ENR's Top 25 Newsmakers https://www.enr.com/rss/633-2008 en-us Many people, in many ways, serve the best interests of the construction industry. The editors of ENR have chosen the following individuals for innovations and achievements featured in our stories in 2008. 0107.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/32708-the-top-25-newsmakers-of-2008 choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) Since he was involved in the watershed $1.5-billion design-build widening of Interstate 15 and managed operations for the Utah Dept. of Transportation during the 2000 Olympics shortly thereafter, it is not surprising that Jim McMinimee has Olympian ambitions regarding construction. 0107-jimmcminimee.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7169-mcminimees-olympian-efforts-spur-bridge-construction-innovation-for-utah-dept-of-transportation choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) Peter Sanderson was looking at a sea-link project in India when he heard about the Minneapolis Interstate 35W bridge collapse on Aug. 1, 2007. 0107-johnchiglo.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7170-mixing-social-and-structural-skills-project-leaders-guided-historic-rebuild-in-minnesota postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) In seismic territory, something as simple as adding two floors to an existing building, even if it was designed to accept more load, can be complicated. 0107-johnsumnicht.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7171-innovative-seismic-design-made-job-viable-from-the-ground-up postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) John Tocci is serious about his self-anointed title. He calls himself the chief enabling officer of Tocci Building Cos., Woburn, Mass. 0107-johntocci.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7172-chief-enabling-officer-drives-hard-for-process-transformation-in-construction McFarlandP@enr.com (Pam Hunter McFarland) At a time when utilities around the world are searching for “greener” energy solutions, one new waste-to-energy plant is using cutting-edge technology to convert biosolids from nearby wastewater treatment plants into a renewable fuel that will be used to partially power local cement kilns. 0107-kevinbolin.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7173-kevin-bolin-makes-new-innovative-waste-to-energy-process-reality postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) Samsung Engineering and Construction Corp.’s Kyung-Jun Kim, vice president and project director for the tallest building in the world—the 800-meter-plus Burj Dubai—cut his teeth on supertall skyscraper construction, building one of the twin, 452-meter Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 0107-kyungjunkim.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7174-its-a-supertall-order-building-an-800-meter-plus-cloudpiercer choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) When Birchard Ohlinger supervised Maysoon Ishtar Tawfik in Iraq in 2004, he saw her both as someone who “let me see inside the Iraqi mind” and as an embodiment of the American “can-do” spirit, he recalls. 0107-maysoontawfik.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7175-iraqi-american-engineers-hope choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) Warren Schlatter, county engineer for Defiance County, Ohio, recalls his staff’s initial reaction when Michael Adams, Federal Highways Administration research geotechnical engineer, told them about using geosynthetic-reinforced soil technology to replace bridge abutments faster and cheaper. 0107-mikeadams.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7176-fhwa-engineers-geotextile-crusade-reaps-results-in-ohio vanhamptont@enr.com (Tudor Van Hampton) He used to pour pints of stout in Ireland, but Paul Treacy found his true calling pouring concrete for James McHugh Construction Co. 0107-paultreacy.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7177-former-bartender-pours-a-cutting-edge-concrete-cocktail-for-hip-new-skyscraper reina@btinternet.com (Peter Reina) The sea in every step along a west Scottish beach stores enough energy for over 70 homes, estimates Richard Yemm, who has taken wave power closer to reality than anybody so far. 0107-richardyemm.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7179-floating-device-harnesses-wave-energy postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) Ron Klemencic, who at 6 ft, 6 in., towers over most people, may be afraid of heights but he certainly goes to great lengths to reach new ones, especially when it involves performance-based seismic design of tall buildings. 0107-ronklemencic.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7180-seismic-engineer-pries-open-floodgates-for-performance-based-design-of-high-rises reina@btinternet.com (Peter Reina) A deep understanding of wind behavior gained from 25 years of sailing prepared architect Shaun Killa to successfully promote the largest-ever integration of electricity generating turbines into a building, the Bahrain Word Trade Centre. 0107-shaunkilla.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7181-sailing-background-leads-to-two-towers-with-turbines Since his early days at China State Construction Engineering Corp., Wang Xiangming has faced challenging tasks. 0107-wangxiangming.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7182-china-state-team-created-construction-miracles-for-tv-headquarters vanhamptont@enr.com (Tudor Van Hampton) Warren Lloyd argues that his job is not to promote but advise people on the latest building technology. 0107-warrenlloyd.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7183-mechanical-engineer-proves-that-upsizing-geothermal-offers-more-than-hot-air rubind@enr.com (Debra K. Rubin) At a time when leadership is a more prized attribute in a construction industry under new global pressures, William W. Badger has pioneered research and innovative teaching approaches to enable employers and academics to identify and develop those who can make the grade. 0107-williambadger.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7184-bill-badger-looks-for-leaders-in-all-kinds-of-industry-places rubind@enr.com (Debra K. Rubin) Engineering professor Bernard Amadei could not have imagined when he founded Engineers Without Borders in 2001 the impact it would have on impoverished communities around the world, on young engineers and their peers in other fields, and on the construction industry’s expectations for a motivated and enlightened future workforce. 0107-bernardamadei.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7160-engineering-professor-develops-best-learning-tool-outside-class rubenstonej@enr.com (Jeff Rubenstone) The perennial problem of workforce shortages and worries about bringing a new generation into the construction industry are nothing new for Bob Bailey. 0107-bobbailey.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7161-an-equipment-dealer-builds-a-workforce Under intense scrutiny from engineers, politicians and the public, Bruce A. Magladry, director of the National Transportation Safety Board office of highway safety, oversaw a 15-month probe of the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, in which 13 people died and 145 were injured. 0107-brucemagladry.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7162-in-i-35w-bridge-probe-ntsb-official-pushed-for-early-recommendation-on-gussets Dams have brought jobs, power, irrigation and development to the Pacific Northwest, but devastated migrating fish populations. 0107-caryfeldmann.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7163-high-dams-fish-collector-cuts-mortality-to-minimum postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) David W. Frable was a big part of history in the making last year. 0107-davidfrable.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7164-engineer-succeeds-in-prompting-historic-change-in-safety-codes sawyert@enr.com (Tom Sawyer) Donald T. Resio, senior technologist in the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss., had an “ah-ha!” moment when he was trying to figure out how to plug a roaring levee breach: Use a big fabric tube floating in the flood, partially filled with water. 0107-donaldresio.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7165-inventing-a-way-to-plug-breached-levees-with-water-filled-tubes-is-good-funand-wonderful choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) Elie H. Homsi will never forget the first day that his brainchild, a pile-driving, girder-launching gantry system, went to work on a $192-million contract to build the Washington Bypass, a six-mile alternative route to Highway 17 in North Carolina. 0107-eliehomsi.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7166-take-one-bite-at-a-time-out-of-the-elephant-says-father-of-pile-driving-gantry-concept vanhamptont@enr.com (Tudor Van Hampton) Contractors do not usually ask regulators to impose more restrictions, but a trend in fatal crane accidents last year prompted one industry insider to act swiftly to clean up safety lapses. 0107-frankbardonarojr.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7167-crane-expert-raises-safety-bar-as-nation-reels-from-fatal-accidents postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) J. Patrick Kociolek, the lauded visionary behind the super-green reinvention of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, doesn’t let grass grow under his feet, at least not for long. 0107-jpatrickkociolek.asp Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.enr.com/articles/7168-making-natural-history-by-reviving-an-ailing-institution