May/June 2001

Chanute Award deadline

The Octave Chanute Award is given annually to the Western Society member whose paper on an engineering topic is judged meritorious. In 1901, during his term as WSE president, Chanute, an aviation pioneer, funded the cost of awarding a commemorative medal to the Society member who presented the best research paper before the Society each year. The following year, as retiring president of the Society, he established an endowment to fund future awards. (See p. 11 of Midwest Engineer)

Today the Society bestows up to three awards each year to members for meritorious papers in all fields of engineering. A list of rules governing the Octave Chanute Award can be obtained from the WSE office. Papers must be received no later than June 1, 2001.

Chanute Centennial Series

The 2001 Chicagoland Engineering Forum Luncheon Program will be dedicated to celebrating the centennial of the Octave Chanute Award. Luncheon topics will feature his life, work, and interests (such as aviation) and updates of Award-winning papers from the last 15 years. The programs will be identified as part of the Chanute Centennial Series. Check the calendar in upcoming issues of Midwest Engineer for details of the series.

WSE�s 24th invitational golf outing

Mark your calendars for July 23, 2001, to participate in WSE�s 24th annual invitational golf outing. Itasca Country Club will host the outing; registration and luncheon at noon, tee time 1:30 pm. Early Bird fee $460.00 per foursome, if received by June 1, 2001; regular fee $125 per person, $500.00 per foursome. This is a sellout event, so get your reservation in early. Contact the WSE office at 312/913-1730 or [email protected].

Annual meeting and awards banquet

This year the annual meeting and awards banquet has been scheduled to be held in September instead of June. At that time the membership will elect officers and trustees and present awards to honorees. Please contact the WSE office for more information.

Getting ahead: Step up or be stepped over

Getting ahead in your job or career was the theme of the March 27 session of the 51st annual Young Engineers Forum. The multi-business type panel featured engineers from three different business environments: a director of a governmental department, an associate at a large consulting firm, and a manager at an international technology corporation. Each contributed insight into what it takes to get ahead in different job situations.

John Kos, Director, Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), District 1, began by saying his department is looking to replace engineers who are retiring and, consequently, diminishing the experience his staff brings to the job. Therefore, his department is focusing on training young engineers, moving them from construction to design to planning. Kos stressed the importance of taking advantage of opportunities: �Learn from someone else; if you don�t take the opportunities offered, next year�s hires will take the opportunities away from you.� He encouraged young engineers to seek out mentors and to ask for a wide range of training experience.

Kos related a personal experience about his starting his job at the Department of Transportation. One of his first tasks was the Dan Ryan Expressway project. He knew nothing about the project but quickly made it a point to learn from his mentor. At one point his mentor introduced him to media people who helped him develop communication skills�writing and public speaking. This helped him later when IDOT sent him, along with other young engineers, into a community to sell the community on a local IDOT project.

Ken Nelson, Partner, Clark Dietz, Inc., too, stressed the importance of finding mentors. But he also urged young engineers to look for opportunities to manage people. �The first step is to learn to manage yourself�your time, a budget�and then a small staff,� said Nelson. �If you work for five to seven years and still don�t have an opportunity to manage projects and people, look for another job.�

Nelson has found that expanding his horizons beyond the work environment is helpful. He listed outside organizations where engineers can meet peers and even potential clients. He thinks more engineers should offer their experience to community planning commissions and boards. He pointed out that many law firms require young lawyers to perform some related community service in order to make partner. And he encouraged involvement in politics; he cited Bill Ratliffe, Texas�s former lieutenant governor who replaced George Bush as governor after the national election while still managing a large engineering consulting firm.

Conita Vandevender, Director, Network Reliability Strategies & Tactics at Ameritech/SBC, has 15 years experience in telecommunications and supervises 25 managers in charge of reliability and restoring service. She offered ten strategies of success:

• Exhibit a can-do attitude
• Develop a thick skin
• Socialize with peers
• Work with employers to find mentors and discover opportunities; �you personally own your own personal development�
• Care for your employees; this will transfer to caring for your client
• Learn to multi-task
• Give customers what they ask for and work with them to help them understand what they need
• Surround yourself with people who complement you; build a cohesive blended team
• Always say �Thank you�
• Always understand that there�s a better way and figure out how to find it

Raymond Professional Group reorganizes

The Raymond Professional Group, Inc. of Chicago has reorganized, consolidating its former subsidiary companies under one business identity. The former subsidiaries�Doyen and Associates, Incorporated; Raymond-Beling, Incorporated; Raymond Management Services, Incorporated; Raymond-NOBB, Incorporated; and Raymond Williams, Limited�are now all doing business as Raymond Professional Group. �We have restructured our company to focus on five key market groups�Government & Infrastructure; Hydrocarbon & Chemicals; Power; and Process, Facilities & Manufacturing, as well as building on our strengths in the Design-Build area,� says President Douglas J. Chidley, P.E.

ACEC�s Annual Engineering Excellence Awards

At its 35th annual Engineering Excellence Awards event, the American Consulting Engineers Council saluted 24 projects for engineering excellence. Among the winners were two WSE sustaining members. In the Water & Wastewater category, Richmond�s Double Duty CSO System designed by Greeley and Hansen was selected for its innovative flow regulating structures that divert wastewater flows in Richmond, Virginia, to the combined sewer overflow conveyance systems, controlling floatables and solids. In the Structural Systems category, ACEC saluted Teng & Associates for the Old Plank Road Bridge in Frankfort, Illinois, an 82-foot tall A-frame pylon designed to conform to community aesthetic standards and cost concerns while accommodating a sharply skewed crossing.

Construction industry project management consulting firm established

Howard Birnberg, one of WSE�s most popular speakers in the YEF series, announces that the Association for Project Managers has established a management consulting subsidiary called Project Management Consultants. This new subsidiary offers specialized project management consulting services for the entire construction industry.

Project Management Consultants assists owners/institutions/government agencies; general contractors/subcontractors; engineers/architects; and other construction industry members. Services offered include:

• training of project managers
• project management program strategic planning
• analysis of project management organizations
• PM tools/systems evaluation and development
• project management staff evaluation
• communication skill enhancement for project managers
• project mangers training program planning and development
• project manager compensation program evaluation and design

For more information, contact Howard Birnberg at 312/664-2300. Or e-mail [email protected]

SWE headquarters relocating to Chicago

The Society of Women Engineers has entered into an agreement with an association management company to move its headquarters from New York to Chicago with a satellite office in Washington DC. The SWE Board decided that this move will provide the professional support to meet its goal of being the recognized authority on and advocate for women in engineering and technology.

The new headquarters will be located at 230 East Ohio Street, Suite 400, Chicago, Illinois 60611-3265. Telephone: 312/596-5223; e-mail: [email protected].

AHR Expo to visit Chicago every three years

The International Air-conditioning, Heating and Refrigerating Exposition will now be held in Chicago�s McCormick Place every three years. In a joint decision, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) announced the decision to visit Chicago on a three-year cycle beginning with the 2003 show.

New inventor�s law

For 200 years the contents of an inventor�s U.S. patent application has been kept a secret. But the American Inventors Protection Act now requires publication of U.S. patent applications within 18 months of filing if the application has also been filed in another country. These new provisions, which apply to patent applications filed after November 29, 2000, bring U.S. law in line with most foreign patent offices where publication within 18 months of filing is the norm.

The law should have little effect on most inventors; a large number of patent applications are granted in less than 18 months. The law also permits an applicant to choose not to publish if there is an agreement not to file a foreign application. Furthermore, provisional application, design patent applications, applications subject to a secrecy order, and abandoned applications will not be published.

While the new law provides an advance look at an invention, it also recognizes that competitors may take unfair advantage of the information. Previously, damages for patent infringement were calculated from the day of the patent�s issuance, but now damages may begin to accrue from the day the patent application is published. However, there is no obligation to investigate published applications. If a manufacturer is unaware of a patent application, damages do not begin to accrue until the patent is issued.

Infrastructure Report Card 2001

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on March 8 released its 2001 Report Card for America�s infrastructure in which the nation�s infrastructure received a cumulative grade of D+ for 12 infrastructure areas. The Report Card assesses the conditions of the nation�s roads, bridges, transit, aviation, schools, drinking water, wastewaster, dams, solid waste, hazardous waste, navigable waterways, and energy. ASCE�s Report Card website includes examples of local infrastructure conditions and state statistics of many of the infrastructures cited in the Report Card. Below is the assessment of Illinois:

Top three infrastructure concerns according to civil engineers

1. Roads and bridges
2. Mass transit
3. Schools

Key Infrastructure Facts

• 36 percent of Illinois� roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
• 21 percent of Illinois� bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
• 62 percent of Illinois� schools have at least one inadequate building feature.
• 70 percent of Illinois� schools have at least one unsatisfactory environmental feature.
• Illinois� drinking water infrastructure needs almost $5.35 billion over the next 20 years.
• Illinois� wastewater infrastructure needs almost $11.2 billion over the next 20 years.
• There are 167 high-hazard dams in Illinois.

To review the Report Card, click on www.asce.org/reportcard.

The American Society of Civil Engineers also testified before three congressional committees (Senate Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water; House Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials; and House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment) about future developments concerning drinking water and wastewater. The United States must invest nearly $277 billion in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure repairs over the next two decades. Requirements for communities that have not yet achieved secondary treatment or must upgrade existing wastewater facilities remain very high: $126 billion nationwide is required by 2016, according to the most recent estimate by the EPA. The total drinking water infrastructure need nationwide is $150.9 billion for the 20-year period from January 1999 through December 2018. To read the ASCE testimony, go to http://www.asce.org/publicpolicy/congtest.cfm.

World energy consumption

Worldwide energy consumption is projected to grow by 59 percent over the next 20 years, according to the Energy Information Administration�s Outlook 2001. Persistently high world oil prices, stronger than anticipated economic recovery in southeast Asia, and economic growth in the former Soviet Union are all expected to have an impact on energy use. Natural gas remains the fastest growing component of primary world energy consumption; its use is projected to nearly double to 162 trillion cubic feet in 2020. Gas use suppressed coal use (on a BTU basis) for the first time in 1999, and by 2020 it is expected to exceed coal use by 44 percent.

Engineers Week Sponsor

The Chicagoland Engineers Week Committee acknowledges and thanks Carter & Burgess, Inc. as one of this year�s sponsors of the local Engineers Week programs.

2001 Award Nomination Forms Now Available!

Nomination forms for the Washington, Ellet, Landmark, and Chanute Awards are now available for download in Acrobat PDF format. If you don't have Acrobat Reader (free for download at the Adobe website) please download it by clicking on the Acrobat logo above. It's a great utility to have, not only for this but for many other uses.

Know someone worthy of the high honor of the Washington Award, Ellet Award, or the Landmark Award? Want to enter a paper for consideration for the Chanute Award? Click below to get your copy of the nomination forms now.

• 2001 Washington Award nomination form
• 2001 Ellet Award nomination form
• 2001 Landmark Award nomination form
• 2001 Octave Chanute Award nomination form

Archived Society News

• March/April 2001