New staff memberJessica Jurgaitis has joined the Western Society of Engineers� staff as office manager effective at the end of December 2001. WSE is pleased to welcome her to her new position. Chicagoland Engineering Forum luncheon scheduleThe Chicagoland Engineering Forum committee announces the following schedule for the first six months of 2002:
Check the calendar listings in future issues of Midwest Engineer or contact the WSE office, [email protected] or 312/913-1730. National Academy of Engineering honors GreatbatchThe National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has awarded the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, worth $500,000, to Wilson Greatbatch and Earl Bakken, who engineered the first human heart pacemaker. Greatbatch received the Washington Award in 1996 for his achievements in this field. The purpose of the Russ Prize is to recognize outstanding achievement in an emerging engineering field that is currently of critical importance and that contributes to the advancement of the human condition through widespread use. In its initial years the prize will recognize achievements in biotechnology engineering. November Engineer�s Forum luncheon: Great Lakes Naval BaseLt. Commander Kevin Brown, U.S. Navy, spoke at the November 14 Engineering Forum luncheon, outlining the challenges facing the Great Lakes Naval Base following military cutbacks and the subsequent terrorist activity of September 11. Great Lakes Naval Base is the third largest naval base in the United States and the only boot camp for naval recruits in the nation. As Brown states, �Recruits become sailors at Great Lakes.� Great Lakes is a training facility, not a naval base harboring ships. In addition, the trainees at the marine training facility at Glenview Naval Air Station, which was to be headquartered in Atlanta after the station closed, were also transferred to Great Lakes because the reservists involved live in this area. This number of personnel and their training requirements exerted pressure on a naval base that had become outdated by today�s standards. Opened in 1906, the Great Lakes base was rebuilt in the 1930s after World War I and again after World War II and the Korean Conflict. Current base facilities are the result of yet another reconstruction in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At the present time, however, the base is inadequate for current demands that resulted from military cutbacks and increased security/protection needs. That is why Brown, Resident Officer in Charge of Construction and Field Activity Midwest for the U.S. Navy Civil Engineers Corp, has been assigned the task of redesigning and rebuilding Great Lakes. Brown faces constraints because he must accomplish his tasks while allowing for continuous training and while accommodating anti-terrorist protection measures. There are 60,000 people on the base, either training or in administrative positions. Two thirds of the personnel are housed on base, some with their families. There are training classrooms and labs, including a proposed facility with a mock up ship inside for search and rescue training. All of these functions lead to unique architectural needs. For example, everyone eats, bathes, and marches at the same time. The physical training facility must be designed to accommodate large group movements�up to 20 divisions at one time�and must be reconfigured to eliminate excessive marching. Long marches to get from one place to another tend to cause shin splints, a common affliction of new recruits. As Brown points out, �We�re in the navy; we don�t have to march so far.� Additional constraints include the historical status of some of the old drill halls and compliance with governmental regulations. Brown has been working with the state historical society to clear the way to tear down the older buildings. And he is developing methods to comply with the American Disabilities Act as well as all other federal requirements. Security and anti-terrorist requirements are also issues. According to Brown, anti-terrorist procedures on the base have been in place before September 11 because of the unrest in the Middle East. However, security has been more rigidly enforced since September 11, and the base is functioning under what is termed �Threat Conditions.� This means that parking and building access are restricted, and all rebuilding of facilities is accelerated. Following September 11, recruits now go through a 14-step training program called Battle Stations Concept, which involves managing events based on real life naval conflict. All of this, of course, is accompanied by the usual security restrictions in place on any military base. Meanwhile, while taking prescribed security precautions, Brown and his staff are tearing down and rebuilding the base. He is negotiating to attach an abandoned golf course lying between the base and the nearby Veterans Administration facility to add much needed space. The design-build-maintain concept is the model Brown is using to rebuild Great Lakes. In addition, he is taking full advantage of current technology to reach his goals; for example, he is using web-based construction management software and has installed web cams to monitor progress of construction. (The web cam system can also be used by off-base personnel and government officials to view the base activities.) Brown opened the meeting to questions at the end of his presentation. Attendees wanted to know if the navy has considered a stipend to offset a private firm�s expenditure incurred in answering an RFP, and, in a related question, if the navy will limit a private firm�s liability in a contract. The answer to both questions was no. From the navy�s perspective, Brown responded to the question about the military�s biggest problem in dealing with private engineering firms: �Give us what we want. Read and then reread our RFP.� New membersThe WSE Board of Direction and the Admissions Committee welcome the following members into the Western Society of Engineers:
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