Education Sessions

Advanced technologies are changing the impossible and the way we can visualize future mission-critical infrastructure. Four technologies are advancing the planning, design, and construction industry as we know it: virtual reality, 360-degree photography, laser scanning, and BIM 360. Learn about how these technologies are impacting the industry today.

We are in the second cold war in orbit and cyberspace. The government and contractors need the next generation of engineers, mathematicians and scientists. This is the talent that Google and Amazon are hiring right out of college. Their workplace is user friendly, beautiful and innovative. Perspective talent is a mobile devise savvy group that doesn’t want to leave their devices behind and be tethered to a desktop computer and cubicle. Can we create an active secure workplace that attracts talent and supports these new ways of working and collaborating?

Resilience requires systems and spaces to be flexible, adaptable, and redundant to mitigate potential impact of natural disasters to training, operations, and the mission. This panel will look at innovative global case studies with strategies to address climate-related challenges, while still creating environments that improve daily quality of life.

There has been an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) process by construction and architectural/engineer service companies. Many of the complaints revolved around the consistency of the ratings and the lack of collaboration in the process. The government benefits from a consistent and reliable performance rating system to positively incentivize performance and support future acquisition decisions. This session will discuss possible changes to the process to make it more consistent and fair.

With the anticipated $3 Billion investment in Land Ports of Entry (LPOE) projects, this session highlights LPOE design considerations, including the need to protect public health and border security while enabling trade, integrating technology, and incorporating the needs of the many stakeholders involved in LPOE projects.

The 1939 41 US Code 3905 law states “The fee in a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract for architectural or engineering services … may include the contractor’s costs and shall not exceed 6 percent of the estimated cost, not including the fee, ...” The FAR interpreted this law to apply to all types of AE contracts. Come learn about the law history and the renewed interest in changing it.

It's Not Just a 'Tent'. The United States Air Force has suffered numerous wind induced large fabric strucutral failures over the last decade, resulting in more then $25 Million in losses. The majority of these failure happen within the structures design limits. This session will present Case Studies on some of the failures and identify solutions to prevent these failures in the future.

The world is changing at a rapid pace, led by technology and big data. At the same time, people are expressing the need for human connection, meaningful exchanges, happier lifestyles. We recognize the challenge of our generation: to combine technology, art, and science in the pursuit of building for wellness and happiness.

Transformation of a Vietnam War-era signal school into the Cyber Center of Excellence (CCOE)— a 21st century, high-tech, cyber and signal training campus for the US Army while maintaining the full operation of the mission. This $900M, multi-phased, incrementally funded transformation will also be a showcase for the future recapitalization of other DoD aging installations worldwide. It will provide an overview of the project’s most significant design, cost, phasing, and funding challenges from both the government and AE perspectives as well as the solutions to address them.

An exploration of an innovative approach to the development of a comprehensive Project Management Plan (PMP) that includes the Project Management Agreement (PMA) and Execution Planning. The panel will explore the Risk Management Plan, including the CSRA, developed for the NAVFAC JIATF-S MILCON project…through that classic success story, The Princess Bride.

The “Office of the Future” is changing, as are expectations for building organizational culture. Learn how the remote work trend is affecting organizations like yours and how you can support this transition regardless of your current or future organizational role. Join the grand experiment!

Leading a hybrid workforce requires leaders to adapt their leadership style and adopt new skills to effectively lead and motivate teams in non-traditional environments. A hybrid workforce is a team that is at any one time mobile, virtual at home or elsewhere, and in the office. Creating a meaningful experience for the team is vital to mission accomplishment. Leaders need to understand the remote environment, be present to their teams, create meaningful virtual and in-person experiences, and lead with empathy and trust.

Record-high job openings and quit rates continue to pose challenges to leaders. Strategic recruitment and competitive compensation are part of the solution; however, leaders need to go beyond these basics to optimize the business for long term success. What is the role of executives to attract and retain their best people in the organization? Where are your pain points and what are current best practices? Please come and share your experiences at this session.

How do you win the war for talent? Grow great leaders. Explore the full range of options with us—from industry to government, emerging leader to senior executive, internal resources to external providers—and learn to get the biggest bang for your buck. Network with and learn from the best!

This session will highlight Society mentoring opportunities and resources to inspire mentors/mentees to engage in the mentoring process. The session will introduce a Mentoring Toolkit to establish or assess a comprehensive mentoring program at any organization, public or private. Finally, the session will reveal mentoring programs operating across the Society.  

As organizations strive to develop strong leaders, they often turn to leadership development programs and courses for supplemental training. Find out what the value of these courses is as well as how to measure their effectiveness for participants. The SAME LDP will be used as a case study.

SAME and Industry Working together to Shape the Future – The Leader Development Program is one of many that SAME offers to members. LDP not only benefits participants, but also their organization, and the Society. In this session, military and industry leaders will discuss how they have benefitted from the program.

This panel celebrates and promotes the success stories of women in the science and engineering profession including gender diversity, improved career satisfaction, and women mentorship. Join us for this exciting conversation with four women from DoD and industry who are influencing and changing our industry as we know it.

Infrastructure resiliency is a national security imperative, so federal, state, and local entities must work together to address sea-level rise. We will host a “fireside chat” with experts to share best practices, lessons learned, and their vision about the way ahead to a brighter, more resilient future.

This session will discuss “what is resiliency”; outline cyber engineering principles for resilient systems; review as a use-case, the operational network at Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Colorado; and analyze benefits of data analytics created by the convergence of Operational Technology and traditional IT networks that organizations can benefit from.

Winter 2021: Cold fronts blew relentlessly, laying bare the need for real time energy disaster recovery as essential systems failed and the Southwest froze. This session explores why secure communications protected by cybersecurity enable distributed energy renewables and grid-ready infrastructure enabling data science to form risk-resilient infrastructure for bounce-back.

Every DoD mission relies in some way upon the resilience of its water supply. This session will introduce users to the current and state-of-the-art capabilities of quantifying risks to DoD water systems through multiple scales and resolutions of assessment designed to complement existing Enterprise datasets, mission assurance workflows, and resilience priorities.

We attempt to answer the burning question - What IS the Installation of the Future (IotF)? Representatives from the DoD services and industry will discuss the components and opportunities in the IotF, and seek feedback from the A/E/C industry to help DoD achieve the future today.

3D Modeling and visualization of infrastructure became critical tools to study coastal resiliency for the US Naval Academy. The project team developed a high resolution model on a non-proprietary platform using AGC data, lidar, and survey to demonstrate the potential vulnerability of the facility to sea level rise and climate change.

Can a real-time flood forecasting system determine the likely extent and duration of flooding, at the street level, 2 to 3 days into the future with a reasonable degree of accuracy? If so, then it may be possible to increase resiliency by taking mitigative steps prior to a storm’s arrival.

The panel will discuss approaches and challenges to intermodal resiliency, which is at the core of the supply chain and broader community resilience. Panelists will share expertise and approaches to improving resilience in transportation, supply chain, environmental risk reduction, and potential funding mechanisms to better prepare installations and facilities to respond to stressors.

This all-star panel will demonstrate how organizations are building in resiliency, redundancy, and reliability in Colorado and across the West. Industry experts in resiliency and sustainability will share best-in-class project examples, infrastructure improvements, and lessons learned. Using best practices in master planning and design, these teams successfully address local and regional resilient infrastructure, including resilience before, during, and after major disasters and the pandemic. Learn how the State of Colorado, U.S. Air Force Academy, and University of Colorado Boulder are supporting mission, enhancing business continuity, and decarbonizing in the process.

Backup power systems are key to the DoD’s energy resilience strategies. Often, design, specification, and analysis of backup power systems do not adequately incorporate the reliability of the comprising components. NREL and USACE have partnered to present the current best estimates for DER reliability, how those metrics can be used in system assessments, and what the results of those assessments can tell us.

To be on the leading-edge of defense, you need to be prepared for anything. When it comes to energy resilience in the face of natural disasters, microgrids can offer a solution to modern-day challenges. Director of Engineering Alan Bronec describe why microgrids are hot right now and will be for the foreseeable future.

This talk will give an overview of microgrid installations at a number of DoD sites designed to increase the resilience of the electric power supply. The examples and information given in this talk will help designers and decision makers determine when it is appropriate to consider such a solution.

As the U.S. prepares for wide-scale transportation electrification and electric vehicle charging, governments are exploring innovative ways to advance from research to implementation. This presentation addresses the importance of integrated and multidisciplinary expertise, various reservation applications, as well as pricing alternatives, including the potential for kWH fee structures, for broad deployment of these networks.

Hydrogen blending with natural gas is growing at an exponential rate and provides real opportunities to decarbonize our extensive gas systems and end user equipment. The author led 2 recent global studies providing comprehensive reviews of projects and technical and other challenges. This presentation provides the current state of the art in this field and the roadmaps developed for continuing to address the challenges to adopt widespread use of hydrogen in natural gas systems.

As military fleets are piloted and long-term plans are put into place, there are necessary steps to fleet electrification to guide the process, inform scheduling, and allow for optimal charging facilities. Each step drives toward the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) fleet infrastructure deployment, broken down into manageable legs of the journey.

Cyber attacks targeting military energy systems by determined adversaries continue to grow increasingly severe and sophisticated. Cyber-Informed Engineering provides military engineers and support contractors a framework to integrate cybersecurity considerations into the conception, design, build, and operations of any physical system that has digital connectivity, monitoring, and control.

Move beyond a “green” energy efficient building to a “smart” building that provides secure data enabled outcomes at the operator and enterprise/agency/command level. Leverage a software-defined, data-rich, computing platform that simplifies data from multiple sources. Integrate systems and enhance beyond energy savings to improve facility performance with data acquisition through computing nodes using new cyber-secure supervisory field controllers and user interface hardware/software.

The intent is to introduce next generation technologies from multiple OEMs that have become a part of this "Other Transactional Authority" OTA opportunity. OTA can be used for research development and demonstration projects that currently do not comply with typical FAR acquisition procurement requirements.

As we close out our educational content for JETC, we'll also close out the year for SAME National President Rear Adm. Mark Handley, P.E., F.SAME, USN (Ret.) and welcome the Society's next president, Cindy Lincicome, F.SAME. 

SAME Foundation Board President Hal Rosen, F.SAME  will recognize the two graduated classes and introduce the new class of the SAME Leader Development Program. Developed with
support from the SAME Foundation, the Leader Development Program will work to identify and cultivate talent from within SAME’s membership to address the nation’s grand challenges and fill America's crucial leadership needs.

JETC is back and there's nothing else like it! SAME National President Rear Adm. Mark Handley, P.E., F.SAME, USN (Ret.) will celebrate the Society's and our Posts' accomplishments over the past year and inspire us to keep "making it happen."

We will then turn the stage to Peter Sheahan, founder and CEO of Karrikins Group and best-selling author and world-renowned speaker, who will address some of the major challenges we are facing post-pandemic such as labor shortages and the war for talent.  Drawing on case studies spanning mulitiple industries including the military, you will hear how to lead in ways that increase engagement and retention, creatively solve the hidden obstacles to better management and labor relationships, and embrace progress over perfection.

Kick-off day two of JETC 2022 by hearing from government agency and uniformed services executive leaders on what's head, including strategic objectives and mission areas of focus.

This session covers successes, challenges, and the future of asset management for federal facilities. With federal funding more competitive, the importance of developing executable requirements-based projects and maximizing existing assets is crucial. Session attendees will collaborate to identify what is working, and how to move forward for future success.

Join this distinguished panel of US Coast Guard presenters as they share both the challenges and the opportunities associated with an unprecedented recapitalization program of historic proportion. Industry engaging with and enabling our government partners has never been more critical.

The Mission Dependency Index is a simple and powerful way to improve infrastructure resource decisions. Learn how to gain greater value from your assets by considering both Condition and their Mission value as you plan and allocate resources. The United States Air Force has propelled MDI thinking forward and is influencing others across the Department of Defense and beyond. Recent developments in data analytics makes the use of MDI even more affordable and effective.

As the U.S. looks to return to the lunar surface with eventually sustained operations, the Department of Defense’s (DoD) planning and experience opening, operating, and sustaining remote forward operating bases could benefit lunar basing teams. And while the DOD organic remote basing ecosystem has 20 years of high use, there are emerging technologies that benefit all with a little collaboration.

Learn about SMS/BUILDER next generation capabilities, innovative approaches, and lessons learned from leading DoD researcher and thought leaders.

Executing the evacuation of more than 100,000 Afghans during the fall of Kabul tested engineer limits to mobilize resources across the globe and save lives. The Joint Engineer team of teams in Air Force Central Command and European Command were at the center of effort to house the evacuees and move them to safe havens across the world.

The panel will explore facility management challenges in military installations; use of AI, machine learning, and “trapped data”; describe the application of these tools for improved installation management, the initial implementation at several U.S. military installations, and the intersection of cybersecurity and data privacy for installation management.

COVID affected more than just people...many buildings experienced water/air stagnation issues which resulted in elevated legionella risk, mold and high VOC concentrations. Learn about non-invasive metrics for early pathogen detection as well as operation, maintenance, and design techniques for buildings to reduce the impact of the next pandemic.

Living in a tent during a deployment or relief operation is uncomfortable and not energy efficient. Temporary shelters have change very little in the last century. How will we meet the billeting needs of future contingency operations and use less energy without the need for specialized construction equipment?

By tackling renovation project execution through Enterprise IDIQ enablement, U.S. Postal Service has realized increased efficiencies in the execution of construction projects in a resource-constrained environment. The program is standardized, engages a flexible network of suppliers, and leverages purpose-built tools and support that are integrated into the facilities IT ecosystem.

This panel will explore how the Government, Siemens, Power Engineers, and AECOM partnered to meet the challenges in the implementation of the $800M plus Guantanamo Bay Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC). This project presented contracting challenges with first of its kind innovations including the use of Liquified natural Gas (LNG) to power the combined heat and power plant.  This massive design-build project was accepted on a very aggressive schedule.  The project successes including innovative use of renewable energy and upgrading lighting and HVAC systems.  So, what is NAVFAC’s outlook on future ESPC/UESC portfolio and the benefits of combined funding project? Please come and learn about this innovative procurement strategy.

Construction-scale 3D printing has gained much deserved attention in the last several years, but there are still major limitations to its applicability in architecture, engineering, and construction. However, with the advent of Cellular Fabrication (C-Fab®), many of those limitations have been overcome, including mass-customization, composite integration, manufacturing scalability, and more. Attend this session to learn from Branch Technology Founder & CEO, Platt Boyd, about this platform technology and its applications.

Quality assurance/control are intrinsic processes to construction management. The Air Forces Central Program Management Office modifies these practices to monitor and surveil the $10.7 billion host nation funded construction portfolio to ensure operational and safety requirements for the end user are met with our hosts, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

Deep dive into the repair of the Kings Bay Dry Dock and how collaborative partnerships have been the key to success. This session will provide an overview of the scope and challenges this critical Navy project encountered while maintaining an extreme tight timeline driven by Fleet maintenance requirements.

Ever wondered if there’s a faster and easier way to procure semi-permanent structures than through the lengthy MILCON open market solicitation process? We’ve got you covered! Join this session to learn creative procurement solutions for all your structure needs.

With growing interest in space and new launch providers expanding around the world, the U.S. is looking to the infrastructure needs required to maintain and strengthen its security and capabilities. Learn about the evolving threats, challenges, and infrastructure needs that USSPACECOM and the space enterprise are navigating and solving.

This presentation demonstrates the business case for using low embodied carbon materials. We can cost-effectively reduce embodied carbon significantly in our new buildings today, using existing materials that are widely available. This information helps consumers and municipal entities to justify their demand for low embodied carbon products, and for manufacturers to develop them.

UHPC with its ultra-high strength, tensile capacity, bond development and low porosity accelerates the construction and rehabilitation of civil infrastructures such as bridges, dams, marine structures, waste water treatment plants and airports. The technology, material properties, benefits and observed performance will be explained through successfully completed projects from a contractor’s perspective.

This is not your typical workforce shortage discussion! Everyone talks about workforce shortages, but nobody knows what to do about it. Everyone thinks everyone else is doing something about it, so everyone claims they are doing something about it too. You can complain all you want about workforce shortages, but we cannot change workforce demographics. The only approach is to change their perception about our industry. But how? This session will focus on how you can change your business approach and culture to be more attractive to the new workforce.

Making a successful move to a second career after being successful in the military can be challenging due to a number of reasons. This serious topic will be discussed with humor and compassion, and will highlight the challenges and lessons learned from those who each selected a different path after the military: public sector, company employee, and business owner.

Find out whether a Mentor-Protégé JV is the right move for your large or small business now. Or if you are already involved in a Mentor-Protégé JV, discover more about what works to achieve success. Federal data/research and examples from successful JVs enrich the session.

This interactive, powerpoint-free session will have you voting to get your chosen innovation covered! You will have the opportunity to delve into a variety of crowd-chosen topics from Ms. Wishart-Smith’s Forbes column on innovation. Learn and be inspired by innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship from her interviews with subjects as varied as Academy Award-winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom, Nobel laureate Dr. Daniel Kahneman, legendary guitarist Adrian Below, Ugandan nun and entrepreneur Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, and more. https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherwishartsmith/?sh=37f2faf76e52

Getting close to retirement or you have some time. Interested in giving back, staying engaged and volunteering; sharing years of engineering skills and or leadership? Options to give back to a community, cause or program through volunteering will be presented. This presentation will explore the several specific organizations with an actual event and outcome. The universe of opportunities is very broad, we will look at several engineering focused paths.

There are not fewer A/E/C RFIs and Sources Sought Notices, but they are less public. This session uncovers how agencies are satisfying market research mandates by directly inviting specific companies to participate through robotic data scraping, and what exactly you can do right now to be found by those tools.

This session will present opportunities across the Society to engage in leader development (LD). The panel will introduce a Toolkit to assist public and private organizations in developing a LD program as well as highlighting the components of a comprehensive LD program (self-assessments, curriculum, classroom discussions, speakers, utilization projects, mentoring).

Are you ready to build a solid relationship with the government? Looking to book an appointment with an agency you want to do business with? Don’t miss this session! We'll deep dive into what you need to build a solid foundation from your initial contact and keep your relationships strong through the proposal debrief. Bring your notepad, questions, and get ready to learn. This will be an interactive session with the pros!

From marketing and branding to project management and safety, there are many free, or nearly free, online tools available to help your business and advance your professional development. Whether you’re a small business on a budget, a SAME Post trying to make a splash, or a professional looking for an edge, this presentation is for you.

FAM Forum panelists prepare and will out brief the Senior Service Engineer Chiefs and other participants on proposed solutions to the challenges posed by the FAM Forum topics. Proposed solutions to each of the topics below will be briefed and a path forward outlined. FAM COI tracks the progress of discussion, resolutions, and informs participants of the results with a measured action plan based on the FAM Forum topics.
 

Warfighter panelists prepare and will out brief the Senior Service Engineer Chiefs and other participants on proposed solutions to the challenges posed by the Warfighter topics. Proposed solutions to each of the topics below will be briefed and a path forward outlined. JECO COI tracks the progress of discussion, resolutions, and informs participants of the results with a measured action plan based on the Warfighter topics. Warfighter topics briefed:
 
•  Seminar 1: Fast Delivery of Operational Facilities & Infrastructure
•  Seminar 2: Countering Adverse Influences and Impacts on Overseas Contractors by Allies, Competitors, and Adversaries
•  Seminar 3: Contingency Operations: Collaboration between Military, Contractors, and Contracting Officials
•  Seminar 4: Integration of Innovative Technology into Military Engineering
 
Open to all JETC Participants to observe, ask questions, etc.
 

PFAS in stormwater represent unique challenges in a complicated field of PFAS treatment. Stormwater is a significant but under-studied PFAS conveyance to our waterways. Learn how to evaluate the appropriate technologies to build sustainable and efficient operations in support of the DOD’s mission to improve and safeguard our natural resources.

With so many tools for assessing PFAS in the environment, what do these applications do for the practitioner? In Part 1, we will provide overviews of the individual methodologies and their provided data, how they relate to one another, and their potential usefulness. In Part 2, we will summarize the results from an ESTCP demonstration of a PFAS mobile lab and application of stratigraphic flux to visualize PFAS migration pathways. 

You will learn about EPA’s ongoing activities, stakeholder concerns, and the implications related to developing PFAS toxicity criteria and drinking water standards (MCLs), assessing potential adverse health effects of the growing PFAS target analyte list, and incorporating 21st Century New Approach Methods (NAMs) into the PFAS National Testing Strategy, toxicity assessments, and development of health advisories and standards.

Highlights the Methodologies and Challenges in conducting the AF Environmental Inspection Program (EIP) at Installations; ECAMPs at GOCO Plants (AFP-4 & AFP-6); and a Cost of Compliance Assessment at AFP-6 in advance to PPBE -- all during a COVID pandemic

In this session you will learn about the USACE ERDC has developed a prototype Greywater (shower and laundry) treatment system, which is currently being tested at Camp Shelby, MS. Greywater is being generated by Company and Battalion level rotations. Analysis of the Raw and treated water for various analyses of interest has been conducted over the past 2 years. The results will be presented to show the efficiency, performance and water quality metrics. Discussion will also include future work, system upgrades increased automation and including remote monitoring and operation.

DoD’s emphasis to use AGC under all site conditions requires a project decision framework with flexibility to encourage progressive adaptive approaches and integration of emerging technologies supporting remediation solutions. This uniform project decision framework will be presented using lessons learned during application at a current priority FUDS MMRP remedial action.

The class of synthetic chemicals known as PFAS is grabbing headlines as emerging contaminants tainting water supplies worldwide. This panel of industry and government practitioners will discuss lessons learned from ongoing PFAS efforts, and a path forward in meeting future Federal standards in environmental media.

A walk-through from fundamentals to success stories of transitioning costly LNAPL site remediation to a highly sustainable alternative. Join the session to understand the science, learn the tools and techniques, and see how to navigate through the regulatory framework to achieve the goal of remediation optimization.

An overview of the state of the science for understanding PFAS leaching to groundwater and implications to inform remedial investigation programs. Field methods to obtain site-specific geotechnical and geochemical parameters, and innovative bench studies to obtain leaching parameters which control PFAS leaching in the vadose zone will be detailed.