ACEC New York
6 Airline Drive
Albany, NY 12205 acecny@acecny.org T 518.452.8611
F 518.452.1710
60 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10165
T 212.682.6336
F 212.818.0286
Leadership Awards 2012 – Call for Nominations! The Awards and Recognition Committee is soliciting applications for New Principal of the Year (nominee must be a principal at a member firm less than 5 years) and Engineer of the Year (nominee must be a current or retired ACEC New York Member). The awards will be presented on June 13th at the ACEC New York Annual Meeting at the Union League Club, NYC. Click here to download the application forms. Applications are due by April 6, 2012 to ACEC New York, 6 Airline Drive, Albany, NY12205 or fax or email to 518-452-1710 or gina@acecny.org.
Winter Conference 2012. Close to 260 people attended the ACEC New York Winter Conference at the Albany Marriott Hotel, January 29-31. Sunday evening the members networked at the opening reception and scholarship presentations were made to two students. Monday morning began with a lively Open Transportation Committee Meeting, followed by our keynote speaker, Karen Rae, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, who spoke about Governor Cuomo’s commitment to infrastructure investment. The city and state agencies, participating in our morning sessions, then split into two rooms, with transportation agencies in one room and buildings/energy in the other. The agency presentations are now posted on the ‘members only’ page of our website.
During lunch, Hardesty & Hanover was presented with a 125th anniversary award and Charlie Gozdziewski spoke about his firm and the value of membership in ACEC New York. The afternoon focused on two major forums, one on Public Private Partnerships and the other on Corporate Governance and the new Design Professional Corporations. The evening’s infrastructure Policy Networking Event was well attended by 22 legislators, NYSDOT Commissioner McDonald, OGS Commissioner Destito and Deputy Secretary of Transportation Rae. At the event, ACEC New York presented a Legislator of the Year Award to Assemblyman Canestrari and to Senator LaValle.
Tuesday morning, there were two educational programs on managing lease costs and the national ACEC insurance program, followed by a Board/Membership Meeting. The conference officially adjourned at noon. During the conference, close to $13,000 was raised for the National Political Action Committee (PAC) through an auction and the selling of tickets to a national sweepstakes program. Thanks to all who attended the conference and helped us form a solid base for reaching our national PAC goal in 2012!
Engineering Excellence Advertising Available. Support your Industry and congratulate design professionals by taking an Ad in the 2012 Engineering Excellence Program. Click here for details! Additional sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Gina Potfora in the Albany Office.
ACEC New York members sign up to present to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Former Scholarship Recipient John Miner, currently a Masters Engineering candidate at RPI, reached out to ACEC New York in the hopes of having consulting engineering firms present engineering projects to the RPI student chapter of ASCE. Many thanks to Bergmann Associates, CDM, Erdman Anthony, Malcolm Pirnie and Ryan-Biggs Associates who are scheduled to present over the coming months. John has already expressed interest in continuing this partnership next year and is very appreciative of our support.
Rochester Region’s Engineering Exhibition Moves to a new Location. After asuccessful 2 month stint at the Greater Rochester Airport Concourse, the exhibition, “Building Rochester’s Future”, is now on display in the Burlington Wing of The Mall at Greece Ridge until mid-February. Congratulations to the region for promoting the profession!
Rochester Region participates in local Program for High School Students. The Rochester Region is participating in the New Visions Program administered throughMonroe County’s Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) where local member firms host a high school student interested in engineering for a weekly 3-hour shadow session. Please click here for full article.
National Engineers Week, February 19-25, 2012. With National Engineers Week this month, member firms or regions may want to support Trilogy’s Adopt-a-School program by purchasing copies of Those Amazing Engineers for New York State Schools that have requested the book through the Trilogy website. If interested, members can visit the Adopt-a-School section of the website and submit an order form. Prices vary according to number of copies ordered.
Cornell University–Technion– Israel Institute of Technology Consortium to build Applied Sciences Campus on Roosevelt Island. Please click here for Mayor Bloomberg’s Press Release outlining the city’s plans for an 11-acre Tech Campus in New York City.The selection of the Cornell/Technion consortium marks a major milestone in NYC’s Applied Science NYC Initiative, which seeks to increase NYC’s capacity for applied science and transform the city’s economy by creating tens of thousands of new jobs. ACEC New York is interested in collecting information pertaining to how many of our members have attended either Cornell (any program) or Technion. Member firms are asked to send information (name of graduate, school and name of ACEC New York member firm) to Hannah O’Grady, hannah@acecny.org.
State. The 2012 Legislative session started this month. Governor Cuomo stated in his State of the State and in his budget submission to the Legislature that infrastructure spending was a top priority. He has proposed a state infrastructure bank and an aggressive roads and bridges program. On January 24th, an Environmental Impact Statement for the Tappan Zee Bridge project was released and it found no environmental reason why the project should not commence. ACEC New York continues to meet regularly with state agencies and officials to facilitate a dialogue and a continued partnership as all infrastructure projects move forward.
Additionally the State Education Department has put up guidelines regarding transitioning to a D.P.C. on its website.
A Legislative Ad outlining 2012 legislative agenda appeared in City & State, January 9, 2012.
New York City. On Monday, January 30,ACECNew Yorktestified before the NYC Council’s Housing and Buildings Committee against Intro 730, a bill that proposed to increase disclosure of certain information regarding HPD construction projects. Consulting engineers, engaged by developers on HPD projects, are included in the broad definition of the term “contractors”. Please click here for a copy of the bill and click here for ACEC New York’s testimony. ACEC New York will monitor any developments and continue to advocate to have design professionals exempted from this bill.
Federal. The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee will make public its 5-year surface transportation authorization bill next week, with a committee vote tentatively scheduled for February 2. The legislation is expected to pass the House in mid-February. The House bill will maintain current funding levels and focus on program consolidation, state flexibility, project delivery improvements, and leveraging private sources of investment. It will be coupled with legislation to expand oil and gas production offshore and on federal lands.
The Senate Finance Committee is going to vote next week on a financing package for the 2-year Senate version of the transportation bill. The Senate bill, totaling roughly $109 billion in funding, would require $12 billion in additional revenue to support the spending levels in the bill.
Beardsley Design Associates is pleased to announce the following: Peter C. Sorber, R.A., LEED AP has rejoined the firm as Sr. Architect and Architectural Discipline Head; Donald J. Carsto, Jr., P.E., LEED AP BD+C, has joined the firm as Mechanical Engineer V; Michael J. Bykowski, P.E., has joined the firm as Mechanical Engineer IV and Brian J. Stanton, has joined the firm as Mechanical Engineer III.
Beardsley Design Associates Architecture, Engineering & Landscape Architecture, P.C. is pleased to announce that Michael N. Reynolds was recently promoted to a Sr. Associate of the firm. In this capacity, Mr. Reynolds will assist the Board of Director’s in leading the firm. Mr. Reynolds has been with the firm for 11 years, is an award winning Designer and Project Manager, and serves as the Manager of the firm’s Malone, NY Office.
Beardsley Design Associates Architecture, Engineering & Landscape Architecture, P.C. is pleased to announce that Michael N. Reynolds was recently promoted to a Sr. Associate of the firm. In this capacity, Mr. Reynolds will assist the Board of Director’s in leading the firm. Mr. Reynolds has been with the firm for 11 years, is an award winning Designer and Project Manager, and serves as the Manager of the firm’s Malone, NY Office.
AECOM is pleased to announce the appointment of Curtis J. Columbareas an environmental compliance specialistfor its Environmental Health and Safety Management Consulting group in the U.S. Northeast Region.
The Chazen Companies, is pleased to announce that Kevin McGrath has joined Chazen as a Senior Scientist in the firm’s Environmental Group.
Natalie Kovac, Project Engineer in the Mechanical Engineering Division of H2M Architects + Engineers since May 2009 has passed the New York State Mechanical Professional Engineering Exam and is now a licensed professional engineer (P.E.).
Throughout 2011, the employees at H2M were actively involved in the 2nd annual Action Long Island Wellness Challenge—a program dedicated to promoting health and wellness among individuals from companies across Long Island and recognizes healthy habits that will ultimately improve lives; physically, mentally and socially. This year the H2M team won first place at the Intermediate Level of the Long Island Wellness Challenge and was presented with an award at a ceremony hosted by Action Long Island on January 11th. It is the second year H2M has participated in the Challenge and its second win. In 2010, H2M received 2nd place overall. Their added effort made first place a reality.
Announced by ZweigWhite, P.W. Grosser Consulting was named one of the top thirty-five in “CE News Best Civil Engineering Firms to Work For 2011”. Coming in strong again for the second year at number 7, PWGC’s founder Dr. Paul Grosser, PE takes pride stating “I am delighted to see the company excel during this tough economic environment.” Since inception in 1990, Dr. Grosser, PE established a corporate culture like no other for his employees and this industry ranking award acknowledges his efforts and foresight to know that the success of the company relies on the employees. Solidifying his approach, CE News names PWGC as an outstanding employer selecting them for their commitment to their employees in providing a work environment that is positive, challenging and interesting; giving them opportunities to succeed, and for achieving high levels of employee satisfaction through a very generous benefit package, flexible and friendly culture.
P.W. Grosser Consulting (PWGC) moves up thirty-two (32) spots from 2010 and ranks 89th on Zweig White Letter 2011 HOT FIRMS Nationwide list of 175 fastest growing firms in the US and Canada.
A Metro Region Membership Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 8th at the Union League Club, NYC. David J. Burney, Commissioner, NYC Department of Design and Construction is the guest speaker. Please click here to register.
Robert A. Stromsted has joined Parsons Brinckerhoff as a senior vice president, responsible for strategic planning and business development.
Hunt Engineers, Architects & Land Surveyors, P.C. has taken steps to enhance planning services for their clients in the private and public sectors. Planning, also called urban planning or city and regional planning, works to improve communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient, and attractive places for present and future generations. Certified planner Nicolette Barber, AICP, recently joined HUNT to provide consulting services to their clients, who include schools, municipalities, and private-sector businesses.
T.Y. Lin International (TYLI), a globally recognized full-service architecture and engineering firm, announces former Erie County Department of Public Works Commissioner Gerard J. Sentz, PE, has joined the firm’s Buffalo, New York office as Associate Vice President/Unit Manager. Sentz has nearly 30 years of engineering experience including 11 years working for Erie County and 18 years in consulting engineering. In his new position, Sentz will lead the expansion of T.Y. Lin International’s staff and services in the greater Buffalo area.
TVGA Consultants (TVGA) is proud to announce that Kashyap Revalli, P.E., of Amherst, has earned his Professional Engineering License. Revalli joined TVGA in 2007, upon graduating with his Masters of Science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Specializing in traffic planning, Revalli works within TVGA’s Transportation Group.
Engineering Excellence Awards Dinner. On Saturday, March 24, ACEC New York will hold its annual Engineering Excellence Awards Black Tie Dinner Dance in the Grand Ballroom, Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, NYC. The festivities will start at 6:00p.m. with a cocktail reception and exhibition of the award-winning Engineering Excellence Panels from this year’s competition. At 7:00p.m., the award presentations will commence in the Grand Ballroom followed by dinner and dancing to the music of the Hank Lane Orchestra. Click here for a reservation form. For hotel reservations please call, 1-877-476-8792 and request a room for the 2012 Engineering Excellence Dinner Dance. The room rate is 299 + tax.
Save the Dates! ACEC New York Annual Meeting, June 13, 2012, Union League Club, NYC.
Tri–State Conference September 23-25, 2012, The Hotel Hershey. Member organizations are ACEC New Jersey, ACEC New York and ACEC Pennsylvania.
Other Courses/Programs throughout New York State NYSERDA Energy Code Training Opportunities. Please click here.
Spring Brochure for Institute of Design Professionals. Various courses, February through May (pdhs).
Approved Sponsor
ACEC New York is an authorized provider of continuing education for registered architects, professional engineers and land surveyors in New York State. Courses approved by ACEC New York are now acceptable for both engineering and architectural credits in New York State.
As an approved sponsor organization for continuing education, ACEC New York may approve courses for certification. Members need to submit a course application and related materials. Self-Study Courses
ACEC New York and Contract Solutions Group (CSG) have teamed up to offer our web seminars as self-study courses. Currently, ACEC New York has twenty courses in our library, each worth between 1 and 2 professional development hours. The courses may be ordered from CSG. Each course package contains: instructions, the power point presentation - printed and electronic, audio from the program (embedded in the PowerPoint), and a 10-question quiz. For each successfully completed program determined by a score of 70% or greater on the required quiz a certificate of credit hours will be issued. If you participated in the LIVE webinar, you will not earn credits for the self-study course. Engineers may earn 18 self-study credits during each three-year registration period. To order your courses click on the order form. If you have any questions you can contact gina@acecny.org or ileaders@contractsolutionsgroup.com.
Calls for Entry: MWBE Awards. In 2010, affiliate member, Anchin, Block & Anchin, created a MWBEs Awards Program that recognizes top-performing Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprises that serve the area’s architecture, engineering and construction industries. Nomination forms for each award category are available at www.anchin.com and will be accepted until Wednesday, February 29, 2012. The 2012 breakfast event is scheduled for Thursday, May 3, at Club 101, 101 Park Ave., New York City. Winners in past years have included a number of ACEC New York member firms with offices throughout NYS.
