engineering projects

TCEP 135: Effective Communication Is Key With People at All Levels in Civil Engineering

January 15, 2020 By EMI

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In this episode of The Civil Engineering Podcast, our tenth episode in our Women in Civil Engineering series, I talk to Disa Wahlstrand, PE, LEED AP, who is a vice president of municipal services and water resources operations for Ayres in Wisconsin. We will be talking about engineering in STEM, big picture mindsets, and why communication is key in multidisciplinary teams.

Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Disa:

How can we influence the attitudes of students, especially females, about engineering and STEM in general?
Why do you enjoy doing campus planning?
Can you talk to us about your experience being a vice president in a mid-sized company?
What can you share with civil engineers out there about transitioning into their careers?
Why would you say communication is key for civil engineers?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Why Effective Communication Is Key for Civil Engineers:

This Is How Engineers Can Build a Good Work-Life Balance

December 9, 2019 By EMI

This is a guest post by Nader Mowlaee

To have a good work-life balance, you can’t live your life to work. It should be the other way around: Work so you can have a good life. That may sound too good to be true for you right now, but don’t allow—not even for one second—any doubt to settle in your heart or your mind that you can’t have that. We have all been there at least once, working on projects 50 to 60 hours per week and still feeling like we’re spinning our wheels.

I understand that deadlines don’t often change, and that in tough times we must go all-in to finish projects on time. But this means that you’re getting deep into working overtime while at the same time training yourself and everyone around you that you are capable of working more than you should—and since you want to be a good sport, you can work overtime while keeping a good attitude.

TCEP 115: A Rational Approach to Dealing with Difficult People on Your Engineering Projects

April 10, 2019 By EMI

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In episode 115 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I visit with Stephanie Buckingham, APTD, PHR, an Associate Professional in Talent Development and part of Freese and Nichols’ Organizational Development team about dealing with difficult people on your engineering projects.

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some of the questions I ask Stephanie about dealing with difficult people:

What made you decide to focus on this topic?
Tell us more about the root of difficult people?
How do you get back on track after you had an encounter with a person who is being difficult?
How do you disagree with someone while still being respectful to them?
Do you have any stories you can tell us that have influenced your perspective on dealing with difficult people?

Here are some key points discussed in this episode about dealing with difficult people:

TCEP 076: Two Professionals in the Civil Engineering Industry who are Impacting the World Beyond their Engineering Projects

January 31, 2018 By EMI

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In episode 76 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I interview two guests that work in the Civil Engineering world and have worked on very special projects that are helping our community and the world as a whole. They are Alan Lloyd, CIH, CSP, Associate Vice President and Corporate Health and Safety Officer from Pennoni, and Menzer Pehlivan, Ph.D., P.E., from CH2M who was one of the stars in the Dream Big Movie.

Here are some of the questions I ask our guests on impacting the world through these special projects:

Are you Focused on Moving your Engineering Career Forward, Every Day?

January 10, 2018 By EMI

Are you Focused on Moving your Engineering Career Forward, Every Day?

Odds are if you’re like most engineers, you show up at work each day, solve problems, go home, and then come back the next day and repeat that process. Obviously, I am simplifying things here. Within that, ‘solve problems’ generalization, lie thousands of amazing projects, inventions, and solutions that move our world forward. Engineers create extraordinary things. But what career-related items do you partake in outside of your engineering projects, and how you do you decide when or why to execute them and move your engineering career forward?

TCEP 065: How our Cities and Towns are going broke and How Civil Engineers can Help Long-Term

August 30, 2017 By EMI

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In episode 065 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Charles(Chuck) Marohn, a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) about how our cities and towns are going broke and how civil engineers will play a role in developing strong towns in the future.

Here are some of the questions I ask Chuck:

Why are so many towns and cities across North America going broke?
What are some things that you’ve seen in your travels that don’t necessarily take thousands of dollars to implement, that have made stronger towns?
How can we as civil engineers help to build stronger towns?
What are some things that civil engineers can do to address this problem in civil engineering?

Engineering Quotes

Here are some key points discussed on how our cities and towns are going broke and how civil engineers can help long-term. Chuck says:

What Every Engineer and Project Manager should know about the Scope of Work (SOW) on Engineering Projects

October 31, 2016 By EMI

Scope of Work (SOW)

Scope of Work The following is an excerpt from John Lowe’s book entitled A Guide to Managing Engineering and Architectural Design Services Contracts. The post was published with permission from the author and the audiobook will be available through Engineering Management Institute website in November 2016. Click here for a notification when the audiobook is released.

The Scope of Work (SOW) on a project is an important aspect of a project that can lead to many budget and schedule challenges. In this excerpt, which is two separate excerpts of Mr. Lowe’s book, he defines the Scope of Work in relation to engineering projects and discusses how liability can be minimized by sharing the SOW and identifying changes to it early on.

The Scope of Work on Engineering Projects

engineering projects

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Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Disa:

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Why Effective Communication Is Key for Civil Engineers:

This is a guest post by Nader Mowlaee

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some of the questions I ask Stephanie about dealing with difficult people:

Here are some key points discussed in this episode about dealing with difficult people:

Here are some of the questions I ask our guests on impacting the world through these special projects:

Are you Focused on Moving your Engineering Career Forward, Every Day?

Here are some of the questions I ask Chuck:

Engineering Quotes

Here are some key points discussed on how our cities and towns are going broke and how civil engineers can help long-term. Chuck says:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed