ReEngineering the Engineer: Curiosity: Engineers Do Better than the Cat
To date, my engineering firm has been a team member for two different Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) projects. Both included many regularly scheduled “Big Room” meetings. Almost all of those meetings start with an ice-breaker question to allow everyone to learn a little something about the other team members. The questions are usually pretty simple: your favorite movie, a favorite childhood memory, the most influential person in your life, your favorite food, a second career you didn’t ch...
Construction Contractors Are Working to Manage Coronavirus Risks
Contractors are staggering shifts and crews are cleaning tools, handles and hands in cities where projects continue. Zurich North America Construction crews in many cities continued to raise cranes and swing hammers as much of the world shut down to stem the spread of coronavirus. While Boston and Pennsylvania ordered a halt to most construction projects, some other cities and states designated construction as an essential or crucial sector. There is debate over the interpretation of go...
Now is the Time to Increase Investment in America's Critical Infrastructure
The scope of the coronavirus pandemic is something we haven’t experienced in our lifetime. Each of us has been recruited to fight an unseen enemy that is disrupting our lives, businesses, and overall economic health. State and local leaders have called on President Trump to put the nation on a wartime footing. In response, the administration is speeding production of medical supplies and tasking the military to assist states with expanding hospital capacity. Congress is putting partisanship a...
Infrastructure Outlook: Power Distribution Networks Must Perfect Data Quality and Governance
The electric utility industry is undergoing a major transformation driven by new sources of energy generation (solar and wind power), consumer demand for faster and more-affordable services, cybersecurity, and Big Data. Gathering data to harvest insights and forecast more accurately offers a significant potential to optimize the way utilities operate. Emerging modern grids demand accurate data and as-operated network information to function optimally. Given these business imperatives, utilities...
Project Management Insights: Delivering on Brand Is Integral to AEC Marketing and Management
How you deliver projects either supports or hurts your branding. At a rudimentary level, the role of marketing is to create awareness and generate demand for a company’s product or service. The brand is the link to the buying marketplace, and it’s the identifier in name, logo, symbol or other intangible form. In the building and designing industry, the marketing function didn’t always get the respect or resources it deserved. It was seldom present at strategic planning sessions and often relega...
Executive Corner: What’s a Good Outside Board Director Worth?
So you’ve finally decided to add an outside, independent director to the board of your privately held A/E firm. You’ve even identified several candidates. Now the question is what (if any) compensation to offer them. For an independent party to take on the time and responsibility of serving on your board, you expect some level of compensation to be appropriate, but how much? Looking for Guidance Before addressing that question, here are a few background statistics on board compositions in the...
Thoughts From Engineers: A River Runs Through It: When Green Infrastructure Is More Than a Bit Player
Urban water management is on course to complete an evolutionary circle. When cities began to modernize more than 100 years ago, the goal was to dispose of wastewater as quickly as possible. Engineers studied the physics of natural systems with an eye toward building the structures needed to subdue them. Sewer mains, large tunnels and massive pumps have faithfully rerouted and diverted unwanted water through our pipes and treatment facilities for most of the 20th century and into the 21st. Focus...
From the Editor: Witnessing Engineering’s Evolution from the 1970s to the 2020s
It’s the beginning of a new decade, which is a good time to look back and ahead. I had the opportunity to visit with some friends recently; colleagues I worked with at the Indiana Department of Highways back in the 1970s. All of us are retired now and are moving on to other meaningful responsibilities such as raising chickens and working with wood on a lathe. We all agreed, however, that the work we did was important and made a difference to the greater community, while, at the same time, we we...
ReEngineering the Engineer: Do You Have a ‘Plan B’ for the Totally Unexpected?
I try to take some time over the holidays to reflect on the previous year. What good things happened? Were there any things we could have done better? Do our employees have the proper skill sets for their current positions? Is there any software we’re missing to help our people be more productive? Is there a decent backlog of work coming in for 2020 to keep my staff busy? Yeah … there’s a lot to think about as a business owner, but I try to catch my breath and then prepare for the next year. Gr...
Infrastructure Outlook: Analytics Must Drive Next-Generation Infrastructure
There’s no question that America’s infrastructure is antiquated and in vital need of modernization. If we want our infrastructure to be more efficient, cost-effective and secure, however, we must prioritize mathematical and analytical insights that enable a smarter and more-innovative infrastructure system to meet myriad complex and evolving demands as well as help secure the nation’s global competitiveness for generations to come. Infrastructure policy too often is structured around a series o...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
