01/17/2019

IT Forum Scheduled for Febuary 19th

What Makes A Successful Grant | Scholarship Update

ACEC Ohio IT Forum

With the successes of the Human Resources and Finance Forum, ACEC Ohio would like to introduce you to our first IT Forum for IT professionals within your company! Through ACEC Ohio’s IT Forum, professionals will be connected to a network of peers in an informal, roundtable setting. YOU can share your best practices, discuss problems and solutions, gain valuable insights into industry trends and network with each other.

The IT Forum will be taking place at the ACEC Ohio office space located at 1650 Lake Shore Drive, Ste. 200, Columbus, OH 43204. This will be held on Tuesday, February 19 from 10:00AM-2:00PM (lunch included). This will include a workshop structured for networking with peers in an interactive roundtable format. We will develop a basic agenda and address emerging trends and problem solving in the workplace.

Our facilitators for the forum include: Adam Farhoud, Director of Information Technology at ms consultants, Matt Hensley, CEO/CSO at Spartan IT and Jason Leveson, Director of Technology Services at Somerset CPAs and Advisors.

Topics of discussion will include: cyber security, business continuity/ disaster recovery, overall cloud strategy, collaboration/ project information management, remote workers and branch offices, licensing, DOT software compatibility, and emerging technologies.

If you or someone in your office is interested in attending this forum, please RSVP by emailing holly.roberto@acecohio.org.

What Makes a Successful Grant 

The ACEC Ohio Environment & Energy Committee met on Wednesday, January 16 at the ACEC Ohio Office space with grant experts from state agencies as the guest speakers. The agencies discussed what makes a success grant application and the keys they are looking for in projects when selecting for funding. The four individuals and agencies in attendance included:

• Yetty Lombardo, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Office of Coastal Management
• Mary Fitch, Recreation Services Administrator, Office of Real Estate and Land Management
• Linda Bailiff, Program Administrator, Ohio Public Works Commission
• Jerome Rouch, Office of Financial Assistance, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

The reoccurring theme from all four agencies was encouraging their clients to call them before submitting their proposal. They are more than willing to take the time to discuss your proposal with you.

Some characteristics of a “fundable” proposal includes: a clear goal, plan of action, the budget is adequate and accurate, the timeline is realistic, partners, statement of benefitsand sustainable, meaning it is able to continue after the initial grant is over.

A well-written proposal is clear: understandable, logical presentation, precise: no factual, spelling, or numerical errors, persuasive: convincing and motivational and intact: all instructions are followed.

Some reasons why proposals are not funded include: incomplete, not submitted on time, unclear, doesn’t match funding priorities, discrepancies, ineligible costs/ budget issues, an unrealistic goal, not measurable/ sustainable and no collaboration.

ACEC Ohio Scholarship Update

ACEC Ohio’s mission is to contribute to America’s prosperity and welfare by advancing the business interests of members firms. We will be awarding four scholarships to students throughout Ohio totaling $2,500 each; one in each chapter: NE, CO, NW, SW.

To qualify for consideration for a scholarship, the applicant must be a full or part-time student (sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student status) pursing an engineering or surveying degree and enrolled in an ABET accredited engineering or surveying program. 

The scholarship committee decided to extend the deadline for applicants to Friday, January 11 in place of Friday, January 4 to give applicants more time to get letters of recommendation and transcripts submitted.

The number of applicants totaled to 30 for the ACEC Ohio Scholarship! The scholarship committee has decided to create subcommittees of one to three people for each chapter to grade the applicants in their perspective areas.

We plan on awarding and honoring the scholarship recipients at the Engineering Excellence Awards on March 14, 2019.