KEnviro

Alan Benevides, who came into talk on December 5^th_, has over 30 years of professional civil engineering experience. That experience is mostly in the business of consulting engineering. In those 30 years he has work on sites planning and designing water/wastewater and storm water/drainage systems. He also makes watershed evaluations, NDPES and TMDL investigations, hazardous and solid waste assessments and remediation, and construction management.

Over the years he has become aware that the engineers who are right out of college do not have a true sense on how the consulting engineering world works. He finds it hard to find the time in his busy work schedule to teach the young engineers exactly how everything works and because of that most of the entry level engineers just have to get accustomed to the set ways of consulting engineering. Our class was lucky enough to have the business of
consulting engineering explained to us well before we enter the work force.

Benevides went on to explain that the difference between consulting engineering and other civil engineering fields, like municipal engineering, is that in consulting engineering, someone pays the engineer specifically to get a job done. In the other fields someone is paying for a specific item to be completed. The money that was paid for the item is then separated among the team that worked on it, including the engineers. So the basic concept of consulting engineering is that when there is a need for engineering a consulting firm is seeked out and a proposal is created by the firm involving their idea of the scope of the work, the schedule, and budget of the project. Benevides told us to keep in mind though that most firms can only usually maintain 2 out of the 3 main concepts of their proposal.  Sometimes it is not the companies fault when they go array, but there are times  when either the schedule or the budget ends up being extended. After all these steps are
completed the owner of the project will decide what firm they want to complete their project and sign a contract with the firm and start work.

At the end of a project the actual bill is finally arranged. To determine the final figure price the actual salaries of the engineer’s that worked on the projected is multiplied by 1. Then the overhead, which is all the extra expenses that a company incurs due to operating, is either 1.5 to 1.75 times the salary and then the profit of the project is determined to be either .5 to 1.0 times the salary. After all those figures are computed the final amount is all three combined. Essentially there are two ways to bill people, either with Labor and Expenses or Lump Sum Billing. Lump Sum Billing is a slightly riskier way to bill since the company is giving a projected total price. By the end of the project they could have either used more or less of the projected money, so theoretically they could either gain more profit then they intended off the project or they could owe money after the project is completed.

Benevides then explained utilization rate, which is billable hours/ total hours worked.  Typically there is only a certain amount of hours that an engineer is billable for during a work week even if the engineer does end up working more than he is going to be paid for.  The youngest of engineers will usually have a utilization rate in the upper 80 percentile. That is because they are expected to work more on the actual projects. With more experience comes the opportunity to sell work though. This means that the utilization rate
decreases as you get older. These utilization rates correlate with the functional roles within the company. In a company/firm there are doers, doer-sellers, seller-doers and just sellers. The doers, or typically the entry level engineers are expected to do the technical work of the project so they have the highest utilization rates.  The doer-sellers mostly work on the technical parts of projects, but every once in a while will sell their work and team. The seller-doer, which is someone that is extremely valuable in a company, will go out and sell projects on a typical basis, but also be able to go back to the office and work on the same projects they have just sold. Lastly are the sellers who are generally just on the sales track.
Their utilization rate is extremely low, but they contribute to the company because they are giving the company in return millions of dollars’ worth of projects. The last two roles, the seller-doers and the sellers, are a big part when talking about overhead prices. Since they are not doing a lot of actual engineering work, it’s a risk for the company to take since the seller-doers and sellers also need to walk away with a paycheck at the end of the day.

Overall Benevides’ talk was eye opening for me. Of course I have heard about billable hours, but I never knew how it actually broke down and hearing about utilization rate was a brand new concept for me.  There are no courses in high school or college that talk about “engineering finance” and I can see why so many engineers would enter the work force with so little knowledge of it. I’m glad that I can enter with at least a little knowledge to get me by.

Jim Skrabak came to Wednesday, November 28^th’s class to talk about occupational safety and health in the engineering field. He is currently the Corporate Health & Safety Manager for CDM Smith.  Skrabak first started out as a chemist though, receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Northeastern University. After his chemists years he decided to make a career change and become an industrial hygienist.  He began his career as an industrial hygienist for a major insurance carrier assessing chemical and physical hazards in manufacturing facilities. He then progressed to developing health and safety programs for hazardous waste remediation projects and eventually managing health and safety programs for heavy construction, demolition and maintenance projects in the energy, environmental, infrastructure and manufacturing industries. He has over 25 years of experience in the development and management of Health & Safety programs in the engineering services and construction industries.

He first started his talk by asking the question why safety first? He elaborated and told us there are a variety of reasons, but most importantly is that accidents cost money. There are direct and indirect cost associated with accidents and these costs can add up to five to six digit numbers. Some direct costs that are attributed to accidents are medical cost, lost work time, and replacement of damaged equipment. Indirect costs are production delays, training replacement personnel and the chance for insurance cost to increase. Usually these indirect costs are four to five times larger than the direct costs. With both these costs accounted for it could lead the engineering firm to a serious loss in profits.

• Say for example we have an accident that has direct cost of 1000 dollars. We can easily assume that the indirect costs are going to at least four times that amount. Now we have to assume that the net profit margin is about 5%. It’s going to take about 100,000 revenue dollars to account for the money lost in the accident. To get 100,000 dollars, the company is going to need at least 1000 billable hours sold at a rate of $100 per hour in a future project.
  • As you can see, this one incident sets the company severely back in finances. They, for lack of better terms, “waste” a project trying to rejuvenate revenues due to it.
  • Now imagine a company has multiple injuries a year… that is why companies stress safety and health precautions to such an extent. Serious money can be lost that could have been directly going to profit.

Safety and health precautions can be broken down into the different positions involved in an engineering firm. Starting off with the design engineer, they are the people that actually plan the entire project. It is their responsibility to design “safe” facilities. The first part of that responsibility is to know and meet the local codes of the town or state. Most engineers do a fine job in making sure their plans are up to code, but it’s the second part of the responsibility that some engineers lack in. The second responsibility is to consider the construction workers, not just the “public”. The engineers need to make sure the construction of the infrastructure is as safe as when the actual structure is done. Today there is over 400 design recommendations to make construction work safer.

The next position is the Construction/Project Manager. Their responsibility is to recognize responsibility to finish a project on schedule, within a budget, meet quality goals and most importantly avoid anyone getting hurt. In order to achieve all these points they need to monitor the contractor’s performance and hold them accountable for their work and men. They also need to consider safety performance exhibited within the contractor when selecting a contractor to do the project.  To determine who “wins” a project has a significant matter in the health and safety performance of the contractor. This same performance is also viewed by clients when deciding on an engineering firm to accomplish their project. Performance is measured by EMR, Experience Modification Ratio. This is a prediction of future losses by basing it off of past claims. Companies usually aim for an EMR under 1. CDM Smith personally is at .75, which is an ideal rate to be at.

The next person most reliable for project’s safety is the owner’s. They ultimately set the tone for the project. They make the decisions and in the end it’s their decision on how things are done on site. It is their responsibility to inform contractors of any know hazards including confined spaces, toxic materials, or any emergency procedures. They also need to be able to let the contractor and construction manager do their job, but also monitor their work as well, since those two positions know the most about the work that is being completed. The last responsibility of the owner is to seek and pay for safety and quality in a company. They need to expect to pay a little bit more for a higher quality and safety for work. It goes back to the old saying, “you get what you pay for”.

The last person that carries a high responsibility for the safety and health of the project is the contractor. They essentially make the plans and executions for the work that needs to be done. They hire the managers, supervisors and employees so it is their responsibility in who they hire are all competent people. Not only do they need to higher competent workers they also need to provide adequate training and resources to them as well. You can only expect people to do so well when they only have minimum education on the project at hand.

Safety and health standards have increased over the years due to the organization called OSHA, Occupational Health and Safety Administration. In 1970 the community requested safer measures in the working field and in response OSHA created minimum standards required by law that work places need to be free from “Recognized Hazards”.  Companies and businesses have increased their health and safety standards, but there will always be people that make stupid decisions or just a run of bad luck that lead a company to accidents. Most accidents are avoidable, but some just happen. It’s the company’s responsibility to stop the accidents that are avoidable though and deal with the accidents that due occur with just need.

There is a Wells G & H Superfund Site located in Woburn, Massachusetts. It is located in the Aberjona River Valley where deep channels of water have cut into the bedrock. Sand, silt and gravel have filled in the center of the trough and till has covered the top of the bedrock on the sides of the river.

Along this river since 1865 have been the sites of many industries and companies. The year of 1865 was the start of the leather industry in Woburn. The industry slowly converted to just industrial and commercial use by the time 1940 came around.

Through those years the Aberjona River was used as process water and a location for wastewater discharge. The town of Woburn became concerned about the upkeep of the river and the noticeable filth that was starting to buildup due to all of the wastewater that was directed into the river. In 1911 there was a law put forth that sewage and chemicals could no longer be discharged into the river. As the years went on more laws were created to stop the river from deteriorating to an even further state of filth. Despite all the laws put forth to stop discharge into the river, the river continued to become a mess. In 1970 MDWPC declared that the river was no longer available for use.

Since the river and Horn Pond, the pond that the river drained into, could no longer be used and the town of Woburn still needed drinking water for its steady population of about 35,000 to 38,000 people, wells were established around the Horn Pond. These wells had built in pumps to collect ground water. It was assumed the water collected in the wells would be safe to drink due to “ground filter”. That sadly was not true. Whenever a problem occurred among one of the wells, a problem being, taste or odor complaints, which was a sign of nitrates, ammonia nitrogen, sulfates and many other substances present in the water, they would simply build another well nearby.

Leukemia, among many other health problems soon started affecting the Woburn town and before you know it a court case in act.

In this court case five organic chemicals were named as contaminants and three companies were claimed as the sources of the chemicals.

One of the companies settled before the case even started, so going into the
case were the companies Beatrice and Grace. The interesting part of this case
was that it was divided into four phases. The first phase, which pertained the
most to Wednesday night’s talk, wanted to answer the question of who was
responsible for the VOC’s. The evidence needed to prove a state of guiltiness
or non-guiltiness was the evidence that the company was not using the chemicals at the “time” claimed that the chemicals were found in the water. Beatrice was found “not liable” and Grace was found “not liable” for 4 out of the 5 chemicals; they could not find evidence to say they were not using the fifth chemical in trial.

Since Beatrice was not found liable for contaminating the waters, they were not tried for the other three phases of the trial. Grace continued onto the next three parts of the trial, which concerned the probability that the contaminants could have caused leukemia, other health effects and the repercussions Grace would have to pay due to the contamination.

The site is now divide into three Operable Units to achieve MCLs for the VOC – contaminated groundwater.

The McCormack Building Post Office and Courthouse is a high-rise
building in Boston, Massachusetts. The building has 22 floors, and was
completed in 1975. It is currently the 25th-tallest building in Boston. The
architectural firm who designed the building was Hoyle, Doran and Berry
Architects. The McCormack Building is notable because of its distinctive black
and white façade.

In the past several years it has undergone modernization and
renovation with an emphasis on green practices and historic preservation.

• Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and
  resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle: from siting to design,
  construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.

The McCormack Post Office and Courthouse still retains its
function as a federal courthouse with the U. S. Bankruptcy Court using its
historic courtrooms and library, but the former Post Office area has been
restored to its original condition and is used as office space by the new
building tenants.  Because of the careful
restoration of these spaces and the historic preservation of the courtrooms,
corridors, stairways, and exterior façade, 75% of the original walls, floors,
and roof were saved from demolition.

Now, after its makeover and upgrades, the John W. McCormack U.S. Post Office and Courthouse draws attention for both its sustainable design
features—the building has earned a LEED gold certification, garnered U.S.
Department of Energy recognition for federal energy management —and historical preservation leadership. LEED provides third party verification that a building has attained major energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions
reduction, indoor environmental quality improvements, and good stewardship of resources.

What is LEED
certification?

In the United States and in a number of other
countries around the world, LEED Certification is the recognized  standard for measuring building sustainability. Achieving LEED certification is the best way for you to demonstrate that your building project is truly “green.”
The LEED green building rating system — developed
and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington D.C.-based, nonprofit coalition of building industry leaders — is designed
to promote design and construction practices that increase profitability while reducing the negative environmental impacts of buildings and improving occupant health and well-being.

Luckily, the building’s good bones laid the groundwork for a successful renovation.

Still, renovating a historic property to best support today’s public building needs wasn’t easy, Buckley says.  Manufacturers had to fabricate modern windows that absorb blasts without shattering into the space while keeping the façade historically accurate.   Architects had to envision ways for contemporary mechanical, electrical and plumbing feeds to integrate into old vertical chases.

Some of the additions that they included in the building are all light fixtures use LED lighting. There was also a huge push for natural lighting. Ceilings were sloped specifically to allow the most light into the room. Also the shade in most rooms were created with thousands of tiny holes to let a maximum amount of light into the room, but still offers a way to reduce the glare in the room.

Also low-flow showers and dual flush water closets reduce water waste. T6 light bulbs and occupancy sensors ensure that artificial lighting consumes as little energy as possible. Highly efficient windows with sun shades, a solar water pump, efficient chillers and storm water runoff irrigation systems also bolster the building’s sustainability. A green roof, complete with drought resistant plants from Cape Cod and the Berkshires, tops off the renovation.   It reduces storm water runoff and boosts insulation.

Works Cited

“John W. McCormack
Post Office and Courthouse.” New England Region. GSA, n.d. Web. 11
Nov. 2012. <http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/regions/McCormack.pdf>.

Smart, Maya P.
“Energy.gov.” Energy.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
<http://energy.gov/articles/boston-s-mccormack-building-gets-makeover>.

Jay Wetherbee works for Veolia Water, the world’s leading operator in water services, which provides water and wastewater services for public authorities and industrial companies. He is an assistant project manager at the Smithfield Wastewater treatment plant and is responsible for the town pump stations and collection system.

Wetherbee has been in the field for about 20 years. He started as an operator, handling the equipment to put forth the engineer’s design. He worked his way up through the ranks and stands now in the company as an assistant project manager. The waste water field is a growing field with a lot of prospect for future jobs. Some examples of the many jobs offered are focused on collection samples from sites and design build.

Wetherbee spent the night explaining how waste water treatment works. The treatment process looks much like this
Pretreatment

Influent is sent to screening. This is where the all the waste water that was collected at the headworks building is “sorted” or removed of roots, rags, cans or large debris. The next is grit removal which removes sand and gravel. Most plants have grit removal systems to prevent the extreme wear down of the pumps if grit is present. Pre-Aeration is next to help freshen waste water and remove the oil that may be in the water. The last part of the pretreatment phase is the flow meter. This measures and records the amount of water that is passing through the system. This helps to monitor and keep track of the possibility of a high influx of water in the system. This warns the operators of the treatment plant that there is a possibility that something is wrong with the system and that groundwater may be leaking into the system.

Primary Treatment

In this process the sludge settles out in the sedimentation
and flotation step and the solids are pumped out and disposed of.

Secondary Treatment

After primary treatment the waste water goes into aeration bases. In this step raw sewage flows into the tanks. Aerobic bacteria are located here to eat the solution. This step is considered activated sludge and it removes suspended and dissolved solids. The next step is disinfection and kills pathogenic organisms.  There are two methods to remove the pathogenic materials; one method is sodium hypochlorate which is the cheaper one of the two. The other method is the use of Ultra Violet radiation. This method requires a lot of electricity which is not economical for most plants.

After all the treatments are completed the water can then be introduced back into the environment.

Alternative delivery in construction projects started becoming popular in the 1980s
throughout the world. Today about 40% of Non-Residential construction is
through alternative delivery.

There is a lot to think about when considering alternative delivery methods and “project
delivery methods have evolved to deal with the many ways in which contracting
parties wish to allocate their risk, from the traditional stipulated price/
general contract to the development of alternative financing and procurement
methods including P3 models.” Not every model is for every project. First the
project needs to be assessed for pros and cons and possible risks. Some risks
to consider are environmental, technical criteria, design, construction, and
operations and maintenance. When all of possibilities are evaluated you can
then make a proper decision.

Before we look at alternative delivery methods for constructions projects, it would probably be best if we saw how a traditional project is structured. “The traditional
stipulated price or general contract project structure relies upon the owner
first contracting with the consultant, who is responsible for the project’s
design, including detailed drawings and specifications, preparation of the bid
package or Request for Proposals (where appropriate). The consultant’s contract
is most often a fixed price and dates certain contracts. Through the consulting
agreement, the owner gains the benefit of the consultant’s experience and
expertise. Once the design has been completed and the work offered for tender
or proposal, the owner will retain the general contractor, who is wholly
responsible for the construction of the project in accordance with the
consultant’s design. The contractor under this procurement method accepts the
responsibility and risks for the construction means and methods and for the
performance of the various subcontractors that it retains.” This method is
more of a chain of command ordeal, but the commander, “the owner”
relies on its lower ranks to make judgment calls in the project as well.

Now that we know how a traditional project is delivered we can now digress to the other forms of delivery. The next to discuss is the construction management framework. This is
very similar to the traditional delivery, but it now introduces the
construction manager. The manager is not there to do a lot and in a, “’pure’
construction management structure, the owner again contracts with a consultant
to prepare a design and contract documents. Simultaneously, or subsequent to
the completion of the design the owner will also contract with a construction
manager as its agent for the management of the project. The construction
manager’s role is predominantly one of advisor and administrator.” This allows
the owner to have a lot more control in the work of the project. The manager is
just there to oversee the project and make sure everything is done on schedule.

Next is Design – Build. In design-build, “the owner typically seeks competitive bids based upon a set of project performance requirements or specifications. The owner then
retains a single entity that is responsible for both design and construction. From
a practical perspective, the design and construction companies will be
integrated from the very early stages of the project. This integration will
provide the opportunity for considerable interaction and discourse between the architect
or engineer and the contractor during the design phase of the project. As a
result, the project may be expedited. The contractor will be able to commence
construction with the understanding of how the design has progressed and how it
is proceeding with the potential to save both time and cost.” This a prime
example of how certain deliveries have different pros and cons. This method
will not work for every project or for every owner or manager and that’s when
you need to make a personal call on the type of delivery you choose.

The last form of delivery that I am going to mention is Engineering, Procurement and Construction Contracts, which is another form of Design-Build. “The major advantage of the EPC contract over the other possible approaches is that it provides for a
single point of responsibility and a single point of contact between the
project developer and the contractor. As opposed to a more traditional delivery
method and the construction management systems described above, EPC delivery
systems rely on a single entity that contracts with the owner to design, build
and procure the key elements of the project.” In this delivery it allows more
people to be involved. Everybody knows what’s happening at each step in the
process and they have a chance to establish their own ideas in the project.

As you can see there are many steps in construction. There are many ways to approach the
process and in today’s world there is a fair amount of people that have decided
to follow the alternative delivery route. We have determined though that whatever
route they choose they will all have the same outcome; an idea that was once on
paper to a 3D structure.

Becker, Jody, and Tim Murphy. “Alternative Construction Delivery Methods.” N.p., n.d.     Web.  17 Oct. 2012.             <http://www.mcmillan.ca/Files/AlternativeConstructionDeliveryMethods.pdf>.

Stephan Parker came in on Wednesday October 10th to inform
the class of career development within the field of Environmental Engineering.
Parker is a Senior Project Manager at Tetra Tech where he has spent over twenty
years in various environmental contract, research, and consulting capacities,
participating in and leading environmental cleanup programs for commercial
clients, the EPA and various DOD clients. He is well aware of what steps to
take in order to find a successful pathway in this field.

He first starts off the night explaining to us that 10 to20
years from graduation we will not be doing what we first started getting
involved in right after college. This is due to a variety of things including
societal, political and natural resource changes. Demands do not stay constant
in the world. One year the government may focus on recycling, reusing and
reducing, but within a couple of years they want to start a different program;
for example, a program that focuses on electric powered cars. It’s hard to
control the shift of ideas, but that is where Parker tells us that we have to
be flexible.

In his next point he also acknowledged flexibility as a key characteristic.
His point being that when trying to find
a career path, you need to be flexible, able to assess core strengths and
utilize them, determine weaknesses and figure out a way to compensate for them,
keep training throughout your career and of course get certifications.

With a solid approach to a career path in environmental
engineering, there are many different avenues that can be explored. Parker enlightens
us on a variety of choices, explaining in a brief synopsis what each career
entails.

Among the many careers options he stated, here are a few:

Ground Water Treatment
– focuses on spills on the grounds; usually solved with injection of chemicals
in the ground creating a reaction that helps to diffuse the situation.

Ports & Harbors
– Parker noted that this is a big growth area due to an increase in shipping.
There is a constant battle between the need for industry vs. the importance of
natural resources.

Site Investigators –
When property transfers take place the property needs to be checked for any
risks.

Restoration &
Water Management – When a building or structure is built over an existing
habitat/ecosystem there is a law now that requires a restoration or replacement
of the land that was taken away.

Mines & Minerals
– Is a huge growth industry. Anything that is taken up from underground creates
a lot of waste that needs to be dealt with in an eco-friendly and economic
matter.

Marketing &
Business Management – This offers a lot of money to be made, but requires the
willingness to network and build an engineering team that you can sell.

Construction
Management – Anyone that gets involved in the design of infrastructures has
to be able to go to a construction site and make sure the work is getting done
properly.

This was just a short list of the many jobs that Parker stated
that night and an even shorter list of all the possible jobs that are
available. It’s reassuring to look at all the different paths that are
available knowing that we will most likely not be involved with the same
pathway that we first got involved with. It gives us all a chance to breathe
for a bit in this hectic game called life.

On Tuesday January 12, 2010, Haiti was hit with a 7.0M earthquake that caused devastation throughout the country. Normally an earthquake of that magnitude would not cause quite the devastation that was brought upon Haiti on the 12th, but due to the poor infrastructures that littered the grounds of Haiti, the death toll was about 316,000, injuries around 300,000 and then finally about 1.4 million were left homeless.

This was a life shattering moment in Haiti, but on the scale of Earthquakes, Haiti’s does not measure up. To put the magnitudes of earthquakes in perspective to other earthquakes that have occurred around the world here are some that topped the charts with their high magnitudes

• In 2004, off the West
  Coast of Northern Sumatra there was an earthquake that measured 9.1M (death
  toll of over 230,000 people)
• In 2011, near the
  East Coast of Honshu, Japan there was an earthquake that measured 9.0M (death
  toll of about 18,000 people)
• In 2010, Offshore
  Maule, Chile there was an earthquake that measured 8.8M (death toll of over 700
  people)

As you can see each earthquake had some of the highest magnitudes ever recorded, but yet death rates at each location did not reach the height of Haiti’s.

I know most of us are not experts in earthquakes and this whole business of magnitude scales can be a little gray for us all so here is a chart that clearly spells out what happens at each level.

Magnitude                       Earthquake Effects

2.5 or less                        Usually not felt

2.5 to 5.4                         Usually felt, minor damages

5.5 to 6.0                         Slight damage to buildings

6.1 to 6.9                         May cause damage in populated areas.

7.0 to 7.9                        Major earthquake. Serious damage.

8.0 or greater                Great earthquake. Can totally destroy
communities near the epicenter

Now that we know all the facts, we can see that Haiti compared to the others was hit with a smaller scale earthquake, but managed to suffer the most. That is where CARE, Project Concern, UN OCHA, US AID OFDA, NGOs, Department of Homeland Security and Federal Communications Commission, to name a few, all stepped in and helped Haiti and its people.  Mark Johnson, an engineer who spoke last Wednesday on the 19th, was down there helping with Project Concern for eight months. When he was down there he specialized in the setup for the rain water harvesting units.

These rain water harvesting units would be attached to the new housing structures that were being built for the families. In Haiti there is not a lot of access to water due to very little surface water.  There is one main river which is dammed for irrigation and power generation. The water from the units was not to be consumed by the people though. The roofs were contaminated with many things, including fecal matter. The main problem with these tanks/units was that no one was certain how much they were going to be able to capture. Research was conducted and tables were collected on the daily, monthly and yearly amount of rainfall in Haiti… turns out that the annual rainfall is about 4.5’ with 2 rainy/drought seasons. In the end, they still weren’t sure if the Haitians were always going to have water to use. It was really up to the Haitians on how much water they were going to use or save.

Haiti still has a long way to come and already $750 million dollars has been spent on this disaster by US AID… most of the money has been spent buying or renting land (one of Haiti’s old laws). The Haitian people were slowing improving their own lives by getting work through The Early Recovery Program (CFWs) or building homes for the homeless.  The Early Recovery Program was designated to excavate and remove the debris of the old infrastructures… this work took weeks upon weeks to complete. Haiti had extremely built up communities that had houses among houses quite literally right on top of each other. None of these houses were built with high stability… making the earthquake essentially a man-made disaster that was a decade in the making. Whereas the demolition progress was going at a snail’s pace, the water situation was making noticeable head way. Water bladders would be brought in daily allowing Haitians to retrieve two 5-gallon water jugs a day. The water would be 0 CFU/100mL and <2ppm Cl₂ when first delivered which was something the Haitians never had access to before. Sadly though by the time the water came back to their makeshift housing only 15% of the water would be potable. It was found though that the Haitians could tolerate a high amount of CFUs… anything under 20 to 30 CFU/100mL would be fine for them.

It was predicted that Haiti was going to be transformed within 6 months and aid would be able to leave, but everybody soon realized that that goal was not possible. As of today Haiti is still trying to get back on its feet slowing making improvements.

The class with Dr. Vicens was a couple of days ago and now that I’ve had time to think about what he said, I’m here now to write down my thoughts.

I’ll rehash the hour discussion including my thoughts as I go on with the story. First off Vicens works at CDM Smith. CDM Smith is a well-known business with offices all over the world. They focus on jobs and projects that  involve water, energy, facilities, transportation, and environment. On their website they advertise themselves as presenting a “solution” to those five issues. They have been involved in quite a number of impressive jobs, ranging from the design of The Andrews Air Force Base in Washington D.C. to the Marina Barrage in Singapore. Both are tremendous jobs to take on and both were done with complete success. Looking at the Marina Barrage website, which has a URL of http://www.pub.gov.sg/Marina/Pages/default.aspx, if you were interested and wanted to take a closer look, the Marina catchment is the island’s largest and most urbanised catchment.

Vicens then goes on to talk about the progression of work through CDM Smith. This is where my ears perked up. Who doesn’t want to find out how to get to the top? Through a survey the company learned that only 30% of the staff knew about promotional rewards. That made me think, are they trying to keep people down in their ranks; only allowing progress to the people that they think are worthy and deserving? It makes sense…I guess. When CDM found this out in the survey they became extremely disconcerned with this information though. They launched a task force in order to confront the lack of knowledging in advancing in careers. They set up four career paths that employees in the company could follow. Seeing this layout, I can only hope that my future employer will have these clear cut steps to make it to the top too. Sometimes when you are hired for a certain job, it is hard to get into a better position within that company after. You could keep excelling in your given job, but you may never get that promotion that you have been trying to persuade your boss with. There are many reasons for that failed attempt, but one reason could be that the boss has his mind set on a level of work that is unattainable to reach in order to get promoted. At CDM there is no chance of that happening. If you follow the career pathways, you are on your way to where you want to be.

Below is a career pathway for the Degreed Technical Professional career path at CDM

Finishing up the discussion, Vicens concluded the best ways to score a job with CDM specifically, but really with any engineering firm is to first involve yourself in a rigourous academic program, then start looking into a CO-OP or internship.

For an internship

• be as specific as you can about what you want to get interested in
• talk about senior project
• become apart of EEE
• apply for an internship late winter/early spring

Then when it comes down to it, you really have to be able to talk about what you are selling; i.e. jobs in the environment, facilities, water, energy or transportation and then lastly you have to match to a section/site that needs your abilities.

After an hour of Dr. Vicens talking, I realized it’s going to be a long and hard process to an engineering firm that I’ll be happy with, but in the end it’s all going to be worth it.