Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Garver Employees Volunteer for Science Fair


Employees from Garver's North Little Rock, Arkansas office volunteered their time to judge a science fair at Crystal Hill Elementary School. As a community partner to the school, Garver employees have provided volunteer services for programs like AR Kids Read. When the school needed help with judging, they asked if Garver employees could participate, and six employees jumped at the chance to judge the projects of 3rd-5th grade students. The projects involved everything from homemade ant spray to comparing battery brands to powering lights with lemons.


Garver employees participated to support scientific learning in schools, and Project Manager Josh Crawford was encouraged by what he saw.

"Because of the age of the children involved, I went into the judging expecting very basic science projects," Josh said. "I left very impressed with the experiments the children performed. From homemade generators to graphing surface areas of ice blocks versus melting times, I was encouraged by the scientific knowledge the 4th grade class displayed."

The 3rd-5th grade projects were equally impressive. "I enjoyed judging and was impressed at how the students understood and applied scientific principles and practices," said Beverly Green, Controller. "Judging the fair was another great volunteer opportunity for Garver to support our community."

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Garver Contributes to Engineering Scholarships


Garver joined the Arkansas Academy of Civil Engineers to support young engineers and help alleviate financial burdens through engineering scholarships.

Garver sponsored eight $1,000 scholarships for civil engineering students at the University of Arkansas. The Arkansas Academy of Civil Engineers sponsors the scholarship, which is funded through academy member donations. Several Garver employees are academy members and they individually contributed to the scholarship, which Garver financially matched.

Engineering student Abiy Ghirmay with Executive Vice President Brock Hoskins, PE.
UofA Department Head of Civil Engineering Dr. Kevin Hall said scholarship recipients are selected by financial need and academic performance. When awarding the scholarships provided through Garver contributions, Dr. Hall said selected students "reflect the commitment to excellence demonstrated by the company and its engineers.”

The scholarship helps offsets the tuition that students pay out-of-pocket. This helps them focus more on studies and gives them more freedom to pursue career opportunities.

For Stephanie Maxwell, a civil engineering student, the scholarship has been essential. “I really appreciate it because if I hadn't gotten this scholarship, I would've had to continue working, and the job I had wasn't related to civil engineering—it was just dividing my time between school and work. I really want to be able to focus on schoolwork right now, to get the education and the internships, and to be able to focus on future jobs.”

Abiy Ghirmay, a foreign exchange student from Ethiopia, agrees. “I‘m thankful for the scholarship. It helped a lot. It allowed me to focus on my studies and not work a lot of hours.”

Along with sponsoring scholarships, Garver has hosted open houses at various offices and helped engineering students on their senior projects—all ways that Garver is educating and encouraging the next generation of engineers.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Garver Leads Tour at Addison Airport

Engineers from Garver's Frisco office gave students from the University of Texas at Arlington a tour of Addison Airport. Garver's Mitchell McAnally, Matthew LeMay, and Sara Johnson gave a group of engineering students from multiple disciplines a personal look at various airfield improvements.



“I enjoyed going out to the site and learning about some on-site factors our classes don’t discuss,” said Ana Gonzalez, president of the university Society of Women Engineers chapter. Garver staff met the students at the electrical vault and began the tour, which covered recently poured holding bay pavement and the fuel farm.


The students also visited the Cavanaugh Flight Museum hangar where they were able to get up close with WWII memorabilia, like a B-24. This museum is also the site of "Fifi," the last operational B-29, a WWII-era aircraft. During the tour, the students got to see Fifi taxi and take off as it flew to El Paso for an airshow at various locations over the next six weeks.

Garver is currently overseeing various improvements along Taxiway Alpha. These improvements include large reconstruction areas, various locations receiving asphalt overlay, reconfiguring the aircraft holding bay on the north end, replacing the existing taxiway edge lights with new LED edge lights, and adding a new aircraft holding bay on the south end of the airport. 

Monday, April 8, 2013

IQ Volume 5 Issue 1



The newest issue of Garver's IQ will be in mailboxes soon, but you can begin reading our online edition now. This edition features:

Bridge Slide
Accelerated Bridge Construction is being used in Oklahoma to save motorists time and money. Garver was selected to provide engineering and design to replace the State Highway 51 bridge over Cottonwood Creek. By using a transverse sliding/skidding bridge move technique, it's estimated that the time needed to close and detour SH 51 can be conservatively reduced by five months and save approximately $2 million.

Going the Distance
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation worked with multiple firms to design and install 1,050 miles of fiber optic cable, which is over twice the length of the state. Garver provided services for 145 miles.

30% More
Searcy, Arkansas has expanded its water treatment plant to 19.2 million gallons per day. To upgrade the intake, treatment, and distribution systems, the city worked with Garver to guide the plant through regulatory requirements and grand funding stipulations.

Beneficial Partnerships
Boone County Regional Airport has a new hangar area and connecting taxiway, and the project was completed at no cost to the county or airport. The community came together to find a way to finance the project, which involved applying for a matching state grant and providing the matching funds through a North Arkansas College student labor program.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Garver Opens Kentucky Office


After nearly 20 years of working for airports in western Kentucky, Garver is pleased to announce that we've expanded our services by opening a new office in Lexington, Kentucky.


2333 Alexandria Drive, Lexington, Kentucky 40504
This is Garver's 16th office, and our presence in Lexington allows us to better meet the aviation needs of airports in central and eastern Kentucky.

Leading our new office is Aviation Project Manager Wes Mittlesteadt, PE, ENV SP. Wes is an Aviation Team Leader and Envision Sustainability Professional with aviation engineering experience in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.

Garver has more than 60 years of airport design, planning, and construction administration experience, and more than 60 of our 350 staff members are dedicated to aviation projects. We are excited to better serve Kentucky by offering local availability along with our personal attention and accessibility.

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