Change Leader: Converging Technologies Create Smart Infrastructure
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. Ruth Gratzke is the president and CEO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure USA. Gratzke summarizes the difference between “traditional” and “smart” infrastructure as a difference between passive and proactive. “Smart infrastructure today communicates,” she notes. “Smart infrastructure is able to provide transparency. And hopefully wh...
Infrastructure Outlook: The Future Is Now: Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in the Construction Industry
For a profession that’s been around for decades, the construction industry has innovation firmly at its heart. New technology, materials and techniques are vital in construction, and can create a healthy advantage over competitors if executed correctly. Blockchain and cryptocurrency are relatively new technologies, but their uses are being explored in just about everything. To understand the potential for blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the construction industry first requires understanding...
Project Management Insights: No Buzzwords, Just Good PM Concepts
The business world loves buzzwords. Consultants and marketers thrive on buzzwords. Google, Twitter and all social channels constantly drill the importance of keywords. Words are the way to stand out or be found in a universe of noise. If we ever wonder if it has gone too far or become a bit laughable, we’re not wrong; comedians take aim at buzzwords quite frequently. In the last few years, project management (PM) vernacular has gone through its own transition and introduced new words to describ...
Thoughts from Engineers: Water Infrastructure Woes Hit the American Pocketbook
The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus a few key realities about water service in the United States. Many millions of Americans worked hard to pay for water service before the pandemic hit, and many millions will continue to struggle to pay when rates of infection decline. The pandemic peeled back the veneer on a lurking problem, the solution for which is far from clear. Due to badly deteriorating water infrastructure, shifting inner-city demographics and other factors, more Americans w...
Executive Corner: Don’t Neglect Post-Pandemic Employee Engagement
For this installment of “Executive Corner,” we explore how the A&E landscape has changed during the pandemic, particularly in terms of employees in a tight job market. Russ Ryan, principal at Rusk O’Brien Gido + Partners (email: rryan@rog-partners.com), interviews Bob Kelleher, founder of The Employee Engagement Group (email: rkelleher@employeeengagement.com). BOB KELLEHER Ryan: Bob, you’ve been recognized as the thought leader in the A&E space on all things relating to the people part of...
ReEngineering the Engineer: Self Preservation Through Workload and Stress Management
If there’s a silver lining to COVID, it helped push us to more-efficient ways of communication. Rather than traveling to meetings and wasting a ton of time on the road, we’ve embraced the idea of virtual meetings. I think that’s actually an OK thing. You still have the benefit of interacting with everyone on the design team, and you don’t have to leave the office. However, the number of virtual meetings has exploded. What used to be monthly sitdown meetings now are weekly meetings—partly driven...
From the Editor: Open Mic Night at ‘The Engineer’s Lounge’
I recently completed two semesters teaching senior civil engineers at my alma mater, Valparaiso University. It was a pleasure and honor to be part of their education—something I took very seriously. But it was a different type of year, as we all know. All the classes were through Zoom meetings, so I didn’t get to interact with any of them in person. In addition, this was my first year of teaching, so I hadn’t met these students during their first three years of school either, as most other profe...
Video: Converging Technologies Create Smart Infrastructure
Todd Danielson, Informed Infrastructure's editorial director, interviewed Ruth Gratzke, president and CEO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure USA, via webcam.
Thermal Imagery for Building and Utilities Owners
By Woolpert’s Qassim Abdullah, Ph.D., PLS, CP and Nadja Turek, PE, F. SAME, LEED AP BD+C, GGP, Envision SP May 2021 Abstract This paper discusses the aerial acquisition of thermal imagery and introduces thermography, acquisition parameters, atmospheric variables and factors impacting thermal sensor operations on fast-flying aircraft. It also examines the following elements that are crucial to selecting suitable sensors and cost-effective acquisition methods: Project area...
Change Leader Full Interview: Smart Engineering and Infrastructure Funding Desperately Needed
Barry B. LePatner is the author of Too Big to Fall: America’s Failing Infrastructure and the Way Forward. He is founder of the New York City-based law firm LePatner & Associates LLP; and for three decades has been prominent as an advisor on business and legal issues affecting the real estate, design and construction industries. V1 Media: Please briefly summarize your industry education and professional background. LePatner: By education, I am a lawyer licensed in the state of New York...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
TriMet’s Banfield Type 1 Substation Replacement Project
February Issue 2026
