Clarence Waters

College of Engineering Author

03/21/2019 Added

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The Durham School’s architectural engineering (AE) program has developed a unique relationship with the abundant local industry. Professor Clarence Waters shares how that relationship developed to make the Nebraska AE program a giant success.

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[00:00:00.601](symphonic band music)
[00:00:01.980]Welcome to the Complete Engineering podcast
[00:00:04.430]brought to you by the College of Engineering.
[00:00:06.610]We are Nebraska where we build complete engineers
[00:00:09.790]with technical and non-technical skills
[00:00:11.930]to do big things.
[00:00:13.390]Visit us at engineering.unl.edu.
[00:00:19.310]Welcome to the Complete Engineering podcast,
[00:00:22.270]brought to you by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:00:25.070]College of Engineering.
[00:00:26.310]I'm Matt Honke.
[00:00:27.280]And I'm Karl Vogel.
[00:00:28.890]And today we are joined by Dr. Clarence Waters,
[00:00:32.270]who is with our Durham School
[00:00:34.010]of Architectural Engineering and Construction.
[00:00:36.420]Welcome, Dr. Waters.
[00:00:37.960]Glad to be here.
[00:00:39.059]Dr. Waters is an Aaron Douglas Professor
[00:00:42.450]and industry liaison.
[00:00:44.670]He came to the Durham School of Architectural Engineering
[00:00:47.480]and Construction in 2000.
[00:00:49.470]He has also earned many teaching awards,
[00:00:51.500]including the Architectural Engineering Institute's
[00:00:54.130]2016 Outstanding Educator Award that is given
[00:00:57.730]to the nation's top educator in the field.
[00:01:00.020]In addition to teaching and research Dr. Waters
[00:01:02.840]is also the AE Program's chief industry liaison
[00:01:05.660]and relates with a very vibrant architectural engineering
[00:01:09.340]industry in Omaha and nationally.
[00:01:11.820]It's been a key factor in the success of the program
[00:01:14.790]is that unique relationship.
[00:01:16.710]What did you know about Omaha before you came here,
[00:01:19.660]and what factored into your decisions to come
[00:01:22.410]to this part of the country?
[00:01:24.230]I came here actually for a short period of time,
[00:01:28.860]just one semester to teach a course,
[00:01:31.860]and I commuted from Kansas State where I was on the faculty,
[00:01:36.730]and learned of the industry that was here,
[00:01:39.630]and saw the opportunity just as
[00:01:42.470]architectural engineering was getting started.
[00:01:44.870]They offered me a job and I took it, and really,
[00:01:48.400]the reason I took it was because of the opportunity with
[00:01:51.940]this industry connection that is really amazing in Omaha.
[00:01:56.120]What specifically about Omaha and maybe this part
[00:01:59.100]of the country makes this a great place
[00:02:01.710]for an architectural engineering program?
[00:02:03.710]We really have giants in the architectural engineering
[00:02:06.840]industry in Omaha.
[00:02:09.080]HDR, who just moved their world headquarters
[00:02:12.922]to Aksarben Village, which is two blocks away from us,
[00:02:17.050]in Omaha, they are the number one designer
[00:02:20.500]of health care facilities in the world.
[00:02:22.970]They're not in any way, shape, or form the only one.
[00:02:27.810]Leo A Daley, a very large AE firm,
[00:02:31.230]third in the country in health care facilities is in Omaha.
[00:02:36.170]Creek started in Omaha.
[00:02:37.750]DLR also in Aksarben Village just blocks away from us
[00:02:42.610]is the number one designer of K-12 educational facilities
[00:02:47.270]in the country.
[00:02:48.210]Other big firms, Alvine Engineering is an excellent
[00:02:52.290]engineering firm that just has engineers,
[00:02:55.110]not their own architects.
[00:02:56.690]They're working for architects all over the world.
[00:02:59.880]So that's what makes Omaha unique is that center
[00:03:04.570]really that's found no place else in the world.
[00:03:07.590]I'm convinced there's not a better place
[00:03:09.480]in the world for architectural engineering.
[00:03:11.590]That sounds a little strange for the listeners.
[00:03:14.620]Our college of engineering here,
[00:03:15.830]we are located in both Lincoln and in Omaha,
[00:03:17.767]and we have a wonderful facility on the Scott Campus,
[00:03:20.960]the South campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
[00:03:24.255]That Askarben area, that's just sprouted up
[00:03:26.880]in the last, really, 10 years.
[00:03:29.140]If you haven't been down there, it's amazing now.
[00:03:31.350]It is, and that all used to be a horse track.
[00:03:36.490]The building where we are was the first building
[00:03:40.610]in that area and now it's just exploded.
[00:03:43.100]HDR's world headquarters, DLR, Olsson and Associates,
[00:03:47.790]Kiewit Building Group are all right there,
[00:03:51.903]and the interaction that we have
[00:03:53.110]with them is really amazing.
[00:03:55.450]Is there a monetary value that we can put on
[00:03:57.760]the input that these industry professionals
[00:03:59.940]and alumni provide the students?
[00:04:01.760]I mean, how unique and how important is that
[00:04:03.810]to have those people literally a doorstep away,
[00:04:06.680]just a block away?
[00:04:07.900]I teach a course that's a Capstone course
[00:04:11.270]in the Master's degree five year program.
[00:04:13.900]It's called, we call it Team Design.
[00:04:16.220]The technical name is Interdisciplinary Team Design Project.
[00:04:19.960]In that course we put the students in the teams
[00:04:23.260]of eight to 10 students and we give them mentors.
[00:04:27.990]And we also then have industry evaluators
[00:04:32.330]that are all over the country
[00:04:33.710]that evaluate the students work.
[00:04:35.880]They present over Zoom and their work
[00:04:38.840]is available electronically.
[00:04:40.860]So we have people all over the country
[00:04:42.730]that evaluate their work.
[00:04:44.180]But on the first day of class we'll have 30, 40 students
[00:04:48.920]in this class and we'll have 60 professionals
[00:04:52.620]that mentor and evaluate them.
[00:04:55.070]On the first day of class always I require the students
[00:04:57.990]to calculate the actual contribution to that class.
[00:05:02.520]So they calculate the number of volunteer hours
[00:05:05.470]and then we use a standard engineering hourly rate,
[00:05:09.166]$100, $125 an hour, which is what these professionals
[00:05:13.730]bill their time at, and every year it comes out
[00:05:17.100]to be close to right around a quarter of a million dollars.
[00:05:20.690]So that's an example just from this one class.
[00:05:25.330]There are thousands of other hours that are volunteered.
[00:05:29.430]But that's the only actual number that I have.
[00:05:33.461]But it's very significant.
[00:05:36.090]That class won the NCEES Grand Prize in 2016
[00:05:42.210]for the best Capstone in the country for
[00:05:46.551]bringing industry to students.
[00:05:49.200]That's amazing.
[00:05:50.230]It is.
[00:05:51.063]And this relationship has created a very successful
[00:05:54.800]job placement rate for graduates.
[00:05:57.100]How has that relationship with industry evolved
[00:05:59.070]and how is benefiting our students right now?
[00:06:01.600]In the first class that we teach, AE1010,
[00:06:04.990]Introduction to Architectural Engineering,
[00:06:07.290]second or third week of class we assign
[00:06:11.120]these freshman students an industry mentor.
[00:06:14.650]So there will be one industry mentor
[00:06:17.000]for six or eight students.
[00:06:19.700]One of the assignments is the student has to interview
[00:06:23.070]that mentor and they have to go to that mentor's office
[00:06:26.000]and learn what that mentor is doing.
[00:06:28.500]So they develop a relationship very early on.
[00:06:31.920]These connections, these networks that the students build
[00:06:36.240]start from, really, the very beginning.
[00:06:39.080]And that obviously is very beneficial to them.
[00:06:41.900]You mentioned the opportunities then when they graduate.
[00:06:45.850]They are just outstanding.
[00:06:47.510]I think there are specialty areas within
[00:06:51.090]architectural engineering, especially in the graduates
[00:06:54.390]who design HVAC mechanical systems,
[00:06:57.340]graduates that design electrical systems,
[00:07:00.350]right now I'd guess there's probably
[00:07:02.540]four opportunities per student.
[00:07:04.500]And the reason is industry wants our graduates.
[00:07:08.140]They value our program.
[00:07:09.570]We have very high quality students.
[00:07:11.680]They're productive for their employers.
[00:07:13.750]And the Durham School has a career fair every October.
[00:07:17.260]And that has grown by leaps and bounds
[00:07:20.440]just in the last few years.
[00:07:21.700]I believe in the last year we're up to close to 100
[00:07:24.970]industry people coming and it's kind of unique
[00:07:27.900]in that they're coming there to recruit the students
[00:07:31.340]more than just expose what they have to offer.
[00:07:34.270]Very much so.
[00:07:35.954]There are over a hundred companies last October.
[00:07:39.190]We anticipate even more than that this coming Fall.
[00:07:43.170]I think there was something like 300 individual interviews
[00:07:46.910]the day after that career fair.
[00:07:50.190]And just amazing opportunities for the students,
[00:07:53.170]and kinda the cool thing that's happening is that
[00:07:56.170]there aren't enough students to go around.
[00:07:58.820]So consequently they start hiring students
[00:08:02.060]for their summer internships the summer before
[00:08:04.470]their Master's degree or the summer before
[00:08:06.540]their senior year.
[00:08:07.970]So they're just getting outstanding internships
[00:08:10.610]all over the country because the demand is so high.
[00:08:14.460]They come off of those internships typically
[00:08:16.840]with a permanent employment offer in their hands.
[00:08:20.160]The architectural engineering program at Nebraska
[00:08:23.030]is one of the tops in the country.
[00:08:24.800]I think the industry advisory committee
[00:08:26.760]has really helped a lot with that.
[00:08:28.710]How would you say that that relationship
[00:08:30.990]has evolved over the years?
[00:08:33.520]The Architectural Engineering Advisory Committee
[00:08:35.510]has been a critical component really
[00:08:37.830]of the architectural engineering from the beginning.
[00:08:40.640]We graduated our first students in 2003,
[00:08:44.647]and an advisory committee was in place prior to that,
[00:08:47.860]and around that time became more formal.
[00:08:50.840]So it's 14 members.
[00:08:53.520]They serve for three year terms.
[00:08:55.490]Half are kinda local in the different disciplines,
[00:08:59.720]and the other half are really industry leaders
[00:09:02.280]from all over the country.
[00:09:03.720]They really have been a critical component
[00:09:06.730]to the evaluation of our program,
[00:09:09.630]and they are the ones that we obviously tap in
[00:09:12.500]for volunteers and all of those things.
[00:09:15.320]But they come and meet with us twice a year for a full day.
[00:09:20.500]They meet with our freshman students.
[00:09:23.040]They meet with our MAEs as they graduate.
[00:09:26.650]It's a neat relationship that develops
[00:09:28.970]between the advisory committee and our students.
[00:09:31.660]They really get to know them and enjoy that interaction.
[00:09:35.440]They even give them a gift when they graduate.
[00:09:37.950]We have an event the night before the students graduate.
[00:09:42.240]Their parents are there,
[00:09:43.390]and the advisory committee gives them a gift.
[00:09:46.451]It's neat.
[00:09:47.700]That's very cool.
[00:09:48.600]Another unique part of the architectural engineering program
[00:09:52.170]is the four-plus-one structure to the academic career
[00:09:55.480]of the students and what the Durham School offers
[00:09:58.110]is a program that puts the students on a Master's track
[00:10:01.480]a lot faster than a lot of other schools.
[00:10:04.020]What is that four-plus-one structure?
[00:10:05.910]And how did that come about?
[00:10:07.450]Some of the better architectural engineering programs
[00:10:10.460]around the country were five year Bachelor's degrees.
[00:10:14.950]When we created the program back in the early 2000s,
[00:10:19.910]we wanted to compete with those programs,
[00:10:22.180]but we wanted to get the graduates additional credit
[00:10:26.460]for that fifth year in the program.
[00:10:29.740]So we created the four-plus-one.
[00:10:32.120]It's a Bachelor's plus what we call a Master
[00:10:35.610]of Architectural Engineering, MAE.
[00:10:38.560]Our AE accreditation sits with the MAE,
[00:10:41.890]so that is critical to become a licensed engineer.
[00:10:45.820]So all the students understand from the very beginning
[00:10:48.380]that they are gonna be in the five year program
[00:10:50.800]Bachelor's plus Master's.
[00:10:52.610]Beginning of the Master's starts in the second semester
[00:10:56.030]of the senior year and then they complete that
[00:10:59.000]in a five year program.
[00:11:00.690]What that really allows us to do is to give the students
[00:11:04.840]breadth in all the areas of architectural engineering,
[00:11:08.330]in structures, in HVAC,
[00:11:11.150]in electrical lighting and acoustics.
[00:11:13.280]Our program has much more breadth that any other
[00:11:16.130]architectural engineering program.
[00:11:17.910]And then after they have that breadth
[00:11:20.860]and that gives them the ability to sit
[00:11:23.210]on these large teams and understand
[00:11:25.290]what everybody else on the team is doing,
[00:11:27.720]then they go very deep in their specialization.
[00:11:30.470]So our students will end up designing
[00:11:33.490]the structure for a building or designing
[00:11:35.890]the electrical systems for buildings
[00:11:37.910]or the mechanical systems.
[00:11:39.740]And that fifth year gives them that depth,
[00:11:42.270]and I think that has a lot to do with the demand
[00:11:45.820]for our graduates from industry,
[00:11:47.800]because they like that breadth,
[00:11:49.570]and they need that depth which makes our students
[00:11:52.530]very productive for employers
[00:11:55.363]and very productive for large teams.
[00:11:58.700]For the students themselves,
[00:11:59.970]when they have that Master's and don't have
[00:12:02.530]to take a sixth year to get it,
[00:12:04.710]what's the advantage for the student in that scenario?
[00:12:08.000]Well, they have an additional degree.
[00:12:10.490]They have a Master's degree and always will have
[00:12:12.840]that Master's degree.
[00:12:13.960]So other students have to go at least two years
[00:12:17.269]to obtain that Master's degree.
[00:12:19.750]We're called the Complete Engineering podcast,
[00:12:22.000]and that's in reference to our Complete Engineer Program
[00:12:24.660]that we have at the university.
[00:12:26.160]It correlates a little bit with what
[00:12:27.780]you were just talking about how at the end
[00:12:29.540]of your five years you understand what other people
[00:12:31.900]are doing on your team.
[00:12:33.290]You know the different roles,
[00:12:34.690]and that's one of the tenants
[00:12:35.920]of the complete engineer is teamwork.
[00:12:38.240]How important is teamwork when you're working
[00:12:40.540]in groups as you get to a professional world.
[00:12:43.300]You're not just working in a silo anymore right?
[00:12:45.610]As an engineer having that understanding and the ability
[00:12:48.960]to work with others and communicate is crucial.
[00:12:51.320]It's critical for our industry.
[00:12:54.340]It's probably critical for most industries.
[00:12:56.690]But being able to work on large teams,
[00:12:59.860]somebody that's going to design
[00:13:02.270]the First National Tower in Omaha, or Baxter Arena,
[00:13:05.540]there's 30, 40 people that are involved
[00:13:08.660]in the design of that facility,
[00:13:11.040]and you have to work very closely on teams.
[00:13:13.600]I mentioned earlier that interdisciplinary
[00:13:16.080]team design project.
[00:13:17.800]These students have to present their work
[00:13:21.163]in front of these 60 professionals.
[00:13:24.550]That causes the students to take that very, very seriously,
[00:13:28.840]and they work extremely hard.
[00:13:31.200]And these professionals tell us that they are,
[00:13:34.510]in many cases, do as good a job, if not better,
[00:13:37.810]than some of the professionals
[00:13:39.560]that they're working with themselves.
[00:13:41.380]Those communication skills, those presentation skills,
[00:13:45.020]those teamwork skills are just critical.
[00:13:48.300]And that comes down to teaching.
[00:13:51.770]Part of the factor of them learning it is teaching,
[00:13:54.010]and you've been honored in the past for your teaching
[00:13:56.900]and your ability to relate with students in that way.
[00:13:59.490]How do you create an environment that allows
[00:14:01.840]these students to thrive and how do they respond to that?
[00:14:04.960]I don't know that it's much about what I do.
[00:14:08.530]But I love our students.
[00:14:10.839]I love our industry.
[00:14:12.880]And I think the students understand that
[00:14:15.730]and they value that.
[00:14:17.300]They know that I respect them.
[00:14:19.700]They know that I am there for their success.
[00:14:23.610]Simply a lucky man that gets the opportunity
[00:14:27.357]to work with these outstanding students
[00:14:30.980]in the outstanding industry that supports them.
[00:14:34.627]Well, you were recently chosen to receive
[00:14:37.210]the Aaron Douglas Professorship,
[00:14:39.110]becoming the first Nebraska Engineering
[00:14:41.260]faculty to be so honored.
[00:14:43.400]What does this particular honor mean to you?
[00:14:46.631]I'm very humbled by that award,
[00:14:50.100]and greatly appreciate the work that Dean Lance Perez
[00:14:54.030]and the director of the Durham School, Jay Puckett,
[00:14:57.120]put into giving me that award.
[00:15:00.303]Aaron Douglas is a black artist who was born and raised
[00:15:05.918]just a few miles from where I was born and raised in Kansas.
[00:15:10.560]So he was a graduate of the University of Nebraska.
[00:15:14.431]I'm very honored to be named that professor,
[00:15:18.750]and I'm a lucky man.
[00:15:20.750]I enjoy very much what I do,
[00:15:23.290]and don't tell the dean, but I'd probably do it
[00:15:27.190]even if he didn't pay me.
[00:15:28.856](group laughter)
[00:15:30.400]Well congratulations on it.
[00:15:31.900]Thank you.
[00:15:32.904](bell rings)
[00:15:34.250]Alright, well it's that time again
[00:15:35.560]for our lightening round.
[00:15:37.010]Dog or cat?
[00:15:38.270]Absolutely dog.
[00:15:40.020]Who is your favorite super hero?
[00:15:42.490]I suppose Iron Man.
[00:15:43.910]Favorite tailgating food?
[00:15:45.724]Brats.
[00:15:47.730]Have you ever used a slide rule?
[00:15:49.920]Absolutely, I did.
[00:15:53.230]First video game you owned?
[00:15:55.970]That I owned, I don't know that I've ever owned one,
[00:15:58.470]but I used to play, what's that one where the thing
[00:16:02.510]goes around and eats the little balls?
[00:16:04.870]Pac-Man?
[00:16:05.703]Pac-Man, yeah.
[00:16:07.316]Favorite musical genre?
[00:16:10.830]Rock, Boston.
[00:16:12.680]Oh, More Than A Feeling.
[00:16:15.680]Man, they're very good.
[00:16:17.350]What was your favorite toy growing up?
[00:16:19.880]Etch-A-Sketch.
[00:16:22.210]If you could time travel, to when would you go?
[00:16:25.250]To the future.
[00:16:26.980]Ah, nice.
[00:16:27.813]On a scale of one to 10, how strict were your parents?
[00:16:31.590]My mother was a two, my father was a nine.
[00:16:37.410]Do you know how to run a VCR?
[00:16:39.580]I do.
[00:16:41.980]Chocolate or vanilla?
[00:16:44.870]Vanilla with chocolate on top.
[00:16:46.760]Ah, nice.
[00:16:48.440]Saturday or Sunday?
[00:16:51.030]Sunday.
[00:16:52.560]What's your pet peeve?
[00:16:54.940]Cats.
[00:16:56.253](chuckles) That explains the answer in number one.
[00:16:59.600]Pancakes or waffles?
[00:17:01.590]Pancakes.
[00:17:02.950]And last but not least, Herbie Husker or Lit' Red?
[00:17:06.750]I'm a K State fan, sorry.
[00:17:08.815](group laughter)
[00:17:11.620]Well, that's alright.
[00:17:12.950]We'll allow that.
[00:17:14.710]We do want to thank you, Dr. Waters,
[00:17:17.010]for taking your time today and joining us.
[00:17:19.680]You can catch the Complete Engineering podcast
[00:17:21.840]on Stitcher, Google Play, and iTunes.
[00:17:24.482](whimsical music)
[00:17:28.418]Thank you for listening to
[00:17:29.569]the Complete Engineering podcast.
[00:17:31.040]For more information visit us at engineering.unl.edu.
[00:17:35.435](whimsical music)

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