Congratulations to Tawn Nugent, a Member of the Leadership Overland Park Class of 2010

Congratulations to Tawn, a senior engineer with our Highways Group, who recently completed the 2010 Leadership Overland Park program. Leadership OP is a program of the Overland Park Chamber’s educational foundation. GBA, a Chamber member, sponsored Tawn's participation in the Leadership program. 

Leadership OP informs participants about the critical issues facing the City, Johnson County, the Metro area, and the region, and helps them develop the leadership and stewardship skills necessary to successfully address these issues.

Tawn has taken a leadership role on a number of high-profile projects for GBA, including improvements to an eight-mile segment of Missouri Route 150 in Jackson County that encompasses the new interchange of Route 150 with US-71 Highway. The project has been ranked as the 9th largest project now under construction in the Kansas City Metro Area by the KC Business Journal!

Tawn also serves on the Board of Directors of Animal Haven, one of greater Kansas City’s largest no-kill animal shelters. A non-profit, Animal Haven serves as a home between homes for as long as the animal needs it, and works full-time to reunite pets with their owners.

Tawn is already putting into practice what she learned, both on the job and in the community!

GBA Team Provides Commissioning Services for First LEED Platinum Facility in Greensburg, Kansas

On the evening of May 4, 2007, Greensburg, Kansas, was devastated by a tornado that traveled rapidly through the area, leveling at least 95 percent of the city and killing eleven people. The tornado was estimated to be 1.7 miles wide with winds reaching 205 mph. After the damage was assessed and calm returned to the southwest Kansas community, the city council passed a resolution stating that all new city buildings would be built to LEED platinum standards. 

The Greensburg Business Incubator was the first LEED Platinum facility constructed in downtown Greensburg following the tornado. The two-story, 9,580 sf facility provides opportunity for startup businesses to obtain office space and meeting space.

A GBA team provided services to achieve LEED v2.2 EA Prerequisite 1, Fundamental Commissioning, and EA Credit 3, Enhanced Commissioning. The building achieved LEED Platinum certification with greater than 50% energy savings and innovative water-reuse systems.

Kudos to the citizens of Greensburg for making a commitment to “green” and for making it happen. The community is an inspiration and a model for communities everywhere. And kudos to the GBA team for being part of this important effort.

Thanks to Wikipedia for facts and figures cited about the tornado.

Business Journal Names Top Kansas City Area Construction Projects

GBA-designed improvements to an 8-mile segment of Missouri Route 150 in Jackson County – including the new interchange of Route 150 with US-71 Highway – have been ranked as the 9th largest project now under construction in the Kansas City Metro Area by the KC Business Journal!

MoDOT launched the $54.6 million project in 2006 to improve traffic safety and operations along the major east-west corridor, which provides access for Grandview, Kansas City, and Lee's Summit to the US-71 and M-291 highway corridors.

GBA’s Project Manager, Tawn Nugent, P.E., explains that the improvements involve widening what was mostly two-lane rural highway to a four-lane, median-divided urban highway with curbs and underground storm drainage. The project was phased to expedite construction, with the final phase accelerated to qualify for ARRA funding.

The interchange and first phase of the highway improvements are scheduled for completion in November of this year. The final two phases of the project will be completed in 2011.

This very complex project involved three municipalities, four separate TIF districts, and approximately 60 parcels, making communications key to its success. Tawn says that 3-D design was critical in communicating project impacts to stakeholders and coordinating within the project team.

Congratulations to Tawn and the entire GBA team!

GBA Selected as One of the 'Best Companies to Work For'

Ingram’s magazine has selected GBA as one of the “Best Companies to Work For” in the Kansas City area in 2010. The recognition was announced in the May issue of the publication, which noted that all of the selected companies share a few common traits that elevate them from good to great. According to Ingram’s, “The thread running through this year’s winners – as with past honorees – is that the leadership collectively understands the need to help employees strike a balance in their lives. A great workplace, then, is about more than just work.” 

The article notes that GBA employees enjoy “fun, focus, and fraternity.”

The fun “comes from a corporate culture that engages 180 employees of the company…with special-event potlucks, birthday celebrations, ice-cream socials and sports leagues.”

The focus “comes from a wide range of career-development initiatives meant to improve on client services and staff skill-building.”

And fraternity is “expressed in an array of community-service, volunteer and fund-raising efforts that help set the Lenexa-based company apart.” 

Uniform Interconnection Standard Needed for Kansas

A recent article in The Kansas City Star got our attention. Written by Steve Everly and entitled "Kansas' potential for new energy is getting lost in the wind," it questions Kansas' commitment to wind energy for “community-scale” applications.

Kansas is second only to Texas in its potential for wind energy. But the state has not adopted interconnection standards that would make it easier for individuals, businesses, and communities to install wind turbines. Other states have already adopted these standards and exceed Kansas in installed wind-generating capacity. 

According to the article "Over the years, a hodgepodge of requirements imposed by utilities has made hooking renewable-energy equipment, such as wind turbines, to the electric grid more difficult and expensive. States interested in boosting renewables have been replacing the mishmash with a simpler, easy-to-understand interconnection standard."

Kansas was headed that way, but the Kansas Corporation Commission's staff recommended that, rather than develop a uniform interconnection standard, the details be left up to each individual utility to determine.

Just how all of this will progress is uncertain.  According to the article, KCP&L, the state's second largest utility, objects to uniform standards and believes that system requirements should be decided at the utility level. The Kansas Corporation Commission will hold a hearing about interconnection next month.

Although the amount of energy produced by community-scale applications is small compared with utility-scale wind farms, we support a uniform standard that will encourage the use of all kinds of clean, abundant, and renewable energy sources. Wind energy fits that bill and efforts should be made to encourage its use in Kansas.

GBA’s Energy Studio is a collaboration of architects and engineers dedicated to finding solutions for our clients that conserve energy and utilize renewable energy sources.

Photo courtesy of Norther Power Systems, Inc.

Congratulations to Kiel Johnson, Recognized by KSPE Eastern Chapter as 2010 Outstanding Engineer Intern

Kiel Johnson (above right) has been recognized as the 2010 Outstanding Engineer Intern by the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers (KSPE) – Eastern Chapter. The award, which was presented by Chapter President Adam Stodola (left above), recognizes Kiel’s exceptional service to the organization and the profession. Both Kiel and Adam are highway engineers for GBA. 

"As an Engineer Intern, Kiel has been an extremely valuable and active member of our chapter since joining KSPE in 2007," said Brent Johnson, PE, secretary of the Eastern Chapter.  "Kiel is currently the chapter's chair for the Young Engineers' Committee and has done an outstanding job recruiting young engineers and new members to the chapter."

As a highway engineer for GBA, Kiel provides transportation planning and design for state DOTs and local agencies. He balances his full-time work at GBA with his committment to professional and community service. 

Kiel regularly volunteers his time to both KSPE/NSPE and ASCE's Young Members organizaton.  His activities include work as a MathCounts grader and Future City mentor as well as volunteer activites for Habitat for Humanity, Christmas in October, and Community Emergency Response Teams. In addition, he serves on GBA's Kansas City Corporate Challenge Steering Committee and smokes up some mean pulled pork as one of the founding members of GBA's Genuswine Brisket Authority BBQ team!  Kiel has a BS degree in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University.   

"Kiel consistently demonstrates his commitment to our endeavors and brings a fresh perspective and energy to our chapter..." concludes Brent Johnson. We think he does the same for GBA!  Congratulations to Kiel for this very significant achievement!     

Students from the Shawnee Mission School District Recognized by GBA for Innovation/Engineering Excellence

In his exploration of 3D digital animation, Shawnee Mission West student Linden Stirk (left) took his audience on a journey around the globe. Linden used special effects and filters to best exemplify the climate and landscape of scenes of famous places to create his video animation. The project earned Linden GBA’s award for Outstanding Engineering Performance in Career and Technical Education. Judges noted that his work shows “dedication, creativity, and a thorough understanding of several sophisticated computer programs.”

Parker Henley (right), a 7th grade student at Westridge Middle School, received GBA’s Award for Outstanding Engineering Performance in Science. Parker’s investigation, A Study of Connection Types for a Simple Wooden Truss, studied how different types of truss connections affect the strength of the truss and its resistance to deflecting load under pressure. Parker’s project contained precise diagrams from which he built models to test the strength of the truss. He combined science, mathematics, and engineering to complete this focused study. It is no surprise that Parker is interested in the field of engineering as a career.

GBA’s Suzanne Berkey, Sandra Bachamp, Roman Bachamp, and Dan Abitz had the pleasure of judging these and other innovative entries in this year’s Shawnee Mission School District Research & Development Forum, which was held on April 28 at the Indian Creek Technology Center.

The Forum provides a wonderful opportunity for middle school and high school students from the District to showcase their very best science and technical projects. And as they have in the past, many of the students delivered amazing projects!  

GBA is pleased to recognize these outstanding students! Congratulations to them and to all who participated. The future is in your good hands!