Learning Through Experience: How Civil Engineering Continues to Shape My Perspective
By: Laura Amaya Staff Engineer Civil engineering is often viewed as a technical profession shaped by standards, specifications, and design requirements. While those elements are essential, much of how engineers approach their work develops through exposure to real projects and changing conditions. Experience adds context to technical knowledge and helps shape how decisions are evaluated and challenges are approached. With time, it becomes clear that growth in civil engineering is closely tied to hands-on involvement rather than reaching a single endpoint. Through my experience, I’ve started to notice how much the practice of civil engineering extends beyond plans, calculations, and…
Mapping History: Environmental Insights
By: Jason McCabe Environmental Practice Leader One of the best parts of my job is getting to “play detective”…or at least that is how I think of it. This work includes many different methods, but spending time researching the documented history and background of sites can be both educational and enlightening. For instance, when we are completing environmental site assessments, reviewing sources such as fire insurance maps can provide historic insight that most people do not even know exist. The precise drawing, mapping, and labeling of individual buildings, all hand drawn to scale, is to many a lost art. However,…