Job Listing: Civil Engineer

In this post I will be doing a rhetorical analysis of a Civil Engineering job listing and the company that put up the position. I chose an entry level Civil Engineering position at Ackerman-Estvold Engineering in Minot, North Dakota. I have an advantage with this analysis since I have worked as an intern for 2 years at Ackerman-Estvold. I will examine the things I already know and will combine them with the information I have researched.

Things I Know

Ackerman-Estvold is a relatively laid back company. The President and CEO Ryan Ackerman would frequently come back just to chat with the interns. I'm on joking terms with the Vice President Jeff McElwain. Jeff once told me he'd rather hire a 3.2 GPA with a personality over a 4.0 without one. This relatively relaxed atmosphere is why Ackerman-Estvold has won  Top Place to Work for Young Professionals multiple times in the last several years. It is a company run by young professionals for young professionals. 

Even with the candid feeling in the office, they still expect a fair amount out of their employees. I worked anywhere between fifty and seventy hours a week as an intern, which isn't all that uncommon in a construction field. The interesting thing is that even the engineers would frequently be seen working late at the office. 

Things I Learned

I never got to really be a part of the company's community involvement since the interns were always needed out in the field. I understood that the company liked to emphasis community involvement, but I didn't realize how extensive their efforts were until this research. I knew they had helped a lot with clean up during the 2011 flood, but it surprised me how many youth organizations they are involved with. 

They hold learning events such as the Boy Scouts Explorer's Post and the Minot State University College for Kids. They also give a lot to the Souris Valley United Way and the Fill the Bus School Supply Drive. A complete list of their community service can me found here. 

Applying To My Job Packet

My research and current knowledge has led me to believe that Ackerman-Estvold Engineering is looking to hire a well rounded person over a high GPA. Rather than just putting organizations I've been involved in, I decided to just put ones that could be considered community service. In my cover letter I took the opportunity to list services that didn't seem to fit well with the format of the resume. 

Rather than trying to sell myself as more qualified than a fresh college graduate is, I'll present myself as someone who has been involved in Minot's community for many years, In addition, I'll focus on my time with them as an intern. I'm familiar with how they do things, I'm involved in their community, and will hopefully even finish with a decent GPA as a cherry on top.

Collaboration

Group Work in Civil Engineering

Collaboration appears during every phase of a construction project. Whether the work is between individuals in the same company or an engineering firm coordinating with the city or state government, civil engineering relies on team work. This is mainly due to the scale of the projects. Even on a simple road and sub-street design there will be multiple people working on it. Needless to say, a sky scraper or large bridge could have dozens of engineers designing it.

Most projects begin with competition instead of collaboration though. Engineering companies attempt to out bid other firms for jobs offered by the city or state, followed by construction companies trying to get hired by the winning engineering firm. Once these original financial details are dealt with, team work and communication become the main focus.

Collaboration Inside a Firm

Although only one name will usually appear on a finished design, the work is usually divided by sub field. On a bridge project you might have multiple structural, transportation, water resources, materials, and environmental engineers. Each of these individuals must make sure their designs line up and function properly with the designs of the other engineers involved in the project. Recently technology has made this significantly easier. Since the information can be stored and edited online, multiple people could possibly be working on a design at the same time. 

Following completion of a design, it is sent out to the hired construction company and the inspectors. Inspectors normally work for the company that designed the project, but will occasionally work in the public sector. The inspector is the main link between the designers and the builders. Their job is to ensure that the project is constructed according to the plans and city or state ordinances.

Companies Cooperating

On a single project there will usually be a main contracting construction company. This single company will then hire many subcontractors to complete specialty work such as lighting and signage. On a large scale project such as the London Olympic Park there were as many as 23,000 companies 

that were subcontracted. The main contractor is in charge of organizing each company so that work will be completed efficiently. 

Once work is underway, the inspector will act as the communication link between the engineers, the construction company, and the city or state government. The city will be kept up to date on expected finish dates and deadlines. Anything that goes against city code will need to be passed through them. Finished work and used materials will be reported to the engineering firm for cost calculation. 

Website Redesign

The website redesign is similar in structure to engineers designing a project together. To help us with our limited contact time with our group, we are using One Drive to share our materials. Inside One Drive we are using Microsoft Word Online, so multiple people can work on documents simultaneously. Any revision one person makes will show up for the other group members as well. 

As far as the design itself, the website we chose is already aesthetically pleasing. The problem was finding information about their actual subject. Our challenge was to add this information without infringing on the appearance of the overall page. Our solution was to add tabs next to the existing ones. As long as the line of tabs doesn't get too long, the page still looks nice. The pages these tabs link to will mainly be text as our purpose is to inform the reader. 

I'm not sure if redesigning a website has anything to do with civil engineering, but it is a good common ground for group work. I've gotten to see what it takes to reach a shared goal with people of different backgrounds and educations. I believe this will not only help me as a future civil engineer, but will be useful for any other career field. 

Blue Topping Tutorial Video

This video details the process of the calculations of blue topping. Due to it being winter I was unable to demonstrate the physical actions required for measurements and setting the hubs. I spend most of the video explaining the calculations as the measurements and setting the hubs is relatively self explanatory. As the video was too large to upload to blogger, it is currently being hosted on YouTube.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHFVoTDhAVA&feature=youtu.be

Blue Topping Usability Report

Usability

Usability refers to the ease of use of a product or process. Usability testing is the means of gathering data on the usability of a product or process. Typically feedback on these tests will pertain to the learn-ability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction of a design.

• Learn-ability- how easy it was to understand the design?
• Efficiency- how quickly can the design be followed once it is learned?
• Memorability- are the steps easy to remember or relearn?
• Errors- how frequently do errors occur and how significant are they?
• Satisfaction- was the design pleasant to use?

Blue Topping

For my usability test, I wrote instructions on how to blue top. Following the completion of the curb on both sides, the gravel base of the road is graded to the correct slope and elevation. Blue topping is the process of setting wooden hubs into the ground at the elevation of the crown of the gravel base. I wrote four usability questions based on what I thought were the most vital points of blue topping.

• Were the instructions for the calculations easily comprehended?
• The calculations are the most important part of blue topping. If done incorrectly, the entire process would need to be redone.
• Should I go more into the purpose of blue topping or why it is helpful?
• I covered it only briefly since the purpose of the video will be the process itself, but if it would help it can be added.
• Was my explanation regarding when blue topping occur clear enough?
• For someone without construction or surveying experience, it might be difficult to understand what phase the road is in when blue topping occurs.
• Do you have any other questions or comments?
• It would be easy for someone with experience on a topic to miss a concept that might be essential to a person who is just learning it. 

Usability Test Report

Introduction

My topic is blue topping. My target audience will be my class mates and perhaps novice surveyors. 

Objectives

I want to present the methods and calculations required for blue topping in a manner that someone with little to no experience would be able to understand.

Method

This draft of my instructions will hopefully be close to what my final product will look like. My test users will be two civil engineering students, one with surveying experience and one without. My third user will be a management information systems major with no prior knowledge of the topic. 

The users will be presented with a cross sectional drawing of a road and will be asked to calculate the elevation of the crown of the gravel base of the road relative to the curb. Then they will be given two curb elevations and will be asked to find the crown elevations relative to the laser level. It will be a written test and calculators are allowed. There is no time limit. 

Results

As I expected the civil engineering student with surveying experience had zero problems with the instructions. The civil student without surveying experience was also able to complete the test with minor difficulty. Unfortunately the MIS major got hung up on the computation. After giving him a slight nudge in the right direction he understood what he had done incorrectly.

Fortunately I included my fourth usability question. All three said I needed to include instructions on how to read a grade rod while using a laser level. After doing it for two years in a row, reading the rod never crossed my mind as an important detail to add. The reason it can be a tad tricky is due to the fact the small numbers mean higher elevations on a grade rod, whereas most people would logically think the opposite. 

Conclusion

Aside from the oversight of the grade rod, the rest of the instructions were rated well by my users. I plan to add a section about reading the grade rod right after the step discussing the calculations. In my video I also hope to find graphic aids to help show the operation of a laser level and grade rod. 

Controlled Rocking Buildings

A major problem with current standards for building structures in the US is that they normally only account for vertical and normal forces. The downside to this is that earthquakes cause horizontal and lateral forces. Most buildings are simply made strong enough to prevent a collapse or loss of life, but accept minor building damage. In areas as North Dakota, the minute chance of an earthquake occurring makes it unnecessary to worry about such precautions. In places like California though, earthquakes can lead to huge building repair costs following frequent earthquakes. A recent study at Case Western Reserve University has produced results of a new technology that could help prevent even the majority of minor damage to structures in areas of heavy seismic activity.

Rocking Technology

Michael Pollino

Although not the inventor of the idea, Michael Pollino, an assistant professor of civil engineering at Case Western Reserve University, has created a program that allows him to compare their performance versus current earthquake standards. The technology can be a bit difficult to understand, but the theory behind the idea is relatively simple. Imagine you are waist deep in a jar of maple syrup, and somebody begins to shake the jar. The jar and syrup will move, but you will move less and more slowly as the syrup dissipates the lateral energy.

With that concept in mind, think of the foundations of a building. Usually they are steel or reinforced concrete beams with a concrete base. The idea is that instead of using a concrete base, the bottoms of the columns would be set in a heavily viscous liquid. Steel-based frames would be used to act as springs to pull the building back towards a homeostatic position. The combination of both of these technologies results in a building that will slightly rock when hit with lateral forces. 

Future Applications

Although this technology is not being practices in the field at the current time, many researchers are beginning to support the concept. Pollino and his colleagues hope to form a technical committee that will attempt to bring this concept out into the design world. There are still many details to work out, but his group is confident is the potential of this technology.

Concept drawing of a rocking building

The idea of rocking buildings could revolutionize the design of future buildings in California and other areas where earthquakes frequently occur. Unfortunately this concept does nothing to help currently standing buildings. Since the rocking device will be put on the base columns, this needs to be done prior to construction of the building. I believe an imperative future application of this technology should be a way to adapt is to existing structures. New buildings would be fine during earthquakes, but damage to nearby structures could result in damage to these new buildings anyway. 

Design Principles

Blog Design

Instead of talking about the design of a bridge or storm water management plan, this post will focus on the design features of the blog itself. Before starting this blog, I had little to no knowledge of what a blog actually consisted of. Once I learned what a blog actually was, I realized I've been reading blogs my entire life. Blogs essentially provide readers with information on a specific topic or story, but in a serving size that most people will be willing to take the time to read. Many of the design features used in blogging are directed towards making it easy for the reader to find the information they are looking for. 

Perhaps the easiest way to remember a few of the more important features is the acronym CRAP. CRAP stands for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. These principles are rarely used alone though. Each aspect of the design usually contributes in some way to the other three features. Once you learn to understand each concept individually, you will be able to recognize how they interact with each other.

Contrast

Contrast can be used in different ways depending on the purpose of the blog. An entertainment blog will most likely use color contrast to draw the readers attention. My blogs are written under a bit more of a professional context, so my main use for contrast has been to make my main points stand out. I used larger font for my headings, so that my information is organized and easy to interpret. I decided to bold important words or phrases in my paragraphs as well. 

Repetition

It's not about repeating the same idea over and over, but about using the same formatting throughout the entire post. Using the same sized font for each heading and keeping each paragraph similarly sized are good example of effective repetition. I used both of these concepts while writing my other posts. It can also be useful if color is being used in your design. It makes it so that your blog appears organized rather than looking like a wordy rainbow.

Alignment

This deals with the location of everything on the page. Most commonly text will be aligned with the left side of the screen, but if you design to align right or center, the entire blog should be the same. When it comes to pictures or diagrams in the articles, I looked at the effect of staggering my images versus having them all run in the same alignment. I felt that aligning the pictures lead to a better flow in the text where as the staggered look forces the reader to weave through the article. 

Proximity

Although it seems like common sense, related topics should be near each other in an article. Images and diagrams should be places near the location that there were mentioned in the text. A good writing tip in general is to use an outline before hand, so any related information ends up in the same area of the article. 

These features are important to acknowledge and understand. Even if you never plan on writing a blog during your lifetime, being able to recognize these features will help with reading and comprehending blogs and other online resources. Before this project, I hardly even knew what a blog was, but by using these simple techniques I was able to write and design multiple posts with relative ease.

Protected Wetlands: An Ethical Argument

The Issue

During the summer of 2013 I was working as a construction inspector for Ackerman-Estvold Engineering in Minot, ND. My main site that summer was on a 3 mile gravel grade raise near Plaza, ND. It is nearly an hour to the closest mid-sized town. One of the many problems that arise from a project on gravel is the dust thrown up by the trucks. The simple solution is to just have a water truck spray the road every so often. The only issue is when the truck needs to be refilled, but in western North Dakota this doesn't seem like a problem at all. The water table is incredibly high, and the sloughs are always full of water. Unfortunately many of these sloughs are being designated at protected wetlands.

The Clean Water Act defines a wetland as, "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas." This is a bit lengthy, but in short is means any body of water that can support plant life can and will be legally protected. While this sounds nice in theory there are several problems that it causes, especially in western North Dakota.

The Problem of Protection

Because these sloughs were protected, we couldn't drain the water from them. The reason this 3 million dollar grade raise was happening was because the water level had gotten too high. Aside from being the reason for the project, they were also a hindrance to the work itself. Silt curtains had to be run hundreds of feet at a time in an attempt to prevent dirt from getting into the water. The water truck had to drive all the way to Berthold to fill up, which is over an hour and a half round trip. Tons of time and money were spent just to project a few sloughs. 

Outside of civil engineering, agriculture takes a huge hit due to these wetlands being protected. Since they can't be drained, farmers end up losing large amounts of land when either the ditches or a dip in a field fill up with water. Not only can they not plant in the area filled with water, the area around the sloughs are usually too saturated to grow anything. Protecting wetlands such as these results in a waste of resources for the agriculture industry in this region. 

Helping Habitats

The main purpose of the EPA protecting these wetlands is to ensure a safe environment for the flora and fauna that need these environments to survive. This includes not just the fish and the plants in the water, but all of the creatures that use the area for water, food, or shelter. Many migratory birds raise their young and nest on these wetlands. I will admit to seeing several ducks swimming in the sloughs at various times. I even saw a muskrat a couple times. 

Aside from that, protected wetlands help to stabilize the water table during drought periods. This can be a major issue in arid parts of the United States. These areas can also help trap flood waters, which Minot saw a lot of during the 2011 flood. They provide more area for the water to flow down into rather than flowing outwards.

The Actual Results

I agree the protection of wildlife and their environments is important, but are these sloughs really that vital? Since most of them occur on farm land, there are large amounts of pesticides and herbicides that run off into the water. Shouldn't it be illegal to let dangerous chemicals run into protected wetlands? In most cases it is, according to section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Most farming operations are exempt from this ruling though and don't even need to acquire a permit to do so. 

Maintaining ground water supply and keeping a stable water table would be important functions as well, if it wasn't for the fact that the last truly dry year in North Dakota was back in the late 90s. This has led to an unbelievably high water table, which makes any construction work 7ft below street level a sopping mess and makes a lot of farm land unusable. 

Protecting wetlands is an important issue, and there are many reasons they should continue to be protected nationally. The problem needs to be looked at more so on a case by case basis though. Is protecting such a small habitat worth a 3 million dollar grade raise and the lose of thousands of acres of farm land?