Feb 15
2010

Everyone is now talking about LEED certification.  It now seems that anyone involved in land development is certified as a LEED AP.  The trouble is, the U.S. Green Building Council is only now requiring that one have experience with a LEED project before one can be certified.  Also, there are many aspects to the program that have little to do with site development and stormwater in particular.

Fortunately, the good people at the NC State University Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department have an alternative education program.  They have started Low Impact Development (LID) certification program.  LID is a set of techniques, which can be associated with LEED, that seek to mimic the natural hydrology of a site and to efficiently use the natural water resources associated with it.  As a result, there is a lot of emphasis on the use of channels instead of pipes, infiltration instead of detention, and storage of water for non-potable use.  I am attending the “FastTrack Certification” seminar from Tuesday, February 16th to Thursday, February 18th.

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Dec 2
2009

NCSU BAEThe North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) requires that those involved in the preparation and implementation of Erosion and Sediment Control plans be certified.  One can either be a Certified Professional in Erosion Sediment Control (CPESC) or Certified Professional in Storm Water Quality (CPSWQ), or one can be certified by NCDOT.  The Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) department at NC State University is in charge of the certification program.  There are different levels and related workshops at which one can be certified.  Tuesday, I attended the Level IIIa workshop, which is said to apply to “E&SC/Stormwater plan designer(s)”.  There is a test at the end to ensure the competency of certificate holders.  The results of my test have yet to be announced.

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Aug 7
2009

North Carolina State University (NCSU) offers a certificate in Construction Project Management.  I have not yet decided if or when I plan to complete the series, but I have decided that some of the seminars could be quite useful.  As an example, on Monday August 3rd, I attended the seminar on contracts and negotiations.  It was mainly an explanation of common aspects of contracts, their implications, and why one might include them.  We got to go over some examples, at which point I found out that the contracts that I had reviewed at The John R. McAdams Company had been based on the documents provided by the Engineers Joint Contracts Document Committee (EJCDC).  We also found out where to get sample documents, from which we could draft our own.

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