BCT participated in the 2021 Annual Associated Schools of Construction Region 1 Student Competition in Albany, NY with three teams this November. Under Prof. Romero's mentoring and with several months of hard work behind them, Team "Amherst Construction" (shown in the image above) placed third in the pre-construction category. This was only the second year in which our students competed in this competition. We congratulate the team members for this superb effort!
The team consisted of: Olivia Josias (Project Manager), Patrick Koenen (Superintendent), Emma Kelly (Senior Estimator), Jocey Krooks (Risk Manager), Eric Lee (Senior Scheduler), Michael Ayles (Safety & Quality Manager).
Links:
ASC Region 1 website
Pictures from the competition...
During the last year, 10 pioneering UMass students took the road less traveled – pursuing the BCT (Building Construction Technology) Applied Learning Pathways, a new option for students to ‘study abroad’ at the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, Massachusetts.
Students worked one-on-one with a faculty sponsor to create a customized, hands-on learning experience based on their interests in sustainability. These one-of-a kind pathways built the students’ confidence and portfolios (i.e. GIS mapping, augmented/virtual experiments, original research, multi-media videos, 3D models) as they collectively pursued more than 30 academic credits toward the completion of their degrees.
“As a master’s degree student at UMass, I wanted my learning to be meaningful and to have an impact,” said Abigail Moore, B.S. ’19, M.S, ’21. “The Independent Study project I designed with my professor focused on the idea of ‘Living Buildings;’ structures that generate more than they consume – and I was able to focus on understanding how these buildings can work with...
Our UMass NAHB student chapter just capped off the most successful year in its history.
In this year's NAHB Student Competition, in which teams have to create a proposal for a housing development, the UMass team came in 8th place. This was the highest the chapter has ever placed. In the proposal, the UMass team had to create a site plan, construction schedules and estimates, a sales and marketing strategy along with a detailed financial analysis of the project.
Additionally, the UMass chapter was awarded 2nd place for the Outstanding Student Chapter Award. The NAHB Outstanding Student Chapter Award recognizes NAHB student chapters at schools that go the extra mile to engage with their local HBA, the community, and student body of their schools. The strong relationship between HBRAWM and the UMass chapter was a major factor for this award.
The members of this year’s team included Hunter Apteker, George Boccelli, Hayden Cantoni, David Ibrahim, Robson Stewart, and Winnie Wang (see also image...
As in years past, BCT sent a team of students to participate in the NAHB Student Residential Construction Management Competition, which is a part of the International Builders' Show (IBS), held in Las Vegas, NV. After a semester of preparation, the students presented their project proposal, which this year landed them a spot in the top 20 (19th place to be exact)! We all congratulate them on a job well done!
BCT also recognizes the supporting efforts of the group's faculty sponsor, Dr. Ho-Sung Kim, and the local NAHB affiliate group, the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Western Massachusetts, including our alumnus Zach Kushner.
Outstanding Student Award Goes to Leah Cicalis
We are also proud to be able to announce that one member of that team, Leah Cicalis, a senior in the BCT program, was awarded the NAHB Outstanding Student Award 2020. This rewards her efforts in the student group as highlighted by the award description, included below:
"This exciting award recognizes student...
Welcome back to UMass to all our undergrad and grad students! And welcome to all incoming students of the class of 2023!
News
As we start the new semester, there is some exciting news to share:
We are welcoming Fernando Romero to our faculty! Fernando has been the lead project manager on many large construction projects in various countries. Being originally from Brazil, he joins our team after spending several years teaching construction in Illinois at SIUE. He will be teaching the core of our construction management curriculum, including BCT 353, 550, and 494 and will supervise ASC competitions and other student projects. You can learn more about him here.
Congratulations to Peggi Clouston and Alex Schreyer on their well-deserved promotions! Dr. Clouston now holds the rank of full Professor and Mr. Schreyer is now Senior Lecturer II.
Over summer, BCT students again completed many different internships in the region and we documented several of them on our Instagram feed. Below are some of those...
