Issue link: https://construction.trimble.com/en/resources/i/1519999
B2W COLLEGE PROGRAM "Hands-on experience with a leading software program that the industry uses is vitally important." Steve Muench UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Future Civil and Environmental Engineers Getting a Head Start with B2W Estimating Software School is one of dozens benefiting from free software through B2W College Program Up to half of the civil and environmental engineering graduate at the University of Washington enter construction-related professions. Many bring valuable experience with real-world estimating software with them thanks to the B2W College Program. Steve Muench has used B2W Estimate for more than 10 years in the Construction Engineering course he teaches for juniors at the school. B2W provides the software and training support free of charge to college engineering and construction programs throughout North America. The goal is to expose students to an actual tool used extensively in heavy construction and to the estimating concepts and workflows behind that tool. "Hands-on experience with a leading software program that the industry uses is vitally important," say Muench, who earned BS, MS and PhD degrees in civil engineering at UW, worked as a transportation design engineer and has been a faculty member since 2004. "The software gives students a realistic understanding of how the estimating process works and how labor, materials and equipment break down and impact the bid; things they would not get by just reading or studying in theory." About 70 students take the Construction Engineering course at UW each quarter. Muench challenges them with a quarter-long project based on the plans and specifications for a $1.5-million park-and-ride facility built in the area about 15 years ago. "Groups of four to six students create a work package for a portion of the project, such as the sidewalks or paving," he explains. "We then pool those work packages together so that each team can create an entire project schedule and estimate." The groups must also contact area contractors and engineers to review and validate their work.