Design Lives Here Highlights
WQED’s pilot summer camp of Design Lives Here (DLH) kicked off on August 1, 2019 with the support of ESWP.
WQED partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Western PA and South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM) on the pilot program. With materials provided by WQED both groups earlier completed DLH Challenges prior to coming together for a day of engineering challenges in the WQED studios. Design Lives Here activities are inspired by the popular PBS KIDS program and website, Design Squad Nation. For more information on Design Lives Here, visit https://www.wqed.org/education/designliveshere. Photos provided by WQED Edu.
Golf Outing Highlights
The ESWP Annual Golf Outing returned to Treesdale Golf & Country Club, in Gibsonia, PA on Monday, July 22, 2019….
It turned out to be a great day for the 71 players. Despite the rain prior to and during the first hour of golf, the weather was cooperative and the sun came out at the end of the outing. Players enjoyed great golf, food and fellowship, all benefiting ESWP’s Student Outreach Activities. Following dinner, Event Chair Wayne Johnson distributed the team and skill prizes. Thanks to all of our sponsors and raffle prized donors for helping to make the event a big success! Photos from the event (coming soon) and all the winners are here. We hope to see you at our next event!
Member News…
Sad Member News…
ESWP mourns the passing of Harold G. Hall, President of the Society in 1989, and recipient of ESWP’s Metcalf Award in 1997. Mr. Hall, age 96, of Mt. Lebanon, passed on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. His obituary: Beloved Husband for 67 years of the late Anne S. Hall; loving father of Marcy (James) Richard, William (Ruth), Dr. David (Suzanne), H. Mark (Donna), Jonathan (Beth) and Ed (Mary Ellen) Hall;; also survived by nineteen grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren. Harold was a faithful member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. He enlisted in the Army Air Corp during World War II, and served as a Pilot flying C-47s and DC -3, conveying Troops and Supplies to fortify the Alaskan Front. Afterwards attending and graduating from Carnegie Tech as a Mechanical Engineer, he started to work as a Manufacturing Engineer for Standard Coil and Machine located in South Side of Pittsburgh. Within a few years he organized with a handful of investors to purchase Standard Coil Co. and renamed it Hall Industries, Inc. With his Entrepreneurial Spirit over the next 60 plus years and the 2nd generation of management, Hall Industries has grown from a modest 15 man machine shop to become a diversified Engineering, Manufacturing and Service Business in a dozen states and overseas in the Czech Republic. Harold George Hall affectionately known as “HG”, truly lived his Mentor Andrew Carnegie’s motto, ” My Heart is in The Work.” He continued to make it to work everyday through his 95th birthday, not suffering as a “work-aholic”, but because he truly loved Electro Mechanical Manufacturing, the dialog with co workers, and participating in commerce anyway he could contribute as a “Problem Solver”! His accomplishments and civic contributions were extensive: Board of Trustees St. Clair Hospital, President of Engineer Society (Metcalf Awardee ), President Alumni and Trustee of Carnegie Mellon University, President Small Business Council, Rotary Club, Fellows Club, Aero Club, Antique Automobile Society of America, St. Pauls Church Vestry, Mason and Boy Scout Master. In recognition, contributions may be made to East Liberty Family Health Care Center, 6023 Harvard Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206.
ESWP Program Highlights
Paul Hoback, Director of Development for the Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA) was guest speaker at ESWP’s luncheon event on June 25. Mr. Hoback presented an update on the ACAA Terminal Modernization Program to an audience of more than 70 members and guests at ESWP. Mr. Hoback presented a detailed overview of the preliminary plans for the airport modernization, along with a video which simulated many of the facets under consideration. The ESWP Program Committee thanks Mr. Hoback for his very informative presentation!
Nicholson Construction Company News!
ESWP Bronze Corporate Member and Pittsburgh-based geotechnical engineering and construction firm Nicholson Construction Company was recently awarded the contract for anchor work at a
dam in Graham County, North Carolina.
The dam is located on the Little Tennessee River and is the tallest dam east of the Rockies. Nicholson will be de-tensioning a total of 582 previously installed, post-tensioned bar anchors at the dam. Of these anchors, 561 will be de-tensioned completely from a load of approximately 175 kips to 0 kips and the load bearing assemblies will be removed, thus de-commissioning them.
The de-commissioned anchor holes will then be flushed and grouted. The remaining 21 anchors will be re-tensioned at a minimum level to permit the load cells on those anchors to track alkali aggregate reaction-induced (AAR) concrete growth over time. AAR is a chemical reaction in the cement and aggregate material that causes concrete to expand slowly over time.
Nicholson’s work on the project started in the spring of 2019.
ESWP YMF Teed Off Summer at Top Golf
The ESWP Young Member Forum (YMF) teed the summer off with their first Top Golf Outing with over 40 attendees. Networking was in full swing at this event with 20 different engineering companies exchanging business cards and swinging a golf club. Top Golf Pittsburgh is the new trendy activity for all ages, located in Bridgeville, PA.
Topgolf’s mantra is, you don’t have to be a golfer to have a good time here, and in fact, its target audience is non-golfers. They can come in to eat and drink and not touch a club. This was the perfect location for ESWP YMF to host an event and we look forward to visiting Top Golf Pittsburgh again in the future.
The event was sponsored by Advantus Engineers, LLC, Business Transition Advisors, Inc., E. Holdings, Inc., Elevator Management Services, Gannett Fleming, HDR, KU Resources, Inc., McKim & Creed, Michael Baker International, Sanitaire, a xylem brand, and Total Equipment Company.
We hope to see you at ESWP’s Young Member Forum’s next event. View the complete list here.
Scenes from the evening…..
IBC 2019 Highlights
The 36th Annual International Bridge Conference (IBC) was held June 10-12, 2019 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD.
The IBC brought together more than 1,000 bridge owners, engineers, government officials, bridge designers, construction executives and more from the US and abroad. We had more than 20 different countries represented this year, as well as more than 40 states from the United States. Our furthest traveled attendees came all the way from Australia.
We started the conference off on Monday, June 10th with three Special Sessions at 8:00 AM. These Special Sessions included Construction, New Technology and Bridge Asset Management.
The official start and welcome happened during our Keynote Session. Our Keynote Speakers did an excellent job kicking off the start of the 2019 IBC!
We were pleased to welcome our Featured State, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). WSDOT organized a Session for Monday afternoon, which included 6 presentations on some of their ongoing projects, as well as a large display in our Exhibit Hall.
The 3-day conference had over 80 presentations and 13 continuing education workshops that were conducted. Not to mention, we had 10 Posters and 5 Bridging the Gap Theatre Presentations. The Posters and Bridging the Gap Theatre were new additions to this year’s conference, along with the Outdoor Demonstrations in our Outdoor Exhibit space.
The Exhibit Hall is one of the main attractions at the IBC and was a great opportunity to network with the various vendors and fellow attendees. We would like to thank our 2019 Exhibitors for their continued support as IBC attendees always enjoy strolling through the Exhibit Hall learning about the latest technologies, products, and services the bridge industry has to offer.
In addition to all the other excitement, the IBC Attendees were able to get an exclusive sneak peak of the Arlington Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation on Tuesday, June 11th. We couldn’t have asked for better weather for this outdoor tour! The tour began with a brief project introduction and overview, which was presented by the Kiewit Construction team and Federal Highway Administration in the Kiewit Field Office. This introduction was then followed by the guided walking tour on the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
We also held our Annual IBC Awards Dinner on Tuesday, where the winning projects were recognized and presented with an Award. We were pleased to have Dr. Karl Frank, P.E., our 2019 IBC Roebling Award winner, attend the dinner and provide us with a brief presentation of his outstanding achievements.
We want to thank all the IBC attendees, sponsors, presenters, exhibitors, and committee members for contributing to another successful conference.
We hope to see everyone for our 37th Annual IBC in Pittsburgh, PA June 8-11, 2020.
For Attendees of the MSCI Engineering Sustainability Conference, Bi-Annual Event Feels Like a Homecoming
“A Climate for Change” was the theme at this year’s Engineering Sustainability conference,
hosted by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI) at the University of Pittsburgh with the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education & Research at Carnegie Mellon University. The conference dealt with something unique for a technical conference: It spent time talking about not only the “what” of sustainable innovations, but the “how.” How do you get people to actually change their perspective about sustainability? How do you create a climate where such changes can be successful? Read the full article here…..
PE Magazine Coming Soon…..
The Spring issue of the Pittsburgh ENGINEER focuses on Engineering Emergency Response, and is filled with several interesting articles, with Guest Editor Cheryl Moon-Sirianni, P.E., District Executive for PennDOT District 11-0! Here is a preview of Cheryl’s Guest Editor column…. “The phone rings at 5:00 a.m. and a co-worker is on the line explaining that a roadway has just slid onto multiple apartment complexes. Once it is determined everyone and everything is safe, a normal person may immediately feel overwhelmed and anxious, but to an engineer this is the ultimate adrenaline high. Engineers are problem solvers by nature and there is nothing that gets the blood flowing more than an emergency. In addition, there is no greater opportunity for egos to be placed aside and for the ultimate in team building and cooperation to occur. In this Pittsburgh Engineer edition, you are going to read about some recent emergencies that regional engineers have had to deal with over the past few years. Emergencies exist in many forms and what is obviously the common theme is that you really can’t prepare for most of them.” …look for your copy coming in the mail!
Lennon, Smith Souleret Engineering News!
Lennon, Smith, Souleret Engineering, Inc. (LSSE), a 93-person civil engineering and surveying firm founded in 1985, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Rabell Surveying and Engineering, LLC on May 1, 2019. Rabell Surveying and Engineering, LLC will now be Rabell Surveying and Engineering, A Division of LSSE. We welcome the Rabell Team to our LSSE Family and look forward to our continued growth in the municipal and private clients for both Surveys and Civil engineering.
Robert L. Rabell, P.L.S., P.E., founder of Rabell Surveying and Engineering, LLC, will remain with LSSE in the position of Senior Engineer/Chief of Surveys of the Erie County Branch office. Matthew L. Swanson, P.L.S. will manage the Erie County Branch office. Matthew has 22 years of experience and was a partner with Rabell Surveying and Engineering, LLC.
Lennon Smith Souleret Engineering, Inc.’s Headquarters is located in Coraopolis, PA, and with the addition of Rabell Surveying and Engineering clients, the LSSE Team now serves over 75 municipal clients located throughout western PA and Ohio, including townships, boroughs, sewer and water authorities, higher education and utilities. LSSE also serves the commercial and residential site development market and has completed civil site design and permitting of over 4 million square feet of Industrial Park distribution centers, commercial sites and residential subdivisions comprising over 4,500 residential units. Rabell Surveying and Engineering, A Division of LSSE offers similar land surveying and civil engineering services to individuals, developers, municipalities, authorities, architects and contractors in the northwestern PA and eastern OH area since its founding in 1981.
The acquisition furthers LSSE’s strategic business planning objectives established in 2008. The acquisition will allow the LSSE Erie County office to grow and offer a broader range of civil and related environmental services including specialized sewer/infrastructure evaluation, hydraulic modeling, water and wastewater facilities planning and design, GIS and municipal project grants/administration services. It will also allow this office to meet the growing needs of its municipal and commercial clients. LSSE is owned by Kevin A. Brett, P.E., Ned Mitrovich, P.E. and Jason E. Stanton, P.E.