PROGRAM
The CBIPS program consists of group research projects, selected by each year's class of Fellows. Weekly class sessions allow for presentation of ongoing research to peers, faculty and guest experts. Research starting with topical literature review is complimented by visits to construction sites and recently completed projects in New York City. Lectures and conversations with eminent design and construction industry professionals generally take place in the CBIPS Studio Lab (706A) on the 7th floor of Columbia’s Seeley W. Mudd Building, and occasionally in AEC Industry offices in Manhattan. End of semester deliverables are PowerPoint presentations that can be shared on the CBIPS website and conference-quality poster-session graphics.
Students generally participate for both Fall and Spring semesters, but exceptions can be made for single-semester or three-semester research projects. During the 2023-24 academic year, CBIPS students attended the three-day CMAA Focus24 conference in Philadelphia, and visited construction sites and CM and engineering offices in that city, comparing processes and projects with those in New York. Prior field study has brought students to Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles, Miami and Paris.
NYC CONSTRUCTION SITE VISITS
Thanks to the efforts of CBIPS Advisory Board Co-Chair Marcos Diaz-Gonzalez and others on the CBIPS Industry Advisory Board, Fellows have been invited to various active construction sites during each of the academic years since 2019. One of these was to see the work at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center expansion project. The 1.2m sq. ft. expansion added exposition and meeting sace, a special event space able to hold 6,000 people, and a 4-level loading dock struture. The 200,000 sq. ft. rooftop has a working farm which reuses rainwater for irrigation. At Javits, the CBIPS Fellows met with Steven Sommer, the Lendlease Senior Vice President and Principal-in-Charge responsible for the work. Fellows learned about the project’s scope and history, challenges and problems, condition, financing, security, and accessibility issues. Sommer’s advice: “You need to be prepared to jump at opportunities as they arise because opportunities don’t come along very often.”
GUEST SPEAKERS
Guest speakers have participated in the CBIPS research effort by sharing their anecdotes and experience both in our Studio Lab on the seventh floor of the Mudd Engineering Building and by Zoom. Discussions, last year, about innovative construction technology for social housing brought to the table, albeit remotely, Vincent Lavergne to discuss mass timber construction, and Clara Simay to present an urban agriculture housing project that used bio-sourced materials. Milene Guermont, trained as an engineer and artists, spoke about her recently completed 'habitable art' project which repurposed a vacant commercial storefront as housing. For the 2024-2025 academic year, speakers beyond October have not been determined, awaiting Fellow selection of research topics. But, to start the Fall semester we will greet, in person, Rachel Armstrong of Leuven University in Belgium to talk about her analysis of regenerative work and Luis Vidal, based in Madrid, to talk about his aviation work in Boston (Terminal E at Logan Airport) and London (Heathrow Terminal 2).
OFFICE VISITS
While CBIPS is centered in New York City, there is a keen recognition that those working throughout the region are as interesting and diverse as those houses in the towers edging Manhattan's canyons. Office visits in Manhattan have therefore been supplemented by trips further afield. For example CBIPS Fellows journeyed to Iselin, New Jersey, for an office meeting at the regional headquarters of Mott MacDonald. With 170 offices in 135 countries, Mott MacDonald has a staff of over 16,000 design and construction professionals and revenue turnover of $2B. The firms practice in North America includes projects in the general areas of buildings, aviation, ports, coastal, environmental, highway, bridge, rail, transit, tunnel, power, oil and gas, and water and wastewater. Project engineering and management staff described their work in many different areas of environmental practice, including offshore wind power generation.
GLOBAL FIELD STUDY: INFRASTRUCTURE
During the winter break between the Fall and Spring semesters, CBIPS Fellows have had the opportunity to participate in International Field Study so as to see, first hand, major infrastructure projects underway or recently completed. International Field Study in London (pictured), Paris and Amsterdam brought students to sites where major transit improvements were explained by the engineers, architects, clients or construction managers directly involved. In London during five week days, students visited twenty offices or sites, and presented their research at the School of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Similarly in Amsterdam in January of 2023, students presented their research at a combined colloquium of the faculties of the School of Engineering and the School of Architecture at TU Delft. For the 2019-2020 academic year, the international field study took place during the last eight days of the three-week winter break. Site visits and meetings were coordinated with the CBIPS research agenda. Meetings with municipal government leaders, leaders of various professional organizations, and design and construction professionals complemented the site visits.
NATIONAL FIELD STUDY: INFRASTRUCTURE
For the 2023-24 academic year, the CBIPS National Field Study during the one-week Spring Break took place in Miami. The city has benefited from extensive investments in environmentally conscious design, both in the public and private sectors. Fellows met with leading design and construction industry professionals and municipal leaders. Site visits arranged the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation highlighted the importance of changing patterns of vehicular transit in linking together the heart of the city where high-rise residential structures now adjoin athletic facilities and museums.
NYC SITE VISITS: INFRASTRUCTURE
SWA/Balsley principal Thomas Balsley, FASLA, met with CBIPS Fellows at the park he designed at Hunters Point South. Stretching the length of the Long Island City riverfront, the park benefits from spectacular views of the Midtown Manhattan skyline, including the United Nations Headquarters Building. Physical touch-the-water access to the East River was created at several points. Tom pointed out design details of railing systems, park furniture, pathway paving, plantings, and hydrology. Of keen interest were the resilient features of the park, including the bowl designed to accept and hold storm surge from the East River. Other infrastructure site visits, done in conjunction with the AECOM and STV industry field study programs, have brought CBIPS fellows to the East Side Coastal Resilience site and Grand Central's East SIde Access.
GLOBAL FIELD STUDY: STRUCTURES
Paris, the City of Light, has benefited from progressive leadership that has reimagined many aspects of the metropolis, from access to the Seine river waterfront to a reconsideration of the identity and environmental characteristics of one of the tallest and most-reviled building in Europe. Fellows of the CBIPS inaugural year met with principals of leading construction management firms, including AECOM and Vinci. A meeting at City Hall with Deputy Mayor Jean-Louis Missika about the link between urbanism and economic development led to an invitation to attend the Reinventing Paris presentation by Mayor Anne Hidalgo at the Pavilion de l'Arsenal. Fellows were particularly interested in the technics of the Paris-Saclay engineering school site, where we met with members of the design and construction team, including architects from Renzo Piano Building Workshop. At the Sorbonne, CBIPS students joined with local colleagues in a joint analysis of the public space at the Jardin Gilles Clement outside of the Quai Branly ethnographic museum by Jean Nouvel.
NATIONAL FIELD STUDY: STRUCTURES
Los Angeles is the second largest city in the U.S. Like New York City, it is facing the challenges of demographic change, rapid growth, transit system expansion, and an extensive homeless population. During a one-week study tour during the 2019 spring semester break, 13 Fellows met with Los Angeles engineers, architects, construction managers, client agencies, and elected officials. Site visits allowed for detailed discussions about projects and policies, including: the new Olympic Stadium; the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum; the growth of the Port of Long Beach as container ship size changes; and affordable housing in Santa Monica. CBIPS students were able to meet with civil engineering students at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering and also tour completed building projects including Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall (pictured).
NYC SITE VISITS: STRUCTURES
The majority of Fellows are new to New York, having come from all over the world to pursue graduate studies. As part of the academic research initiative, strategically selected site visits to important building or infrastructure locations take place with either the client or project principal present to explain decisions made. CBIPS Fellows in tmet on site with Richard Dattner, the architect of the Hudson Yards subway station; with James Garrison, the architect of the OEM Post-Disaster Emergency Housing prototype; and with Lissa So, the architect of the St. Ann’s Warehouse theater renovation in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
ALUMNI MENTORING
Alumni of the Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science continue to participate in CBIPS activities and serve as mentors, providing career advice and connection to their places of employment. They serve as a resource for both professional and personal matters, providing one-on-one advice, information, and encouragement. There is occasionally the possibility of 'shadowing' alumni whereby Fellows to spend time on-the-job with alumni at offices and construction sites. The primary purposes of alumni mentorship are to assist ongoing research and to create a forum for networking. Short bios of all CBIPS Fellows can be found in the 'PEOPLE' section of the CBIPS website.
PAST LECTURES
Since the program inception, CBIPS Fellows have benefited from the availability and enthusiasm of eminent engineers, such as George Leventis, FASCE, of Langan, who gave a talk about the exigencies of site engineering. Hour-long supplemental lectures in the CBIPS Studio Lab (706A Mudd) complemented research efforts underway. Speakers included Bruce Eisenberg, Director of Asset & Capital Management for the New York City Housing Authority; Mark Ginsberg, president of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council; James McCullar, past-president of the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization were among the cohort of guests coming to campus to share their work experience and ideas with CBIPS Fellows, augmenting research efforts underway. Many of the guest lecturers are profiled in the 'People' section of the CBIPS website. .
ADVISORY BOARD
CBIPS is privileged to have a fifty-person Industry Advisory Board chaired by Richard T. Anderson, previously President of the New York Building Congress and Marcos Diaz Gonzalez, Senior Vice President at STV. Advisory Board members are industry leaders in both the public sector and at private firms here in New York. They meet on campus once each academic year to participate in a colloquium related to ongoing research topics. These have ranged from equity in infrastructure and cybersecurity in past years to infrastructure decarbonization in 2024. During the Advisory Board meetings current CBIPS Fellows and invited alumni have the opportunity to interact with board members and present their research. Professional profiles of Industry Advisory Board members are posted in the 'People' section of the CBIPS website.