infrastructure

The Key Roles of AI Engineers

October 28, 2019 By Anthony Fasano

This is a guest blog by Jim Hughes

AI engineering is a relatively new field that is becoming more and more important in various industries, especially in the industrial and manufacturing contexts. It has even found its way into the stock market. Some of the most interesting and meaningful applications of AI are in the field of engineering and that is why more and more people are becoming AI Engineers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Engineering

TCEP 108: The Value IT Professionals Bring to the Engineering World

January 7, 2019 By Anthony Fasano

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In episode 108 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I will be speaking with Lisa Roger, PMP who is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Dewberry. We talk about her work in the Information Technology (IT) Department and also discuss the importance of IT Professionals in the engineering world.

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some of the questions I ask Lisa Roger, CIO:

What does being a CIO mean in terms of your responsibilities at Dewberry?
Talk to us about your philosophy in terms of IT?
Do you encourage interaction between IT professionals and engineering professionals?
How do you decide which software will be implemented at your company?
How much do you rely on out of the box software vs. software you have customized in-house?
Many small firms don’t have the advantage of an in-house IT department. At what point in an engineering firm’s growth do you think an IT department is needed and what are some of the pitfalls if they don’t have one?
How do you think the future of artificial intelligence will influence IT jobs and the engineering world?

Here are some key points discussed in this episode about IT Professionals:

TECC 191: Hacking and How It Puts Our Engineering Systems at Risk

December 11, 2018 By Anthony Fasano

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In this episode, I talk with award-winning journalist and host of the Peggy Smedley show, Peggy Smedley about cyber-security and hacking and how it affects us as engineers in our work as well as in our personal lives.

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some of the key points discussed about hacking and how it puts our engineering systems at risk:

TCEP 094: Harnessing Innovation in Engineering Leadership

August 20, 2018 By Christian Knutson, PE, PgMP, PMP

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In episode 094 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, which is 4^th episode in our 5-part series on infrastructure, Chris Knutson interviews Kate Harris, President, and CEO of Stanley Consultants about harnessing innovation in engineering leadership. Kate gets into future trends of the industry and how we can prepare for them. She also discusses public- and private partnerships, an important aspect of infrastructure projects.

Here are some of the questions asked of Kate Harris on Harnessing Innovation in Engineering Leadership:

You left university with a degree in quantity surveying. Did it prepare you for where you are today, CEO and President of an A/E firm?
What were some of the notable milestones in your career which indicated that senior leadership positions might be a real possibility?
What do exceptional A/E firms get right?
Can you give advice to young professionals looking to work better with clients and improve their communication skills?
What changes have you witnessed during your 25 years in the civil engineering industry?
What are your thoughts on private/public partnerships?
How do you decide what the most important task to work on is for any given day?
Share with us your thoughts on how an engineer can approach looking at the future?

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some key points discussed in this episode on harnessing innovation in engineering leadership:

Having a degree in Quantity Surveying gave me an appetite for creative problem solving and build-ability.
Throughout my career, I have tried many new things to get a broad view of our industry. I feel that this is important in trying to understand what matters to people. When you can understand what is important to other people, you will understand what questions to ask them.
Exceptionally good A/E firms understand that business success is in servicing clients and client experience. We need to be partners in terms of harnessing innovation in business thinking, management skills, giving advice, and we certainly need to be technically capable and creative.
It’s very important that companies understand what they are bringing to their clients, and not just what they are bringing to their constituents and their shareholders.
The key to working with clients is to listen actively to what they need, and to not just concentrate on what you want to say next.
We are all going to have to look to the future and figure out what the word “value” will mean tomorrow, rather than what it means today.
It’s not so much about what we know in our industry, it’s about what we know in our world, and what is going on outside of our industry, that is important for young engineers to know. Young engineers should get curious, be fearless and get educated on what is happening outside of the field.
Being technically competent without the ability to inspire others limits you in your career as a leader. A leader needs to be able to identify and support great talent. If you are planning on becoming the chief engineer of your company, you need to learn how to communicate with others in a way that inspires them to follow their dreams.
The key to communication is not what you want to tell people, it’s about figuring out how people assimilate information and what matters to them. You then have to allow them to understand what you are telling them. To do this, you need to change your style to match the way they think and listen.
It’s absolutely fundamental for project managers to know what success looks like for a business, and not just for a project.
Your job as a CEO is to find great talents, set direction and provide support. You need to carve out time to do all three of these things to be successful in your career.
Connect, communicate, listen and be very curious as an engineer.

More details in this episode…

About Kate Harris

Kate Harris, President and CEO of Stanley Consultants, has 25 years of international experience in the construction, engineering and consulting industry. Stanley Consultants provides engineering, environmental, and construction services at over 30 offices worldwide. Founded in 1913, the firm has completed engagements in all 50 states and 110 countries, and is ranked among the largest engineering companies in the United States – very impressive.

Kate Harris graduated with a First-Class Honors degree in Quantity Surveying from the University of the West of England in 1993. She has also completed the Advanced Management and Intellectual Property programs from Harvard. Harris has a broad range of contractor, client and consultant experience encompassing strategy development, risk management, building high performing teams, developing client relationships and profitably growing businesses. Most recently Harris provided board and executive advisory services following her global Commercial Officer role with MWH Global (now part of Stantec). During her 17-year tenure with the firm, she is credited with integrating service lines and setting global policy, performance measures and business practices. An active advocate of talent development, she continues to mentor upcoming generations of leaders.

Sources/References:

Engineering Management Accelerator Workshop (Online) | 5 PDHs
Engineering Membership Drive
Kate Harris LinkedIn
Stanley Consultants

This episode is brought to you by RedVector. The team at RedVector believes knowledge is the most powerful tool available for helping people enrich their lives and meet their professional goals. To find out more about RedVector continuing education, visit www.RedVector.com.

This episode is also brought to you by Danfoss. Smart energy systems, efficient buildings, and raising construction sites are just a couple of areas where you can experience how Danfoss is part of the sustainable development of strong infrastructure, visit www.city.danfoss.com

Please leave your comments or questions in the section below on harnessing innovation in engineering leadership.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider downloading our free list of 33 Productivity Routines of Top Engineering Executives. Click the button below to download.

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To your success,

Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success

TCEP 087: How Civil Engineers Can Adapt to Climate Change and Its Effects on Infrastructure

June 18, 2018 By Anthony Fasano

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In episode 87 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, which is the second episode of our 5 episode Infrastructure Series, I talk with Professor Bilal M. Ayyub, PhD, PE, Dist.M.ASCE from the University of Maryland about how civil engineers can adapt to climate change and its effects on infrastructure.

Here are some of the questions I ask Professor Bilal:

Tell us more about risk mitigation in general.
How will you assess an existing piece of infrastructure against potential climate change concerns?
Does the government assess certain points of existing infrastructure that are more susceptible to climate change than others?
How do you analyze the risk associated with something as variable as climate change?
How can civil engineers move towards more climate-resilient designs?

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some key points discussed on climate change and its effects on infrastructure:

TCEP 084: The Importance of Sustainable Infrastructure Featuring Kristina Swallow

May 21, 2018 By Anthony Fasano

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In episode 084 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, which is the first episode of a 5 episode Infrastructure Series, I talk with Kristina Swallow, PE., ENV SP, F. ASCE, who is the current President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), about the importance of sustainable infrastructure.

Here are some of the questions I ask Kristina on sustainable infrastructure:

Why should we be concerned about our infrastructure in the US?
How can we as civil engineering professionals help to improve infrastructure?
How can we advocate for infrastructure funding?
Could you describe one of your typical days as ASCE President?
What parts of your job as ASCE President do you find most challenging?
What do find most enjoyable in your job as ASCE President ?

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some key points discussed on sustainable infrastructure:

TCEP 035: The Benefits of Looking at an Infrastructure Project in 3D

July 6, 2016 By Anthony Fasano

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TCEP 035_ The Benefits of Looking at an Infrastructure Project in 3D

Reference: http://www.civilfx.com/15/

In episode 35 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I interview Sam Lytle of Civil FX about the benefits of looking at civil engineering projects in 3D and how doing so can benefit you as a civil engineer.

In the interview we talked a lot about how a quality 3D rendering of a civil project can be a huge benefit to the designer, the client, and other stakeholders. A 3D rendering can make something complicated and intricate like a civil engineering project look beautiful to non-technical people and the public.

Here are some of the questions I ask Sam:

Other than the Nevada Department of Transportation, did you work for any other engineering firms or agencies?
What made you believe that starting a visualization company would be successful enough to support you and your family full time?
What do most of your clients look like?
Other than rendered images and animation videos, what does Civil FX offer?
What does a typical workday look like for you?
How do you work on new skill sets, like for instance sales?

Here are some quotes from Sam Lytle from this episode:

Here are some key points discussed in this episode:

3D Visualization is the core of my business. In most cases what we do is, we build the project virtually in a 3D representation of the project using actual CAD files. We take those files and we integrate them into existing terrain and we model the surrounding infrastructure, whether it be buildings, mountains, signs, billboards or whatever it might be, to try and make it look like it really would. Once we have that virtual representation of the project, we can do a lot of different things. Our goal is to create the project as accurate as possible and then use that to create visuals in a variety of formats to communicate it.
From a business aspect, you are always trying to solve problems, and the problem is that project managers need to explain projects to people that aren’t engineers.
We have two workflows that we use depending on what the client’s needs are. One of them is sketchup to Lumion. This is usually used for smaller projects where a client is only interested in the images or videos. The other workflow we use, which is more flexible is the AutoCAD Civil 3D to unity workflow. This is where we build the project in 3D and then we bring it into unity workflow.
When you start a new business, you end up doing a lot of small tasks yourself, but there is also endless possibilities to not be doing these small tasks yourself.
Getting qualified people to do smaller, unfamiliar tasks for you will take of a lot frustration from you and will also save you a lot of time.

More details in this episode…

About Sam Lytle, P.E…

Sam Lytle grew up in a small town in Nevada called Alamo. When he graduated high school he
attended UNLV in Las Vegas where he received a degree in civil engineering. After graduation he received a job offer with the Nevada Department of Transportation as a rotating engineer which took him through various divisions within the department and eventually took him and his family to Carson City, NV. After the two year rotating engineer program, Sam accepted a position in roadway design and it was during this time that he discovered his love for 3D visualization. He decided then that he would someday start his own 3D visualization company and it was about 3 years later (and shortly after he received his professional engineering license) that he started Civil FX full time. Sam now lives back in his home town of Alamo with his wife and 3.5 kids and with Civil FX and his small team of artists and engineers, he works with the engineering, construction and infrastructure industries to provide high quality graphics and renders using actual design data.

You can connect with Sam Lytle at his company website, his company twitter account , his LinkedIn account or his personal twitter account.

Sources/References:

TECC 39: The Engineering Career Coach Podcast – How Being an Entrepreneur can Help you in your Engineering Career with Sam Lytle, PE of CivilFX
Civil FX Twitter
Sam Lytle’s Website
Sam Lytle’s LinkedIn
Sam Lytle’s Twitter
Sam Lytle’s YouTube Channel
Sam Lytle’s Podcasts

This episode is brought to you by PPI, the leader of civil engineering FE or PE exam preparations. Use promo code CIVIL for 20% discount at PPI2Pass.com/coach.

Books mentioned in this episode:

The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime.

Please leave your comments or questions in the section below on

If you enjoyed this post, please consider downloading our free list of 33 Productivity Routines of Top Engineering Executives. Click the button below to download.

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To your success,

Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success

TCEP 033: Civil Engineering Interviews from the Society of American Military Engineers 2016 JETC

June 8, 2016 By Anthony Fasano

The Civil Engineering Podcast visits Arizona for the SAME JETC conference…..

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Episode 33 of The Civil Engineering Podcast was recorded in Phoenix, Arizona, where I interviewed successful individuals at the Society of American Military Engineers (aka SAME) Joint Engineer Training Conference & Expo (JETC).

Here are some of the key points I discussed with ask Adam Hughes during JETC:

Adam is a Civil Engineer in the United States Public Health Service that focuses on ensuring that Indian reservations/communities have clean water. He has been practicing in this industry for 12 years now.
His team consist out of 14 engineers, drafters, construction inspectors and civil engineering technicians. At the moment they are working with two tribes in southern Arizona.
For someone that is interested in management, he recommends to first develop your technical capability and to then develop your verbal and written communication skills. It is also important to find your own management style and gain awareness of your own limitations and preconceptions.
We don’t all see a problem the same way and it is not that one way is right and the other way wrong, it is more of trying to understand each other so that we can effectively communicate and work with people.
It’s not just about being able to crunch the numbers, you’ve got the take the next step if you want to make change as a civil engineer.

Here are some of the key points I discussed with Kris Prasad at JETC:

TCEP 30: Dan McNichol’s Journey Across the Nation Spotlights America’s Old Infrastructure

April 27, 2016 By Anthony Fasano

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reference: http://www.equipmentworld.com/national-public-works-week-kicks-off-with-low-and-slow-infrastructure-tour/

In episode 030 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I interview Dan McNichol, a number one best-selling author and an award-winning journalist who recently created and completed a year long national media tour in a 1949 Hudson that advocated for the rebuilding of the nation’s vital civic systems with the tag: “America’s infrastructure is as old, rusty and energy defunct as this original Detroit lead-sled.” The conversation previews Dan’s upcoming keynote speech at the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) 2016 Joint Training Conference & Expo which will be this May in Arizona. [Read more…] about TCEP 30: Dan McNichol’s Journey Across the Nation Spotlights America’s Old Infrastructure

TCEP 28: Becoming a Sustainability Professional to Further Your Civil Engineering Career

April 6, 2016 By Anthony Fasano

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In episode 028 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, Christion Knutson, PE interviews Denise Nelson,PE – Vice President for Public Education at the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and she discusses what the Envision Sustainability Professional certification is and how it compares and supplements the LEED certification.

Here are some of the questions Knutson asks Nelson:

What is the Envision rating system and the Envision Sustainability Professional certification?
Why should civil engineers care about it?
What is the triple bottom line concept?
How does Envision help gauge performance of sustainable infrastructure?
What’s the difference between Envision and LEED and what does each one of them bring to the table?
What can Envision offer you as a Stakeholder?
Is Envision more than just engineering?
How did Envision come into existence?
And many more…

Quotes to think about:

Here are some of the key points from this episode: [Read more…] about TCEP 28: Becoming a Sustainability Professional to Further Your Civil Engineering Career