Monthly Archives: August 2011
Posted in Bridge Design | Communities | Education | Employees | Leadership | Municipal Services | Professional Development | Structural Engineering | Transportation by Quentin D. Rissler, PE (Structural-Bridge) on August 24, 2011
At least once a year, I participate in middle school career fairs to talk about being a bridge engineer. While I have many stories I find interesting and enjoy my career and the challenges of each day, I do not want to bore the students. So I developed a fairly simple exercise that I have been doing with each group of students.
I ask for 2 volunteers to help me design the best bridge for this location – which is just a box but could represent any of the thousands of bridges that need to be designed. See photo 1 for the working materials which includes various sizes of wood, a steel tube, a brick, and a cardboard tube.
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Posted in Alternative Energy | Communities | Current Events | Economic Development | Education | Natural Gas | Networking | Site Design & Land Development | Transportation by Brad Breneisen (Graphic Design) on August 17, 2011
Recently, I had the opportunity to join members of the CNG Focus Group for a Tour of CATA’s (Centre Area Transportation Authority) facility in State College. I was able to get quite a few nice photos from this event and thought I would use this blog post as an opportunity to share the experience.
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Posted in Architecture by Robert J. Gehr, AIA, NCARB (Vice President - Brand Architecture) on August 10, 2011
I am an architect, working in the retail marketplace…so brick and mortar is my business.
I am also a consumer.
I look at online business as another tool in the toolbox of retail sales. If you choose to ignore it, your competition may get the best of you. To remain competitive, a business must adapt. Just doing more of the same thing that’s always been done is not the key to success.
Competition is good. It pushes us, it challenges us, and it takes us to new areas that we may not have realized were possible.
Just look at the simple evolution of music media. Where should we have stopped – 8-tracks, reel-to-reel, cassettes, CDs, mp3s? I can’t wait to see where we go next? Along this evolution trail there were businesses that failed to keep up, there were businesses that adapted, and there were new business that were created. Isn’t this the way it’s supposed to be?
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Posted in Alternative Energy | Communities | Current Events | Economic Development | Marcellus Shale | Natural Gas by Marty Muggleton (VP Client Development & Marketing) on August 1, 2011
The early part of my career was spent in the field of economic development. For 20 years, I was focused on retaining and creating jobs, and building communities. This work annealed me and fortunately led me to being part of Larson Design Group. I retain a strong understanding of how important job creation is for the health of a region.
Since 2009, I have been involved in a discussion about long-term job creation from Marcellus development. We understand what is happening now. We have an idea as to what part of this activity will continue over the next decade or so. But our discussion has been focused on what will happen that is a result of but separate from Marcellus development. This is looking forward to see economic benefits that are permanent compared to exploration. I haven’t shared these thoughts publicly for fear of setting expectations that are unrealistic or unbelievable. I don’t want to be viewed as a “spin-master” either. That space is full.
On July 3rd, Andy Maykuth of the Philadelphia Inquirer did us a favor. In his article, he gives us a look at the permanence of Marcellus. You might want to read Andy’s work “Intriguing possibility for Pa.’s excess shale gas” Let’s look at three job-creating opportunities that match Andy’s view, and could assure long-term, permanent benefit from Marcellus development:
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