Aggie construction science students
wow S&P executives with plans for
LEED certified NASA office building

Texas A&M undergraduate construction science students dazzled construction industry executives with an Aug. 5 presentation of their plans for building a LEED certified $20 million Johnson Space Center office building.

The student presentation to the top brass at Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc. culminated a summer 2009 capstone class led by Jose Fernandez-Solis, assistant professor of construction science.

“I am so impressed, not only the obvious intelligence and training, but with the passion these students have for the industry,” said George A. Pontikes, Jr., the firm’s president and CEO, after hearing the presentations at S&P’s headquarters in Houston. “S&P may hire more Texas A&M construction science graduates than any other contractor. What I saw today only reinforces my belief in the program.”

The three student teams had 20 minutes to present their plans, followed by a 10-minute question and answer session.

The students provided a project schedule and conceptual estimate, bond and insurance data, U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection templates, as well as a site security plan and risk analysis through a virtual company created by each team.

They also presented a safety evacuation and site utilization plan, surety, bond, insurance and financial data.

The task of choosing the best presentation went to Pontikes, Aubry Pridham, chief estimator, Art Theriot, corporate director of preconstruction services and Charlie Fote, executive vice-president.

The top honor went to the team composed of Mitchell Cordova, C. Brooks Herman, Michael Knapp, Troy Louwerse, Preston Keilers and Sebastian Chmielewki.

“The winning team has to intimately know the request for proposal and what is required to show they are the best qualified among the competition,” said Fernandez-Solis. “Not only do they need construction knowledge, they need to know about business, risk, marketing, presentation and charm.”

Three of the team’s students, Louwerse, Herman and Knapp, were part of a commercial building competition team that scored a second-place finish at a spring 2009 competition in Dallas sponsored by the Associated Schools of Construction/Associated Builders and Contractors.
 
During the second summer session, members of S&P’s executive leadership visited with the capstone students in their College Station classroom, lending their expertise as the students developed plans for the NASA office building. The visiting S&P industry professionals included:

• John Marshall, vice president for business development, who told students how to develop a professional written and oral proposal;
• Pete Galyean, preconstruction/estimating manager, to talked about preconstruction, value engineering, site logistics and storm water pollution prevention plans;
• Ralph Bradley, corporate safety director, who addressed safety, risk management and conceptual estimating;
• Mike Partridge, project manager, who lectured on project management technology, scheduling, staffing and subcontracting, historically underutilized businesses, quality assurance/quality control, commissioning and close out;
• Sam Spouse, building information modeling director, who schooled the students on the use of building information modeling; and
• Aubry Pridham, chief estimator, who provided information to assist students as they developed conceptual estimates to meet the unique challenges of building NASA’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold project.

Speakers also talked to students about federal contract requirements such as the Buy American Act, which requires the U.S. government to prefer U.S.-made products in its purchases.

The summer capstone class, which derives its name from its rigor and comprehensiveness, was part of an ongoing collaboration between the Department of Construction Science and S&P. The previous spring semester, graduate and undergraduate students traveled to S&P’s headquarters to present building information modeling-based videos of the construction process at the Texas A&M Health Science Center, an S&P project.

- Posted: Sep. 22, 2009 -