Inside/Out Newsletter | Spring 2014 | Issue 53

INSIDE/OUT ISSUE 53

SPRING

NEWSLETTER

MAY 2014

Lee Marsh Named President and Chief Executive Officer On 1 June 2014, Dr. Lee Marsh will succeed Arnfinn (Arnie) Rusten as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of BergerABAM. Lee earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and spent the next two years working in the civil and architectural department at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge, Tennessee, facilities. He went on to earn a doctorate from the University of Washington in earthquake engineering and served on the civil engineering faculty at Washington State University before joining BergerABAM in1994.

Since joining the firm, Lee has spearheaded many of BergerABAM’s seismic design and assessment projects.

During his tenure as senior project manager and principal, his work has included design, assessment, project management, and business development for bridges; transit guideways; marine structures; buildings; and specialized projects, such as cranes for nuclear power plants. In addition to his operational and project duties, Lee has served on the firm’s Board of Directors since 2006.

Lee also teaches a National Highway Institute course on the seismic design of bridges, serves on the Transportation Research Board’s seismic design and accelerated bridge construction committees, and assists the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Subcommittee on Bridge and Structures with seismic design code development.

Arnie Rusten (l) and Lee Marsh (r) prepare for the leadership transition in June.

Of his new promotion, Lee said, “I am delighted and honored to be chosen as the seventh CEO in the firm’s 63-year history to lead this exceptional firm into the future. Our predecessors in the firm and my current colleagues have created a company of amazing breadth, reputation, and culture through focus on service to our clients, attention to the quality of the work, and support of the industry.

My vision for BergerABAM is to continue these traditions, while expanding the business both in terms of geographic presence and services provided. We have an excellent and skilled group of people at BergerABAM, and I am thrilled, but humbled, to have the opportunity to lead them into this next phase of our firm’s trajectory.”

As he passes the leadership mantle, Arnie said, “I am excited for the company and its employees as I know that my good (continued on page 2)

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friend and colleague, Lee Marsh, will continue his strong leadership as the newly elected president and CEO. His excellent technical and outstanding people skills will provide a positive environment for every employee to grow their expertise and reach their professional goals. I am confident that BergerABAM will continue to advance technologies and efficiencies for clients and the engineering industry.”

Since becoming CEO in 2005, Arnie expanded BergerABAM’s formal strategic business process to develop corporate improvements that resulted in the doubling of revenue and staff. His ability to build optimism and cooperation influenced BergerABAM staff to provide meaningful contributions to the success of its clients’ businesses and missions and advance the consulting industry.

ACEC Honors Arnie Rusten 2014 Engineer of the Year

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Washington awarded the prestigious Engineer of the Year award to BergerABAM President and CEO Arnie Rusten, PE, SE, for his outstanding contributions to the engineering community. The Engineer of the Year award is bestowed annually to an engineer who embodies the highest level of service and integrity to the engineering profession.

Arnie, a native of Norway, left the country in 1971 on a skiing scholarship to the University of Idaho to study engineering. He graduated with a bachelor’s in civil engineering in 1975 and with a master’s in structural engineering in 1976. Following one year of teaching at the University, Arnie started work at BergerABAM as a junior engineer. Through hard work and vision, he increasingly advanced his role and in 2005 became president and CEO. Arnie Rusten was presented the award at the ACEC of Washington Engineering Excellence Awards.

As a registered civil and structural professional engineer in several states, Arnie has worked on engineering projects throughout the United States and abroad, primarily related to waterfront and transportation projects. His major clients include public ports, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Washington State Department of Transportation. Arnie has served as a member of the Board of Directors and as the Business Practices Cabinet Chair for ACEC of Washington, where his efforts helped the organization’s business practices training platforms to be continually up-to-date and relevant. He has made major contributions to the improvement of education at Business Practice presentations and for the Professionals Course, helping to increase members’ understanding of the business of engineering.

“Arnie has leveraged his own professional efforts by encouraging, inspiring, and supporting talented members of the BergerABAM staff to become involved in efforts outside of the company that need their skills and that benefit from their work and talent,” adds Mike LaNier, PE, chairman of the board and executive vice president of BergerABAM. In addition to his service with ACEC, Arnie also participates in the American Association of Port Authorities, American Concrete Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers, Society of American Military Engineers, Structural Engineers Association of Washington, and Washington Public Ports Association.

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Inside/Out Newsletter

Amr Hosny

Receives the Chester Paul Siess Award

On 23 March 2014, Amr Hosny, PhD, PE, senior engineer at BergerABAM’s Houston office, was given the American Concrete Institute’s (ACI) Chester Paul Siess Award for Excellence in Structural Research during their convention in Reno, Nevada. Coauthored with Drs. Hatem M. Seliem, Sami H. Rizkalla, and Paul Zia of North Carolina State University, the paper (Development Length of Unconfined Conventional and High-Strength Steel Reinforcing Bars) reexamined the ACI 318-08 and ACI 408R-03 standards’ equations in ACI’s Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete.

In structural concrete design, an adequate bond between the reinforcing steel and concrete is essential. Current ACI code provisions for bond and development length of reinforcement are empirical relationships based on the reports of the ACI Committee 408 and other publications in the literature. Until this current research, virtually all the data were obtained from tests using reinforcement with specified yield strengths of 80 ksi (555 MPa) or less. Amr and his co-researchers’ objective was to determine if provisions that are derived from tests of bars with yield strengths less than 80 ksi (555 MPa) are applicable for splices of reinforcement with much higher yield strength. MMFX steel is a new high-strength reinforcement that meets the requirements of ASTM A1035, and has a high-tensile strength and a stress-strain curve without a well-defined yield plateau. To use this reinforcement efficiently for concrete structures, it was necessary to determine whether the current code provisions are applicable and, if not, to develop new design recommendations.

The experimental program was a collaboration between three universities and consisted of testing 66 large-scale splice specimens. Three different bar sizes were considered: #5 for slab specimens and #8 and #11 for beam specimens.

In order for the research to be accurate, the test specimens had to be constructed within very strict tolerances.

Amr Hosny (l) was presented the award at the ACI Convention held in Reno, Nevada.

“The experimental part was definitely the most interesting, especially for the beams without confining transverse reinforcement. The aim was to apply enough force on the beams until they break and for the beams without stirrups, which meant concrete flying everywhere!” Amr said.

Based on the research conducted at three universities, Amr and his co-researchers presented a simple equation that can be used to evaluate the development length for unconfirmed conventional and highstrength steel reinforcing bars. The equation incorporates the critical parameters normally recognized to influence the bond behavior that had previously been—in some cases— overestimated. In addition, this equation provides a better prediction of development strength in comparison to the equations given

by ACI 318-08 and ACI 408R-03. Though this research will not have an immediate effect on current practices, Amr and his collaborators are hoping that it will steer research toward confirming their findings and expanding the equation to include concrete members with confining transverse reinforcement.

Editors / Writers Jana Roy Dee Young Karen Harbaugh Amanda Schweickert Nora Bretaña Diann Scherer Design and Production Jana Roy

To update your contact information, please e-mail newsletter@abam.com

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ASCE Sustainability Leadership

Promotes Information Sharing and Cooperation In October 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Board of Directors established sustainability as a strategic initiative, approved an action plan, and adopted a civil engineers’ definition of sustainability.

Since that time, the Committee on Sustainability (COS) was established and given the task to direct, oversee, and coordinate the implementation of this strategic initiative.

Sustainability leaders from each state met for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia, this past February.

As part of the ASCE COS plan, the Strategic Communications Committee of the COS is establishing a “National Sustainability Strategy Working Group for Sections, Branches, and Institutes.” For the first time, sustainability leaders from each state were brought together with the National COS to join the National Strategy Sustainability Working Group kickoff in Atlanta, on Saturday and Sunday, 22 and 23 February 2014.

The goal for the February workshop was to assemble the entire ASCE Sustainability Leadership to promote information sharing and cooperation. Each sustainability leader shared their local experiences and ideas with the larger COS group. This information is being used to help develop program content for a subsequent workshop on “Engineers as Sustainability Leaders at the Community Level” to be held at the first International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, 6 to 8 November 2014 in Long Beach, California.

CALIFORNIA PROJECTS WIN THE TRIPLE CROWN

The San Diego Central Library, Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital, and Sage Creek High School projects all garner an ASCE San Diego Section award to be presented at the “New Wave of Engineering” awards dinner on 3 May 2014.

All three projects also won awards from the American Public Works Association (APWA) San Diego and Imperial Counties Chapter, which will be presented at the awards celebration luncheon being held on 8 May 2014.

Congratulations to all BergerABAM staff and team members involved with these projects!

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Amanda Schweickert, PE, chair of (and co-founder with Evan Sheesley, PE) the ASCE Seattle Section Sustainability Committee, was invited to join the National Strategy Sustainability Working Group kickoff in Atlanta. In addition, she will help organize the sustainability leaders workshop and participate as a moderator at the November Long Beach conference.

The ASCE Seattle Section Sustainability Committee brings local professionals, civil engineers, planners, facility owners and managers, and students together to discuss current and future sustainability issues facing the Seattle area. The committee promotes sustainable development principles through professional development and outreach activities.

Activities to date have been with education outreach, presentations about Envision, technical tours of sustainable projects in the Seattle area, and reaching out to stakeholders.

For more information about the ASCE Seattle Section Sustainability Committee visit their web site at http://seattleasce.org/committees/sustainability.html.

Inside/Out Newsletter

Sage Creek High School Garners Yet Another Award

BergerABAM has once again received an award for the Sage Creek High School project. On 14 March 2014, the project won the APWA San Diego’s and Imperial Counties’ Public Works Project of the Year award in three categories: the Structures, Sustainable/Green, and More than $75 Million.

The Public Works Project of the Year Award promotes excellence in public works projects by recognizing the partnership between the managing agency; the consultant, architect, and engineer team; and the contractor, who all work together to successfully complete public works projects.

The 139,000-square-foot, $104 million Sage Creek High School sits on a 56-acre site adjacent to a 6.2-acre biological habitat. The new campus incorporates native ecosystems into the design, including natural hydrology, flora, fauna, and includes three classroom buildings, library, administration offices, food services, gymnasium, fine arts building, and football/soccer fields.

Sage Creek High School opened its doors to over 300 incoming freshmen students for the start of the 2013 to 2014 school year. Initially planned to serve up to 1,500 students, the campus design can accommodate an additional 900 students in the future. The school was designed in part so that students could experience the natural resources of the surrounding environment; in addition, building materials and finishes blend in with their surroundings.

on the ways to maintain public safety, as well as protecting sensitive flora and fauna within the adjacent Calavera Creek.

Sage Creek High School’s energy-efficient ventilating systems and the buildings’ orientations are expected to reduce overall energy costs by as much as one-third, while ample skylights assist with trimming lighting loads.

Water-efficient plumbing fixtures were installed, as well as a rainwater harvest tank system for irrigation use. The site’s natural drainage path was retained, directing water to a bioswale planted with native vegetation. During construction, more than 50 percent of building waste was diverted from landfills. Crews had to overcome a 30-year flood when site grading was almost complete, as well as a landslide that occurred during mass grading and recompaction for a buttress area.

Since the initial planning phase, Sage Creek High School was designed to be environmentally friendly and is considered one of California’s most environmentally advanced and energy-efficient high school campuses. The successful project has gained national and regional recognition, not only from the APWA, but also from ENR California’s “2013 Best Project Award” in the K-12 Education category; Associated General Contractor San Diego Chapter’s, “Build San Diego Merit Award” in the Sustainable Project category; and Associated Builders and Contractors San Diego Chapter’s, “Award of Excellence.”

The project employed many of the latest low impact development techniques in stormwater management to reduce and/or eliminate any impact on adjacent Calaveras Creek. In addition, the design went beyond the low impact development guidelines as outlined in the City of Carlsbad and State Water Resource Control Board regulations, with the project’s innovative use of green technology that exceeded the minimum standard needed to meet Title 24 of the California Building Code by 25 percent.

Because of this achievement, the design received a LEED Gold certification.

The project’s eco-sustainable design was not its only winning feature. The site design allowed the campus to be constructed within schedule, budget, and with minimal environmental impact. Throughout the duration of construction, public outreach and facilitation efforts focused

Sage Creek High School is recognized for its green building design.

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