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Source:
Kimberly Kramer, 785-532-3576, kramer@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Michelle Hall, 785-532-6415, mhall@k-state.edu
Thursday,
February 1, 2007
K-STATE
PROFESSOR, GRADUATES AND SPECIAL CONSTRUCTION METHODS COURSE FEATURED
IN TRADE PUBLICATION
MANHATTAN
-- A first-ever college course, the professor who started it and
some of its graduates are getting Kansas State University noticed
in the construction industry.
The
most recent issue of trade magazine Tilt-Up TODAY features the story
"Industry Meets Education" by Kimberly Kramer, K-State
assistant professor of architectural engineering and construction
science, about her course on tilt-up concrete construction, the
first on a college campus.
Kramer
also is featured in the story "Women in Tilt-Up," while
she and two recent K-State construction science and management graduates,
Angela Perry and Rebecca Waldo, are among 14 women profiled in another
section. The article Kramer contributed also includes photos and
descriptions of tilt-up projects by recent K-State construction
science and management graduates Beau Hahn and Brock Beran. A photo
of one of Kramer's award-winning tilt-up projects is the issue's
cover.
Kramer
said the class, which is taught as a winter intersession course,
features speakers and assignments on tilt-up concrete, a construction
method where concrete is site-casted on a horizontal surface and
then lifted or tilted into place.
"It's
one of the few construction methods that started in the United States,"
Kramer said. "It's been around since the early 1900s but flourished
after World War II."
While
tilt-up is growing quickly in popularity, the process isn't well-known
everywhere and, until Kramer's course, has mostly been taught on-the-job.
The process features reasonable costs, with low maintenance, durability,
speed of construction and minimal capital investment. However, the
method uses slender elements, so in addition to construction considerations,
there are many design considerations as well, she said.
Kramer
learned tilt-up concrete construction through her work as a professional
engineer in Texas, one of the states where tilt-up is particularly
popular. Beran and Hahn, students in Kramer's Reinforced Concrete
Structures class, knew of the method and her background, and suggested
she create a course so others could learn the technique. In four
years, more than 150 students have completed the class.
"Students
gain vast knowledge that will save them several years of on-the-job
experience," she said of the class.
After
completing the class, students are then able to -- but no required
to -- take the American Concrete Institute's test for certification
as a tilt-up technician. Only after experience are workers able
to become certified as a supervisor. More than 50 of Kramer's students
have become certified, including the only two women certified as
tilt-up concrete technicians in the United States.
The
article in Tilt-Up TODAY discusses the very small but growing number
of women in the construction industry. Kramer acknowledges that
she does typically stand out on a job site -- she was the first
woman engineer hired by one of the engineering firms she worked
for -- but she doesn't feel that being a woman in the construction
industry is a big deal. She said success in any field has more to
do with the passion a person has for their job, and not their gender.
"What
is important is that we expose all children to a variety of career
options at a young age," she said.
Kramer
said she always knew she was headed for a career as a structural
engineer. In sixth grade, she was assigned to build a model of a
futuristic college campus and was hooked.
Along
with her teaching duties, Kramer also is the director of graduate
studies for the department of architectural engineering and construction
science at K-State. She has worked for GideonToal Inc., Carter &
Burgess Inc., HTB Inc., and Leo A. Daly on projects in the United
States, Egypt and Puerto Rico. Several projects on which Kramer
has worked have won design awards, including a tilt-up design for
the Valeo Electronics Facility, which was featured in Tilt-Up TODAY.
This project received the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute North
America 2002 Design Award.
Kramer
discussed K-State's construction science and management program
as the keynote speaker at the Tilt-Up Concrete Association awards
banquet Jan. 25, a part of the World of Concrete convention. She
also has recently given presentations on tilt-up concrete construction
in Salina and in Kansas City.
"It's
rapidly growing," she said of the niche method. "It's
interesting to step back and see how it migrates from place to place."
Kramer
is a K-State graduate, earning a bachelor's degree in 1989.
K-State's
construction science and management degree was started in 1965 and
is accredited by the American Council for Construction Education.
It is an engineering-based management program in the College of
Engineering designed to prepare students to be professional constructors.
Around 400 students are enrolled in the four-year program, with
nearly 80 to 90 students graduating each year, making it the sixth
largest construction science and management program in the United
States.
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