ACEC/CT Update

Sept 22 Dinner Meeting - MDC

Chuck Sheehan, CEO of the Metropolitan District Commission, will be our guest speaker September 22, 2010 at our first dinner meeting of the 2010-11 year. The MDC has over $2 billion in design and construction planned for their Clean Water Project in and around Hartford. Click here for meeting registration information and click here for sponsorship information.

Holiday Party

Please join us as we celebrate the Holiday Season with a joint reception for ACEC/CT and CSPE members at the Baci Grill on Rt 372 in Cromwell from 5:30 to 7:30 PM, Monday, December 17, 2007. You will find the meeting registration and sponsor forms in the column on the right.

Engineering Student Summit

Thursday, November 1, 2007, 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM (formal program), 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM (informal). The University of Hartford, Wilde Auditorium, Grey Conference Center, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117. Park in visitor lots K or F. Registration: $25 per person. Please mail, fax or call in your reservation by Friday, October 26, 2007. Sponsorships available. Contact the ACEC/CT office at (860) 635-5522. Meeting registration forms and sponsorship forms available in column at right.

If you are concerned about the current shortage of engineers in our profession, This summit will bring educators, about 50 civil engineering students, and representatives of the consulting community together to exchange ideas on how to keep people in the profession and how to attract new students with activities that can reach as far back as junior high school and high school students.

Your attendance is critical for several reasons:

1. The more you know about these young people, the better prepared you and your firm will be to meet the challenges of the shortage of engineers.

2. We need to show engineering students the opportunities available in the consulting engineering industry.

3. We can explain what we need from engineering school graduates to faculty and administrators.

Our hosts will be:
Prof. Michael Accorsi – University of Connecticut
Prof. David Pines – University of Hartford
Prof. Gregory Broderick, P.E. – University of New Haven

A “town hall” meeting with the students will be the centerpiece of the program. Afterward we will have a time for informal discussion with students and faculty and have refreshments. Bring plenty of business cards!

DECD Commissioner for September Meeting

We are proud to have as our guests at the September ACEC/CT Dinner Meeting Joan McDonald, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.

For firms serving the private sector, DECD is the state’s lead state agency responsible for business recruitment and retention, brownfield redevelopment, and housing and community development.

Public sector firms will be interested in the Department’s involvement in transit-oriented development, responsible growth and municipal grants.

Ms. McDonald has 25 years experience in government and the private sector. Her public sector experience include: Senior Vice President for Transportation at the NYC Economic Development Corporation; Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Traffic Operations for NYC DOT; Director, Capital & Long Range Planning at Metro-North Railroad; and Deputy Budget Director for the NYS Assembly Ways and Means Committee. Ms. McDonald’s private sector experience includes serving as Vice President of Jacobs Engineering where she was responsible for the marketing and operations of Jacobs’ New York/New Jersey office.

Sign up for this meeting and/or become a sponsor by clicking on the registration and sponsorship forms in the right column.

Joint Annual Dinner a Success

The Joint ACEC/CT and CSPE Annual Meeting was held the evening of June 20, 2007 at the Inn at Middletown. It was a beautiful evening and much networking was accomplished.

The 2007-08 members of the ACEC/CT and CSPE Boards of Directors were presented to the members.

Mark Austin was presented with a certificate designating him a Fellow of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Val Ericson received the 2007 ACEC/CT Member of the Year Award for his volunteer work with ACEC/CT, the Structural Engineers Coalition of Connecticut, and various structural engineers organizations at the national level.

Chuck Sheehan, Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan District Commission, received the ACEC/CT Government Leader of the Year Award for his outstanding leadership in various government agencies in Connecticut. Mr. Sheehan gave a presentation about the MDC's Clean Water Project, a $1.6 billion program to upgrade the region's stormwater and wastewater system.

Jack Jolls, former ACEC/CT President, gave a rousing talk on what engineers and engineering firms must do to address the growing shortage of engineers.

Photos from the event can be viewed in the photo album in the right column.

Joint Annual Dinner Meeting

ACEC/CT and Connecticut Society of Professional Engineers will hold a joint dinner meeting starting at 5:30 PM, Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at the Inn at Middletown, 70 Main Street, Middletown.

Our Keynote Speaker will be past ACEC/CT president Jack Jolls who will discuss the need to mobilize firms and individual engineers to recruit middle and high school students to become engineers.

We will also present three honors at the meeting:

• ACEC/CT Member of the Year will be presented to Val Ericson, PE.
• ACEC/CT Government Leader of the Year will be presented to Chuck Sheehan, President and CEO of the Metropolitan District Commission.
• CSPE will induct Mark Austin, PE as a Fellow of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Click the forms in the right column to download a meeting flyer/registration form and sponsor form.

School Building Projects

ACEC/CT is co-sponsoring a meeting June 28, 2007 with AIA/CT, AGC/CT and ASLA Connecticut to educate municipal officials, design professionals, contractors and others about recent changes to the state's school construction program. See June 28 Flyer link in column on right.

Several of the more important changes are a higher standard of care for design professionals and a limit on the reimbursement by the state of change orders beyond 5% of the authorized budget for the project.

Don't miss this important topic and meet architects and municipal officials.

DOT and DPW Leadership Meet with ACEC/CT

We are proud to have as our guests at the May ACEC/CT Dinner Meeting two outstanding leaders in our state government.

Commissioner of Transportation Ralph Carpenter was named to the post last summer having served as Motor Vehicles Commissioner for two years and serving 25 years in the State Police, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Connecticut Department of Public Works Deputy Commissioner David O’Hearn, PE is responsible for all the Department’s design and construction projects. Before coming to DPW, he served as project manager for the state’s Military Department and was a project manager for UConn’s Rentschler Field and the Connecticut Convention Center at Adriaen’s Landing in Hartford.

See the meeting flyer and sponsor flyer in the right column for registration information.

Clean Water Fund Update Meeting

The problem of sewer overflows has been a major concern in cleaning up the state’s environment and is key to a healthy Long Island Sound. The state’s commitment to Clean Water Fund programs has faltered in the past few years but the Governor has requested $70 million in bonding for the next two years. The General Assembly wants to increase that to $100 million each year. Voters in the Metropolitan District Commission passed a sweeping Clean Water project to correct CSO problems and upgrade the MDC’s wastewater control facilities. Current estimates for the improvements, including allowances for the Hartford Water Pollution Control Facility nitrogen removal upgrade, will be about $100 million per year, expended over 15 years.

Our speakers this evening are DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy and Robert Weimar, PE.

The dinner meeting will be held at 5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at the Rocky Hill Marriott. Click on the Meeting Registration and Flyer on the right column.

The Price of Perfection

You’ve negotiated the scope and price for a great project with a new client. Everyone is excited. But you read the owner’s contract and find, “Engineer shall perform to the highest level of professional care.” Well, of course you’re going to do your best! But you wonder what that clause means....

Last year Connecticut passed a law that requires all design contracts for schools to include language with the “highest professional standard of care.”

Join us in a candid panel discussion about a growing problem with owners and their contracts: the standard of care. Owners want you to assume more risk and the stakes couldn’t be higher. You may find yourself responsible for more than you imagined and without insurance coverage!

Our panelists:

• Val Ericson, PE, The DiSalvo Ericson Group;
• James Lawler, FAIA, CJ Lawler Associates;
• Robert Camilleri, Camilleri & Clarke Associates;
• Gregory Van Deusen, BVH Integrated Services, Inc.;
• Timothy Fisher, Attorney, McCarter & English, LLP.
• Lois Roberts, PE of Lois Roberts & Associates will be our moderator.

$50 per person.

Sponsorships available. Contact the ACEC/CT office at

(860) 635-5522 or click on Sponsorship Form at bottom of right hand column.

Note: Early Morning Program!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

New Haven Lawn Club

193 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511

Directions - click here.

7:30 AM: Registration and Breakfast Buffet

8:00 - 9:00 AM: Program

Registration Form: Click on Jan 23 Registration Form at bottom of column on right.

Please mail, fax or call in your reservation by Friday, January 19, 2007.