Articles by Debra K. Rubin

Related Links: See who else is moving up, or moving on, in the AEC sector The New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, has named Moshe Kam dean of its Newark College of Engineering, effective Sept. 1. He heads the electrical and computer engineering department at Drexel University, Philadelphia, and is a former CEO of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest professional technical association, with about 400,000 members.KAMKam is a director of the engineering accreditation agency ABET Inc. and of the United Engineering Foundation. The college has about 2,500 undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students.Larry Mufson

Related Links: Six New York City Subs and CM Firm Indicted in Latest Interiors Renovation Fraud Probe Structure Tone Inc., the New York City-based building and interiors construction giant, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in a Manhattan court April 30 in a client overbilling and falsified recordkeeping arrangement, and will pay $55 million. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. said the payout was one of the largest forfeitures ever imposed on a construction company. but the firm was sentenced to a three-year "conditional discharge."No company executives were named in the agreement.“Interiors construction is a multi-billion dollar industry in New

Photo by Tony Illia An LVI unit is set to demolish the unfinished 28-story Harmon Hotel in Las Vegas. The $279-million tower received court approval in late April to be leveled prior to a September jury trial between owner MGM Resorts International and contractor Tutor Perini Building Corp. over building defects. The consolidation trend has hit the demolition and remediation construction sector in a big way, with major players LVI Services Inc., New York City, and NCM Group Holdings Inc., Brea, Calif., announcing on April 24 an agreement to merge.The new combined firm, to be called NorthStar Group Holdings LLC,

Courtesy of EBR Engineer Johnson (back, left) with Maser Consulting President Richard Maser and students at reading program launch earlier this year. Related Links: Engineers' Leadership Foundation-Engineering Better Readers website Tennesee Geotechnical Engineer Reclaims More than Riverbanks Engineer Is Committed To Make Reading Key to Young Students Future Success When Hanifa Johnson joined Maser Consulting, Red Bank, N.J., last year as a senior project engineer—along with technical and management skill, she brought a commitment to help the community in which she was raised and has worked—Newark, N.J. Since 2011, Johnson had been the “local champion” in that city for Engineering Better

Related Links: Fluor JV Wins Giant Canada LNG Project WorleyParsons Investor Announcements April 1 document request letter to KBR from House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Stuart Bradie, the newly named CEO of Houston-based KBR Inc., faces a series of lawsuits, a congressional probe into alleged whistle-blower silencing, reduced defense spending and stiff competition in the North American liquified-natural-gas building market it was once set to dominate.A former top executive at Australian engineer WorleyParsons, Bradie takes over on June 2. He succeeds the now retired William Utt, who was CEO since 2006. CFO Brian Ferraioli, hired last fall from

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on April 7 that he is appointing Columbia University civil-environmental engineering and computer science professor Feniosky Peña-Mora, who also had been engineering school dean, as commissioner of the city's Dept. of Design and Construction (DDC). Photo Courtesy of Columbia University Pena-Mora is civil engineering researcher and former Columbia U. engineering dean. Related Links: Columbia Engineering Dean Resigns Under Pressure Columbia U.'s New Engineering Dean Returns to Familiar Campus DDC is the city's capital construction project manager, with a staff of nearly 1,200 and a $10 billion portfolio, says its website.According to a

Related Links: DRBC's Outgoing Director Says Delaware River Basin Needs Strong Regulator Natural Gas Now website blog: DRBC Gets New Leader, Can He Turn It Around? See Who Else is Moving Up, on Moving On, in the AEC sector Steven J. Tambini, vice president of utility Pennsylvania American Water, is named executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission, an interstate-federal water resource management agency, as of Aug. 1. He will succeed Carol R. Collier, now a Tambinisenior adviser to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Commission chief administrative officer Richard C. Gore is interim head. Tambini is a

Related Links: Delcan website Parsons Corp. aims to boost its role in the growing Canadian transportation market with its April 1 purchase of Delcan, an 800-employee Canadian transportation engineer based near Toronto.No transaction details were disclosed, but AEC sector analyst Maxim Sytchev of Dundee Capital Markets, Toronto, estimates a purchase price of $75 million to $90 million.Delcan is a "strategic addition" to Parsons, says the new parent firm, saying transportation is one of its four key target markets.KerrEmployee-owned Delcan, with $126 million in 2013 revenue, also works in the U.S., the Middle East and Hong Kong, says Parsons, which had

OPAC Engineers Mark Ketchum lectures at site of innovative Third Carquinez Strait Bridge in California, built in 2004. I-80 pedestrian bypass bridge in Berkeley, Calif. is "an enduring example of civic infrastructure that excels in both function and form," says Mayor Tom Bates. Related Links: Structural Engineers of Northern Calif. April 2014 News-Link to Mark Ketchum tribute by engineer Reinhard Ludke Online obituary and link to tributes Advancing Civil Engineering Design, Online Tools for Design, Analysis and Professional Development OPAC Engineers website VIDEO: Mark Ketchum presentation at 2013 ASCE Structures Congress on The Third Carquinez Bridge: A Modern Interpretation of