The Future. Built Smarter.

In this episode we visit with IMEG’s Cliff Schwinger, a senior structural engineer in Philadelphia and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction. Cliff has more than 40 years of experience, is a nationally recognized quality assurance expert, and presents at seminars nationwide, including the NASCC Steel Conference, where he has been a speaker for 10 years.

Cliff’s interest in engineering sprouted when he was a little kid. “I used to build these model airplanes out of balsa wood, and they were like mini structures,” he recalls. Though he originally had designs on becoming an aeronautical engineer, as he entered college, jobs in that field were on the downswing. “So, I somehow wandered into civil engineering. I became a structural engineer, and I haven't looked back.”

He has seen many changes over the course of his career, primarily due to advances in technology. “I entered college with a slide rule and I came out with a calculator,” he says. “I still remember the first computer we got, and then, gradually, it got to where it is today. It’s incredible the change that has happened since 1976 when I entered the profession, and it's all good. But there are challenges, and one of the challenges is to train engineers—in particular, younger engineers—not to put blind faith in the software. You need the computer to crunch all those numbers; however, you still need to be able to tell whether the computer is giving you the right answer.”

Cliff also talks about his interests outside of engineering. “About a dozen years ago, somehow I bumbled my way into community theater and played a bit part as an angry Roman citizen in a mob of other angry Roman citizens in a Shakespeare performance. And then another year I was a soldier in King Henry's army in ‘Henry IV.’ ” Also an avid bicyclist, Cliff has, in the past, led unique tours for his bike club around Philadelphia. “But I wouldn't stop at the famous landmarks—I would stop at the totally unknown things,” he says. “There's always an interesting story behind every building. I had another ride called ‘Cliff's Decaying Infrastructure Ride.’ “

For young engineers just getting started, Cliff offers some advice. “You have to have passion, and you have to be OK with the understanding that you're always going to be learning.”

This episode of The Future Built Smarter features a 15-minute conversation with Robin Greenleaf, an IMEG managing principal and the immediate past chair of the American Council of Engineering Companies—the first woman to hold that position. Robin shares her key takeaways from her time on the ACEC board and her career in general, including her insights on the challenges and opportunities that face U.S. engineering firms. “There's such a large range of engineering companies, ranging from size to where they are to what they do,” she says. “We're dealing with workforce issues and supply chain issues and inflation, and it affects all of the ACEC member firms.” In addition to navigating these business challenges, Robin adds that today’s engineers are also faced with a critical technical task no other generation of engineers has faced: combatting climate change through reducing the built environment’s carbon footprint. “We’re in this really unique moment in history, where basically we are the ones who can make a difference in what the next generation gets,” she says. “That's the single biggest issue that I see engineering firms dealing with—what's our strategy for how we can make a difference.”

IMEG Director of Sustainability, Adam McMillen, joins this 14-minute episode to provide a summary of the clean energy and climate provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA. “At a high level, the act has really opened the door for taking advantage of these incentives while also trying to stimulate economic activity,” he says. One of the biggest aspects of the act is that, in addition to offering these provisions to the private sector, the IRA offers a “direct pay” incentive to non-profits—entities that could not take advantage of previous renewable energy technology tax credits due to their lack of tax liability. “Essentially it is a grant, and this is a huge step forward, for sure,” says Adam, who also has written about the IRA on the IMEG blog. To avoid wading through the act’s hundreds of pages, he also has created a simple table that lists the credits, the technologies/building types they apply to, and the incentive levels. While not included in his table, several other provisions can benefit homeowners. “For example, there's a 50 percent credit tax credit toward a heat pump unit for your house,” he says. Everyone interested in taking advantage of the provisions should expect more clarity and guidance once the act is more fully developed in early 2023. “Everyone is saying we should know a whole lot more by January, so you should start doing your planning now, but don't pull the trigger until you know more.”

Security continues to become an ever more important aspect of building design, and in this episode, we focus on the security strategy known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED. Our guest is Ryan Searles, a senior security consultant at IMEG and certified CPTED professional. Ryan has also written about the strategy for the IMEG blog and says it is much more than just “large boulders and trees”—it also leverages architectural elements, social programs, colors, lighting, natural surveillance, natural access control, and even traffic curbing. “We’re seeing CPTED being applied a lot more now,” he adds. “We live in crazy times—in the past four to five years we've had a lot of civil unrest and more active shooters. So, more clients are implementing this strategy. Used along with electronic and physical security measures, it provides a solid, holistic approach to safety and security and really helps secure buildings and keep people safe.”

In the first of two related episodes, structural engineer Laura Hagan talks about her participation in IMEG's internal IDEA! program, designed to foster innovation and sustainability across the firm and investigate future trends in the AEC industry. The program also frees up participants to focus on their areas of interest and take what they have learned or developed back to their team. "A big part of what I've been working on is accessing, calculating, and tracking embodied carbon on projects and developing a tool to visualize and communicate the information to a client early on to help make project decisions,” Laura says. “That’s a big goal for me and something I think is pretty powerful.” 

Using a HoloLens to provide an augmented reality (AR) experience is discussed in the second of two episodes on IMEG's internal IDEA! program. This segment features guest Abby Coleman, an IMEG intern who participated in the program, which is designed to foster innovation and expose participants to future trends in the AEC industry. Abby describes the HoloLens and AR as a "translator" between designer and client, and discusses several AR experiences she and others in the program created, including an educational STEM-themed AR tour of a library and a portrayal of how a HoloLens allows clients to immerse themselves within a design.

This episode of The Future Built Smarter examines equity in healthcare. Providing the caregiver perspective on the topic are guests Dr. Anne Doran, a pediatric hospitalist at Advocate Children’s Hospital, Chicago, and Dr. Megan Morgan, a registered nurse and pediatric nurse educator at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Both share their views and experiences on equity, inclusion, diversity, and bias within the healthcare environment. “We've seen a big push to have a more astute awareness of where the gaps in care are and how we address diverse populations so that we are inclusive of all—culturally, spiritually, and even among populations of varying levels of health literacy,” says Dr. Doran. “We have a dedicated team of people bringing an awareness and education to the organization to be able to deliver care in an effective way.” The ability to overcome language barriers and communicate is paramount, adds Dr. Morgan. “I think the biggest success recently has been interpreter services on an iPad-type device that can be used in patient rooms,” she says. “This provides ‘face-to-face’ interaction with the translator so that the family can see somebody of their culture speaking to them in their language and translating for them. This has created great collaboration among the healthcare team, the patients, and families.”

In this episode of The Future Built Smarter, Jeff Ryan, Managing Principal for Design at Christner Architects, joins us for a discussion on the Ball Helix Central Research & Development Center, winner of a 2022 Design Excellence Merit Award for Innovation from Lab Manager magazine. Christner was the architect, lab planner, and interior designer for the project, and IMEG provided structural, MEP, fire protection, and civil design, in addition to commissioning services. The center transforms the research culture and the scientific capabilities of Ball Horticultural Company, the world’s largest ornamental seed producer. In collaboration with Ball’s steering committee, the design team identified three design principles for the project. “One was, of course, to enable great science,” Jeff says, adding that the company—with an average employee tenure of 27 years—was experiencing a wave of Baby Boomer retirements. “So, they really wanted to elevate their ability to attract researchers and enable new and existing staff in their ability to do great work.” The second goal was to evolve the company work culture through strengthening the existing collaboration, trust, mentoring, communication, respect, and safety, and adding focus on employee happiness, productivity, and wellness. “Finally, they wanted to communicate all the great research that was coming out of the center,” Jeff adds. This would be accomplished by:

• Improved connectivity between research and business through shared spaces, transparency, and science on display

A central part of the project involved incorporating the center’s existing demonstration garden into the overall design of the new building. “This garden is beautiful, and we decided to leverage it in the scientific space with the idea that the researchers would be engaged with the garden as a physical representation of the work they're doing,” Jeff says. “The building is formed so that the garden pushes into the middle of the research space and you can see it from wherever you are. You can see it from the office space and from within the labs and even from the back of house with windows that penetrate all the way through the research space. It’s a stimulating environment for discovery.”

In addition to this podcast, you can learn more about the Ball Helix project and see photos of the facility by reading the Christner Architects project story and the IMEG case study.

Improving provider satisfaction is examined in the final episode in a series of podcasts based on the IMEG executive guide, “Enhancing the Quadruple Aim through Data-Driven Decisions in the Built Environment.” This episode features two healthcare providers—Dr. Anne Doran, a pediatric hospitalist at Advocate Children’s Hospital, Chicago, and Dr. Megan Morgan, a registered nurse and pediatric nurse educator at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Both share their experiences as healthcare providers who have worked in a variety of settings. “The caregiver experience has evolved over time as we've become more patient- and family-centered and try to deliver care in a way where we partner with not only the entire healthcare team but have the family be part of it as well,” says Dr. Doran. “It’s a lot more collaborative with families and the entire caregiver team —including nurses, therapists, social workers, case managers. The evolution has been great for families and a lot more collaborative for the team.” The two caregivers also offer input on how to address staff burnout through such things as employee assistance programs and caregiver-only respite spaces. “A chapel, rooftop garden, or areas that families use for respite aren't always ideal locations for caregivers to seek respite,” says Dr. Morgan, whose facility has “tranquility rooms” for staff to utilize. “Having a space that is dedicated to each floor or unit for employees to go and just seek five minutes of respite—maybe that's all the time they have in their day besides a lunch break—is so important.”

In the first of two episodes on reducing embodied carbon in structural systems, IMEG structural engineer Laura Hagan joins Mike Lawless and Joe Payne in a discussion about SE 2050, which calls on all structural engineers to understand, reduce, and ultimately eliminate embodied carbon in their projects by the year 2050. The SE 2050 Challenge was developed by the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF) and the SE 2050 Commitment Program developed by the Sustainability Committee of the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). IMEG joined the Commitment in April. “Structural engineers have always played an important role in the design of a project; now we are able to look at what we are doing through a different lens and see the role we can play in being able to reduce the environmental effects of the buildings we design,” says Hagan. “The more we understand about how to make reductions in embodied carbon, the better the buildings will be for the client, the owner, users of the buildings, the surrounding communities, and the planet as a whole. I’m also looking forward to seeing what happens in the material industries, because we’re going to need a lot of innovation in the materials before we get to the year 2050.”