After more than 30 years of research, invention, fieldwork and development, civil engineer Alan P. Jeary finally saw the hardware and software he developed commercialized in 2010.
The ancient Inca built a complex system of roads that span some 20,000 miles and range in altitude from sea level to 14,000 feet, all without the benefit of special tools or even a formal writing system.
Following Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 attack on New Orleans, the best minds in the international water-resources industry began seeking innovative ways to rebuild the city’s storm-surge defenses.
Gary Fore, a now retired vice president of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), Lanham, Md., leads a voluntary partnership of asphalt-paving industry organizations that is researching and recommending ways to cut down the amount of silica dust generated by asphalt-milling machines in advance of federal safety and health regulations.
Dwayne Smith, a senior engineer at URS Corp., San Francisco, is a geotechnical program manager on a levee enlargement project in New Orleans that is shaving a decade off the time it normally takes to build and consolidate such a structure.
Hillman’s master’s thesis at Virginia Tech focused on lightweight floor systems for steel-framed buildings. Hillman worked with Prof. Thomas Murray in a research assistantship funded by the American Institute of Steel Construction. Diagrams: John Hillman Work on floor systems led to interest in composites. Related Links: Award of Excellence Winner 2010: John Hillman Hillman’s design used a 7.5-in.-thick steel deck atop a 5/8-in. deck perpendicular to each other and screwed together. The screws became shear connectors. The deck is topped by a layer of concrete. In his concept, the system could span 30 ft with flooring that was only 9.5
When John Hillman’s cell phone rings, out comes the tune of “Tom Sawyer,” released by the rock band Rush in 1981. The song is not just a favorite of Hillman’s—it comes as close to summing up his philosophy and personality as any one song could.