It felt like the Oscars. Five times when the announcer said, “The envelope please,” the winner was Engineering News-Record. It was an exhilarating afternoon at American Business Media’s Jesse H. Neal Awards, held March 10 in New York City. Photo: Sue Pearsall Winning Team members include: (from left, first row) Aileen Cho, Jane Kolleeny, Joanne Gonchar, Francesca Messina, Laurie Meisel, Tom Sawyer; (second row) Richard Korman, Scott Lewis, Richard Demler, Bill Hanley and Alanna Malone. In addition, ENR’s sister publication GreenSource won a Neal for Best Integrated Package for “GreenBuild Chicago: Transforming the Metropolis” and its managing editor Jane Kolleeny

Industry professionals poured out their passion at a conference in Washington, D.C., about the nation’s need to step up efforts to mitigate natural hazards through more resilient design and construction. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and wildfires are known natural hazards with risks that vary by location, but speakers at the event agreed that these risks can be mitigated by building in resilience. Codes, land-use planning and insurance programs all should be part of the solution. Photo Courtesy Of The Institute For Business & Home Safety North Carolina insurance institute test center withstood hurricane force winds that blew down a near-twin structure

Timing is everything. While writing this week’s cover story about the three amazing tunneling jobs that will expand New York City’s subway system, ENR Senior Editor Aileen Cho took a few hours away from work to attend a gathering of tunneling intelligentsia. Photo: Matthew Mauro Bloomberg praised The Moles’ role in the life of the city. CHO She was a guest at The Moles annual awards dinner on Jan. 26, when almost 2,000 heavy-construction experts gathered to honor leading executives Robert E. Alger, CEO of Lane Construction, and Peter O. Shea, executive vice president at J.F. Shea Co. Inc. In

In addition to the amazing photo contest image, ENR has a new touch on the magazine’s cover this week. Our logo has been refined and our tagline updated to keep current with our digital transformation. ENR now delivers news to subscribers via electronic news alerts 365 days a year—not just once week —and on our website 24/7. Our print magazine, published 36 times a year, is “the construction resource” of the industry for analysis, data and commentary in addition to news. Photo: Sue Pearsall For ENR (From left) Joanne Foulke, Ted Keller, Debra Rubin, Richard Demler and Tom Sawyer reviewed

Recognition from leaders in the construction industry is particularly gratifying. I am delighted to share the news that, on Oct. 28, I was inducted into the National Academy of Construction, a group of industry leaders recognized for outstanding achievements in and contributions to engineering and construction. The academy provides a body of industry experts who can be and have been asked to serve on governmental committees and work on investigations and reports. It also sponsors a program called the National Construction Forum, which works to identify major industrywide issues and integrate the efforts of industry groups who are working on

Design and construction firms are waking up to the reality that one-way communication is losing ground to interactive websites and social media, such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Though these “meeting” sites are popular, a firm should neither put all its marketing eggs in one social-media basket nor dump traditional marketing tools; rather, experts say, social media should be considered as just another arrow in a firm’s quiver. “The question is, how do you re-engage the things you already know how to do with these new tool sets?” social media expert Chris Brogan asked some 700 attendees of Build Business, the

The new administrator of the Occupation Safety and Health Administration spoke out earlier this month against measures that lead workers to hide workplace injuries. “Saying you have zero tolerance for injury is crazy,” said David Michaels, who is an assistant secretary of labor. If workers who report injuries are fired, they are not likely to come forward, he said, noting that because of this, “we don’t know what injury rates really are.” MICHAELS Michaels spoke at a June 16 construction business forum, co-sponsored by ENR and the Construction Users Roundtable, an owners group. More than 200 construction professionals and owners

While natural disasters may be inevitable, disastrous consequences are not, if policy-makers, designers and builders plan successfully. This theme was explored on May 12 at a one-day workshop in Washington, D.C., convened by the National Building Museum, which is laying the groundwork for a major exhibition in fall 2011 to examine how communities can improve planning to resist the consequences of natural disasters. Event planners looked for guidance from the museum’s Industry Council for the Built Environment, comprising about 60 owners and association representatives. BLUMENAUR “Disasters don’t have to be unmitigated disasters,” said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenaur (D- Ore.), vice

Rocky economic times, green infrastructure, lean construction and helping the industry be heard were themes at the Associated General Contractors of America convention in Orlando on March 17-20. AGC has to be about “the industry, not about the politics,” says AGC’s new president, Ted Aadland, CEO of Aadland Evans Construction Inc., Portland, Ore. “We can’t afford to be a partisan organization. We need to work with elected officials in both parties on the issues.” Aadland said AGC is like “the sleeping giant”—members can “wake up” to influence those who make codes and regulations and reach out to other construction associations

Trying to make the impossible possible is the kind of challenge that Daniel Groves likes. His latest success: Directing development and launching a national labor supply/demand forecasting model for the nonprofit Construction Workforce Development Center.