Engineering and construction students aren’t having to wait until their first job to have a one-on-one relationship with an industry practitioner. More practitioners are coming to them–in class. As budgets tighten, research burdens mount and teaching gaps emerge in often specialized subjects, more industry experts are going back to school as part-time "adjunct" professors. But some schools find that greatness in the field or boardroom does not always mean finesse in the classroom. There are no overall statistics on the number of adjuncts teaching at the college level, but they are becoming more necessary. "Our enrollment has doubled in the
After a decade, there still are not a million ACE Mentor Program Inc. success stories in the nation. But if construction industry leaders of the fast-growing outreach program for high-schoolers have their way, there will be thousands upon thousands of them in the not-too-distant future. ACE was formed in 1994 to introduce inner-city youth to careers in architecture, construction and engineering (ACE). In 2001, ENR’s Award of Excellence winner for championing ACE, Charles H. Thornton Jr., predicted there would be 15 or 20 sites by 2005 (ENR 4/23/2001 p. 30). But since 2000, ACE, born in New York City, has
Yaye-Mah Boye, a senior civil engineering major at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, N.Y., left her family behind in Senegal, Africa, a few years ago to study in the U.S. The 25-year-old’s decision also left her financially on her own. Winning an industry-sponsored scholarship has helped make the difference between earning her degree this May and getting a job in transportation engineering, or dropping out, she says. Boye, who carries a 3.56 grade point average in notoriously tough engineering, was one of 170 students awarded a $1,000 scholarship last month through the largess of the Society of American Military Engineers’ New
In a clear signal of openness and modern tempo, China’s National Grand Theatre has taken shape in the heart of Beijing, just blocks from the Forbidden City. The futuristic titanium and glass-clad bubble–600 meters in perimeter–is one of the new buildings by international designers that are changing the dynamic of the capital’s generally modest cityscape. A labor-intensive array of welded steel arches, economical only with China’s low-cost work force, supports the cultural center’s shimmering enclosure. Inside the immense dome, an opera house with curving walls and deceptively cunning acoustics, likely will be the center of attention. Views. From the Forbidden
During preparation for the design competition for the National Grand Theatre, architect Paul Andreu focused on broad concepts rather than details. When he later turned his attention to the opera house, he ditched the original shoe box design, preferring a more fluid geometry with the audience closer to the performers. Now, "everything is curved inside [with the spirit] of Italian theater, but with the acoustics of a big theater of today," says Andreu. Preliminary engineering was jettisoned as acoustical consultant Jean-Paul Vian, of Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment, began grappling with the more difficult horse-shoe-shaped auditorium. With 2,400 seats,
A lengthy permitting process for a fifth terminal at London’s Heathrow airport added years to the project’s gestation. While straining the developer’s patience, the hiatus allowed time to rehearse a novel procurement strategy for the $7.7-billion project that seems to be paying off. As the main building’s landmark roof is lifted in 2,500-tonne sections, work to boost Heathrow airport’s capacity by 30 million passengers a year is on time and budget, says Andrew Wolstenholme, project manager with owner BAA plc. "We’ve spent $3.5 billion so far and we have delivered a huge piece of infrastructure. We are extremely pleased to
Trained rescuers say there is little that most construction workers can do for a colleague trapped in a collapsed trench–until the professionals arrive. That reality was more than evident when firefighters arrived at a sewer line construction site in Goldsboro, N.C., on June 27, 2003. A worker was buried with only his hand and wrist visible above the huge pile of dirt in a 15-ft-wide by 8-ft-deep trench that had just collapsed. "His buddies had a Ditch Witch about the size of the ones they use at a cemetery," says David Grice, an engineer with the Goldsboro Fire Dept. engine
Over half of the workers who die in confined spaces are trying to rescue another worker and succumb to invisible gases or a lack of oxygen. The type of respiratory protection that employers and firefighters use during a rescue can literally mean life or death. Confined spaces need not be small, and utility contractors deal with them regularly. Below-grade vaults and pipes are among the most common confined spaces. But any space that has limited entry and exit, or lacks natural ventilation, can be considered a risk. Workers must be trained not to focus only on the "entry," or they
In the chaos of a construction site accident, it’s too late to begin crafting a rescue or emergency response plan. But federal regulations are largely silent when it comes to needed specifics. Although some privately led efforts are under way, contractors and owners could face a jobsite emergency they are not prepared to handle. "People think it’s never going to happen, so they don’t want to spend the time and money on preparedness," says Michael McCann, safety director for the Center to Protect Workers Rights, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept. The federal government does not
Joseph A. McHugh is the type of construction safety manager who hopes for the best, but plans for the worst. His job on a $169-million, high-risk tunneling project for joint venture general contractor Jay Dee/Affholder, South Holland, Ill., is guarding the safety of about 80 underground workers finishing out an eight-mile-long wastewater tunnel beneath south suburban Chicago. In the event of an accident, the team has set procedures and a preplanned objective to get victims to the surface in time for local emergency responders to take over, usually within 15 minutes or less. "Time is critical," says McHugh. Long Reach.
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