Joe DiPompeo starts work these days with a new morning routine.
“I walk into the office every single morning with a disinfectant wipe in my hand,” said DiPompeo, P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, president-elect of ASCE's Structural Engineering Institute, and founder and president of Structural Workshop LLC, a structural engineering and building firm in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.
“I wipe the doorknob and then work my way through...
OLDER, EXPERIENCED engineers have likely been through at least one economic downturn before the one currently being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the most recent significant recession having taken place just a little more than a decade ago. So they know what to expect and how to keep their focus on recovery.
But younger engineers—those hired after the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009—have...
The movie “Back to the Future” depicts people as riding around in flying cars or on hoverboards by now. While we may not have those yet, the past decade has seen new forms of transportation emerge. One of the biggest is the rise of shared mobility.
It all started in 2010 with ridesharing apps. Now, over 98 million people worldwide use apps like Uber and...
Thank you for rejoining me in our series on Design Thinking. In the first article, we explored with Seth Godin the overarching themes of design thinking and the foundation of the methodology – empathy. Today, we are joined by Carly Foster to explore the application of design thinking in the world of resilience. Foster’s expertise and work lend to the direct application of DT...
FOR ENGINEERS with several decades of experience, the current economic crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic is, in some ways, a familiar challenge. Experienced engineers who weathered the economic downturns of the early 1990s; the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; the Great Recession caused by the financial crisis of 2008; and other national and international crises have learned from the past.
Yet...
ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, and construction (AEC) forecasters are struggling to comprehend the economic hardship that is likely to arise from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting market influences. Although signs of a mild slowdown were prevalent before the pandemic, previous forecasts can be “thrown out the window,” says Richard Branch, the chief economist at Dodge Data & Analytics, of Bedford, Massachusetts.
Several recent surveys of industry...
KEEPING CONSTRUCTION personnel safe on-site during the COVID-19 pandemic is serious business. From safety guidelines to make transmission of the virus less likely to technology that enables heightened remote monitoring and site review, companies are working to ensure that construction sites remain safe as work continues or shuts down.
On March 25, the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC) published guidance documents for construction employers and...
COMPARED WITH EMPLOYEES in other professions, ASCE members have fewer concerns regarding the short- and long-term viability of their companies in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results of a recent survey commissioned by the Society and other organizations. And fewer civil engineering firms have had to let go of employees than other types of companies in the survey.
Overall, the survey...
DURING WHAT MIGHT turn out to have been the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, several engineering firms told Civil Engineering magazine that all, or nearly all, of their employees were working from home, relying on computer screens, internet connections, and other technology to stay in touch with one another and keep servicing their clients.
Added to that anecdotal data are the results of a survey...
For the second time since the crisis began, ASCE members participated in the “COVID-19 Impact and Implementation Survey,” compiled by Industry Insights to assess and understand the business effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest survey results show an economy coming to grips with the challenges this crisis is presenting.
Eighty-one percent of respondents reported experiencing a negative financial impact, compared with 52 percent in the...
