University of Georgia College of Engineering seniors, Regan Beck, Chase Crouse, Reed Ehrhardt and Mary Caton Peffen won “Project of the Year” honors April 30 during the Capstone Senior Design Project Showcase for their work on a project with the Georgia Army National Guard’s Construction and Facility Management Office (CFMO). Their award was one of six presented in a competition of 81 participating teams.
The collaboration was the first of its kind, bringing together the Georgia Guard, UGA, and Burns & McDonnell. The latter partner is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs.
“The UGA students received mentorship opportunities from professionals working in their chosen field of study,” said Michelle Doyle, CFMO master planner. “They gained valuable insight from this project that they would not have if they had not been working 'in the field'".
The project, which won the "Community Impact" award, tasked the students to create a site development plan to accommodate a future 130,000 SF Combined Support Maintenance Shop (CSMS) and a 100,000 SF Warehouse on the current Atlanta Readiness Center site. This detailed plan included primary facilities, space to park military equipment, a hazardous waste control facility and associated security measures. The challenge was to make the most efficient use of a difficult site which includes rock, wetlands, and existing structures .
According to CFMO, the work that the UGA students completed will amount to five percent of the overall design cost, which carries a price tag of $6.5 million.
‘The total cost of $325,000 is a significant savings to the taxpayers,” said Doyle.
On April 18, after two semesters of development, the UGA engineering students presented their findings to a small gathering of Georgia Guard CFMO team members. They fielded questions about the project and answered concerns from the facilities team as well as their industry partner, Burns & McDonnell.
The graduating seniors will use this project experience as a springboard to greater opportunities in their engineering careers. Reed Ehrhardt will be working for Burns & McDonnell in their engineering department, while Regan Beck and Mary Caton Peffen both look forward to jobs in similar fields following graduation. Chase Crouse is still weighing options for his future.
Doyle said that Burns & McDonnell has asked the Ga. ARNG to look at developing another project for the 2018-2019 capstone program.
Date Taken: | 05.04.2018 |
Date Posted: | 05.04.2018 15:47 |
Story ID: | 275760 |
Location: | GEORGIA, US |
Web Views: | 296 |
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