The Keystone + Mountain + Lakes Regional Council of Carpenters hosted northern New Jersey students Nov. 18 at the group’s training center in Edison, N.J., during the fifth annual National Apprenticeship Week. “This week is a great reason to show the next generation of local workers what opportunities are right in their backyard,’ said Kevin Leary, the training center’s director. The state’s Dept. of Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said: “Apprenticeships should be like the one here: great training, a great career pathway, solid wages and benefits and employers buying in and funding that training.” Attendees came from Piscataway Vo-Tech, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, Perth Amboy Vo-Tech, Roxbury High School and the Edison Job Corps Academy.

The Institute of Design & Construction had a busy November. On Nov. 5, the  IDC Foundation held the event “Innovations & Intersections: Architecture, Engineering & Building Construction” at the Center for Architecture in Manhattan, with speakers (pictured, from left): Amale Andraos, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Frances Bronet, president of the Pratt Institute; Laura Sparks, president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; Jelena Kovacevic, dean of New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering; Maria Perbellini, dean of the School of Architecture and Design at New York Institute of Technology; and moderator Carol Loewenson, partner at Mitchell Giurgola Architects and an IDC Foundation board member. Kovacevic noted: “Data was hard to come by in construction years ago, and today it’s a deluge of data,”  which should help the industry improve building codes and other aspects, but also poses challenges of how to interpret and apply such data.

On Nov. 21, IDC’s Innovation Hub of the  NYU Tandon School of Engineering had its inaugural symposium. Chaired by Dr. Michael Horodniceanu, the hub aims to serve as a catalyst for business, academia and industry in promoting best practices in design and construction. So far it has attracted firms such as STV Group, PMX, Jacobs and Sam Schwartz Engineering. The hub also seeks to bring startups with innovative ideas to the more established construction industry. At the event, Upbrella Construction, a subsidiary of 3L Innogenie, discussed its technology that can offer benefits ranging from coverage against weather elements to reducing the number  of cranes needed during construction through the use of jacking. For membership information, contact Judy Cooper, associate director of the Innovation Hub, at judy.cooper@nyu.edu or 646-997-3607.