2023

ENR Newsmaker Choices Highlight Inspiring Events

blairs@enr.com (Scott Blair) — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 14:00:00 -0500

In the cartography of human accomplishment, you’ll find ENR’s Top 25 Newsmakers in past years all over the map. I mean that literally and figuratively.

ENR 2022 Top 25 Newsmakers

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0500

As varied as their backstories and accomplishments are, these 25 Newsmakers are united in their efforts to make the industry—and their communities—better places to live and work. Read their stories here and meet them in person at ENR’s Award of Excellence gala on April 13 at Pier 60 in New York City.

Chad J. Basinger: Drove Team to Build Fast Replacement for Fallen Pittsburgh Bridge

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 15:00:00 -0500

The sudden collapse of Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge early on Jan. 28, 2022, gained national attention, occurring the same day as a pre-planned visit to the city by President Joe Biden and just weeks after Congress passed the $1.2-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, in part to restore the safety and integrity of aging U.S. transportation systems.

Wil V. Srubar III: Passionate About Creating "Living" Building Materials, Beginning With Greener Masonry Block

postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Wil V. Srubar III is the common denominator for cotton, cattle, the Houston Astros, the Dept. of Defense, micro algae and Prometheus Materials.

Don Scott: Creating Consensus on First-Ever Load Requirements for Temporary Tents and Outdoor Stages

postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Codes and standards committee work might be viewed as a thankless job. It is unpaid. It takes years to develop new codes and improve old ones.

Mario Rodriguez: Fostering Innovation, Excellence, Diversity and Inclusion at Indianapolis Airport

choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Mario Rodriguez likes to talk about the word “sawubona”—the Zulu greeting that translates to “I see you.” Engineers, he asserts, just want to be seen for the good work they do.

Sarah Cherry Rice: Changemaker Builds Design and Construction Program for Underrepresented Boston Youth

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

While working for former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on a high school redesign project, Sarah Cherry Rice was part of a team that listened to approximately 2,000 people across the city, including students who wanted to graduate with real work experiences and no-cost college credits.

Marty Parichand: Building the Northeast's First Whitewater Park Offers Proof-of-Concept for Old Mill Towns

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Marty Parichand’s father took him at age 16 on his first whitewater adventure on the Penobscot River in Maine.

Valerie McCain: Bechtel Senior Executive Steers Nuclear Waste Cleanup Megaproject

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

A 20-year effort to develop a process to eliminate radioactive and chemical wastes stored underground for decades at a former federal nuclear weapons production site reached a milestone last year with key facility testing, with work that had been overseen by the Bechtel project executive.

Tony Mazzo: Masterminding the Complex 30-ft Lift of a Broadway Theater in New York City

rubenstonej@enr.com (Jeff Rubenstone) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

When the project team for TSX Broadway—a partial demolition and significant renovation and rebuild of a theater district tower in New York City—wanted to perform a truly challenging feat of engineering, it called in Tony Mazzo at Urban Foundation/Engineering. Project developer L&L Holdings had a vision for the 110-year-old landmark Palace Theater that required it to be elevated 30 ft within the renovated tower’s footprint to create space for new street-level retail.

James Litwin: Construction Executive Unlocked Efficiencies of CLT and Mass Timber in Cleveland

yodersj@enr.com (Jeff Yoders) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

James Litwin, vice president of construction at developer Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors, was intrigued by the possibilities of mass timber construction for residential and mixed use because of his background as a carpenter before he became a development executive.

Jerry Lea: Sustainability Pioneer's Efforts Led to First-of-a-Kind Embodied Carbon Guide

yodersj@enr.com (Jeff Yoders) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Embodied carbon is the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions associated with materials and construction processes through the lifecycle of a building or infrastructure.

Rosemary Knight: Strong Believer in Value of Science and Data for Sustainably Managing California's Groundwater

mcfarlandp@enr.com (Pam McFarland) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Stanford University geophysics professor Rosemary Knight had always loved math and science, but it wasn’t until she attended Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, as an undergraduate that she discovered what would become a lifelong passion: geophysics.

Burcin Kaplanoglu: Former Lendlease Executive Spearheads Oracle's Construction Tech Demonstration Lab

yodersj@enr.com (Jeff Yoders) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

The 30,000-sq-ft Oracle Innovation Lab on the company’s Deerfield, Ill., campus has demonstration space for construction technologies ranging from robots to drones to building automation. While it opened in 2019, the pandemic delayed any serious experiments from getting underway until April 2022.

Michael H. Jones: Bringing Novel Seismic Concept to Fruition Through Collaboration

choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

If the 6-ft, 4-in.-tall Mike Jones had only been a bit taller, he might not have become a veteran of Southern California infrastructure. “I needed another four to five inches,” says the former high-school basketball forward.

Jesse D. Jenkins: Princeton Professor Leads Team Modeling How 2022 Law Can Propel US Action on Climate Change

rubind@enr.com (Debra K. Rubin) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

University engineering professor Jesse D. Jenkins has become a clear voice in predicting and understanding climate-change impacts now and in the future, and in leading efforts to model how solutions might work and get done.

Tom Hunter: Championing High-Performance Buildings to Achieve Better Well-Being for Affordable-Housing Tenants

mcfarlandp@enr.com (Pam McFarland) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

With a background in long-term health care, Tom Hunter was tuned into the well-being of tenants being front and center when he shifted to running CityHousing Hamilton, Ontario’s affordable housing program as its chief executive officer.

Ryan Hamrick: Contractor Restores Access to Fla.'s Sanibel Island After Hurricane Ian

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Grilling food on the jobsite, linking to first responder phone networks, transporting crews by boat and housing workers in mobile trailers at a nearby airport are all ways Ryan Hamrick’s team worked around extraordinary obstacles to restore access to Florida’s Sanibel Island after its only link to the mainland was cut off when Hurricane Ian made landfall there last Sept. 30.

Andrew Hallett: Contractor's Team Cast and Floated Massive Concrete Entrance to Navy Shipyard

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

On the morning of June 20, 2021, Andrew Hallett faced a career-defining moment. A senior project manager at Pittsfield, Maine-based Cianbro, Hallett helped lead a team that built a 5,338-ton concrete precast structure that would serve as the entrance of a new navigation lock basin at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Thomas S. Gunning: Powerful Personal Story of Opioid Addiction Propels Support of Narcan on Sites to Save Lives

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Only two years into recovery after battling more than a decade of drug addiction, Thomas S. Gunning, executive director of the Building Trades Employers Association Northeast, learned about the skyrocketing number of opioid overdoses in the construction industry and desperately wanted to help.

Brian Golden: Ex-Head of Boston Planning and Development Office Oversaw City's Record Building Boom

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

When it comes to shepherding development projects large and small through Boston’s byzantine approval process, Brian Golden literally had the golden touch.

Carlos Diaz: Diving Into Unfamiliar Waters to Reduce the Embodied Carbon in Concrete

postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

During his final 20 months in the U.S. Navy, Carlos Diaz was part of a team deconstructing a nuclear aircraft carrier for refurbishment. The experience made him want to be a designer.

Ron DeGregorio: Energy Sector Veteran Steps Up to Build Emissions-Free Gas Power Plant

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

When development hit a snag in 2021 on NET Power LLC’s still unproven technology to allow power plants to burn natural gas with near-zero emissions while producing dispatchable energy, Ron DeGregorio stepped up to lead the effort as CEO.

Rick Cotton: Pilots an $8B Rebuild of LaGuardia Airport in Part Through a P3

choa@enr.com (Aileen Cho) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Rick Cotton pulled no punches when talking about the need to transform LaGuardia International Airport. Speaking to ENR last year while standing in the light-filled, glossy new Terminal B, he said, “LaGuardia had become the laughingstock of the city, nation and probably the world.

Matthew Compher: Changing the Safety Program to Minimize Harm From Severe Injuries

kormanr@enr.com (Richard Korman) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Safety executive for large energy contractor Quanta Services Compher leads a team to reduce its severe and fatal accidents by overhauling company practices according to “new view” safety principles. It seems to be working.

Sean P. Clifton: Structural Engineer Catalyzes Era of More Resilient and Sustainable Skyscrapers Through Improved Wind Design

postn@enr.com (Nadine M. Post) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0500

Structural engineer Sean P. Clifton owes his career trajectory to the liquid “sloshing” damper. As a graduate student at the University of Texas Austin, he watched with fascination as a guest lecturer demonstrated the action of the device—which damps a tall building’s sway—using a 1-ft-tall “homemade” oscillator to represent a skyscraper.