Civil Engineering Alum John Ciepiela ('10) Leads Renouard Lecture on Construction Innovations

About This Event

When studying to become an engineer, often times our ability to imagine how things are built can be clouded by our effort to understand the science behind the design. This doesn’t change in a real world application where the construction and the associated design administration of a project sometimes becomes as technical and intensive as the initial design itself.  

In this presentation, John and his colleague Zachary Brehm (Project Manager, Swinerton) will outline what they do as builders to bridge the gap between design and feasibility to meet their client’s needs with support of architects and engineers alike. They will cover recent design innovations of cross laminated timber and real world applications, integration of mechanical and plumbing needs to a structures design, as well as outline general concrete formwork applications, more technical formwork applications, and recent design efficiencies seen with post-tensioned decks. 

About the Speaker:
From Albuquerque, NM, John graduated from Gonzaga School of Engineering (Civil) in 2010 and completed his Finance MBA from Gonzaga in 2011. After graduation John hired on with Kiewit Infrastructure West working as a field engineer and later a superintendent. John worked with Kiewit on heavy civil and technical bridge projects such as The DFW Connector Interchange is Dallas, TX, The Honolulu Light Rail Project in Hawaii, and The Tilikum Crossing in Portland, OR.  

After Kiewit, John joined Swinerton in Portland, OR in 2015. With Swinerton, John has been a superintendent and a project manager, helping the Swinerton Portland Division deliver projects such as the Ilani Casino, The First Tech Credit Union Corporate Office and later a parking structure on the same corporate campus for First Tech Credit Union. John is currently the project manager on the new Washington County Event Center in Hillsboro, OR.