UMass Student Team Places Eighth at National Competition

UMass Student Team Places Eighth at National Competition

Our 2023 team at the competition The 2023 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Competition for four-year programs was held at the 2023 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, 2023. The UMass NAHB Student Chapter team placed 8th in the competition. The mission of the NAHB four-year student competition is to expose students to an in-depth residential construction project from concept to closing. Using real projects, students compete with other schools as they display their problem-solving abilities and learn more about homebuilding. This year’s competition team included 14 students from the BCT program, the Department of Architecture, and the Isenberg School of Management. During the Fall semester, the students worked on developing a business proposal that included market analysis, product design, construction management, project management, financial and risk analysis, and sustainability related to a property in La Plata, MD. The students traveled to Las Vegas and presented their proposal to the judges and attended the International Builders’...
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Spring 2023 BCT Lecture Series Announced

Spring 2023 BCT Lecture Series Announced

The start of a new semester brings with it a new series of public lectures. We are happy to announce the four speakers mentioned below, who will present on various current topics in the built environment. All lectures are open to the public and are held on Mondays from 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm in the Olver Design Building Room 170. Zoom options will be available, too. Want to get notified when these are? Sign up for our email list. Storm Water Reuse in Large Commercial Buildings Jake Littman, Technical Principal, WSP USA 02.13.23, 4:00-5:15pm Design Building Room 170 | Free and Open to All The concept of stormwater reuse is tantalizing and is conceptually low-hanging fruit in the reduction of building environmental impacts, but what does it take to design and engineer building systems that capture, treat, and distribute stormwater in a building? In this presentation, Jack Littman will use real-world examples to bring to life the breadth, scale, and complexity inherent in stormwater reuse, practical...
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Pre-Construction Student Team Takes Second Place in 2022 ASC Competition

Pre-Construction Student Team Takes Second Place in 2022 ASC Competition

UMass’ Pre-Construction Team – our 2nd Place Winner! As in years past, BCT participated in the 2022 Annual Associated Schools of Construction Region 1 Student Competition in Albany, NY this past weekend with two teams. Under Prof. Romero’s expert mentoring and with several months of hard work behind them, the Pre-Construction Team (shown in the image above) took home a stellar second place in the pre-construction category. This was only the third year in which our students competed in this competition. We congratulate the team members for this superb effort! The pre-construction team consisted of Patrick Koenen (Project Manager), Jocey Krooks, Erica Marschke, Cody McCreanor, Aidan McSheffrey, and Daniel Smith. The commercial construction team – which placed fifth this year – consisted of William Harmelink (Project Manager), Mark Carstairs, Jillian Contois, John McKinnon, Tali Shoham, and Hiram Tatis. UMass’ Commercial Construction Team Gallery Links ASC Region 1 website The post Pre-Construction Student Team Takes Second Place in 2022 ASC Competition appeared first on Building and Construction Technology....
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BCT CityLab: Blurring the Lines between High School, College, and Industry

BCT CityLab: Blurring the Lines between High School, College, and Industry

The BCT ‘CityLab-ers’ visited a live construction site located in Roxbury, MA and managed by Haycon – a Boston-based construction and design-build firm specializing in high performance building. Using the Boston Metro area as a real-world classroom, the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) this summer launched a new immersive pre-college program – the BCT CityLab – a first-ever offering at the UMass Mount Ida Campus, for high school juniors and seniors interested in exploring building construction, sustainability, engineering, architecture, and technology-related learning and career pathways. The inaugural program attracted students from five states (MA, NJ, CT, UT, IL) and three countries (Honduras, Switzerland, USA). Each participant learned about college life and earned college credits while engaging in construction site tours, hands-on fabrication projects and skills trainings.  The innovative program was designed to make learning fun, and to build tangible learning pathways to access Boston’s innovation economy. In the Building Physics Module, students learned about heat transfer and thermodynamics in buildings and...
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Fall 2022 BCT Lecture Series Announced

Fall 2022 BCT Lecture Series Announced

The start of a new semester brings with it a new series of public lectures. We are happy to announce the four speakers mentioned below, who will present on various current topics in the built environment. All lectures are open to the public and are held on Mondays from 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm in the Olver Design Building Room 170. Zoom options will be available, too. Want to get notified when these are? Sign up for our email list. INTEGRATING THE OLD AND NEW: FACING THE CHALLENGES ON A CONSTRUCTION REMODEL Jack Manifold, CEO of J. Manifold Construction, LLC September 19, 2022 Using specific case studies, learn vital elements of construction from the old to the new regarding structural integrity, foundational excellence, and project sitework elements for both remodeled commercial and residential buildings. IRA 2022 AND ITS IMPLICATION ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT Dr. Adewale Adesanya, Founder/CEO Havenergy Consulting Inc. October 17, 2022 By reviewing provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and what it means to...
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