ACE Team 8 Meet and Greet

October 16th, 2019

On October 16th, the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) in partnership with The School Construction Authority (SCA) attended the 2019 ACE Registration Fair. DDC/SCA TEAM 8 is an affiliate of the national ACE Mentor Program of America. ACE Team 8, led by the STEAM Initiatives team, recruited 25 students from neighborhoods ranging from Staten Island, Far Rockaway, Brooklyn, Richmond Hill, Astoria, Corona, Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Flushing, Long Island City, Jamaica, Jackson Heights, and Woodside. Team 8 will be led by STEAM team and 8 mentor Engineers, Architects and Construction Managers from DDC, NYU, and the SCA. The ACE Mentor Program is a not-for-profit organization that prepares high school students for careers in the design and construction industries. ACE is the fastest-growing mentoring program in the building construction industry, operating in over 40 states and 200 cities across the nation.

During the Registration Fair STEAM team members answered student’s questions about the benefits of joining Team 8. Students had an opportunity to speak with ACE Team 8 mentor Salman Javed, an auditor with the Engineering Audit Office, and Madeline Skoblik, a resident engineer in the Infrastructure Construction Management Unit. Students also spoke with Administrative Construction Project Manager Young Suh, from DDC’s Public Buildings Division, who gave them insight into the variety of experiences they would encounter as members of Team 8. All three professionals were mentors for last year’s ACE Team 8’s and supervised Team 8’s proposal for an autonomous and trackless tram system designed to address urban transportation congestion. The proposal placed third in the ACE national design and construction annual competition. ACE also provides high school team members with the opportunity to apply for college scholarships and internship opportunities. “Reality capture has tremendous potential to help us deliver projects on time,” stated, Subhash Tuladhar, Executive Director of Project Controls. “Project management teams can accomplish a lot more work more effectively and in a shorter time frame.”

STEAM Initiatives and the mentors look forward to the ACE 8 Meet and Greet on November 12, 2019 at DDC!

2020 National Design and Construction Competition:
The Construction Industry Round Table three design challenges for the 2020 competition:
- WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION
- NATIONAL PAVILLION
- GASTRONOMIC CENTER