CSULB Construction Engineering Management students came away with a first-place win for Project Management at this year’s Reno Competition, thanks, in part, to support from a dedicated alumni.
Kris Nordbak, a 2005 CEM graduate who now works as Project Director at McCarthy Building Companies, served as an industry coach for the Project Management Team. He also participated in training sessions last summer to help prepare for Reno.
“In 2015, the project team placed second, and this year we placed first. That is partly because our alumni came back and helped us with training,” said CEM Professor Hung Nguyen, who served as the Faculty Coach for the Project Management and Virtual Design and Construction teams.
Nordbak was one of two CECEM graduates named Distinguished Alumni at last year’s department graduation. “He has helped our program a lot,” said Nguyen. “He took the lead and coordinated with all the other alumni.”
Sponsored by the Associated Schools of Construction’s regions 6 and 7, the Reno Competition is a highlight of the year for CEM students interested in honing their skills. Students receive a difficult real-world problem, and have 18 hours to come up with a solution. The contest this year, held from Feb. 8-11, drew 181 teams from 46 universities across the country, including eight from CSULB’s CEM Department.
Nguyen said placing in the contest isn’t easy. “It gets more challenging every year. They keep raising the bar,” he said. “The students and industry coaches worked very hard.”
The Project Management Teams were asked to conduct a risk analysis of contracts, pinpointing the potential challenges and profits of various courses of action. The team was comprised of Abraham Espadas, Valeria Gama Diaz, Juan Granados, Alejandro Murillo, Jerman Valencia, Henry Vu, and alternates Nancy Mendoza and Alejandro Avalos.
The other CEM teams were:
- Heavy Civil – Vahid Balali (Faculty Coach), Richard Ball, Nikki Buche, Tonisha Burrow, Brian Cook, Julio Rodriguez, Francisco Vega, and alternates Jesus Avalos and Isaac Norales.
- Mixed Use – Vahid Balali (Faculty Coach), Angel Gonzalez, Roger Hernandez, Matthew Loney, Donaldo Luna, Adrian Martinez, Luis Rangel, and alternate Randy Moreno.
- Design Build – Mike Pulley (Faculty Coach), Marcos Del Toro, Viridiana Esquivel, Cesar Gutierrez, Carlos Martinez, Christian Zepeda, Estevan Zepeda, and alternates Kevin Dao and Ron Thompson.
- Virtual Design and Construction – Hung Nguyen (Faculty Coach), Abdulrahman Altememy, David Elshaieb, Andrew Gonzalez, Johnny Kim, Karl Quintos, William Richardson, and alternates Kassem Soueidan and Christopher Terzic.
- Preconstruction – Joseph Kim (Faculty Coach), Zach Bing, Tae Uk “Mark” Gim, Miguel Lara, Daniela Mora, Emmannuel Rebollarerc, Jose Robledo, and alternates Monica Ruiz and Ron Thompson.
- Electrical – Robert Harding (Faculty Coach), Eric Castaneda, Wally Castro, Thomas Christopher, Malik Douthard, Jeff Leishman, Joshua Smith, and alternate Jose Urrieta.
- Concrete Solutions – Michael Pulley (Faculty Coach), Mazin Alabdulkarim, Larry Cruz, Arturo Hernandez, Henry Lam, Jacqueline Odom, Leonardo Trejo, and alternates Edwin Flores and Eric Mendoza.