News

Building the Bridge to the Future with Innovations and Talent

February 20, 2023

Our present is the future that was once envisioned. While we can sometimes anticipate the future with some precision, other times important innovations have not been anticipated at all. The accuracy of predictions can vary as much as individual opinions, but we know for sure that what engineers do today directly impacts what actualizes tomorrow.

So which ideas and practices will be the ones that determine the direction of the future? It’s the ideas and innovations that surface now that will bridge the gap into what’s next and to the next generation.

We can confidently anticipate that tech solutions for exploration will continue to evolve and multiply. At Terracon, we are continually looking for new ways to solve the issues impacting current projects, while anticipating future challenges. These innovations include pavement technology solutions and a new family of wind turbine foundations using earth-friendly design.

Pavement Technology Solutions

Pavement repairs can exhaust maintenance and capital budgets and drain resources. This is why we leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create pavement management solutions that allow us to dramatically improve our understanding of pavement conditions. We can more efficiently plan for maintenance and rehabilitation strategies to proactively meet clients’ short- and long-term goals. Timely, accurate, and sufficient data is integral to our pavement solutions. Terracon utilizes digital data collection and AI to create a customized data-driven pavement management strategy that helps clients optimize their budgets and mitigate future risks.

Answering Wind Power Demand Sustainably

Wind energy is a growing renewable alternative for power generation and transmission Terracon’s approach helps clients optimize wind energy project design and minimize risk, saving time and money. In the past five years, Terracon has supported more than 1,800 wind projects across 38 states.

Terracon’s GripTerraSM family of wind turbine foundations are designed specifically to address today’s 3 to 6 MW land-based turbines, utilizing earth-friendly designs which reduce both materials and construction time, offer re-powering and design life extension solutions, and reduce the overall carbon footprint of projects.

Building our Workforce

One way we get to the future is through experienced people in the engineering ecosystem mentoring the next generation. This includes engineers as well as those working in design, construction, technology, field work, scientific discovery, laboratory science, and more, all taking the time to share their knowledge. Every year Terracon seeks promising talent from colleges across the U.S. for internships in their fields of interest.

While outreach to today’s younger students will remain important in the future, the rate of population growth in the U.S. and other countries is projected to decline sharply. This will translate into major labor shortages in A/E/C, as well as entire economies.

At Terracon, we’re continually investing in the next generation of engineering by supporting events and programs that engage young people early to the wide array of career possibilities that engineering can offer. For several years, we’ve been executing an annual event with nearly 200 Girl Scouts in the Kansas City area that provides hands-on opportunities to explore the world of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math). Every year Terracon’s internship program attracts dozens of promising university and college students for 12-week periods of paid training with some of our brightest minds. Internships are available at our offices in most states, and offer benefits including a dedicated mentor, company-paid training for industry certifications, hands-on lab and field experience, and the opportunity to build skills in project and business management.

This is an exciting time to be in the A/E/C industry, and engineering is at the forefront. Every innovation is taking us forward one day at a time.

 

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