Constructioneer Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability at the FIU College of Engineering & Computing 2018-2019
Master Blueprint Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability is creating a new paradigm for today’s student experience
Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability’s Industry Advisory Council Amicon Alexandra Camejo
M2E Consulting Engineers Misha Mladenovic
Associated Builders and Contractors Florida East Coast Chapter Peter Dyga
MCM U.S. Jorge Munilla
Balfour Beatty Construction Kelly Valle
Moss & Associates Sasha Seco
Beauchamp Construction Company Nestor Calas Brasfield & Gorrie Mike Peters Builders Association of South Florida Truly Bur ton
NV2A Group Gilber to Neves
Burke Construction Group, Inc. David Mar tinez
Odebrecht Jorge L. Zurita
CMC Construction Tim Wensing Coastal Construction Brian Perantoni Coble Builders LLC Brent Coble Construction Association of South Florida Remy Mackowski Dewalt Alex Simas
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Our School at a Glance
Construction School Renamed in Honor of Chad Moss ‘94
4 6 8 9 10 12
Faculty Building a Solid Future Scholarships Student Highlights Alumni Women in construction
Diligent Services, Inc. Hu Montague E.F. Alvarez & Company, P.A. Emilio Alvarez Engineering Contractors Association of South Florida Rachele Rinker-Koch Ferreira Construction Company, Inc. Danny Garcia A.
Designed and printed by FIU’s Division of External Relations, Strategic Communications & Marketing
P&H Group Corp. Henr y Alvarido Peckar & Abramson, P.C. Gar y M. Stein Pirtle Construction Mike Gear y Plaza Construction Jorge Moros PMI Teresa Colon Related Urban George Lage Rembold Hirschman Scott D. Rembold Robins and Morton Johnny Sturkie
Flashparking Jose Morales
Royal Caribbean International James Lunsford
George’s Welding Services, Inc. Jorge Amador Jr.
Shorecrest GC Narey Ramos
Grace & Naeem Uddin, Inc. Graciela Beltran-Uddin J. Raymond Construction Dan Cramer JWR Construction Services Dustin DuBois Kast Construction Modesto (Mo) Millo LBA Eric Montes de Oca
On the cover: (Left to right) Mohamed ElZomor, Emily Gallego, Anya Martinez and Piyush Pradhananga
Nielson, Hoover & Company Charles J. Nielson
Builders Plus Santiago Bar tlett
CDC Group Erick A. Valderrama
Table of Contents
NAWIC Lucia Soria
Lehigh Cement Jorge Armenteros Lennar Pedro Por tela Link Construction Group Miguel Mickey Cerra Lunacon Construction Group Corp. Patricia Bonilla Lynx Construction Management Christopher Moran
Skanska Jose Cor tes South Florida – Associated General Contractors of America Carlos Carrillo Suffolk Construction Company Julie Palmer Supermix Roy McRober t Thornton Dagober to Diaz Turner Construction Company Pete Lopez Woolems, Inc. Arianne Levin Zyscovich Rober t Wer thamer
Director’s Corner Welcome to the Constructioneer, the annual publication of FIU’s Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability (MSCIS) that highlights some of the people, research and programs that make our school so special. I am grateful for another successful year. The mission of MSCIS is to provide enlightened leadership to the construction industry through our graduates. To achieve this, we are continuously improving our teaching methodologies, updating our curriculum and fostering a research-prone, teamworkoriented environment that encourages excellence among faculty. Our goal is to continue to produce a diverse group of professional construction managers who are global citizens with a sense of duty and responsibility, who understand the impact of their work on society, and are proud of their alma mater. In recognition of a landmark contribution to FIU, the school of construction was renamed in honor of alumnus Chad Moss ’94. The Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability was unveiled at an official dedication ceremony commemorating a $10 million donation made to the school through the Moss Foundation. It is the largest gift ever made to FIU by an alumnus. Learn more on page 3. We are more centered than ever on student success. As a result, we are offering a more flexible and updated curriculum, opening courses online, creating new electives, hiring industry experts to teach in our classrooms, providing credit for internships and expanding course offerings for the master’s programs. This year, MSCIS, also partnered with the Lennar Foundation to launch the Certificate Program in Construction Trades – a workforce development program offered to underserved populations in Miami-Dade County. It teaches carpentry, electrical systems, masonry, worksite safety and other basic skills in construction to help participants secure jobs in construction upon completion of the program. The program has been a huge success – 30 of the 31 students who completed the first cohort have been hired or received a raise. The program will now also be offered to Spanish speakers. Read more on page 6.
MSCIS continues to have a strong focus on safety and recently received a grant from the Department of Labor to provide free safety training to people working in the industry and the community at large. Read about it on page 5. We have also signed an agreement with Volunteer State Community College in Tennessee to be named a host site for select courses offered by the OSHA Training Institute Education Center, increasing our focus on safety and service to the community. We are proud of our diverse student body and faculty. We welcomed three new faculty members to our school – Arif Mohaimin Sadri, Mohammed ElZomor and Xuan Lv, all assistant professors. Sadri’s research is in human-driven infrastructure, resilience, network modeling, smart mobility and evacuation, as well as modeling, machine learning and agent-based modeling. ElZomor’s research efforts focus on sustainability of the built environment, energy efficiency measures and energy modeling and also engineering education. Lv researches computing and data analytics for construction, natural language processing, infrastructure planning and environmental review, and information retrieval and information system. Learn more about our new faculty on page 4. In closing, I would like to thank our students and alumni for choosing our school to advance their careers. We are also grateful to our industry partners, particularly the members of our Industry Advisory Council, for giving of their time and supporting the school in achieving its mission of being a center for excellence in construction education.
Jose A. Faria, Ph.D., PMP Interim Director, Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability
To support our Moss School, please visit: go.fiu.edu/construction
FIU College of Engineering & Computing
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Our School at a Glance The Construction Management program at FIU began more than 46 years ago to serve the construction industry of Florida and the greater southeast. Students studying in the Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability benefit from our decades-long established ties to industry, our strong alumni network, access to internships and myriad professional student organizations.
350
total students
55
master’s
34% 4-year graduation rate
295
bachelor’s
40% Master’s
63% male
37%
female
Increase in the 4-year graduation rate of Moss School students from 2016-17 to 2018-19
Bachelor’s
86% male
14%
female
Programs of Study
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• Bachelor of Science in Construction Management
• Online Master of Science in Construction Management
• Master of Science in Construction Management
• Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering with an interest in Construction Engineering and Management
Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability
Construction School Renamed in Honor of
Chad Moss ‘94 By Clara-Meretan Kiah
In recognition of a landmark contribution to FIU, the school of construction was named in honor of alumnus Chad Moss ’94. The Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability was unveiled at a ceremony at the Engineering Center in 2018 and commemorates the $10 million donation to the school made through the Moss Foundation, Inc. – the largest gift ever made to FIU by an alumnus. At the ceremony, President Mark B. Rosenberg told students to consider Chad Moss and his family as an example of what they, too, can do with an FIU education. “I think you can draw strength from what you see here today. Know that you’re on the right course and that if you do your work, buckle down and focus, if you treat people with respect, if you’re a true professional, you can be very successful in the same way that Chad and the entire Moss family have been,” Rosenberg said. Moss also donates his time to the school by teaching real estate and construction management classes regularly. He has mentored FIU students, many of whom have gone on to work for Moss & Associates – and now, about 10 percent of the familyowned-and-operated firm’s employees are FIU graduates.
More Than Just A Name Chad Moss’s $10 million donation does more than name the school. It supports FIU’s goal for the school to become a top-ranked construction management program. Here is how:
“As an alumnus, I am grateful to FIU. I enjoyed my time here as a student. It was a great place to study and learn,” Moss said. “As a businessman, I’ve come to realize the significant role that FIU has had…in this community. If you want to be successful in South Florida, you need FIU grads to drive that success.” The work of Moss & Associates is visible around campus. The firm constructed the Parkview Hall residences and the Wellness Center and athletic fields at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus. And the Moss Foundation supports the Moss Built Environment Informatics Lab, a virtual-reality testing facility at the Engineering Center. The Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability is well on its way to a top ranking, having graduated countless students whose success demonstrates the quality of education at the school. This includes Chad Moss, whose company has grown into a national corporation with more than 600 professional employees and $8 billion in managed revenue in less than 15 years.
• Setting aside $1 million for scholarships • Providing funding to hire world-class faculty • Recruiting top graduate and undergraduate students • Advancing research and innovation at the school • Offering safety and skills workshops and continuing education programs to the South Florida community
FIU College of Engineering & Computing
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F A C U LT Y Our school has achieved extraordinary growth in the last decade, and our research program reflects that spirit of innovation. Faculty engage in myriad research topics within the evolving field of construction in an effort to provide effective, practical
Ayman Morad, Ph.D. Areas of Interest: Claims and delay analysis, project planning and scheduling, construction simulation, earned value management, construction financial management
solutions to the challenges facing our local community and beyond.
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Irtishad U. Ahmad, Ph.D., P.E. Areas of Interest: Information technology and information systems in construction, decision and risk analysis, civil engineering system management, reinforced concrete designs, concrete technology
Wallied Orabi, Ph.D. Areas of Interest: Resilient and sustainable infrastructure systems, sustainable building construction, optimization and decision support
Jose A. Faria, Ph.D., PMP Areas of Interest: Mixed integer optimization applied to land development, mathematical decomposition and hybrid techniques to solve mixed integer programming problems, decision analysis applied to capital allocation, probabilistic optimization models, and analysis of project management networks under uncertainty
Nipesh Pradhananga, Ph.D., P.E. Areas of Interest: Construction technology, construction safety and health, construction simulation, information modeling, computational data analysis, data visualization, virtual reality
Vamsi S. Kalasapudi, Ph.D. Areas of Interest: Computing and data analytics for civil engineering, computer vision for construction, construction quality assessment and control (QA/QC), structural forensics
David Ramsey, Ph.D. Areas of Interest: Alternative project delivery systems, specifically, public-private partnerships for highway construction projects
Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability
Lu Zhang, Ph.D. Areas of Interest: Building and civil information modeling, semantic information modeling, data analytics, value analysis, human-building interaction, smart building and infrastructure, sustainable construction
GRANT$ $155,000 Dr. Jose Faria won a Susan Harwood training grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA to provide free training on fall protection.
New Faculty: Xuan Lv Areas of Interest: Information retrieval and text mining for construction, semantic information modelling, civil infrastructure planning and environmental review
$150,000 Dr. Nipesh Pradhananga won a Susan Harwood training grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA to provide free training on electrical hazards.
Arif Mohaimin Sadri, Ph.D. Areas of Interest: Human-driven infrastructure resilience, network modeling, crisis communication networks, data-driven methods, evacuation modeling, agent-based modeling and simulation, sustainable transportation
Mohamed ElZomor, Ph.D. Areas of Interest: Construction management, sustainable practices in construction, engineering & architecture, energy efficiency measures and energy modeling for the built environment, infrastructure resilience and sustainability, decision and risk analysis for infrastructure projects, engineering education, construction safety, health and well-being
$148,395 Dr. Arif Hohaimin Sadri and Dr. Lu Zhang won a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation to advance understanding of how external factors influence our transportation demand and the performance of transportation systems. The goal of the grant is to inform the planning process and provide broader insights into the changing nature of transportation demand.
FIU College of Engineering & Computing
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Building a s Lennar Foundation’s workforce development program bolsters underserved populations
“This program completely turned my life around. It gave me direction when I didn’t have any.” –Devan Blackman
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Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability
solid future By Clara-Meretan Kiah
For Devan Blackman, FIU’s Engineering Center has come to feel like a second home. There’s a 5-foot-by-5-foot wooden “house” there that she and her classmates built and wired for electricity – something she’d never envisioned herself doing until eight months ago. But the structure holds a deeper meaning for Blackman. It symbolizes how she rebuilt her life. Blackman moved to Florida with a degree in mass communication a few years ago, but she was unable to find a steady job in her field. She wound up homeless and stayed at Camillus House, a local shelter, while she tried to get back on her feet. Gigs as a stagehand were sporadic but nothing worked out long-term. One day, she saw a flyer on the wall at Camillus House that changed her whole trajectory. It advertised a 12-week certificate program at FIU for non-degree-seeking people looking to learn basic skills in construction. Blackman had never used a power tool before, but the program offered free meals and transportation to class. She decided to give it a shot. “What’s the worst that could happen?” she remembers thinking. Supported by the Lennar Foundation, the Certificate Program in Construction Trades is a workforce development program offered to underserved populations in Miami-Dade County by the Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability. Participants learn carpentry, electrical systems, masonry, worksite safety and other basic skills in construction. The median salary for construction laborers in jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree is $52,000 in Florida, and employment in these jobs is projected to grow 12 percent by 2026, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “The Lennar Foundation, having the desire to give back to the community, reached out to FIU to create a program that would benefit the community with an emphasis on serving those who need it the most,” says Jose Faria, interim director at the Moss School. Faria noted their goal was to bolster those in the community who had a “strong commitment to succeed in life.” Mentorship and guidance are key facets of the program. “This program is really all about second chances,” says Victoria Tomas, program advisor and resident “mom” to its participants. “Sometimes what people need most is just someone who believes in them.” Just ask Blackman. She completed the program’s trades track and is now a teaching assistant for the second cohort. She works part-time at the Moss School and has re-enrolled in the certificate program, this time in the carpentry track. She’s decided to pursue a master’s in construction management and is living in her own apartment. Says Blackman, “This program completely turned my life around. It gave me direction when I didn’t have any.” She’s not the only one. In fact, 30 of the 31 students who completed the program in October 2018 have either been hired or received a raise at their current job.
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Lennar Foundation Chair Marshall Ames said he’s pleased with this first cohort’s success, and he looks forward to expanding the program to bring 200 students to employment each year. “We firmly believe that our FIU partnership brings valuable employment skills to underserved youth who might otherwise find the job market and career opportunities much more challenging,” says Ames.
Certificate Program in Construction Trades
• 14-week program • 80 hours of classroom instruction • 120 hours of hands-on lab training • Certifications, including an OSHA 10 Training Certificate and a National Center for Construction Education and Research Blue Card • On-campus career fair for program participants
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FIU College of Engineering & Computing
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SCHOLARSHIPS 8
Leaders of
INVESTING IN OUR STUDENTS IS INVESTING IN OUR COMMUNITY
The Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability appreciates the scholarship support of our students provided by the companies and industry associations listed below. By providing deserving students with the opportunity to flourish in their chosen field of endeavor, these companies and associations are helping build the leaders of tomorrow.
Increased scholarship and student support is profoundly important to FIU. So important, in fact, that it’s a priority of the university’s $750 million Next Horizon fundraising campaign. Why? Because more than two-thirds of our students receive financial aid – a number that is limited only by our resources. Many more students have financial aid needs that go unmet.
2018-19 Scholarship Recipients
When you support a student studying in the Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability, you are supporting our community because 85 percent of FIU alumni live and work in South Florida.
Tomorrow
• Michael Seni
Balfour Beatty Scholarship ($2K)
• Ighani Parinaz
Balfour Beatty Scholarship ($2K)
• Luis Pena
CASF Scholarship ($2K)
If you can help transform the life of a student through your scholarship donation, please visit the link below.
• Patrick Foucauld
Condotte Construction Scholarship ($2K)
NextHorizon.fiu.edu
• Luis Giraldogomez Condotte Construction Scholarship ($2K)
Scholarship Spotlight: Balfour Beatty
“We like the candidates that come from FIU – all day, every day.” –Mike Carlin, Senior Vice President of Operations in Balfour Beatty’s Florida Division
Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability
Construction company Balfour Beatty believes in giving back to the communities in which it does business and its employees live and work. That’s what made the decision to donate $40,000 for scholarships easy. That and the fact that Mike Carlin, senior vice president of operations in Balfour Beatty’s Florida division, says FIU students are special. “They have a work ethic unlike graduates from any other school in Florida,” Carlin says. “The students seem to come from a background of hard-working families, and that impacts the way they approach their jobs. They are respectful. They are eager to learn. I just can’t say enough good things about them.” The construction giant, which is consistently ranked among the largest U.S. building contractors and is a subsidiary of London-based Balfour Beatty plc, has approximately 200 employees in its Florida division. About 10 percent of them are FIU grads. Additionally, Carlin says they carry two to four interns at any given time – many of whom have been offered full-time jobs upon graduation. “We asked ourselves, how can we give back to the school that is providing us with such quality graduates?” Carlin says. “We see this scholarship program as a win-win.”
STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS Panther Profile Sergio Molina, a 21-year-old senior studying construction management with a minor in business administration, says the Moss School of Construction helped him evolve his passion for building and creating – especially through bowling balls. Why FIU? I was born in Medellín, Colombia. My family moved to South Florida in 2000. One of the main reasons why I chose FIU was to pursue my career locally, since I am quite familiar with the area. I also value the diversity the city of Miami has. What have been some of the highlights of your collegiate career? Through the FIU chapter of the American Concrete Institution (ACI), I had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to compete in ACI’s Concrete Bowling Ball Competition in spring 2018. The main point of the competition was to see how many pounds of pressure the ball could sustain. [We went there because] we had placed second in Orlando at a concrete bowling ball competition. In fall 2017, I joined Alpha Kappa Psi, which is a professional business fraternity. I knew some other students in construction management were involved. Through people I met there I’m now working at Vercetti Enterprises, a general contractor company founded by a graduate of the construction management program. I work there full-time as an estimator and study full-time at FIU. What are your plans after graduation? I see a strong future for myself within Vercetti Enterprises. The company currently isn’t that big, so I have been able to play a lot of different roles within the company. This has allowed me to gain experience in many areas of construction in order to apply it for any future positions I may take. I expect to graduate after this summer.
Bringing it all together: Senior Design Showcase By David Drucker
In April, 14 teams of construction management students unveiled their senior projects to members of the industry and the university community as part of the Senior Design Showcase. Over the course of a year, the students crafted construction plans for realworld jobs comprising detailed budgets, schedules, emergency plans, 3D models and more. How does a company meet a buyer’s deadline while also providing a competitive budget? What does a company do if there is an emergency on site? How should a company organize itself? The students had to answer these questions and more. “There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle that have to fit together on the front end in order to get the contract before you even start working on the job,” Ronald Arguello said. Arguello’s team, Vertex, created construction plans for a high school in California. They designed an event center and an aquatic center, which featured an Olympic-size swimming pool paired with a complex thermal panel system. “This was a logistical challenge,” said Vertex team member Robert Knewitz. “We have two separate locations, and they need to be completed within a certain budget and by a certain deadline.” Another team, Prodigious Construction, also had two construction sites to contend with. Teammates Jorge Tapia and Gaston Galella worked on erecting a multipurpose building and renovating an existing building for an elementary school in Florida. The school would remain open during construction, so the team had to account for how classes, lunches and even fire drills would continue safely throughout the process.
What advice do you have for students in your field? I would recommend getting as involved as they can. Find a niche within your career in order to excel as much as you can while having fun and loving what you do every day.
“You need to have a plan that will allot for changes. You have to get it approved by a fire marshal and make sure it’s fine with the school directors,” Tapia said. “We have evacuation routes not only for our members but also if the kids need to flow out of there, they can as well.” Tapia and Galella found out they had a lot in common. Both own their own companies – Tapia is a master electrical contractor and Galella is a carpenter – and both learned their trades from their fathers. The two men compared their experiences at the Moss School to real-world scenarios, and both agree: The Moss School is preparing its students for everything.
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ALUMNI For one alumnus, thriving local business is a family matter For construction alumnus Andres Betancourt ’10, the buildings and structures we admire and frequent in our everyday lives are breathing monuments of human progress. “How we humans, with a mix of some concrete, steel and reinforced bar, can build such nice structures and skyrises, tunnels and roads always really intrigued me,” he says. Betancourt has turned that fascination into a multimillion dollar company called Saferite Solutions. Both a safety company and a distributor, Saferite Solutions works with most well-known general contractors in the country, providing the necessary personal protective equipment and training to men and women on the job site. The company’s products can be found online, in-store or delivered to job sites through their mobile stores. They also offer training for workers on topics including fall protection, respiratory protection and safety as well as other topics pertinent to the industry. The company continues to grow, says Betancourt, who is president and founder. Today it employs approximately 50 people and has three offices and five mobile stores. The idea for the company came to Betancourt in 2011 when he was balancing full-time work with a drywall contractor, helping with administrative work and training workers on safety practices. That experience made him aware of the need for
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Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability
a business that both offered training and provided the equipment companies needed to keep their employees safe. “My mother and my sister were essential to our company’s growth,” says Betancourt, who is the son of Colombian immigrants. “We started from our garage and took over my old bedroom, then my mom’s living room until half of her house was full of products and we made the decision to do this full-time.” The company has assisted projects across Florida, from the Brickell City Centre to upcoming projects like the expansion of I-4 in Orlando, the guitar-shaped Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood and other iconic jobs throughout Florida and the United States. “There are really no boundaries. You create how far you want to go in life,” he says. “What we did is really inspirational, and now most of my family works with us. It’s a blessing because I get to see them every day.” Betancourt credits his time as an undergrad at FIU’s Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability with giving him the knowledge required to establish, run and grow the business. “It helped me get a good grasp on what construction is really about. It gave me a well-rounded education on construction in and of itself, from the architect to the engineer to the project managers and all the different roles and positions there are in construction,” he says. “It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”
The Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability graduates span the globe, creating a powerful Panther alumni network. More than 500 alumni live in 39 states, four U.S. territories and 29 countries.
Where our alumni are today:
16%
7%
9%
northeast
midwest
west
57% south
1% hawaii
& alaska
10% international
Companies Hiring Our Graduates Moss School graduates are highly sought after. Here is a sampling of the companies that hire our graduates: ANF Group, Inc. Baker Concrete Balfour Beatty Construction Brasfield & Gorrie Catalfumo Construction & Development Coastal Construction Condotte America Current Builders DPR Construction E.F. Alvarez & Co., P.A. Ferreira Construction Florida Lemark Corporation Gilbane Building Company
Grace & Naeem Uddin, Inc. Hensel Phelps Construction Co. Hollywood Woodwork J. Raymond Construction Corporation James B. Pirtle Construction John Moriarty and Associates Juneau Construction Kast Construction Kaufman Lynn Construction Latite Roofing and Sheet Metal LLC Lemartec Corp. Lennar Homes Link Construction Group, Inc.
Lynx Construction Moss and Associates NV2A Odebrecht Construction, Inc. Pirtle Construction Plaza Construction Robins and Morton Skanska USA Building Suffolk Construction Supermix The Weitz Company The Whiting Turner Contracting Co.
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Ahead of the Curve +
For a glimpse of the future of women in construction, one need look no further than these Moss School standouts.
Kelly Valle MS ’14, an assistant project manager at Balfour Beatty PLC, is working currently on the River Landing Shops and Residences, a mixed-use development on the Miami River. Valle and her team are managing approximately $44 million of the $300 million project. Dozens of managers, multiple engineers and hundreds of tradespeople are behind the efforts to build the riverfront park, 475 apartments and 426,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Aside from this being her biggest project to date, there’s something else about this job that makes it special to Valle: the amount of women she’s working with. “There are more women managing this project than any other Balfour Beatty project in Florida,” says the 28-year-old. “There are seven of us, including two structural engineers under the age of 35. This is the first time I’ve experienced that. For many years, I was the only woman on the job.” That’s expected to change in the coming years. Women currently make up 9.1 percent (939,000) of the construction industry in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Approximately one-third of those women are in management. Unlike other industries, the wage gender gap in construction is relatively small. Valle says her gender’s underrepresentation in construction hasn’t impacted her negatively. “I’ve never thought twice about being a woman in this industry, and I’ve never felt that I’ve been treated differently,” says the first-generation American and first-generation college graduate. “I’m confident in my decisions, I work hard. The respect has always followed.” Valle became interested in construction as a child thanks to her father, who worked in rebar sales for Florida Lumber. She has fond memories of driving around Miami with her father as he pointed out buildings he provided material for. Those experiences and a career day at her elementary school piqued her interest. After graduating from William H. Turner Technical High School’s construction program and University of Florida, Valle set her sights on a graduate degree in construction management from the Moss School. Early in her FIU experience, Valle attended a College of Engineering career fair. That led to an interview with Balfour Beatty, where she was hired as a full-time intern. Working during the day and attending classes at night, Valle soon had a written employment offer from Balfour contingent upon the successful completion of her master’s. Projects she’s worked on include the Miami Dade College Hialeah campus, FIU Student Academic Support Center and 3 MiamiCentral, among other projects. So what does her dad think of his daughter’s career choice? “He thinks it’s awesome,” says Valle, laughing. “He’s proud.”
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Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure and Sustainability
Melissa Arcila ’17, a project engineer/assistant project manager for general contractor NV2A, also credits family for her career path. “They were a big influence,” she says. Her mother reminded her often that construction was a “pretty foolproof” job choice. Arcila saw it firsthand growing up because her stepfather had his own remodeling business. Long before she got to FIU, Arcila would accompany him in the field. Today Arcila has worked on more than a dozen projects around Miami, including the Port of Miami Terminal B, Paraiso Bayviews condo waterfront development, Gran Paraiso luxury condos, 1000 Museum residential condos, Aventura Mall and Port Aventura. As an undergraduate student in construction management, Arcila participated in as many extracurricular activities as she could. “I was diligent. I did the competitions,” she says. “It helped me understand the field and the opportunities within the industry.” More than once, Arcila says participating in the competitions allowed her to become familiar with industry concepts prior to being introduced to them in the classroom (“so that’s why you have to do a safety plan”). Arcila speaks highly of the curriculum. “Everything I learned in my classes I use on the job. All of it was relevant. And I’d have to say everyone was pretty honest with me about what to expect. I can’t say there’s anything I wish I had been told.” “I have a passion for my job,” she says. “It’s not a burden to come to work. I truly get excited about construction and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others.” Similar to Valle, Arcila says being a woman in a male-dominated industry hasn’t been an issue. “I’m very good at what I do, and I try to communicate effectively,” she says. “I’m also constantly trying to troubleshoot. I don’t sit around and wait for information to come to me. I do my research, and I’m proactive in reaching out to ask questions. “I see myself as an equal, so I’m treated as an equal,” she continues. “I believe in myself to the point where others want to invest in me.” When asked what she would say to other young women who aren’t sure whether construction is a good career choice, she says, “We’re few and far between, and I would encourage them to consider it. It’s a great career that builds your self confidence.”
By the Numbers
A breakdown of women by occupation sector in the construction industry: Sales & Office................................... 45% Professional & Management.............. 31% Natural Resources, Construction & Maintenance................................. 21% Service Occupations.......................... 1.5% Production, Transportation & Material Moving................................ 1.4% While women in the United States still make an average of 80 cents for every dollar men make, in construction it’s 97 cents.
Shraddha takes on South Florida
The trend of more women in construction isn’t confined to this country. As an architecture student finishing up her five-year undergraduate program at Kathmandu Engineering College, Shraddha Shrestha knew she wanted to leave her native Nepal to pursue a master’s in construction management in the United States. She liked the diversity she saw on FIU’s website, so she moved halfway around the world to join Moss School students.
“Nepal is a small country, and there are not many women in construction,” Shrestha says. “Going to job sites, I saw very few women.” Shrestha is enjoying her FIU experience in more ways than one.
“I’ve definitely found the diversity that I was looking for. I have students from India, China and South America in my classes,” says Shrestha, who is working as a graduate assistant for Moss School professor Nipesh Pradhananga. In addition, she’s enjoying the more high tech method of teaching. “I’m finding the technological aspect of the way things are taught here is much easier than the more traditional methods of teaching back home.” After finishing her master’s at FIU, Shrestha says she would like to work for two years to gain practical knowledge of the industry before returning to Nepal. FIU College of Engineering & Computing 13
NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID Miami FL PERMIT NO 3675
College of Engineering & Computing Florida International University 10555 West Flagler Street, EC 2900 Miami, FL 33174 Phone: 305.348.3172 Fax: 305.348.6255 schoolofconstruction.fiu.edu Change Service Requested
A STRONG FOUNDATION We offer: • Bachelor’s in Construction Management • Master’s in Construction Management • Joint program for Master’s in Construction Management/Juris Doctorate
19017_ENG_ 05/19
How to apply: fiu.edu/admissions