Kunz Named Illinois Young Civil Engineer of Year

The Illinois Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers has named Brent Kunz its Young Civil Engineer of the Year.

He is senior associate at Chicago-based engineering firm Bowman, Barrett & Associates Inc., where he specializes in bridge design. Kunz, 33, has designed bridges on nearly every major expressway in the Chicago area and has been practicing for nine years.

Indiana Roundtable Creates Task Force

The Indianapolis-based Indiana Construction Roundtable has created a task force to delve into industry issues and concerns as a way to provide assistance.

Mark Voigtmann of Indianapolis-based law firm Baker & Daniels LLP will lead the effort.
The task force will allow ICR to serve as a neutral party on important issues. It would also serve as a vehicle by which owner practices that contractors might find harmful to the owner or the industry can be addresses. Lobbying is not anticipated.

Contact ICR at 317-328-2149.

Midwesterners Recognized for Contributions to Steel

The Lifetime Achievement and Special Achievement awards were presented at the recent Annual Meeting of the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction.

AISC’s Lifetime Achievement Award honors living individuals who have made a difference in the structural steel industry’s success, and were presented to William Liddy and Bert Cooper.

Liddy spent nearly 60 years in the steel industry, first promoting structural steel for the mills, then as a regional engineer with AISC and finally as an advisor in the Steel Solutions Center. He worked closely with the fabrication industry, especially in the Midwest. He has also acted as a mentor for younger staff at AISC.

Cooper is a long-time contributor to the structural steel industry as both an AISC board member and as the owner of a leading fabrication firm, Little Rock, Ark.-based W&W/AFCO Steel. He has contributed time and financial resources to support steel industry research activities.

AISC’s Special Achievement Award gives special recognition to individuals who demonstrated singular or multiple achievements in structural steel design, construction, research or education, and they were presented to William Brown and Joseph Hunt.

Brown is the president of St. Louis-based Ben Hur Construction Co., and Hunt is the General President of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers in Washington, D.C.

They were awarded the Special Achievement Award for their work in developing and nurturing I.M.P.A.C.T., which is a labor/management partnership designed to bring together local unions and their signatory contractors to address mutual problems and create solutions to those problems.

Thornton Tomasetti Principals Receive Humanitarian Award

The New York-based Concrete Industry Foundation has presented Charles Thornton and Richard Tomasetti, founding principals of structural-engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti Inc., with the Foundation’s Humanitarian Fellow Award at its annual awards luncheon.

The CIF is educational fund that fosters excellence in design and construction through a scholarship and grant program for study in the concrete built environment. Thornton Tomasetti is based in New York and has an office in Chicago.

The two established the Thornton Tomasetti Chair in Engineering at Manhattan College. Richard Tomasetti serves as chairman of the New York Building Foundation and of the newly formed Thornton Tomasetti Foundation. Thornton is chairman and founder of the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Mentor Program, which has affiliates in 31 states and involves 37,000 students in learning about the design and construction industries. He is also chairman emeritus of the Salvadori Center, a nonprofit educational organization in New York.