Most mentors in engineering push kids to excel in math, science and technology so they can succeed in the field. But a Tuscaloosa, Ala., geotechnical engineering firm champions reading skills as its mentoring cause for young students in any career—and the effort is working. Photo: Courtesy of TTL Inc. Photo: Courtesy of TTL Inc. Reading incentive mentor program sponsored by TTL Inc. has boosted student performance, says President McClure. Committed employees at TTL Inc. not only have helped raise stubbornly low reading test scores in several Southern-area elementary schools, they also have sharpened their firm’s connection to local clients and
STEHLY Richard D. Stehly was an activist in the American Concrete Institute for more than 30 years, pushing the technical boundaries and construction possibilities of the materials to the global industry. But his Sept. 18 death in Edina, Minn., apparently after suffering a fatal heart attack at a hockey game, has silenced him only six months after reaching the advocacy group’s top spot as president. ACI says that Kenneth Hover, Cornell University professor of civil and environment engineering, and the group’s senior vice president, will succeed Stehly as president. Stehly was also senior vice president and principal engineer of American
Robert A. Olmsted, the first director of long-term planning for New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and a transportation engineer, builder, historian and industry mentor for more than 60 years, died on Aug. 16 in Manhattan. He was 85. Olmsted early in his career at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (left) and at the 2009 Manhattan Bridge centennial. Olmsted—a descendent of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New York City’s Central Park—began his own industry career in the late 1940s as a Cornell University engineering graduate on the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. A protégé of Ole Singstad, the innovative
Responding to federal concerns about potential cost overruns that could impact promised project funding, officials in charge of the $8.7-billion Hudson River rail link between New Jersey and Manhattan have halted project procurement and land acquisition for 30 days as they review costs. Officials appear confident that costs for the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project are set to stay on track in the current competitive construction market. In a Sept. 9 statement, James Weinstein, executive director of project leader New Jersey Transit, announced the month-long halt after completion of a five-month cost study by the Federal Transit Administration
Robert A. Olmsted, the first director of long-term planning for New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and a transportation engineer, builder, historian and industry mentor for more than 60 years, died on Aug. 16 in Manhattan. He was 85. Olmsted—a descendent of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New York City’s Central Park—began his own industry career in the late 1940s as a Cornell University engineering graduate on the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. A protégé of Ole Singstad, the innovative structure’s chief engineer, Olmsted went on to work for other New York-area transportation agencies and on global engineering
Lots of buyers with lots of cash, in this country and from abroad, as well as motivated sellers, are fueling a rebound in merger-and-acquisition activity so far in 2010. While it may not yet equal explosive pre-recession rates, the M&A boomlet is being pushed by new catalysts, along with continuing market and regulatory uncertainties, observers say. “Defensive deal-making continued to be the hallmark of M&A activity through the first half of the year,” says Mick Morrissey, principal of Morrissey Goodale, a Newton, Mass., management consultant. “By the end of June, the pace of industry consolidation had stopped declining.” While numbers
Ian P. Tyler, a chartered accountant who now runs London-based contractor Balfour Beatty plc, admits to “never being good” at the accounting business. But the company’s CEO is much better at the numbers game than he lets on, having propelled it in the last decade to become a diversified and profitable construction industry player. With the $626-million addition of professional services heavyweight Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), New York City, in 2009, the firm now aims to expand its global footprint and capitalize on its resources. The combination already is generating a new competitive force, as the firms work to take advantage
The general contractor on the Connecticut powerplant project that suffered a fatal explosion in February says it plans to contest $8.3 million in federal penalties proposed on Aug. 5 for safety violations. O&G Industries Inc., Torrington, Conn., was one of 17 site contractors fined a total of $16.6 million by the U.S. Labor Dept.’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 371 alleged violations related to the blast at the 620-MW Kleen Energy LLC combined-cycle plant in Middletown. Six workers were killed; 50 were injured. Photo By AP/WideWorld Kleen Energy powerplant project in Connecticut was the site of a fatal explosion
The AECOM Technology Corp. acquisition juggernaut, running now for at least five years, is showing few signs of slowing down, despite the recession. The Los Angeles-based engineer said on Aug. 5 that it would spend a total of nearly $680 million to buy two more companies, less than a month after its $245-million purchase of Tishman Construction Co. propelled the firm deeper into the construction management business. AECOM announced an agreement to acquire Davis Langdon, a U.K.-based cost and project management consultant, for $324 million. The much-rumored purchase is set to add 2,800 global employees and $430 million in 2009
The U.S. military’s multibillion-dollar program to build up facilities and infrastructure on the Pacific island of Guam to handle new troops could face scope and schedule changes, based on conclusions of the program’s final environmental review, released on July 28. But local officials on the island remain concerned about the military’s growing island footprint and impacts to cultural and ecological resources. Guam’s Apra Harbor is planned as the site for deep-water port facilities to accommodate nuclear carrier ships, but the Navy is deferring a decision on a specific location until further study of likely environmental damage. The military’s new facilities