Teachers. McAninch, Jahren sponsored class. When he graduates this year, Nels Overgaard, a 22-year-old student at Iowa State University, plans to start up his own construction business. “He’s an entrepreneur,” says Charles T. Jahren, a professor in charge of the school’s construction engineering program. One of Overgaard’s last chances to prepare for the competitive work ahead was a new class that Ames-based Iowa State offered this spring on digital earthmoving. “Everybody knows that GPS is out there, but they don’t always know how it works,” he says. The new project controls are changing the lives of surveyors, engineers and contractors
Inside a small conference room in West Des Moines, Iowa, a high-tech showdown was taking place. At one end of the table sat engineers from the world’s largest equipment builder.
March 8, 2006 "We were laughed at:" A Chat with Constructware�s Scott Unger For many, the idea of owning a business is a life-long dream. But for Scott Unger, the CEO of Constructware, the online collaboration company that is being bought by Autodesk for $46 million, entrepreneurship is an unyielding mindset. At only 42, Unger has taken his Alpharetta, Ga.-based company from infancy to the final stages of its sale to Autodesk, the publicly traded, San Rafael, Calif.-based design software giant. Founded in 1994, Constructware has helped promote the use of online collaboration and project management systems. It
February 23, 2006 A world without engineers? Unthinkable. What do Alfred Nobel and Cindy Crawford have in common- besides the fact that Nobel created dynamite and Crawford happens to be, well, dynamite? They both studied chemical engineering. And really, these two are shining examples of how engineers can improve the quality of our lives, a focus of this year�s National Engineers Week. In all seriousness, recognizing the work of engineers is an important task. Historically, the prosperity and technological advancement of our country has depended upon innovation- and much can be attributed to the work of engineers. And
HOWARD After four years as vice president and then chief technology officer, Nigel Howard has left the U.S. Green Building Council, and plans to assume a position as chief operating officer of the Green Building Council of Australia in March. During his tenure, the U.S. council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, known as LEED, has become widely accepted as the standard of sustainability for buildings. Staff at the council has grown from six people to 59, and several versions of the rating system have been launched, including one tailored for existing buildings and another for commercial interiors.
July 31, 2006 Real Life Isn't Like School, But That Can be a Good Thing By Jeff Rubenstone Jeff Rubenstone is a recent graduate of the College of William and Mary, where he majored in history. He is pursuing a career in journalism and is based in Sparkill, N.Y. Jeff Rubenstone Nearly two years ago, with his master's degree in hand and an exciting job lined up at a major engineering firm, there wasn’t anything in structural engineering Brent Vollenweider didn't think he could handle. "As an engineer out of school on your first job, the first day you expect
January 26, 2006 Get Your Foot in the Door An instructor at a Manhattan university well-known for its engineering program recently told me that her students were rather bright when it came to math and science, but were clueless when it came to their careers. �A lot of them want to know how to get practical experience, and where they can apply for internships,� she said. �But many don�t have any idea where to begin.� And while professors around the country grind their students to gain necessary skills for the workplace, many students say they feel a
Many people, in many ways, serve the best interests of the construction industry. The editors of ENR have chosen the following individuals for innovations and achievements featured in the magazine in 2005 and the selection of Dwayne McAninch, CEO of McAninch Corp. and pioneer in global positioning system technology for earthmoving, as our Award of Excellence Winner. The construction industry congratulates all of these achievers. Click below to read more about Award of Excellence winner and the Award of Excellence History. Corissa M. Anderson Patrick A. Burns Robert F. “Bobby” Clair Samir Emdanat Duane P. Gapinski John S. Gonsalves David
Arthur J. Fox was contemplating changes to ENR during his first year as editor-in-chief. Noting that Aviation Week, another McGraw-Hill publication, published an annual feature entitled "Laurels for Last Year," citing individuals who made worthwhile contributions to the aviation industry, Fox felt construction could benefit from its own list of notables. Founder. Fox thought construction needed to be better recognized. ENR’s effort debuted in the Jan. 23, 1964, issue, under the headline, "Some Men Who Made Marks in ’63." It included Morris Beutel, an early advocate of computers for critical path scheduling and estimating. Even President John F. Kennedy made
About a year ago, Kristina Reinholtz became tired of drifting from job to job. The 22-year-old enlisted in the Army in 2000, hoping to be trained for a career as a heavy wheel mechanic. But while going through basic training at Fort Sill, Okla., she "blew out" her knee. In January 2001, Private Reinholtz received an honorable disabled discharge.
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