Spring 2012 Newsletter - M E Rinker Sr School of Building ...

Faculty & Staff NewsDr. Edward Minchin made a presentationto the Florida Engineering Society AnnualConference in Miami Beach, Florida. Thepresentation team also included RinkerSchool Adjunct Professors Ken Atkins andGregg Hostetler and was entitled “The Valueof CM/GC as a Tool for Infrastructure ProjectDelivery.”Dr. Ajay Shanker was invited by the Ministryof Higher Education and ScientificResearch of United Arab Emirates (UAE)to be part of an accreditation team for theTechnical Drawing Diploma programs inUAE. The three-year Diploma programs forhigh school graduates were started aboutfour years ago by the UAE government.The programs were established in responseto the needs of the construction industry inUAE and for creating employment opportunitiesUAE nationals. Dr. Shanker visited Al Jaheli Institute ofScience and Technology in Al Ain; Baynounah Institute of Scienceand Technology in Al Gharbia; and Al Jazirah Institute of Scienceand Technology in Abu Dhabi. All programs had excellent physicalfacilities and extremely dedicated faculty. Several suggestions to includedetailing for steel and concrete; construction techniques; shopdrawings; and software were made. It was heartening to see thatalmost all students were females which shows the rapid progressmade by UAE for providing equal rights to all nationals.Professor Michael Cook was recentlynominated to be considered for the UndergraduateTeacher/Adviser of the Year.He states that he is also considered becominga “touring pro” in golf.Dr. Abdol Chini was a keynotespeaker at the 16th InternationalSymposium onAdvancement of ConstructionManagement and RealEstate (CRIOCM 2011) thatwas held on September 23-25,2011 in Chongqing, China.His presentation reviewedthe significant amount of waste produced by demolition of buildingstructures and addressed the strategies to reduce waste impactof the construction and demolition. He also gave a presentation on“principles of sustainable construction” to faculty and graduate studentsof the School of Construction Management and Real Estate atthe Chongqing University and a presentation on “life cycle costingas a critical tool for building green” to faculty and graduate studentsof the Chongqing Jiaotong University. Dr. Chini traveled to HongKong in early June to attend the Board of Examiners meeting asthe academic advisor for Department of Building and Real Estateat the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). In October, hepresented a paper on “Estimating Energy Consumption during Constructionof Buildings: a Contractor’s Perspective,” at the WorldSustainable Building Conference, in Helsinki, Finland.Dr. Ravi Srinivasan was invited to chair twosessions on “Limitations of Simulation in Practice”in the 12th biennial Conference of InternationalBuilding Performance Simulation Association,Sydney, 14-16 November, 2011. Dr.Srinivasan also published and presented fivescientific papers that focused on varying topicsincluding re(de)fining Net Zero Energy definitions,sustainability assessment of buildings,envelope optimization of buildings, calibratedsimulation model and development of benchmarkplug-load densities for K-12 schools, at this premier conferencededicated to improving the built environment. The co-authors ofthese papers include faculty from the University of Pennsylvania,research scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(US EPA) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL),and industry practitioners.Dr. Srinivasan published and presented “Energy Balance Frameworkfor Net Zero Energy Buildings” at the Winter Simulationconference held in Phoenix, AZ, December 11–14, 2011. Dr.Srinivasan published “Renewable Substitutability Index (RSI) forBuilt Environments” at the 7th biennial Emergy Research conferenceheld in University of Florida, January 12–14, 2012. The paperdiscussed the development of RSI and a renewable resourcerecovery rate to integrate renewable resource use over the lifetimeof the building. The co-authors of this paper include research scientistfrom U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and agraduate student, Wang Wei, from the Rinker School.Drs. Abdol Chini and AjayShanker were invited to Indiaby the Jaypee Group, awell-diversified infrastructureindustrial group that hasdeveloped three higher educationinstitutes in emergingareas of technology in India.They visited Jaypee Universityof Engineering & Technology(UIET) at Guna from8/8 to 8/12. The purpose ofthis trip was to build on relationships that was established in 2006between the Rinker School and the higher education institutes underthe auspices of Jaypee. At that time, a plan was developed to start amaster’s degree in construction management at UIET. In addition,Jaypee sent one of UIET faculty, Sandeep Shrivastava to completehis Ph.D. degree in construction management at the Rinker School.Sandeep will be graduating this spring and will return to India toteach the newly developed construction management courses. Drs.Chini and Shanker visited the academic and research facilities ofthe UIET campus, reviewed the curriculum of the civil engineeringprogram, and met with the faculty and students. They also providedseveral workshops for the faculty and students and coveredseveral topics such as value engineering, sustainable construction,and construction techniques of concrete and steel frame buildingsin US. At the last day of the trip a memorandum of understandingwas signed between the Jaypee Group and the Rinker School to allowcivil engineering students who are enrolled in Jaypee Universitiesto spend their final semester at the Rinker School and take fourconstruction management courses. Upon successful completion ofthe four courses a Certificate in Construction Management issuedby the Rinker School will be given to each Jaypee student.There are three Jaypee students who are currentlyenrolled in this certificate program.25