In the AEC industry, we do our best to get things as perfect as we can. Despite our best-efforts, things do not always turn out…
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origin: starting the conversation
Archive for the ‘Engineering’ Category
Unconventional Units: Converting Square Footage, Volume of Concrete, and Tons of Steel into More Familiar Measurements
You’re probably familiar with typical AEC new construction descriptions: 150,000 square feet! 11,500 yards of concrete! 3,300 tons of steel! Don’t get me wrong, as…
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Why is the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa? It’s Really the Only Logical Choice.
When you hear “Bob Dylan,” what words come to mind? Iconic? Unique? Timeless? Tulsa? Up until recently, Tulsa would likely have never been included on…
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Women in Construction: Advice for Female Engineers Facing Sexism in the Field
Sexism in the construction industry. Is the concept real? Or overblown? Women in construction have historically been perceived as having a harder time gaining respect…
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Five Tips for Taking Better Photos for Your Assessment or Inspection Report
As an engineer, when you’re on site for an assessment or inspection, you’re confident you have a good handle on the issues. You take notes…
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Champlain Towers South Condo Collapse: An In-Depth Look at Concrete Spalling
The collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, FL has left us with a number of questions. Most importantly, what caused this 12-story…
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Journey to Doe Mountain
When I graduated with my master’s degree in civil engineering, one of the first things I did was send a copy of my thesis to…
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Structural Forensics Engineering Breakdown: What are building owners’ top structural concerns?
In a previous post, I presented an overview of various routine forensic structural engineering projects our team tackles and broke down our forensics work to…
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Engineer-Contractor Relations Part III: Teamwork in action at OKPOP
The past few weeks, we’ve explored what goes into a positive, effective engineer-contractor relationship. We asked engineers what qualities they like to see in their…
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Engineer-Contractor Relations Part II: What Your Contractor Wishes You Knew
As engineers, we know what we like to see when it comes to contractors, but the engineer-contractor relationship works both ways. What qualities do contractors…
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Engineer-Contractor Relations Part I: Enhancing your engineering career through quality contractor connections
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees. Harry Potter vs. Voldemort. Hatfields vs. McCoys. OU vs. Texas. Engineers vs. Contractors. Some epic rivalries will just…
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Workout Like a Professional (a Professional Engineer….)
The Quarantine-15 struggle is real. Summer’s coming up, and everyone is trying to shed some unwanted pounds and fit into their bathing suit after a…
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Who We Are and What We Do: Land Surveying
Long before a building is constructed, before any ribbon cutting, steel erection, concrete pour, or even the ground breaking ceremony, all you have is a…
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How to Prep for the 16-hour Structural Engineering Exam: Tips and Advice from Licensed SEs
If you’ve looked into taking the NCEES PE 16-hour Structural exam (usually referred to as the “SE exam” in structural engineering circles), you have probably…
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You Can’t Be What You Can’t See: Unlocking Hidden Potential in the Next Generation of STEAM Professionals
On an average day at Stanford University in the late 1970s, Sally Ride, then a PhD student in physics, was paging through the university newspaper…
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Tune Into Forensic Structural Engineering
Sounds like it would be a great TV show, doesn’t it? Picture it: a bunch of nerds (cool nerds, mind you) running around in their…
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How to Calcuate Snow Weight from Depth and Density
Last week, the Northeast got another heavy dose of snow when a winter storm dropped more than 17 inches in Central Park and upwards of…
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Who We Are and What We Do: Structural Engineering
If you’re familiar with the TV show “How I Met Your Mother,” you might remember the episode “Mosbius Designs” (S4E20), where Ted Mosby, Architect (*wink*),…
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Engineering Productivity: 5 Tips for Making the Most of Your Work Day
Do you ever feel like there’s not enough time in a day? Or make it to the end of a work day, only to realize…
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Engineers Without Borders – Bolivia
As many of you are aware, I recently traveled to Bolivia to participate in a humanitarian mission with the University of Tulsa student chapter of…
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Mixed Reviews
Having taken an embarrassingly long – decade, perhaps? – break from reading books of my choosing for pleasure’s sake rather than a grade or knowledge acquisition, I…
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Rock Climbing: A Route Through the Mind of An Engineer
Rock Climbing Like many people, I was a bit apprehensive before I started rock climbing. I am not, however, afraid of heights; no, it’s the…
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End of History of Architecture…?
I recently was lucky enough to get on one of those newer Delta planes that have monitors built into the back of the head rests….
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Let The Good Times Roll
If you are like me, you often hear the questions: “Is business good?” and “Are you staying busy?” Recently, unlike a few years ago, my…
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Jump In With Both Feet
My first experience with marketing as a Professional Engineer is likened to jumping into a pool of water with both feet. You don’t know how…
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Land Use: It’s What We Do
There is a saying circulating around that makes Urban Planners chuckle… “I’m an Urban Planner. I solve problems you don’t know you have, in ways…
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…and a responsible engineer shall lead them.
I came to art at an early age. It has always been woven into my life. A friend gave me a word a few years…
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Wide Load
You may have seen the news coverage in October talking about the transport of a demethanizer tower manufactured by a company in Broken Arrow and…
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Bound for Belize
A couple of months ago, I had a chance to take my own mini vacation. Everyone else in the family had plans, so this one was…
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Team Unity
My youngest son plays soccer for a team that has had success both at the state level (two-time state champions) and at the regional level….
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Keeping the Craft
Let’s keep the craft in our work. We usually think of craftsmanship as being the skill and effort to create a physical object. But I…
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68 Days to a New Perspective
I had an image of what a day at a typical engineering firm would look like. It’s quiet and maybe a little impersonal. Employees work…
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Quality Control
I recently gave a presentation on quality control policy. During preparation, it dawned on me that as engineers we often miss the boat as to…
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What A Difference Four Years Make
Do you ever stop to realize how much changes occur in a typical 4-year span? We just went through college graduation with our son. How…
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Give a Girl a Chance…
Not too long ago, I formed a new relationship with a client who was in the market for a consultant with national retail experience. I…
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“To boldly go where no engineer has gone before…”
Architectural Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Wallace Engineering. Its thirty five-year mission: to explore strange new geometries, to seek out new…
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