Since his early days at China State Construction Engineering Corp., Wang Xiangming has faced challenging tasks.

Timing is everything. With the nation buzzing about the economic stimulus package—considered extremely likely to include billions of dollars for infrastructure—the American Society of Civil Engineers brought 80-plus experts together for a critical infrastructure summit. The meeting was part of ASCE’s long-range planning effort, but attendees found themselves discussing the next few months as well as the decades to come. Blaine Leonard, ASCE president-elect and research program manager of Utah Dept. of Transportation, told attendees at the Dec. 8-10, Landsdowne, Va., session that their mission was to begin to identify how organizations that work with multifunded, multijurisdictional, long-term construction and

The world is changing for owners of all sizes as they venture into virtual design and construction. A few years ago software developers were the ones pushing building information modeling, but owners now see themselves advocating for the tool that can lead to project collaboration. Few have even tried, much less embraced, multiparty contracts, however, where core members of the team share in project risks and rewards. Rendering: Vico Software Source: McGraw-Hill Construction, 2008, Building Information Modeling Study Related Links: Building Team Views Technological Tools as Best Chance For Change Virtual Collaborative Charrettes Give Glimpse of Future Forum Tackles Teamwork

Economist keynoters set the stage by forecasting a recession that will be long but shallow�and definitely global. But the Construction Users Roundtable, meeting at its national convention, didn�t dwell on the negative. Attendees explored how to at�tract and retain the next-generation workforce as well as core issues like safety and cutting-edge contract documents. Jocelyn E. Scott, vice president of engineering for DuPont and chairwoman of the event that drew almost 500 attendees to Rancho Mirage, Calif., Nov. 10-12, said CURT turned to member-firm �millennials,� construction peers born after 1981, for ideas about future workers. Committee members interviewed them and presented

This magazine's coverage of the war in Iraq has chronicled the often overlooked efforts of military engineers who set the stage for battle, breach obstacles and clear the way for advancing combat troops. Their work is difficult, dangerous and deadly, a point driven home this week by ENR Associate Editor Tom Sawyer. Advancing with elements of the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division, Sawyer's story of the engineers' war speaks of heroism and death. NEW DIGS: Sawyer (left) and Wright found working space at Baghdad airport. A firefight with a large Iraqi force at Saddam International Airport caught the 11th Engineer

(Photo courtesy of Airis Corp.) In the cavernous space of Worldport, a new United Parcel Service air cargo facility in Louisville, some 122 miles of conveyers whisk packages through at up to 450 ft per minute. Within 15 minutes, a piece of mail is verified, sorted and sent on its way. Until its completion last fall, up to 1,800 construction workers at a time had been hard at work erecting 75 million lb of steel, installing 4,500 miles of fiber- optic cable and erecting the 4-million-sq-ft building. In the four years of construction on the $1-billion project, scores of contracts