The clear skies and warmer temperatures are a good indication that summer is on its way, and with the change of season another group of interns arrives. We are looking forward to providing another summer of great experience for these students to take back to the classroom. We welcome their fresh minds and the ideas and enthusiasm that they will bring to each office they work in.

This summer we will host 13 interns and 1 Summer/Fall Co-op student.  They will sit in our Bangor, Portland, Dedham, Andover, Providence, and White Plains offices. In addition to an introduction to the company through “Intern Day,” they will go on field visits, learn about working in an office environment, and make a final presentation on the main project that they worked on over the summer. This real-world experience will help them to refine their technical and communication skills, and begin to teach them how to work with clients in a consulting setting.

We have currently filled all of our internship positions for 2008, but we always accept online applications through the Career Center section of our website.

Contributed by our HR Team

As of 2004, only 17.7% of engineering undergraduates in the U.S. were women, which is only a two percent increase from 1984. For many years, there have been efforts in the industry to encourage more women to choose engineering as a career. None of them have been very successful.

Engineering is a great field to work in. Engineers spend their careers serving the public, designing innovative solutions to complex problems, and, corny as it may sound, building the future of our country and the world. And yet, we have failed to draw enough young people into engineering to meet the need for engineering skills and knowledge.

Studies have suggested that women, and members of other groups underrepresented in engineering, would be more likely enter the profession if they saw more people like themselves in the industry. If this is true, then maybe the way to draw more women into engineering is to promote the accomplishments of women in the industry. That’s an important part why we created the Women’s Leadership Network at Woodard & Curran.

But it’s not the only reason. There are many, many talented women already working in engineering, and the WLN will be a resource for them in their careers. As our mission statement says, “The mission of the Women’s Leadership Network is to foster an environment at Woodard & Curran that values the diversity of women, encourages women to develop as leaders and integrates women in leadership positions within the company” The WLN is a way to share experiences, offer mentoring, and simply help women connect with other women in the company and industry.

We hope that the WLN will not only be a benefit to women working at Woodard & Curran today, but to those that join us in the future. And we hope that this process will raise awareness of the contributions of women working in engineering at Woodard & Curran and in the industry as a whole. In this way, maybe we will help to raise the percentage of women in engineering, until it someday reflects society more accurately.

Contributed by Helen Gorden, PE 

According to two recent studies, LEED-Certified and Energy Star rated buildings save significant energy relative to the national average and make sound investments.

One study, published by the CoStar Group, looked at LEED-certified and Energy Star buildings. It found that these green buildings demand a rent premium, have higher occupancy rates and lower operating costs, and achieve higher sale prices. Essentially, green buildings look like a better investment than non-green buildings.

The other study, conducted by the New Buildings Institute, found that the average LEED for New Construction building use 25-30% less energy than an average building. Ironically, it found that some certified buildings actually use more energy than the code baseline. According to the study, “Variation in results is likely to come from a number of sources, including differences in operational practices and schedules, equipment, construction changes and other issues not anticipated in the energy modeling process. More in-depth analysis of some of the best and worst performers could identify ways to eliminate the poorer outcomes and communicate lessons from the best results.”

Woodard & Curran’s new office expansion in Portland, ME was recently recognized as LEED Certified. When compared to older portions of the building Woodard & Curran also occupies, monthly utility bills in our LEED space show 10% less electricity usage, between 12% and 67% less natural gas usage (heating and cooling season, respectively), and 25% less water consumption.

Our experience confirms the findings of these studies, suggesting that green buildings will soon be the common-sense choice, whether or not states continue to mandate them.

Contributed by Barry Sheff, P.E.

Many communities and other organizations in New Hampshire and Massachusetts regulated under the NPDES Phase II Stormwater program are struggling with annual reports this year. Because the Phase II General Permit has expired and the new 5-year General Permit has not be issued, it’s not clear what information annual reports should contain and if annual reports should describe future stormwater management activities.

A recent conversation with EPA New England shed some light on the issue. According to the individual at EPA, because EPA’s regulatory plans for the upcoming 5 years are not final, the report does not need to include stormwater management actions for the next General Permit.  However, the report should describe the status of best management practices that are being implemented, i.e. are they fully implemented? If not, what progress has been made? Also, the report should explain what, if any, elements of the stormwater management programs that are not finished and the plan for completing them. 

Good general guidance is also available online at EPA’s NPDES Permits in New England page. If the documents posted there don’t answer your question, feel free to contact me.

Contributed by Bob Rafferty, PE

Tyson Foods recently released a sustainability report covering topics from business ethics, to food safety, to environmental health and safety. Companies in many industries are issuing similar reports to communicate their sustainability and social responsibility goals and achievements.

Tyson’s report, “Sustainability – It’s In Our Nature” (large file, about10MB) is based on the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, which makes it easier to compare to other organizations within the food industry, and across industries. Woodard & Curran has helped clients apply the GRI guidelines, and if you have questions, feel free to contact our Sustainability Services Team.

Contributed by Lloyd Snyder, PE

The Associate for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s staff blog has extensive coverage of the recent Smart & Sustainable Campuses Conference that recently took place on the University of Maryland campus. Several staff members write about topics presented at the conference, including “Vision Planning for Campus Sustainability”, “Why Your Campus Needs an Office of Sustainability”, and “Energy Sustainability and the Green Campus”.

These brief reports are a good resource for campus sustainability personnel – and anyone else working for sustainability on campus – who were not able to attend the conference themselves.

Contributed by the Sustainability Services Team