from home in North Carolina. Although the “move” to home was relatively easy for...
Project Management Insights: Where Does Project Management Fit into a Strategic Plan?
I was recently working with a 250-person engineering firm, helping them develop a new strategic plan. In the ramp up before the meetings, I sat with leaders and managers across the company, talked to them individually about the future, and listened to their concerns about what needed to be addressed before the vision could be realized. There’s always a temptation to place so much focus on operational, quick-fix issues that higher-level initiatives hardly land a place in the discussion. When t...
Executive Corner: You Just Revalued Your Share Price as of the Year-End, Then This Happened …
So 2019 was your firm’s best year EVER, and with the stock market soaring and the economic outlook for 2020 looking strong, your share price also hit an all-time high. And then this happened: A viral pandemic sweeps across the globe, states begin shutting down schools and non-essential businesses in response, the stock market drops by one-third, and oil prices plummet. Your share price was valued at $100 at year-end, but is that what it’s realistically worth now? MICHAEL O'BRIEN, ASA, CM&...
From the Editor: Engineers Seem to Be Adjusting to New Circumstances
I am a proud Baby Boomer, but I don’t feel like I’m one of those to whom the “OK, Boomer” derogative is directed. Just like every generation, mine has some particular (some might say peculiar) characteristics. But this is a time when all generations should come together, help each other and, maybe even more importantly, learn from each other. This pandemic requires just that, and it gives all of us an opportunity to be better. Varying Stages of Preparedness Informed Infrastructure has been...
Thoughts from Engineers: Project Management in the Age of COVID-19
If there’s one positive to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s that we’ve been knocked out of our comfort zones, and forced to recalibrate and reevaluate the important things in life and business. The virus and global economic downward spiral have driven home the fact that we and our businesses are significantly more vulnerable than we thought. Seasonal flu and its annual culling of the human population have always been an unfortunate fact of life, but COVID-19 added another potentially deadly and un...
ReEngineering the Engineer: What Was I Thinking?
A funny thought crossed my mind this week. I started my career at a slow time in the early 1980s and considered myself lucky to find work at a small engineering firm doing what I was educated to do. I managed through slow spots in the early 1990s, Y2K and even 9/11. And our office survived the six-plus years of the Great Recession relatively intact. The funny thought that popped into my head: I was subconsciously thinking I’d get to retire without having to deal with another crisis … By the t...
Infrastructure Outlook: Putting Designs into Motion with Extended Reality
The digitization of data is paving the way for more-advanced technology that connects the design process to real-world information. The key to digitization is tying in 3D models at the start of the design process and integrating constructible data that enable all stakeholders to work together and share data in real-time to optimize the design, build and operate lifecycle. When it comes to planning and design, how do you tie data in the model from the office to the field? Augmented- and mixed-...
Executive Corner: Lost Value in M&A: A New Way to Create and Capture Value
Buying or selling a firm creates risk and opportunity for both buyers and sellers. Up to 30 percent of a firm’s potential value is lost during and after the typical acquisition. For those selling, they’re losing millions in potential rewards for their efforts building a firm. For buyers, their return on investment can evaporate almost instantly. For this installment of “Executive Corner,” we explore how innovative firms are gaining new insights to maximize value when buying, selling or prepar...
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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