ECo Department Archives | Page 2 of 4 | Building and Construction Technology

BCT CityLab: Blurring the Lines between High School, College, and Industry

October 4, 2022November 27, 2023 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

Using the Boston Metro area as a real-world classroom, the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) this summer launched a new immersive pre-college program – the BCT CityLab – a first-ever offering at the UMass Mount Ida Campus, for high school juniors and seniors interested in exploring building construction, sustainability, engineering, architecture, and technology-related learning and career pathways. The inaugural program attracted students from five states (MA, NJ, CT, UT, IL) and three countries (Honduras, Switzerland, USA). Each participant learned about college life and earned college credits while engaging in construction site tours, hands-on fabrication projects and skills trainings. The innovative program was designed to make learning fun, and to build tangible learning pathways to access Boston’s innovation economy. In the Building Physics Module, students learned about heat transfer and thermodynamics in buildings and how construction, control, and maintenance affect the related thermal processes. Then students applied what they learned in a real-world context – the 72-acre Mount Ida campus located in...

Fall 2022 BCT Lecture Series Announced

September 12, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

The start of a new semester brings with it a new series of public lectures. We are happy to announce the four speakers mentioned below, who will present on various current topics in the built environment. All lectures are open to the public and are held on Mondays from 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm in the Olver Design Building Room 170. Zoom options will be available, too. Want to get notified when these are? Sign up for our email list. INTEGRATING THE OLD AND NEW: FACING THE CHALLENGES ON A CONSTRUCTION REMODEL Jack Manifold, CEO of J. Manifold Construction, LLC September 19, 2022 Using specific case studies, learn vital elements of construction from the old to the new regarding structural integrity, foundational excellence, and project sitework elements for both remodeled commercial and residential buildings. IRA 2022 AND ITS IMPLICATION ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT Dr. Adewale Adesanya, Founder/CEO Havenergy Consulting Inc. October 17, 2022 By reviewing provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and what it means to building...

Visit the UMass Design-Build “HyggeHaus” this weekend at the Green River Festival

June 23, 2022October 7, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

The HyggeHaus (pronounced “hyoo-guh house”) is a UMass collaborative design-build effort between UMass Building & Construction Technology, UMass Architecture, Five College Architectural Studies, & East Branch Studio. After a full semester of building this house in Chesterfield the time has now come to show it off. As can be seen in the video timelapse below, the house was loaded on a trailer and is en route to Greenfield where it will be part of the Green River Festival in Greenfield, MA (6/24-6/26). Festival visitors can enjoy performances on its porch (where it will serve as the Green House Stage) and can sign up for tours led by our students and faculty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYenidAaok Project Background This project was started by a group of students and instructors in 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19. Vaccinated and itching to finish the build, we have a new group of students who will be completing the project by this summer (2022). The HyggeHaus is a modular, 350 sq. ft,...

2021-22 BCT Awards and Scholarships Announced

May 5, 2022May 10, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

Reading Day is traditionally when when we honor the current year’s group of BCT award and scholarship recipients. This is always an exciting part of the academic year because we can shine a light on outstanding student achievements and provide scholarship support. This year, we are doing things slightly different from pre-pandemic years: The recipients of the Outstanding Senior Award were honored at the annual ECO departmental picnic, which was held today at the Young Men's Club in Hadley. Those were Nour Assaf and Tali Shoham, who you can see in the image below. All our other award recipients (who are mainly Juniors) will then be honored at an alumni event this fall. The complete list of the 2021-22 award and scholarship winners is shown below the image. Congratulations to all the recipients!!! We are tremendously proud of you all!!! 2021-22 Awards BCT Outstanding Senior Award Nour Assaf, Tali Shoham Associated General Contractors of Western Massachusetts: Building and Construction Technology Endowment Lyle Frenkel, Thomas Ghostlaw, Emmett Hamilton, Brandon Tang Building...

Summer 2022 Sustainable Building (Online and UWW) Courses are Now Available

April 5, 2022April 6, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

Our Summer 2022 online and UWW professional-education courses and programs are now available and you can start registering for those. See below for a listing of our courses, which start either May 19 or July 11. New this year is also a three-week credited "City-Lab" summer pre-college program for High School students in Newton, MA (in-person). You can learn more about this exciting opportunity here. You can always find our current UWW courses and enroll at this link (search for BCT or ECO under “Subject”): Find Courses and Enroll Courses Construction Estimating (BCT 314) - Any successful building construction project relies on accurate and consistent cost estimates. This course provides students with the skills and background to perform construction estimating, bidding, and cost management. Lectures will cover quantity take-off from construction documents and estimate costs for material, labor, equipment, overhead, and profit. Students are required to prepare and submit a formal bid which details an estimate for a building construction project. Furthermore, students will also...