Building Construction Articles

A. Pickett Construction, Inc. has scheduled a Pop-Up Employer Information Table for Monday, Oct. 21, in the Carl Building Technologies Center at Pennsylvania College of Technology. The company is recruiting carpenter helpers, carpenters, assistant HVAC technicians, assistant business administrators, assistant project managers and assistant estimators. Interested students should bring their resumes.

In the two and a half weeks since ground was broken for a Habitat for Humanity home just north of campus – on a Fifth Avenue property donated to Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity by Penn College – students in building construction and heavy construction equipment technology majors have made six visits to the site.

Pennsylvania College of Technology joined Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity on Sept. 19 to break ground at 508 Fifth Ave., where, over the next two years, Penn College students will build a Habitat home on land donated to the organization by the college. “This is such a win-win project,” said Bob Robinson, executive director of Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity.

Jeffrey L. Erdly, originator of two Pennsylvania College of Technology scholarships and recipient of the college's Distinguished Alumnus Award, has boosted his institutional support with a gift of $500,000 toward an upcoming project on campus. Half of the donation is designated for an endowment that can be used for program materials, scholarships and more; the remaining $250,000 is earmarked for the creation of a materials library at the Carl Building Technologies Center.

Pennsylvania College of Technology held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for two projects funded, in part, by a $2 million U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant: construction of an 1,800-square-foot Clean Energy House and renovations at the Carl Building Technologies Center on main campus.

Representatives from Metzger McGuire, a leader in interior industrial concrete repair products, provided live concrete repair demonstrations to students in the Concrete Construction class. The company’s Pat Smith and Dan Kraff gave students hands-on practice using Metzger McGuire’s products to repair surface damage and damaged joints – and donated materials to the concrete science program.

Representatives of Keystone Precision Solutions spent a recent day on campus to share their expertise in emerging technologies in the architecture, surveying, construction and engineering industries. Although the team’s unmanned aerial vehicles were “grounded” due to rain, several classes visited the Bardo Gym to experience equipment, including a robotic total station, laser scanner and unmanned aircraft systems.

"Imagine a world without concrete," levels alumnus Joe DiBucci, building construction technology instructor at Penn College. (Impossible!) This energized episode of the "Tomorrow Makers" podcast brings loads of laughs and lots of insight about the world's most widely used building material — concrete. Have a listen to "Concrete Science."

"Concrete Science and Careers,” offered to K-12 FFA instructors by faculty experts from Pennsylvania College of Technology, is already yielding positive impacts – including plans for a more in-depth session for the teachers later this spring. Faculty offered instructor workshops on three Saturdays during the Pennsylvania FFA’s “Agricultural Cooperation Establishes Success” Leadership Conference near Harrisburg.

Students in the Decorative Concrete class, taught by Joe F. DiBucci, recently visited Lycoming Vault & Precast in Montoursville. The company produces a variety of precast concrete products, from septic tanks to light pole bases. “Traveling to a precast concrete plant was a great opportunity for the students to be able to see a different side of the industry,” said DiBucci.