Structural Solutions: Add True Value to Command Fees You Deserve
Many years ago, I left the security of the engineering firm I worked for right out of school and ventured out on my own. If you had asked me when I was hired after graduate school, I thought I would retire at that company. But that wasn’t the case, as I felt compelled to start my own company and try to do something different. Although I was fortunate enough to leave with some clients, and some active projects, it was painfully obvious I now had to put the marketing hat on if I was going to gr...
Environmental Considerations: A Proactive Approach to Site Revegetation
On construction projects worldwide, post-construction site stabilization often is an afterthought. With constant increases in water-quality laws and regulations—and the effect of stormwater pollution on the environment—it’s becoming more important to keep soil and nutrients onsite. Incorporating sustainable vegetation—the best erosion control available—is a proactive approach. Assessing Revegetation Not every architect or engineer who writes revegetation specifications has experience in agro...
Managing the Model: You Live in the Future, Why Don’t You Work There?
At the end of summer 2015, I was at a family reunion in central Illinois. As I stood chatting with relatives in my uncle’s backyard, my brother-in-law walked up, took a golf-ball-sized speaker out of his pocket and said, “play some music.” I had never seen the device before, but within 60 seconds, my phone had paired with it via Bluetooth, and we were listening to a playlist of my favorite songs streaming from an Internet music service. I’m an admitted technophile, and I’m seldom awed by things...
Infrastructure Innovations: Virtual Reality as a Tool for Modern Business
For a long time, the concept of virtual reality (VR) was relegated to science fiction and entertainment such as Star Trek or The Matrix. Although a holodeck still is out of reach, the technology used for VR—the immersive technology that enables people to visit or replicate locations and objects real and imagined—has been available for years. Standard VR technology requires a headset showing 3-D images that appear to be real from the user’s perspective. Until now, VR was used for design or tra...
Executive Corner: The Dilemmas of A/E Family Ownership
During the last several years, there has been increased consulting demand for ownership transition as well as mergers and acquisitions for family owned A/E and environmental-consulting firms. These inquiries have cut across the gamut of family ties: husband/wife-, sibling- and parent/child-owned organizations. They also cross a range of firm size, discipline and geographic location. Family run businesses within this industry traditionally have been general-contractor firms (think of how many...
Structural Solutions: The State of the Engineer Address
Adversities and challenges, particularly when they don’t end well, provide the opportunity to reflect on decisions and figure out what happened. Governments have “state of the union” addresses that explain perceived difficulties in the market as well as chart a path for future growth. Large corporations have quarterly reports to educate investors on the company’s past and future performance. Sometimes the driving factors and challenges are internal. A company may have the wrong people on the...
Strike a Balance: Moving from Smart Grids to Smart Operations
As computing technology became more mainstream, smaller and more connected in the early years of the 21st century, the opportunity for a smart grid became achievable. More information accessed more quickly could only improve situational awareness and lead to improved safety, reliability and efficiency. Program names varied (e.g., smart grid, advanced distribution system and grid modernization), but all had the same goals: Deploy intelligence into the field. Better manage distribu...
Managing the Model: Five Major Benefits of Using Modeling for Construction Projects
Building Information Modeling (BIM) software has changed the way many companies work—there are extreme benefits to using BIM for construction projects and design. You likely know that BIM is an “intelligent” model that offers more-efficient collaborative workflows and value to the entire lifecycle of building and infrastructure jobs. What might be news is that according to the “BIM SmartMarket Report” published by McGraw-Hill, BIM use within the construction industry has exploded from 28 percent...
Structural Engineers Readily Adopt BIM
Structural engineers from large organizations, multinationals and SMBs feel that BIM is not just an option but a requirement. Unlike architects, designers, contractors and fabricators, structural engineers are likely to use structural BIM modeling services beyond just the documentation or constructability aspect for simulations and structural analysis. Structural engineers also experience the need to stay abreast of new contractual structures, particularly integrated project delivery (IPD). T...
EPA Guidance Provides New Options for Meeting TMDL Goals
The goal of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program is arguably simple - to develop watershed level conservation plans designed to restore impaired waters and attain applicable water quality standards – but its development and implementation has not been simple. In an attempt to bring new clarity to the process of incorporating TMDLs into stormwater permits, the EPA issued a revised guidance document last November entitled “ Establishing Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Wasteload Alloc...
Video: Crashes Drop Measurably After Rural Road Safety Improvement Project on US 521 in Lancaster County
AdventHealth Weaverville Hospital
June Issue 2026
.jpg?width=225)