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What a time it is to be going into the field of Civil Engineering! Technology has advanced so much in the past 50 years, and Civil Engineers have been reaping the benefits. In this blog post I will be writing about some more recent technology that is being employed by Civil Engineers today. In particular, I have been interested in the use of BIM modeling and its applications in Aerial Drone scanning and Modular Design and prefabrication methods. Below I will go through some new technology and attempt to explain how it works.
Building Information Modeling (BIM): BIM is a collaborative 3D model that allows architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers, and other construction professionals to design and plan a project through one shared model. It also allows stakeholders to view a 3D rendering of the project that includes specific information on every aspect of the structure. Such as materials, pricing, procurement, and other logistical information. With all the shared information available in a BIM model, the construction process is able to be better scheduled and managed. This is not just something that I have read about but rather an innovation that I have been fortunate enough to use in my engineering classes at the University of Illinois. Specifically, I have been taught the basics of Autodesk’s Revit software and its applications in modeling. Aerial Drone Scanning: Drones are now commonly used in forensic structural analysis and in construction projects to monitor building decay or project completion. They use high-tech cameras that may be outfitted with anything from Lidar (thermal imaging) to cameras that can detect minor cracks. If a drone is being used to monitor a project, it will compare the images that it captures to a BIM model and assess if the project is being built as designed and if it is being completed according to a decided upon schedule. Drones used for forensic structural analysis are great at accessing hard to get to places and evaluating the integrity of a structure based on deflection or other types of deformation in a building’s structure. Modular Design and Prefabrication: These techniques are not necessarily new ideas but the ways in which they are implemented is something that interests me. Parts of buildings can now be prefabricated based on BIM models that are auto-converted to g-code that is read by CNC machines. This process had previously been time consuming and error prone if done manually. Also thanks in part to BIM, Modular Design is becoming popular in today’s industry because of its quick assembly time and “modern look”. BIM allows engineers to visualize how parts will come together and how to break up a larger structure into smaller pieces that can be built off site and assembled quickly on site. The widespread adoption of this new technology has undoubtedly led to reduced waste and project inefficiency. Mistakes that could have been previously overlooked are now being caught before they have a chance to delay a project. Along with that, if a mistake is made it is easier to find a solution for it because of the larger variety of solutions that are available on the market. Response time to bids must be significantly cut down because of the high-speed data processing and decision making that BIM and other innovations like 5D cost modeling integration allow for. If we have been able to go from using slide rulers and early IBM computers to 3D aerial drone scanning and BIM modeling within only half a decade, who knows what the future holds as far as what Engineering technology will be available. I am looking forward to diving deeper into these technological advancements and utilizing them to propel my future career as a civil engineer. I may not even have to wait too long because my upcoming summer internship with Alberici Constructors will likely give me real world experience with a lot of new technology that they regularly employ.
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 This past fall semester has been full of opportunities and events that have helped me to network and grow as a professional. Many of these opportunities are thanks to being part of the Hoeft Technology and Management Seminar (T and M) fall 2022.
It is apparent to me that my professional development has been drastically accelerated thanks to the T and M seminar. My parents' advice and insight is invaluable in my eyes but they can only propel me forward professionally to a certain extent. Which is why I needed to seek out help from elsewhere. Below I have listed a couple things where I have felt behind on but the T and M seminar has motivated me to catch back up on. 1) This Website Portfolio and Domain ~ Creating my very own website has totally been a game changer for me when it comes to advertising myself to anyone who might be interested. Not only that, but I now have a designated location to record all of my accomplishments and easily look back on them. Which has been something that I have always wanted to do anyways but didn't know how to go about it. 2) My LinkedIn Account ~ Coming into college most people seemed to already have a LinkedIn account. I was not one of those people and I knew that I needed to get on it. Primarily so I could put it on my resume and give myself a greater opportunity of being hired. T and M gave me the guidance to go forward with creating a LinkedIn account that will hopefully be boosting me to the top of potential hires lists. I now have an account that I am proud of and feel as though it represents me well. Another important aspect of this seminar is the invaluable insights into the complex and ever evolving world of CEO's, project managers, finance gurus, and other company elites. Just about every week of the fall semester, our T and M class has had the privilege of attending a brief seminar on the topic of the week given by high ranking employees from companies across all fields. The topics of the week are geared towards preparing us for our future careers in our respective fields which means that they will typically be related to engineering or business. Seeing as most of our class is made up of students from those majors, the speakers tend to be from either engineering or business related companies as well. Just because the topic of the week is a business related subject, does not mean that us engineering majors are any less interested in learning about it. This is because the T and M seminar has been preaching the correlation between business and engineering. Thereby teaching us how a prospective employee who is proficient in both will provide higher value to any company. Now I better understand how it is ideal for an employee not to be so one sided in either field. Taking the teachings of this seminar to practice, I would like to highlight a few recent key accomplishments in my life that I can attribute in some way or another to the T and M program:
Going into the T and M seminar I knew that I had a little interest in understanding the business side of engineering. Now having been through the class I have no doubts that I would like to further invest my time into learning about the business aspects that will accompany my future Civil Engineering career. Overall, this has been a fantastic class that has given me so much more than a couple credit hours and a GPA boost. Without a doubt, I will be holding on to the insights that I have gained through my active involvement in this class! I used my newly acquired knowledge of BIM software to design and build a multi-landing staircase in my grandparents' barn. This was a fun project for me because I was challenged to overcome multiple constraints. The main ones being space constraints with the staircase having to fit in a single stall of the barn as well as time constraints related to my minimal spare time over winter break.
I designed the stairs, bought the materials, fabricated, and managed the project in one week with help from my younger brother and younger cousin. |
