Olin College Close-Up: Richard Miller Taking Engineering to Next Level

“Engineering is not a body of knowledge.  Engineering is a process,” declares RichardMiller, the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering’s spirited president, succinctly summarizing the college’s  raison d’être.

If this sounds different from the objective of your engineering school, that’s because it is.  Founded by a board of directors who felt that today’s engineering education needed to be electric-shocked into the 21^st century, Olin recruited Richard Miller to kick-start a new teaching program—an experiment, really— based on the oldest of philosophies (Confucius himself gets the credit): “Tell me, and I’ll forget; show me, and I may remember; involve me, and I’ll understand.”  

And the experiment is working.  Students are turning down offers from MIT, Stanford, and Harvard for the privilege of being one of the 50 students accepted out of the roughly 500 students who apply each year.  Here, students pay a maximum of $38,000 in tuition for a full four years of education, develop a patent by the age of 19, have a business (with investors) set up by graduation,  as well as a job offer with a starting salary $25,000 above other engineering graduates.  What’s more, they have a gender neutral student body—nearly unheard of in today’s engineering classes—and all this is accomplished with a non-tenured faculty and zero academic departments.

How does Olin do it?  By using a design-based curriculum (which includes taking art, music, business, and humanitarian courses at nearby Babson and Wellesley Colleges), Olin leaves behind the “books-first-hardware-later” mindset of today’s most elite schools for a more hands-on approach. 

It began with an unlikely undertaking.  After meeting with his faculty to discuss what they remembered about their experiences in college, Miller found a common theme: most of them remembered nothing significant in their early freshman and sophomore science and mathematics classes, but all of them remembered—most in great detail—their senior projects, in which they actually had to create something.  This got Miller thinking:  why not have students complete projects first?

So the first assignment for the just-out-high-school students at Olin?  Create a working pulse oximeter in five weeks.  Resources?  Only the library and a patent drawing.

The faculty, expecting the students to come complaining that they didn’t understand the physics behind the making of the machine, were shocked to find an ugly, grey wire thing show up in their classroom five weeks later:  it was a pulse oximeter (sort of)—but, more important, it worked!  They retrieved a pulse oximeter from a hospital, and the readings between the two machines were in sync.  The students had done it—all without one math or science or physics prerequisite.

The epiphany that accompanied this accomplishment was game-changing: “Uniformly, across education, we underestimate what students can do,” says Miller.  And Miller was determined that his school would not repeat the mistakes of others.

Now, Olin is on the forefront of engineering education, creating some of the most in-demand graduates in the nation.  With its design-centered curriculum, students are expected to complete 20 projects in four years.  “They don’t just learn about engineering,” Miller states. “They learn to be an engineer.”

Ultimately, Miller wants a new kind of engineer that focuses on people—meeting their needs and solving their problems. “Our hope is that Olin students will be a force for innovation and change no matter where they go or what they do.”  So far, it looks like Olin is doing just that.

Architecture and Engineering Industry Outlook Remains Positive on All Major Indicators

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Architecture and Engineering Industry Outlook Remains Positive on All Major Indicators

PSMJ’s latest data shows some construction markets recovering more quickly than others

October 31, 2013 (Newton, Mass.) — While still below pre-recession levels, all of the key indicators in the latest Quarterly Market Forecast (QMF) report from PSMJ Resources, Inc. (PSMJ) remain in positive territory.   This is a clear signal of continued optimism by architecture and engineering (A/E) firm leaders as we approach the finish line for 2013 and begin contemplating what is in store for 2014.

Unlike any other A/E industry outlook, PSMJ’s QMF survey examines market activity on proposal and backlog activity as well as current quarterly and projected quarterly revenues.  This format allows for a comprehensive understanding of how proposal activity is translating into backlog and how backlog is translating into revenue.

All four of the key indicators (proposal activity, backlog activity, current quarter revenues, and projected quarter revenues) remain positive in PSMJ’s Net Plus/Minus Index.  A major change from the depths of 2007 through 2009, this important data tells us that more A/E firm leaders are optimistic about what the future holds.

Drilling into the specific client markets, the QMF shows some of the biggest gains in sentiment in the housing market.  “Housing is posting continued good results compared to the past three years,” stated PSMJ’s Director of Research William Fanning.  “We have seen gains in multifamily and senior and assisted living for several quarters, but now we are beginning to see respectable gains as well in the single-family subdivision market – a market that has been in a deep depression for the past few years.”     

Since 2003, PSMJ’s QMF has surveyed A/E firm leaders on a quarterly basis regarding what they are seeing in 12 major client markets as well as more than 50 specific submarkets. 

To learn more about PSMJ’s QMF or to participate in the next survey, visit www.psmj.com or click here to be taken directly to the QMF information page.  Subscribers to PSMJ’s monthly professional journals (Professional Services Management Journal, A/E Marketing Journal, and Project Management) receive the full QMF report each quarter.  Non-subscribers can also purchase the report on PSMJ’s website. 

About PSMJ:  Established more than 35 years ago, PSMJ Resources, Inc. has grown to become the world’s leading authority, publisher, and consultant on the effective management of architecture, engineering, and construction firms.  With offices in the United States as well as the United Kingdom and Australia, PSMJ offers over 150 titles in book, audio, and video format.  In addition, the company publishes several monthly periodicals and delivers dozens of seminars, roundtables, conferences, webinars, and in-house training sessions every year for A/E professionals around the world.  PSMJ’s sought-after consulting expertise covers a range of critical business areas such as strategic planning, project management, valuation, succession planning, and mergers & acquisitions.

Press Contact:

Gregory C. Hart

PSMJ Resources, Inc.

10 Midland Avenue

Newton, Mass 02458

(617) 965-0055

ghart@psmj.com

www.psmj.com

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The 4Ps?! Time for the 4Es

When was the last time the guiding principles of the 4Ps molded your marketing strategy? Did you get to “Promotion” and then stop—leaving “Product,” “Place,” and “Price” by the wayside?  You’re not alone. 

The business of marketing is becoming almost exclusively associated with Promotions, marginalizing the other elements and therefore overlooking opportunities for tremendous client value-add.  And those companies that are applying 21^st century methods to those 1960s staples—or are reinventing them entirely—are the ones that are realizing the most success.

Companies using “design thinking” (loosely defined as the process of combining empathy, creativity and rationality to find creative resolutions to problems to drive business success) to integrate the 4Ps recognize that invention and innovative brand marketing are the new strategic imperatives.

Take AdWeek.  Their newest enterprise, Project Isaac, celebrates the most inventive ideas in marketing, advertising, and media, recognizing that to stay relevant, invention must be at the core of production. After all, Nike and Apple don’t build products—they invent them.

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy One, condenses this into a new framework: the 4Es instead of the 4Ps—

·         From Product to Experience

Understand the end-to-end customer experience. How do clients shop for your firm?  What influences their purchasing decisions? What happens after they buy?

·         From Place to Everyplace

Instead of “interrupt,” “intercept.” Make contact with people when they are most receptive. Find interesting ways to connect your brand with your consumers. How can you help your client?  How can you provide a benefit that no one else can?

·         From Price to Exchange

Make sure you understand exchange. Do you know the value of your clients—what they bring to you? What are you willing to offer in exchange for their attention, engagement, and permission?

·         From Promotion to Evangelism

Create a brand experience so inspiring that your clients engage with you—and others. This combines word-of-mouth marketing with social networking and Web 2.0.  Infuse your leadership with passion and energy.

So, what are you going to do today to start using the 4Es in your A/E marketing initiatives? 

METALCON International featured on designandbuildwithmetal.com !!

METALCON International is the one event where the who's who of the metal design and construction industry attend every year. Click here to check out the feature of the 2013 METALCON International Tradeshow on DesignandBuildWithMetal.com! 

A New Face to Printing & Design

A 3-D face printed on paper from Mcor.
Image courtesy of OinkFROG 

3-D and 4-D multidimensional printing—they sound like something straight out of Mission Impossible.

But they couldn’t be more real.

According to Blaine Brownell, AIA, in Architect, this sort of additive manufacturing is “transforming architecture, design, and engineering, and motivating practitioners to rethink conventional methods of production.”

A singular advancement in the field of 3-D printing is the ability to print on—who would’ve guessed it?—paper (plastics and ceramics having been the most common materials in printing).

An Irish company called Mcor developed the paper-printing method using selection deposition lamination technology (SDL), which produces tactile, 3-D models from A4-sized sheets of paper outfitted with adhesive between each layer.

Brownell predicts that “it won’t be long before architecture students rush to their reviews with full-color, printed paper models.”

But, just as we’re wrapping our minds around the possibilities of 3-D printing, none other than the fourth dimension is on the rise.

Now, scientists can not only create static materials—but also dynamic ones.  With research spearheaded by Skylar Tibbits at the Self-Assembly Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, materials are being created that can modify their own structure at the macro level—in other words, “parts can transform from one shape to another shape directly on their own,” according to Tibbits’ recent TEDTalk.

What does this mean for real-life application?  The short answer?  A whole lot of things. First, it could solve infrastructure problems by allowing us to create undulating water pipes that expand and contract on their own as water flows through them.  Materials could be built in extreme conditions, such as space, on their own: we would simply have to “program” the materials to build themselves (all without motors, wires, or robotics, mind you).

Other applications include materials that “may be capable of responding autonomously to changing environmental conditions,” according toBrownell. Think military uniforms that change camouflage depending on surroundings and coatings on buildings that undergo alterations depending on weather conditions.

To see 4-D printing in action, check out this video.

Though we’re still not at a place where a 3-D printer is as ubiquitous in an office as a copy machine, the future in additive manufacturing nears ever closer. What will be in store for 3-D and 4-D printing in the next five years … even two?  It’s exciting to pretend we’re mission-bound and imagine.

Is It Time to Use Gamification in Your A/E Marketing Strategy?

If you’re reading the title and saying “Gamma-what?”, then you need to catch up.  Gamification, the technique of applying game mechanics to win customer engagement and loyalty, is quickly becoming the newest and fastest-growing marketing strategy for many businesses and educational programs across the country.

How does it work?  Well, think about that game of Tetris or Super Mario Brothers you played as a child.  What was their allure?  You faced the challenge of stacking blocks, and you gained points.  You thwarted enemies and jumped up, on, and over objects and obtained gold pieces.  You advanced levels, and competed against others to see who could achieve a higher score.  Those games were addicting!  And now the methodology behind the addiction--winning challenges to get points, answering questions to get badges, playing against others to achieve advancement on a leader board—is being used to engender brand advocacy on a large scale.

Predicted to reach $2.8 billion in 2016, the gamification market is booming. The Huffington Post cautions, though, that marketers have to be careful in how they use this new trend:

“You'll need to determine from the start what it is exactly you're trying to accomplish [and], so, too, will your consumers need to understand why they should participate. There should be clear goals and rewards, like unlocking valuable content, prizes, experiences, discounts or recognition.”So, how can you use gamification to your advantage in the A/E industry?

•        Use it to augment client engagement.  Provide trivia questions about your company on your Facebook page for points, or ask for feedback on your pictures on your Pinterest page. Provide instant polls so your users can get results immediately.

•        Use it to on your blog to unlock content. Give valuable content away as a prize for “Liking” your Facebook page or tweeting a post from your blog.  Give badges to consumers who visit and tweet from your blog daily or weekly.

•         Use it to promote your services.  Offer points to clients who post recommendations on your Facebook page, and eventually, discounts to “winners.”  Use Facebook to recognize your clients and prizes to promote your offerings.

If you don’t feel like using social media to integrate gamification, there are plenty of low-tech ways to amass its rewards as well.  Ford Motor Company added gamification to its learning portals for service teams to familiarize themselves with the latest car models, financing plans, and technologies, and achieved an astounding 417 percent  increase in their use.  Old-fashioned leadership boards—demonstrating who’s leading the firm in terms of sales, proposals, etc.—are also a great way to stimulate healthy competition and growth.

These days, it would seem as if the key to marketing is realizing it’s just a game.

Boston’s Plan to “Be Blue”

Photo courtesy of Inhabitat.com

Last year at a forum hosted by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, futurist Edie Weiner  predicted that green-to-blue spaces (spaces that give back more than they take) would gain traction in the years ahead.

Here in Boston, home of PSMJ’s headquarters, it’s looks as though she’s right. Urban farming, which is one example of “being blue”—along with genetically engineered architecture—is set to expand in almost every part of Boston under a new zoning law. 

The legislature, known as Article 89 —and scheduled to be finalized this coming December—creates draft urban architecture zoning to make easier the speedy proliferation of farms.  The plan allows for ground-level farms up to 10,000 square-feet and rooftop farms up to 5,000 square-feet in nearly every part of the city and encourages the creation of rooftop greenhouses as well.

According to Boston Magazine, Mayor Thomas Menino stated that:

“Urban agriculture is an innovative way to improve city life. Farmers make good neighbors and better our communities. Growing food in city limits means better access to healthy food, while growing a sense of neighborhood unity and greening our city.”

And Menino’s not the only one who sees a future in urban farming. From New York City to Chicago, Venezuela to Lima, rooftop gardens and urban vegetable patches are growing fresh food where people live.  National Geographic even counts urban farming as the best of few solutions to feed the planet’s seven billion (and counting!) mouths.

So, for now, it looks like the best way to stay green—is to be blue.