2009

Researcher’s Rocking Frame ‘Shakes’ World of Performance-Based Seismic Design

postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Shattering the stereotype of an ab- sent-minded professor, 20-year academic Gregory G. Deierlein is as focused as any design engineer. Illinois

Rescue Took Teamwork, But Ultimately It Was Up To One Man

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Thanks to a quick-thinking bridge construction crew, a nearby crane and a brave man in a harness, a woman’s life was saved after the boat she and her husband were in slipped over a dam and left her trapped in a raging boil.

Speeding Civil-Works Delivery by Listening, Adapting and Innovating

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Turning 50 years of talk, stalled projects and storm wreckage into a $15-billion design and construction program that has rapidly built monumental storm-surge defenses around Greater New Orleans can only be achieved with smart, steady, determined and gutsy leadership.

Key to Success at Tough Theater Job Was Extreme Teamwork

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Contractor Jeffrey D. Wagner calls the $84-million AT&T Performing Arts Center Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre “far and away the most challenging” job in his 21-year career.

Hybrid Composite Beam is A Labor of Love for Designer

choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

How often did John R. Hillman, founder and president of Chicago-based HC Bridge Co., LLC, think about giving up on getting the industry to accept his hybrid bridge beam of concrete and steel with fiber-reinforced polymer materials?

Rail Trestle-Turned-Park is Model for Urban Rejuvenation

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Along Tenth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, the landscape is chocked with building projects, a marked contrast to the national commercial construction slump.

Veteran Engineer Revives Road Program

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

It's not good when one of the fastestgrowing counties in the country falls more than $386 million behind in roadbuilding.

Loizeaux Triumphs Over His Most Daunting Implosion in More Than Four Decades

postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Mark Loizeaux has imploded some 2,000 structures in his four-plus decades with Controlled Demolition Inc., which was started by his late father, John.

Energizing Innovation in Project Delivery To Weather a Storm of Demand

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

The year 2009 marked the midpoint and high-water mark in a seven-year-long flood of work at the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, with $27.7 billion in construction on the military-programs side and $15.6 billion on the civil-works side.

A Tinkerer at Heart, Humble Tractor Engineer Blazes Clean Path for Electric Earthmovers

vanhamptont@enr.com (Tudor Van Hampton) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Like a protective parent, Mike Betz winces a little when people call the D7E a “hybrid” tractor. The diesel-electric dozer may have hybrid-like qualities.

Publication Coming of First Green Building Specification

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

In Abu Dhabi, a United Arab Emirate as-sociated with opulence, there is a $22-billion megadevelopment called Masdar City under way, which, if built out, would be the world’s first carbon-neutral mini-city.

Putting the Pay Back Into Paycheck

vanhamptont@enr.com (Tudor Van Hampton) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Textura founders Eichhorn and Allin (right) streamline how contractors get paid. Shortly after PWC sold its consulting arm to IBM in 2002, William Eichhorn, a former e-commerce consultant at PWC, came to Allin with an unusual idea

Veteran Waste-Cleanup Expert Applies Just-In-Time Methods to World’s Largest PCB Project to Date

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Ray Mangrum’s wealth of experience in the waste-management profession has culminated in a one-of-a-kind river cleanup in Wisconsin that is expected to save as much as $100 million over traditional methods.

In Boston, Engineer Paves the Path for Country’s First Warm-Mix Asphalt Runway

choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Houssam “Sam” Sleiman always knew he would be an engineer.

An Investor’s Passion Launches Nation’s First Privately Built and Managed Airport

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

From an ephiphany came an airport. Until 2004, Connecticut-based businessman and former bond trader Steve Peet knew little about Branson, Mo., the Ozark Mountain recreational hub.

Construction Veteran Primes the Pump To Ensure a Steady Flow of Future Workers

rubind@enr.com (Debra K. Rubin) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Having been intel corp.’s director of construction for 12 years, Tom Weise could have retired, in 2008, to a life of leisure in sunny Arizona. But with a key industry mission still ahead, that’s not what he had in mind.

Placing Deep Piles Supports Top-Down

reina@btinternet.com (Peter Reina) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

British engineer Alex Cartwright had just three months to convert paper designs of a new-generation, column-plunging frame into a working tool for the foundations of London’s 310-meter-tall Shard, which will be Europe’s tallest building.

Professor Nails Down Key Risks Around Tower Cranes

vanhamptont@enr.com (Tudor Van Hampton) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Unlike the high cost of life and limb, accident prevention is a less tangible thing to measure. But Aviad Shapira has found a new way to quantify risks on construction sites.

Online Model, Free to Users, Can Forecast National Labor Supply and Demand

tuchmanj@enr.com (Janice L. Tuchman) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

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.

Creativity And Teamwork Deliver The Most Highway On Time

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

The Missouri Dept. of Transportation’s request for proposals was challenging: The agency wanted 11.5 miles of Interstate 64 through St. Louis redesigned, upgraded and modernized, with 30 bridges and overpasses rebuilt; it wanted the project completed in four years, and it wanted it all for $420 million.

Former Engineering Student Moves Building Model From Charity to Enterprise

rubind@enr.com (Debra K. Rubin) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Evan Thomas knows full well the growing pains of building something new in the developing world from his work with Engineers Without Borders-USA while an engineering undergrad at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Fledgling Green-site Rating System Fast Becoming a Standard

postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Veteran academic Frederick R. Steiner is a consensus builder. For the Sustainable Sites Initiative, he brought together myriad, diverse interests in all areas of design and construction to develop the world’s first green rating system devoted to landscapes.

Big Challenge Met By Innovative Mind

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

As onshore oil yields decline and near-shore fields are tapped out, oil development is pushing into ever-deeper waters. The engineering challenges of deepwater production demand innovative thinking and vastly increase the risks of opening new fields.

Contractor, Labor Leaders Negotiate Historic PLA, Saving 43 New York Projects

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500

After the collapse of the financial markets in early September 2008, New York City’s construction industry needed something to keep it breathing.

ASCE Names 10 Distinguished Members for 2009

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0400

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Reston, Va., has named 10 civil engineers as distinguished members for 2009, the group’s highest accolade in recognition of achievement in a branch of engineering, it says.

National Academy of Construction Selects 2009 Inductees for Industry Contributions

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0400

The National Academy of Construction (NAC), Austin, Texas, has elected 10 construction executives to become members in 2009, recognized for past and expected future contributions to the industry.

Engineers Go Global

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0400

U.S. engineering students and professionals are taking their skills and enthusiasm around the world through EWB-USA.

Looking for a Home Depot in Veron, Dominican Republic

rubind@enr.com (Debra K. Rubin) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0400

Alejandra Deza, a junior aerospace engineering major on her first Engineers Without Borders project trip abroad, was scouting storefronts in Veron, Dominican Republic, for a “ferreteria,” the local version of a Home Depot.

ENR's 2009 Award of Excellence Winner: Bernard Amadei

rubind@enr.com (Debra K. Rubin) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0400

Bernard Amadei had a decision to make in 2002 after visiting a Costa Rica hydroelectric project on which he was asked to consult.

The Top 25 Newsmakers of 2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Many people serve to improve the construction industry every day. And each year, for 45 years, the editors of ENR have reviewed the stories they have written during the year and selected people featured in them for special recognition.