Construction Science and Organizational Leadership

Meeting of ISO TC 223, Societal Security

David McLees — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:28:19 +0000

Paris, France – David Trebisacci of NFPA’s Public Fire Protection Division and Dr. Dean Larson, Lecturer in Organizational Leadership and Supervision, member of the Technical Committee (TC) on Emergency Management and Business Continuity (NFPA 1600®) attended a meeting of ISO TC 223, Societal Security, held in Paris, France on May 25-29. NFPA is the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) administrator to this ISO TC for ANSI (American National Standards Institute), and Dr. Larson serves as head of the U.S. delegation. Other individuals who were part of the U.S. delegation included Dr. Bert Coursey from the Department of Homeland Security, Meliha Dzirlo-Ayvz and Steven Krill of Booz Allen Hamilton, and Monica Rigano of the Security Industry Association (SIA). The delegates participated in the plenary sessions and working groups of the committee.

NFPA has been involved in the ISO TC 223 effort since April 2006, and actively contributes to the development of several of its work items, including guidelines for incident preparation and operational continuity, a management systems standard, a vocabulary document, a document on essential information and data requirements for command and control, a document on warning systems, and several others.

Dr. Larson, in addition to his responsibilities as chair of the U.S. TAG, also contributes his time and expertise to NFPA’s efforts in Latin America for the implementation of NFPA 1600 in that region of the world.

CSOL Textbooks Fall 2009

David McLees — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:06:30 +0000

This is a link to the list of textbooks for all CSOL Department courses for Fall 2009:

CSOL Booklist Fall 2009

Dr. Roy Evans earns certification from the Construction Specifications Institute

David McLees — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:16:11 +0000

Dr. Roy Evans has earned a certificate as a Construction Documents Technologist (CDT). This certification is from the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). This achievement demonstrates Dr. Evans’ superior knowledge and understanding of the construction process, as well as his personal commitment to professional development.

NWICG 2009 Summer Research and Instructional Development Grants

David McLees — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Two School of Technology faculty members have been awarded 2009 Summer Research and Instructional Development Grants by the Northwest Indiana Computing Grid.

Dennis P. Korchek, Professor, Construction Science and Organizational Leadership, has set the goal of this NWICG project is to develop a virtual construction of a wood-framed single family house to demonstrate construction principles and framing details to students enrolled in ARET 250, Architectural Construction I. When the project is completed the students will be able to walk through a virtual construction site as components of the building are coming together. The students can observe the sequencing and process of construction as well as see the assembly details.

Ge Jin D.Sc, Assistant Professor, Computer Information Technology and Graphics, will be researching immersive virtual reality based rehabilitation system with data glove. The objective of this research is to develop novel tools and technologies to enable the users to move freely in a virtual 3D environment and perform specific motor skill tasks in a natural manner using a data glove. For this summer research, we will concentrate on the calibration of 5DT data glove with Intersense IS-900 motion tracker and creation of two virtual rehabilitation tasks associated with reaching, grasping and lifting motor skills. Although, the proposed research is aimed for the VR based rehabilitation, the generality of this research can be applied to various virtual reality based training and simulation.

PUC Faculty Summer Research Grant

David McLees — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:40:01 +0000

Shoji Nakayama, Construction Science and Organizational Leadership, received a 2009 Faculty Summer Research Grant. The research topic is “Proactive Safety Management in Highway Construction Projects.”

Highway contractors seem to be taking necessary actions to protect not only their workers but also the public who utilize the road during the construction season. However, the work–related fatal incidents within highway construction work zones still contribute as one of the most frequent causes of work-related fatal events. Highway contractors are therefore often cited for their negligence for miss placement of equipment, roadway markers, and physical condition of a road that lead to such incidents. The intent of this project is to identify and execute an innovative approach(es) to help reduce work-related fatal incidents around highway construction work zones.