By Kristin Kautz, CPSM From The Zweig Letter AI assistants empower personalized and effective support that will save time and money, and enhance creativity and quality. Building your own AI assistants or GPTs (generative pre-trained transformers) opens up new avenues for every role, title, job, and skill in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. With personalized GPTs, you can “control” the entire AI process from prompting to the knowledge base to the instructions to the output parameters. AI is now in the palm of your hand. I recently gave a hands-on demonstration specifica ..read more

National Building Systems Design Firm Elevates Company Veterans Katie Molstad and Ryan Haug Katie Molstad, retail sector design and construction director LENEXA, Kan. — Henderson Engineers, a national building systems design firm, is proud to announce the promotion of company veteran Katie Molstad to retail sector design and construction director. In this new role, Molstad is focused on leading the integration of retail projects between Henderson Engineers and sister company Henderson Building Solutions, a national design-build construction management and com ..read more

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is today commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Civil Works program. “The Civil Works mission that has been entrusted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is something that makes USACE unique among the world’s military organizations,” said Lt. Gen. Scott A. Spellmon, USACE commanding general. “Our abilities to cohesively perform military, civil, and research and development missions have enabled us to take on and find solutions for many of our nation’s toughest challenges both at home and abroad. “We take great pride in the contributions we make ..read more

New Model Can Guide Better Design to Avoid Catastrophe HOUSTON — Last summer when the Titan submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion on its way to take passengers to see the Titanic shipwreck it was a dramatic example of the failure of a thin-walled structure. Those structures, which may be in the shapes of spherical or cylindrical shells, can efficiently carry relatively large loads, but their slenderness makes them susceptible to buckling-induced collapse.   The submersible is not the only thin-walled structure you may interact with. Whenever you step into a car or hop ab ..read more

raSmith was recently recognized as a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Top Workplace for the 12th consecutive year, ranking second out of 61 firms in the medium-company size category (150 to 499 employees). This recognition is based on employees’ responses to survey questions about the firm’s workplace culture, benefits, and other related qualities. “I am so incredibly proud that raSmith was recognized as the #2 Top Workplace by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,” said Richard A. Smith Jr. (Ricky), raSmith president. “This year, 2024, marks the 12th year in a row that our firm h ..read more

DBIA Video Production Nabs Gold; Design-Build Delivers Podcast Wins Bronze WASHINGTON – For the second year in a row, DBIA received multiple Stevie® Awards in the American Business Awards® (ABA), with one Gold Stevie® and one Bronze Stevie® for the 2024 cycle. DBIA’s video celebrating 2023 Brunelleschi Lifetime Achievement Award Winner William G. “Bill” Hasbrook, Jr. earned a Gold Stevie® in the Public Service & Activism category of ABA’s Video Awards. The Design-Build Delivers Podcast took home a Bronze Stevie® for Best Business Podcast. More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of a ..read more

ICM Awarded Third Place Within the Specialty Division, 425,000 – 1 Million Work Hours Denver, CO – Industrial Constructors/Managers, Inc. (ICM) was recognized as having one of the nation’s top construction safety and health programs in 2023 by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). AGC oversees the prestigious AGC-WTW Construction Safety Excellence Awards, which is an annual ranking of construction safety and health programs. ICM was judged and selected as the third place winner in the Specialty Division for 425,000 – 1,000,000 work hours. “Safety is ..read more

Zweig Group, the leading provider of advisory services, research, and education for the AEC industry, has announced the release of its 2024 Fee & Billing Report of AEC Firms. This comprehensive report offers insights into fees, billing rates, chargeability/utilization rates, project contracts, and billing practices. Compiled through an extensive online survey across diverse industry firms, this year’s report encompasses analysis on more than 150 job titles and 15 market sectors.  Here are some key findings from the report:   Billing rate hikes. According to the 20 ..read more

A learning opportunity from the experts at FARO Technologies titled “Deploying 3D Reality Capture for Bridge Inspection Applications: Field to Finish” FAYETTEVILLE, AR | Civil+Structural Engineer Media, the authoritative source for business news and project information for the AEC industry, has partnered with FARO Technologies to present a webinar that will dive into the world of 3D reality capture technology for bridge inspection applications.  During the one-hour webinar on May 23, 2024, experts from FARO Technologies will cover everything from data acquisition to final analysis and rep ..read more

A learning opportunity from the experts at FARO Technologies titled “Deploying 3D Reality Capture for Bridge Inspection Applications: Field to Finish” FAYETTEVILLE, AR | April 30, 2024 – Civil+Structural Engineer Media, the authoritative source for business news and project information for the AEC industry, has partnered with FARO Technologies to present a webinar that will dive into the world of 3D reality capture technology for bridge inspection applications.  During the one-hour webinar on May 23, 2024, experts from FARO Technologies will cover everything from data acquisition to final ..read more