Analyzing Student Housing Construction

As construction continues on new student residence halls on campus, civil engineering major Cristin MacDonald ’05 analyzed the workers’ productivity in an effort to identify ways to improve it in an honors thesis.

“Construction productivity is said to be decreasing throughout the United States since 1970, while every other industry’s productivity has gone up,” she says.

“I argue that a correct method of measuring productivity has not been found.”

She met twice a week with John Ricketts ’03, an engineer from Manhattan-based Turner Construction Co., which is overseeing the four-building project. The two examined weekly schedules on the construction, and MacDonald used the data in her analysis.

David Veshosky, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, served as her research adviser. Previously, he led MacDonald in EXCEL Scholars research using a computer program to examine and resolve different scenarios that might occur on Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel project or Big Dig. The computer program, which will be made available for distribution, is used for project management and construction management classes on campus.

She worked on another EXCEL project using a computer modeling system called ANSYS that may help young patients who require hip implants. She also was a member of a student team that developed an inexpensive method to remove arsenic from drinking water in New Mexico for the 13th annual International Environmental Design Contest.
MacDonald was an associate representative for Student Government and a member of the swimming and diving team and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.